Best Classic American TV Shows With a Ridiculous PremiseBy Raymond Lockley
The decade of the 1960s was a time where people sought relief from social
upheavals and war by escaping into their televisions. Some sought escape
through illicit drugs. Some did both--apparently, many of them TV writers
and executives. :-) There were so many shows that appeared in that decade
with completely ridiculous premises that a list is clearly in order.
Mind you, when I say "ridiculous premise", I'm not talking about the
standard fish-out-of-water trope stretched to the point where it strains
credulity (e.g.
"The Beverly Hillbillies" or
"The Monkees");
nor am I talking about shows that are a kind of science fiction (like
"My Favorite Martian").
I mean, flat out impossible situations--like a talking horse, of course--where
you not only have to suspend disbelief, you have to expel it.
One issue in assembling this list is determining what the basis for ordering
should be. Should it be which show was the best television as art, the most
unbelievable premise, or the one that best makes the ridiculous premise work?
All are good rationales; but in keeping with the precedent of my other lists,
I went with the impact the show had on our cultural awareness and lexicon,
that caused us to talk about it at the water cooler the next morning. Also,
I factored in the ones that I liked the best. (Hey, this isn't a very serious
category.) So, utilizing this approach...
Spooky MentionThere was a small set of shows that didn't have... a ghost of a chance. Apparently, there are some people who really believe that ghosts are real and hang around with nothing better to do than haunt houses and appear in sitcoms. So, in deference to my ghost-believing fans (of whom I have none), I have omitted shows with ghosts from the list of ridiculous premises. But in honor of Halloween, let's mention some of television's possibly memorable sitcoms about ghosts:
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