8 Shows Everyone Watched in the ’60s
Before cable was the norm, and long before streaming services were even an idea, network television ruled the airwaves. With fewer choices, viewers coalesced around a small number of shows in a way that’s practically unheard of in today’s fragmented media landscape.
That was especially true in the 1960s, when countercultural forces were butting up against decades of tradition — a phenomenon that could be seen in the stories shown on the small screen in living rooms across America. Let’s take a trip to the past with these eight TV shows that dominated the 1960s:
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68)
Arguably the decade’s defining television program, The Andy Griffith Show was a ratings juggernaut throughout its entire run. It never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings, and it aired its finale while still at No. 1 — a feat replicated only once before (I Love Lucy) and after (Seinfeld).
The show was inherently nostalgic, with Griffith once stating, “Though we never said it, and though it was shot in the ’60s, it had a feeling of the ’30s … of a time gone by.” Even if you aren’t old enough to have grown up watching it, The Andy Griffith Show has been in syndication for so long that there’s a good chance its theme song was still a part of your childhood.
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The Addams Family (1964-66) and The Munsters (1964-66)
The ’60s were a golden age for spooky family sitcoms. And while The Addams Family has had a longer afterlife (in the form of two cult-classic ’90s movies, the Netflix series Wednesday, and two recent animated films), The Munsters fared better in the ratings when the two shows were on at the same time.
As for why the two hits came to an end within a month of each other, Eddie Munster actor Butch Patrick points the finger at a certain caped crusader: “I think Batman was to blame,” he said in a 2019 interview. “Batman just came along and took our ratings away.” Both shows lasted two seasons and aired nearly the same number of episodes (64 for The Addams Family, an even 70 for The Munsters), making them perfect for a back-to-back binge session.
Bewitched (1964-72) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70)
Why limit yourself to one witchy show when you can have two? Whether you preferred Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) or Jeannie (Barbara Eden), you were spoiled for choice when it came to supernatural sitcoms in the ’60s. Bewitched was the country’s second-highest-rated show during its debut season, was named one of TV Guide’s Top 50 Shows, and inspired a movie starring Nicole Kidman — but many viewers dreamed of Jeannie just the same.
Bonanza (1959-73)
Though it began in the 1950s and ended in the ’70s, this long-running Western was at its peak in the ’60s. It hit No. 1 by 1964, stayed there for three years, and didn’t drop out of the top 10 until 1971 — all while helping redefine the genre to a generation of viewers.
The series followed the Cartwright family as they faced one moral dilemma after another during and just after the Civil War, with the action taking place near Lake Tahoe in Virginia City, Nevada. And as was the case for a lot of shows on this list, its earworm of a theme song became a hit unto itself. Airing 431 episodes over 14 seasons, Bonanza is the second-longest-running Western in TV history, behind only Gunsmoke.
Gilligan’s Island (1964-67)
What was meant to be a three-hour tour turned into a three-season classic. One of the decade’s most iconic series, Gilligan’s Island still airs reruns today and continues to inspire debate in the form of “Ginger or Mary Ann?” More than anything, though, it made people laugh.
The show received solid ratings during its initial run, reaching as high as No. 3 in the ratings during its first season, and has only grown in popularity since its cancellation. It spawned a number of made-for-TV movie sequels and animated spinoffs, the most bizarre of which has to be 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.
The Twilight Zone (1959-64)
A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind, The Twilight Zone inspired too many other TV series and movies to list. Episodes such as “Time Enough at Last” and “It’s a Good Life” are no less haunting today than they were 60 years ago, when Rod Serling introduced viewers to an enduring sci-fi classic that has since been revived three times (in 1985, 2002, and 2019) — never to nearly the same effect — and that inspired a 1983 movie and an appropriately terrifying theme park ride.
Though it wasn’t a runaway hit as far as ratings were concerned, The Twilight Zone proved so influential that it’s impossible to tell the story of 1960s television without it. Frequently cited among the greatest TV shows of all time, it has aged as well as, if not better than, any other series of its era.
