Fred Siebert's memory of watching the show while he was sick sums it up for why kids/teenagers would watch. It's simple, comforting, low stakes, soothing background noise while you sleep off a fever or a stomach bug.
Even the first Back to the Future film had a teenager from 1985 accidentally travel back to the 1950s. 1950s nostalgia was almost everywhere in the 1980s.
You mentioned about "Dennis the Menace" and "The Donna Reed Show" both being with Screen Gems....Another little tidbit: Dennis (along with Mr. Wilson) made an appearance on the show in a 1960 episode called "Donna Decorates" in which Dennis "helps" Donna.
I'd note that the Playboy Channel would have been scrambled, although the audio would be mostly clear, which I suppose some parents might fond inappropriate.
Seems downright awkward to me that the Playboy channel would actually air in the same channel slot as Nickelodeon. I wouldn’t be surprised if any older kids tried to sneak and listen to the Playboy channel audio after Nick went off the air, even though the picture was scrambled.
@@mr.tomraypaz6085 I can tell you from personal experience that they very much did. I still get turned on by certain kinds of image distortions to this day.
@@mr.tomraypaz6085 In a way it makes sense because Playboy didn't air during the day, so that would have been somewhat convenient for the cable provider.
I liked Donna Reed when I was a kid watching this on Nick at Nite. Actually I was in love with Shelly Fabares at one point (and later, Patty Duke). Very odd being 8 year’s old and all your friends are in love with Madonna and you just want to kiss the girl who sang Johnny Angel. As for the show, sounds like it was probably aggressively boring, more so than I remember. I do think that’s a shame because Donna herself has a pretty significant movie star magnetism and would have done better with more interesting material. One more point to make about that Baby Boomer nostalgia: A lot of it wasn’t just wistfulness for lost youth. This was the Reagan years, after all. I remember my conservative dad watching Nick at Nite damn near angrily, spitting out, “They don’t make shows with these kinds of values anymore!” By which I guess he meant that Cheers was ruining the moral fabric of America in a way Mr Ed did not.
Kristopher Wright I grow up the Donna reed show I was 7 in 1991 unti I was 9 in 1994 when nick at nite took it off the air though it was a harmless siticom ☺️
There was a recent episode of Only Murders in the Building where Oliver (Martin Short) makes a reference to the Donna Reed Show, and then he starts to explain to Mabel (Selena Gomez) what the show was, and she immediately cuts him off and says "Not worth it."
I know how cable worked back then, but Nick and Playboy Channel being on the same channel in some areas is still something I never would have expected.
I can see why you had to re write the script for this one a few times, but I really liked the thesis you came to at the end. Thanks for another awesome video Greg, keep up the great work!
Loved the Donna reed show was a great siticom I use to watch it on nick at nite in 1991 I was 7 at the time and kept watching until I was 9 in 1994 when nick at nite cancelled it they on,y showed seasons 1,2,3,5 and 8 I later saw season 4 on metv🙃
Seems a real shame that they didn't go for one of the working Donna Reed show ideas. Not just to avoid something dull, but because Donna Reed is very good at being a working figure. In It's A Wonderful Life, she isn't as demure as here, and is shown working with her husband, helping in the war effort and generally being fulfilled in her life beyond being a mother. Donna Reed seems far better suited to a work-com than anything else.
I was 6 in 1986 and I LOVED Donna Reed, Mr.Ed, My 3 Sons, etc! Some of my most sweet and nostalgic childhood memories are of lying in bed with my Nana and giggling then falling asleep to these soothing "slice of life" type shows. Can also remember being home sick from school and these comforting shows playing in the background. Now, as an adult and feminist, I can see that these shows could be problematic. HOWEVER, I think it's important to treat them much the same as we do classic literature and realize that they were written in a different era with different values. We can point out their issues, learn from them, and still manage to enjoy them. Sometimes it's nice to watch/read something that's totally unrealistic, yet cozy and restful without all the violence and drama. Sometimes Mary figuring out who her prom date will be is just what we need lol!
As a kid in the 80s, I loved shows like Donna Reed and Father Knows Best. While not at all realistic, they seemed so calm and pleasant as compared to the trash culture I grew up in.
I know this contributes nothing except an algorithm boost, but Gilmore Girls is fucking awesome and I love the little rants Lorelai and Rory would do. Also, I hope this Summer Camp stuff does get better for your sake, Greg.
I concur entirely. As a child of the 80s who got cable around '86 or so, I have plenty of fond memories of having watched Menace, Lassie and Mister Ed, but I don't think I ever saw a single episode of Donna Reed. Or rather, if I did, it was so dull I have no memory of doing so.
I loved watching the show on Nickelodeon a Nick at Nite but I have to say you were right on in terms of where it fits into our TV history! I find the show to be TV comfort food, except for the frequent diatribes about gender roles. The thing that I always thought was better about the Donna Reed Show was that they actually gave Donna Stone a personality and intelligence, and didn’t just keep her in the kitchen baking cakes in every episode. She was more than just a doting mother. I have to think that for Donna Reed, this was the best job that 1950s America would give her and she didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
My local cable company used to switch to A&E at 8pm. Sometimes they wouldn't switch over on time (an annoyance to anyone who wanted to watch that documentary on Tasmanian berries I'm sure) and I would get to watch Mr. Ed for a few minutes. It would always switch over eventually and I would be jealous of all those kids that would get to see what hijinks that talking horse was getting up to.
I had a similar experiences with Adelphia Cable in Hemet California, in the late 90s and early 2000s. Tho replace Nick and Playboy, with Cartoon network and Fox Sports. I used to be able to watch till Moltar hosted Toonami came on, but after the network aligned timezones, it got pushed back to past the cut off of 3pm. I didn't get full CN, and Toonami and Adult Swim, until 2004. Apparently even the company Adelphia bought out did it, as my mom got cable just for MTV(in the late 80s), Gen-xer in a Boomers body I swear. They cut it off at 6pm, and slotted in The Discovery Channel. (One of my earliest memories is of watching the video for Love Shack and suddenly a shark eats a seal, as Shark Week starts.)
*group of shady mob characters surrounding Donna Reed, one of them opens up jacket to reveal Campbell soup shirt* "now, i'm sure you know about Lockhart.."
I do too! Low stakes, milquetoast-not that it's a bad thing. Life was simpler back then. I like the fact that this show wasn't so goofy that it tries too hard to be funny-where a show comes off as immature and childish. I think this guy is overanalyzing the show. I wonder if the presenter feels some kind of "white guilt" for this show and the era it came from.
After Paul Peterson left the “Donna Reed Show”, he inked a deal with Berry Gordy’s Motown label, and released three singles without any of his success. The best one was the original version of “Chained” which was later remade by Marvin Gaye. ruclips.net/video/pM7yG7ZZ0tA/видео.html
Unrelated to anything in this episode, but the background music during the middle ten minutes, to me, totally sounds like the end credit music from "Toad Patrol" season 1. Very relaxing.
Despite the author of Nick Knack's opinion, I liked this show for a little while during my childhood. And I mean I thought it was better than Lassie. I remember thinking the show with the dog saving the kid every day was redundant and that I was at least getting some variety with Donna Reed. But then again I enjoyed watching Mr. Ed so maybe I'm not so smart.
Same here. Donna Reed wasn't exactly appointment television for me, but I could sit through it. A half hour of Lassie, on the other hand, was excruciating.
Trisha became a regular on The Donna Reed Show in early 1963. Mary went away to college in the Fall of that year and made several guest appearances during the next two years. She made no appearances in the final season, but was mentioned a few times. I may be in a minority, but I loved Trisha.She was my own age. I was an 8-year-old boy who loved an 8-year-old girl joining the cast.:-)
I find the fact Nickelodeon shared channel space with The Playboy Channel hilarious Not much to say on The Donna Reed Show, it's a show I never watched nor had any interest in.
Once Nickelodeon cancelled The Donna Reed Show in 1984, the network went down the toilet. Having Donna Reed Show on the network was the reason why Nick at Nite worked.
We had TCI Cable which kept up the channel switchover until summer 1997, so I not only missed a lot of Nick at Nite, but also never got to watch the SNICK block, a core memory for many '90s kids.
I loved Nick at Night in the 80s and 90s. Originally turned off because it was black and white and then hooked. I liked it better then the modern shows and I was just a kid. I probly should of been in bed. I got my first tv from goodwill and it was black and white. It was perfect for NIck at Nite.
Going to disagree with your analysis of The Donna Reed Show. I first saw all 8 seasons as a teen when Nick @ Nite aired them back in the 80s and early 90s . I believe they were the only network to do so in syndication. Even Tubi only airs up to season 5 and the DVDs only have up to season 5. I've since watch the show many times over as an adult. Some folks see humor differently than others. I find the show genuinely funny at times and I get involved in the stories being told. Each main character always had several episodes centered around them. While Donna Stone was a housewife and mom, she was not a 'stereotypical" 50s/60s June Cleaver or Margaret Anderson type most of the time. Just watch a complete episode and you will see that she and Alex were pretty liberal-minded with the rearing of their children and many of their ideas while traditional on some things. There were episodes where certain topics were overtly addressed, and others topics were more subtly addressed, even though Donna Reed "allegedly" didn't have much say. )*wink*.
Very insightful. I always love hearing other people reflect on all this 1950's culture dumped on our 1980's lives via Nick, and Back to the Future, and the Twilight Zone, and Happy Days... People always had more depth than the Donna Reed propaganda idealism. Yet, like Pleasantville I can't help be fall for this illusion of American perfection. Come to think of it is Bud watching Nick At Nite religiously???
Considering the channel Bud/David watched was called "TV Time", probably more likely he was watching TV Land, so close enough considering it was a spinoff of Nick at Nite to start out with.
I actually saw some things in those scenes I wish you had explored: Why was the daughter in the discussion about the son's grades? The psychology and in-fighting in the stereotypical '50s women's club. Things like that.
I'm actually disappointed with your reaction toward the Donna Reed Show. I remember very fondly watching Nick @ Nite every night and enjoying all the shows Donna Reed included. I was born the year after it ended, 1967. I found the dry nature of the show comical because of its style. I graduated High School in the Summer of 1986 at age 19. I watched Nick @ Nite late night with my dad.
That last clip with them in the separate beds threw me for just a second. That was such a bizarre phenomenon. What were they trying to shield the children from? Their parents would have slept in a single bed at home. Why didn't they think it was okay to show that on television?
Use to watch a lot of Nickelodeons nick at nite including this show i.was 7 in 1991 loved today's special I saw it in 1990 i was 6 at the time loved I love Lucy too
I used to watch Nick at Nite religiously and I do not remember this show at all. I don't think my parents ever spoke about it either, and I used to remember what shows they liked cause I was always interested in old TV and loved watching it. I don't remember anything of My Three Sons either so it doesn't leave me hopeful. I remember Mr. Ed and liking that though... or maybe I just liked horses.
Remember a lot of nick at nite donna Reed show,American tonight,adventures of superman,alfredo Hitchcock presents best of snl bad news bears,best of snl,bewitched,dick van dyke show,dragnet,Dennis the menace,f troop,fernwood tonigh,flipper,green acres,get smart,gidget,honey I'm home,i love lucy lassie,many loves of Dobie gills mork and mindy mister ed my three sons patty Duke show I was 7 in 1991 at the time 😊
Speaking as someone who was a kid when this aired on Nickelodeon, if you want to know why any kid would have watched this the answer is simple. There wasn't much competition. Our cable box at the time had a dial on it, and had 32 channels at the most. Sure, I could have watched Guiding Light, I guess and maybe the USA Cartoon Express would have been on opposite it or something, but probably you watched it because there wasn't anything else on. Though, come to think of it, I don't think i ever watched this show, or at least don't have much memory of it outside of the commercials you have shown.
I wonder how an elevator operator show would go. I guess it would be in two parts. Part 1: Her meeting weird characters in the elevator and talking to them about their problems. Part 2: A wacky scheme to help them overcome it. That... actually would be a much more interesting show. And, since there are a fuck-ton of businesses that work out of the Empire State Building, it could be anything from her hosting a fundraiser to keep an orphanage from going under, to her adopting a lemur because one of the riders needs to hide it from animal control, to her playing midwife when the elevator gets stuck, and a passenger goes into labor, to her trailing someone she thinks is a Russian spy, but it turns out to be a famous composer (She gets him confused with a similar looking guy), and we end on a classical concert... could she sing or play any instrument? Damn, what could have been.
I'm sorry, but shows like these shouldn't get a pass just because "it's a product of its time." Especially when it promotes what men thought what the ladies should behave like back then.
@@segundovargas again it is ridiculous to ask for people in a show that is more than a decade old to change its morals or have it "cancelled". Enjoy the show as it is, as a campy throwback like the people before you used to enjoy it and like everyone else does. I mean I don't watch Donna Reed and expect it to be a lesson on how to treat a woman or some ridiculous nonsense, it is just some campy show from a different era.
I'm not going to lie, a channel that was Nickelodeon during the day and the Playboy Channel at night sounds exactly what 13 year old me would have loved. Hell, it's what 33 year old me would have loved...
I’m trying to think of the modern equivalent of what this show would be. I’m thinking a Robin Wright/Chloe Sevingy type, in that they’ve hardly had a mainstream career with one or two exceptions (Forrest Gump being its a wonderful life equivalent), and then getting into television with the intention of making something creative and challenging and being molded into the perfect representation of a housewife. Every sexism joke had me cringing, but at least this was made with innocuous intentions, I don’t think it ever aimed for a message beyond pleasant. I just now realized she had just passed away when this started airing (she had been on Dallas for a year before this) YOU CANT POSTPONE DOUBLE DARE FOREVER
I knew next to nothing about Donna Reed before this video apart from the one song that mentioned her in passing in Little Shop of Horrors, which thanks to this video I now that that movie came out eight months after her death
The first sign a show is dying is when the writers shoe-horn in a character to replace another character because they have no other ideas. - some guy on the internet 2021.
I LOVE LUCY was so popular that small businesses closed so their proprietors could watch it, and bars were emptier when it was on. Just how many people in the US had a problem with it? Lucy was singled out because somebody found a voter registration card where she wrote "Communist", not because of anything on the show. Loretta Young frequently played a working woman on her anthology series and I haven't heard of any witch hunters having a problem with it.
Many people watch these type shows because they are aspirational. If you are from a dysfunctional family, this could be a nice respite (I've heard people say this). I never thought of this show as funny but just mildly amusing now and then. However, that's really all most people ever wanted out of it.
the lady in Hangin' In has a point. Nobody should ever be forced or forbidden from expressing themselves however they want. I love bunny girls but hate playboy clubs.
This guy clearly has NO CLUE what he's talking about. The Donna Reed Show is a perfect example of family wholesomeness which is missing in today's entertainment. Guess should've expected much since all he knew growing up was probably Star Wars 😂
Love this channel! Got a question though, I remember seeing a show, some kind of anime movie on Nickelodeon I think in 87 or 88 and I've been looking for it just to fulfill my trivia. Is there a site that might have this information, maybe a list of showtime slots?
Nick and More has a list of every show that aired on Nick, though if what you’re looking for really was a movie, then I’m guessing that wouldn’t be able to help you. Can you recall any details?
@@PinkieLopBun Oh, hello! I didn't think I would get a response so soon. I poked around on that site before with no luck, I even attempted to look through old TV Guides someone had scanned but It doesn't help that I never knew the name of the movie. I don't remember too much (which was why I was trying to hunt it down) but I think it came on the weekends during the day. I saw it twice but both times I came into the middle of it. I'm pretty sure it was a stand alone movie, no product tie-ins or recognizable characters and I got the feeling it was made in the early 80's. The setting was sci-fi, sometime in the future and dealt with a conflict with robots/androids in space. I don't know the plot but one scene I remember was towards the end; some kind of disaster happened with the robot army and they showed a fleet of ships (troop transports?) smashed in half and broken robot bodies swirling in space. I also think the color pallet was limited, I remember there being a lot of reds, browns and yellows with the robots being just grey. I also seem to remember seeing adds for Spartacus and the Sun Beneath the Sea shown on the commercial breaks which might help place the year? I know this isn't much to go on, I'm even doubting the info I'm giving you but if it sounds familiar let me know and thanks for your assistance!
Jason Hendricks I think I might have found it. Is it Once Upon a Time... Space? That aired on Special Delivery under the title Revenge of the Humanoids in 1986. watch?v=gUROkDFl87o
@@PinkieLopBun That's it! I don't know how you found it with my description but that's the show! I just found the original series on Amazon and going through the episodes I can see I was pretty off in my memory. I think the spaceships are one of the only things that I remember accurately, very Chris Foss. Now that I know it was on Special Delivery I can see the Wiki entry for it and I feel kinda stupid. Wow, thank you so much for helping me with this, I had planned to just wait and see if poparena might cover it but decided to take a chance and see if maybe someone might know what I was talking about. Thanks again!
Donna Reed's "family" was my family. It was comfortable. I watched it because Shelley was a babe. But, it didn't make me conventional; I went on to be a draft dodger.
I was one of the young kids who liked this at the time, so I was that rare person that you just threw away. Seriously man, your research is extremely impressive but your smugness and know-it-all-ism is so over-the-top and cooler-than-the-room that this is the epitome of channels that I hatewatch. But I love watching it. But I hate it. Anyway, watch my beer and snack reviews 😂
Yeah, I remember the opening credits showed Donna Reed greeting all the family members on their way out the door to start their day, then closing the door while smiling contentedly, but in that last season, she'd look down at her watch, or something, get a look on her face like "Oh $#!t, I've gotta run!" and bolt out the door herself to get to work.
I’m not sure if it was a job or that she was off to one of her several other committed organizations she was a part of, because Donna was ALWAYS busy, and by season 8 her kids were old enough that she did not need to stay home all the time.
If proper research was completed, you'd discover the reason for such bland story lines was the show's sponsor, Campbell's Soup. Like Reed said herself, "We didn't work for the Network, we worked for Campbell's," so what Campbell's wanted, Campbell's got. The only other show Campbell's sponsored at the time was Lassie, so that should give you a taste as to how and why things ran the way they did. So, no, the past certainly wasn't a mistake. TODAY is where the mistakes are being made by our society to allow Socialism to destroy our country bit by bit. I'd gladly jump into a time machine if one existed and relocate to 1955.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Fred Siebert's memory of watching the show while he was sick sums it up for why kids/teenagers would watch. It's simple, comforting, low stakes, soothing background noise while you sleep off a fever or a stomach bug.
Donna Reed 😂 😮
Exactly! I loved these shows as a young child bc of their simplicity and gentle humor. They were indeed very soothing and comforting.
Even the first Back to the Future film had a teenager from 1985 accidentally travel back to the 1950s. 1950s nostalgia was almost everywhere in the 1980s.
Ok I was 6 in 1985 but if I remember correctly the 50s memorabilia phase pretty much started with Back to the Future
@@tylerstadt8719 No, it goes back to the 1970s with films like Grease and American Graffiti.
@@NB1980 Don't forget TV shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley.
I never thought of I Love Lucy as playing out like Adult Swim...now I can’t stop thinking of it!
Rose Weldon 😜
You mentioned about "Dennis the Menace" and "The Donna Reed Show" both being with Screen Gems....Another little tidbit: Dennis (along with Mr. Wilson) made an appearance on the show in a 1960 episode called "Donna Decorates" in which Dennis "helps" Donna.
I'd note that the Playboy Channel would have been scrambled, although the audio would be mostly clear, which I suppose some parents might fond inappropriate.
Of course it just occurred to me that the parents could be Playboy subscribers. Then it would be an issue.
Seems downright awkward to me that the Playboy channel would actually air in the same channel slot as Nickelodeon. I wouldn’t be surprised if any older kids tried to sneak and listen to the Playboy channel audio after Nick went off the air, even though the picture was scrambled.
@@mr.tomraypaz6085 I can tell you from personal experience that they very much did. I still get turned on by certain kinds of image distortions to this day.
@@mr.tomraypaz6085 In a way it makes sense because Playboy didn't air during the day, so that would have been somewhat convenient for the cable provider.
Machohervey Yeah, but still.
"The past was a mistake" is one of my favorite of your recurring lines.
If I had a dollar for every time he said that, I'd go on a Target shopping spree!
Its practically his catchphrase
It's such an idiotic thing to say it's almost funny.
I liked Donna Reed when I was a kid watching this on Nick at Nite. Actually I was in love with Shelly Fabares at one point (and later, Patty Duke). Very odd being 8 year’s old and all your friends are in love with Madonna and you just want to kiss the girl who sang Johnny Angel.
As for the show, sounds like it was probably aggressively boring, more so than I remember. I do think that’s a shame because Donna herself has a pretty significant movie star magnetism and would have done better with more interesting material.
One more point to make about that Baby Boomer nostalgia: A lot of it wasn’t just wistfulness for lost youth. This was the Reagan years, after all. I remember my conservative dad watching Nick at Nite damn near angrily, spitting out, “They don’t make shows with these kinds of values anymore!” By which I guess he meant that Cheers was ruining the moral fabric of America in a way Mr Ed did not.
Kristopher Wright I grow up the Donna reed show I was 7 in 1991 unti I was 9 in 1994 when nick at nite took it off the air though it was a harmless siticom ☺️
There was a recent episode of Only Murders in the Building where Oliver (Martin Short) makes a reference to the Donna Reed Show, and then he starts to explain to Mabel (Selena Gomez) what the show was, and she immediately cuts him off and says "Not worth it."
From Nickelodeon to the Playboy channel? Man, that's a transition. Seems like an easy way to accidentally take a child's innocence lol
❤ Donna ❤
I know how cable worked back then, but Nick and Playboy Channel being on the same channel in some areas is still something I never would have expected.
Donna Reed ❤
I can see why you had to re write the script for this one a few times, but I really liked the thesis you came to at the end. Thanks for another awesome video Greg, keep up the great work!
Loved the Donna reed show was a great siticom I use to watch it on nick at nite in 1991 I was 7 at the time and kept watching until I was 9 in 1994 when nick at nite cancelled it they on,y showed seasons 1,2,3,5 and 8 I later saw season 4 on metv🙃
I remember this big time. This was very much a staple on Basic Cable/Syndicated shows of classics.
I love nick knacks so much they are so wholesome Your voice makes me feel like I'm a child being taught a school lesson
Seems a real shame that they didn't go for one of the working Donna Reed show ideas. Not just to avoid something dull, but because Donna Reed is very good at being a working figure. In It's A Wonderful Life, she isn't as demure as here, and is shown working with her husband, helping in the war effort and generally being fulfilled in her life beyond being a mother. Donna Reed seems far better suited to a work-com than anything else.
Donna Reed wanted to show that Mothers were intelligent, unlike on "I Love Lucy".
@@antoniod And she did.
I was 6 in 1986 and I LOVED Donna Reed, Mr.Ed, My 3 Sons, etc! Some of my most sweet and nostalgic childhood memories are of lying in bed with my Nana and giggling then falling asleep to these soothing "slice of life" type shows. Can also remember being home sick from school and these comforting shows playing in the background. Now, as an adult and feminist, I can see that these shows could be problematic. HOWEVER, I think it's important to treat them much the same as we do classic literature and realize that they were written in a different era with different values. We can point out their issues, learn from them, and still manage to enjoy them. Sometimes it's nice to watch/read something that's totally unrealistic, yet cozy and restful without all the violence and drama. Sometimes Mary figuring out who her prom date will be is just what we need lol!
I wish I still had my vhs tapes of the Disney preview weekends; they were the highlight of the year, as a 6 year old.
I watched the how to be Donna Reed when it aired. Now I am a transgender woman. All those Republicans are going to be mad at Nickelodeon now.
I was hoping there would be mention of the Donna Reed/Dennis the Menace crossover episode, but oh well ;)
"Woman control the PTA" has got to be one of the weakest reasons to be afraid of feminism I've ever heard
As a kid in the 80s, I loved shows like Donna Reed and Father Knows Best. While not at all realistic, they seemed so calm and pleasant as compared to the trash culture I grew up in.
Also, congrats on 10,000 subscribers!
Damn. That ending is probably the harshest you've ever allowed yourself to be (on this show at least), though I can't say it wasn't deserved.
I know this contributes nothing except an algorithm boost, but Gilmore Girls is fucking awesome and I love the little rants Lorelai and Rory would do.
Also, I hope this Summer Camp stuff does get better for your sake, Greg.
It HAS to....right?
Same here! That show's razor whit WAS my 90's experience, not to mention dunking hard on 50's culture MST3k style!
The Monkees is, at the very least, different.
VLRgospel09 🧐
I concur entirely. As a child of the 80s who got cable around '86 or so, I have plenty of fond memories of having watched Menace, Lassie and Mister Ed, but I don't think I ever saw a single episode of Donna Reed. Or rather, if I did, it was so dull I have no memory of doing so.
I loved watching the show on Nickelodeon a Nick at Nite but I have to say you were right on in terms of where it fits into our TV history! I find the show to be TV comfort food, except for the frequent diatribes about gender roles. The thing that I always thought was better about the Donna Reed Show was that they actually gave Donna Stone a personality and intelligence, and didn’t just keep her in the kitchen baking cakes in every episode. She was more than just a doting mother. I have to think that for Donna Reed, this was the best job that 1950s America would give her and she didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
The last 3 seasons aren't available for streaming. Nick at Nite would show the last season but skip the other two.
Is it just me or was there only one TV show in the 50s, just dozens of that one?
My local cable company used to switch to A&E at 8pm. Sometimes they wouldn't switch over on time (an annoyance to anyone who wanted to watch that documentary on Tasmanian berries I'm sure) and I would get to watch Mr. Ed for a few minutes. It would always switch over eventually and I would be jealous of all those kids that would get to see what hijinks that talking horse was getting up to.
I had a similar experiences with Adelphia Cable in Hemet California, in the late 90s and early 2000s. Tho replace Nick and Playboy, with Cartoon network and Fox Sports. I used to be able to watch till Moltar hosted Toonami came on, but after the network aligned timezones, it got pushed back to past the cut off of 3pm. I didn't get full CN, and Toonami and Adult Swim, until 2004. Apparently even the company Adelphia bought out did it, as my mom got cable just for MTV(in the late 80s), Gen-xer in a Boomers body I swear. They cut it off at 6pm, and slotted in The Discovery Channel. (One of my earliest memories is of watching the video for Love Shack and suddenly a shark eats a seal, as Shark Week starts.)
lol wtf I lived near Hemet then and had Adelphia and they didn't do that at all, I watched the crap out of Toonami back then.
@@lainiwakura1776 That's what happened I swear to god. Even when we moved to Winchester it still was that way.
*group of shady mob characters surrounding Donna Reed, one of them opens up jacket to reveal Campbell soup shirt*
"now, i'm sure you know about Lockhart.."
I LOVE The Donna Reed Show.
I do too! Low stakes, milquetoast-not that it's a bad thing. Life was simpler back then. I like the fact that this show wasn't so goofy that it tries too hard to be funny-where a show comes off as immature and childish.
I think this guy is overanalyzing the show. I wonder if the presenter feels some kind of "white guilt" for this show and the era it came from.
No mention of her one season on Dallas as Miss Ellie, disappointed I was looking forward to that.
After Paul Peterson left the “Donna Reed Show”, he inked a deal with Berry Gordy’s Motown label, and released three singles without any of his success. The best one was the original version of “Chained” which was later remade by Marvin Gaye.
ruclips.net/video/pM7yG7ZZ0tA/видео.html
Unrelated to anything in this episode, but the background music during the middle ten minutes, to me, totally sounds like the end credit music from "Toad Patrol" season 1. Very relaxing.
Despite the author of Nick Knack's opinion, I liked this show for a little while during my childhood. And I mean I thought it was better than Lassie. I remember thinking the show with the dog saving the kid every day was redundant and that I was at least getting some variety with Donna Reed. But then again I enjoyed watching Mr. Ed so maybe I'm not so smart.
Same here. Donna Reed wasn't exactly appointment television for me, but I could sit through it. A half hour of Lassie, on the other hand, was excruciating.
Same here I saw it on nick at nite when I was 7 in 1991😇
❤ I love donna
Trisha became a regular on The Donna Reed Show in early 1963. Mary went away to college in the Fall of that year and made several guest appearances during the next two years. She made no appearances in the final season, but was mentioned a few times. I may be in a minority, but I loved Trisha.She was my own age. I was an 8-year-old boy who loved an 8-year-old girl joining the cast.:-)
8:30 I saw the same plot done on the Honeymooners, with the same ending, only he was actually funny.
I find the fact Nickelodeon shared channel space with The Playboy Channel hilarious Not much to say on The Donna Reed Show, it's a show I never watched nor had any interest in.
Gosh you certainly rip a show that ran for 8, yes 8 seasons. My family and I have enjoyed it throughout the years.
Once Nickelodeon cancelled The Donna Reed Show in 1984, the network went down the toilet. Having Donna Reed Show on the network was the reason why Nick at Nite worked.
We had TCI Cable which kept up the channel switchover until summer 1997, so I not only missed a lot of Nick at Nite, but also never got to watch the SNICK block, a core memory for many '90s kids.
I like Donna Reed more than Dennis the Menace.
Jeez I forgot what a stone cold fox Donna Reed was
Donna Reed was a queen. Respect her and her fabulous show in all of it's perfectly sterile 1950s glory!
I loved Nick at Night in the 80s and 90s. Originally turned off because it was black and white and then hooked. I liked it better then the modern shows and I was just a kid. I probly should of been in bed. I got my first tv from goodwill and it was black and white. It was perfect for NIck at Nite.
"The past was a mistake!"
I'll file that one under meme worthy.
Going to disagree with your analysis of The Donna Reed Show. I first saw all 8 seasons as a teen when Nick @ Nite aired them back in the 80s and early 90s . I believe they were the only network to do so in syndication. Even Tubi only airs up to season 5 and the DVDs only have up to season 5. I've since watch the show many times over as an adult. Some folks see humor differently than others. I find the show genuinely funny at times and I get involved in the stories being told. Each main character always had several episodes centered around them. While Donna Stone was a housewife and mom, she was not a 'stereotypical" 50s/60s June Cleaver or Margaret Anderson type most of the time. Just watch a complete episode and you will see that she and Alex were pretty liberal-minded with the rearing of their children and many of their ideas while traditional on some things. There were episodes where certain topics were overtly addressed, and others topics were more subtly addressed, even though Donna Reed "allegedly" didn't have much say. )*wink*.
Getting a C isn't worth getting upset about? I guess my standards are too high.
😊
I found this today, and as a fellow 30-something millennial, I love this project! Keep up the good work!
Wonderful TV show never seen it before.
The Dashing Rogue I did I was 7 in 1991 on nick at nite until I was 9 in 1994 they showed seasons 1,2,3,5 and 8😇
❤ Donna's family
Very insightful. I always love hearing other people reflect on all this 1950's culture dumped on our 1980's lives via Nick, and Back to the Future, and the Twilight Zone, and Happy Days... People always had more depth than the Donna Reed propaganda idealism. Yet, like Pleasantville I can't help be fall for this illusion of American perfection. Come to think of it is Bud watching Nick At Nite religiously???
Considering the channel Bud/David watched was called "TV Time", probably more likely he was watching TV Land, so close enough considering it was a spinoff of Nick at Nite to start out with.
I actually saw some things in those scenes I wish you had explored: Why was the daughter in the discussion about the son's grades? The psychology and in-fighting in the stereotypical '50s women's club. Things like that.
I'm actually disappointed with your reaction toward the Donna Reed Show. I remember very fondly watching Nick @ Nite every night and enjoying all the shows Donna Reed included. I was born the year after it ended, 1967. I found the dry nature of the show comical because of its style. I graduated High School in the Summer of 1986 at age 19. I watched Nick @ Nite late night with my dad.
Cool and interesting.
That last clip with them in the separate beds threw me for just a second. That was such a bizarre phenomenon. What were they trying to shield the children from? Their parents would have slept in a single bed at home. Why didn't they think it was okay to show that on television?
Actually most couples in the 1950s DID sleep in separate beds/bedrooms. My own grandparents had separate bedrooms all my life
Donna had BUSTER KEATON on two episodes.
1st time I saw It's A Wonderful Life was on Nick At Nite in 1985 (Thanksgiving Night).
Use to watch a lot of Nickelodeons nick at nite including this show i.was 7 in 1991 loved today's special I saw it in 1990 i was 6 at the time loved I love Lucy too
I tip my preverbal hat to you for watching all these boomer shows and for watching Friends in the future
I used to watch Nick at Nite religiously and I do not remember this show at all. I don't think my parents ever spoke about it either, and I used to remember what shows they liked cause I was always interested in old TV and loved watching it. I don't remember anything of My Three Sons either so it doesn't leave me hopeful. I remember Mr. Ed and liking that though... or maybe I just liked horses.
Remember a lot of nick at nite donna Reed show,American tonight,adventures of superman,alfredo Hitchcock presents best of snl bad news bears,best of snl,bewitched,dick van dyke show,dragnet,Dennis the menace,f troop,fernwood tonigh,flipper,green acres,get smart,gidget,honey I'm home,i love lucy lassie,many loves of Dobie gills mork and mindy mister ed my three sons patty Duke show I was 7 in 1991 at the time 😊
Thanks for enduring this show to get the history down.
17:30 unexpected treats for fans of oldies music.
Speaking as someone who was a kid when this aired on Nickelodeon, if you want to know why any kid would have watched this the answer is simple. There wasn't much competition. Our cable box at the time had a dial on it, and had 32 channels at the most. Sure, I could have watched Guiding Light, I guess and maybe the USA Cartoon Express would have been on opposite it or something, but probably you watched it because there wasn't anything else on. Though, come to think of it, I don't think i ever watched this show, or at least don't have much memory of it outside of the commercials you have shown.
Love Nick Knacks, can't wait for the book version
But does Donna Reed eat dollar bills?
Nick Knacks drinking game-
Take a shot for every “The past was a mistake”
TBH I actually want a more realistic version of that kind of life.
Ozzie and Harriet ❤ ❤
I wonder how an elevator operator show would go. I guess it would be in two parts. Part 1: Her meeting weird characters in the elevator and talking to them about their problems. Part 2: A wacky scheme to help them overcome it. That... actually would be a much more interesting show. And, since there are a fuck-ton of businesses that work out of the Empire State Building, it could be anything from her hosting a fundraiser to keep an orphanage from going under, to her adopting a lemur because one of the riders needs to hide it from animal control, to her playing midwife when the elevator gets stuck, and a passenger goes into labor, to her trailing someone she thinks is a Russian spy, but it turns out to be a famous composer (She gets him confused with a similar looking guy), and we end on a classical concert... could she sing or play any instrument? Damn, what could have been.
I would love to see you do an episode about Captain Kangaroo
I don't agree with the whole Donna Reed show hate, sure its dated, but that's what makes it campy.
So, you missed the part where he listed the shows that are just as old as this but still found good things to say about them?
@@segundovargas I didn't but it still felt very elitist, how he basically belittled the show for not conforming to modern standards.
@@segundovargas it's like asking someone from ancient greece to have the same values as someone from 2020.
I'm sorry, but shows like these shouldn't get a pass just because "it's a product of its time."
Especially when it promotes what men thought what the ladies should behave like back then.
@@segundovargas again it is ridiculous to ask for people in a show that is more than a decade old to change its morals or have it "cancelled". Enjoy the show as it is, as a campy throwback like the people before you used to enjoy it and like everyone else does. I mean I don't watch Donna Reed and expect it to be a lesson on how to treat a woman or some ridiculous nonsense, it is just some campy show from a different era.
Sooooo...you're saying Donna wanted to get BEYOND Mombasa?
I'm not going to lie, a channel that was Nickelodeon during the day and the Playboy Channel at night sounds exactly what 13 year old me would have loved.
Hell, it's what 33 year old me would have loved...
I’m trying to think of the modern equivalent of what this show would be. I’m thinking a Robin Wright/Chloe Sevingy type, in that they’ve hardly had a mainstream career with one or two exceptions (Forrest Gump being its a wonderful life equivalent), and then getting into television with the intention of making something creative and challenging and being molded into the perfect representation of a housewife.
Every sexism joke had me cringing, but at least this was made with innocuous intentions, I don’t think it ever aimed for a message beyond pleasant.
I just now realized she had just passed away when this started airing (she had been on Dallas for a year before this)
YOU CANT POSTPONE DOUBLE DARE FOREVER
This show basically inspired "Hi Honey, I'm Home" and (more successfully) the movie Pleasantville.
❤ donna and Alex ❤
I knew next to nothing about Donna Reed before this video apart from the one song that mentioned her in passing in Little Shop of Horrors, which thanks to this video I now that that movie came out eight months after her death
In Boston they had Nick at Nite on the B trunk but not the A trunk.
My god I remember this show as being super boring. Hope this 33 minute video shows there was more to it than that.
The first sign a show is dying is when the writers shoe-horn in a character to replace another character because they have no other ideas. - some guy on the internet 2021.
I LOVE LUCY was so popular that small businesses closed so their proprietors could watch it, and bars were emptier when it was on. Just how many people in the US had a problem with it? Lucy was singled out because somebody found a voter registration card where she wrote "Communist", not because of anything on the show. Loretta Young frequently played a working woman on her anthology series and I haven't heard of any witch hunters having a problem with it.
Many people watch these type shows because they are aspirational. If you are from a dysfunctional family, this could be a nice respite (I've heard people say this). I never thought of this show as funny but just mildly amusing now and then. However, that's really all most people ever wanted out of it.
the lady in Hangin' In has a point. Nobody should ever be forced or forbidden from expressing themselves however they want. I love bunny girls but hate playboy clubs.
This guy clearly has NO CLUE what he's talking about. The Donna Reed Show is a perfect example of family wholesomeness which is missing in today's entertainment. Guess should've expected much since all he knew growing up was probably Star Wars 😂
Love this channel!
Got a question though, I remember seeing a show, some kind of anime movie on Nickelodeon I think in 87 or 88 and I've been looking for it just to fulfill my trivia. Is there a site that might have this information, maybe a list of showtime slots?
Nick and More has a list of every show that aired on Nick, though if what you’re looking for really was a movie, then I’m guessing that wouldn’t be able to help you. Can you recall any details?
@@PinkieLopBun Oh, hello! I didn't think I would get a response so soon. I poked around on that site before with no luck, I even attempted to look through old TV Guides someone had scanned but It doesn't help that I never knew the name of the movie.
I don't remember too much (which was why I was trying to hunt it down) but I think it came on the weekends during the day. I saw it twice but both times I came into the middle of it. I'm pretty sure it was a stand alone movie, no product tie-ins or recognizable characters and I got the feeling it was made in the early 80's. The setting was sci-fi, sometime in the future and dealt with a conflict with robots/androids in space. I don't know the plot but one scene I remember was towards the end; some kind of disaster happened with the robot army and they showed a fleet of ships (troop transports?) smashed in half and broken robot bodies swirling in space. I also think the color pallet was limited, I remember there being a lot of reds, browns and yellows with the robots being just grey.
I also seem to remember seeing adds for Spartacus and the Sun Beneath the Sea shown on the commercial breaks which might help place the year? I know this isn't much to go on, I'm even doubting the info I'm giving you but if it sounds familiar let me know and thanks for your assistance!
Jason Hendricks I think I might have found it. Is it Once Upon a Time... Space? That aired on Special Delivery under the title Revenge of the Humanoids in 1986. watch?v=gUROkDFl87o
@@PinkieLopBun That's it! I don't know how you found it with my description but that's the show!
I just found the original series on Amazon and going through the episodes I can see I was pretty off in my memory. I think the spaceships are one of the only things that I remember accurately, very Chris Foss. Now that I know it was on Special Delivery I can see the Wiki entry for it and I feel kinda stupid.
Wow, thank you so much for helping me with this, I had planned to just wait and see if poparena might cover it but decided to take a chance and see if maybe someone might know what I was talking about. Thanks again!
Jason Hendricks Glad I could help!
Donna Reed's "family" was my family. It was comfortable. I watched it because Shelley was a babe. But, it didn't make me conventional; I went on to be a draft dodger.
I was one of the young kids who liked this at the time, so I was that rare person that you just threw away. Seriously man, your research is extremely impressive but your smugness and know-it-all-ism is so over-the-top and cooler-than-the-room that this is the epitome of channels that I hatewatch. But I love watching it. But I hate it. Anyway, watch my beer and snack reviews 😂
Agreed I loved it too I was 7 in 1991😇☻
The character did have a job in the final season.
Yeah, I remember the opening credits showed Donna Reed greeting all the family members on their way out the door to start their day, then closing the door while smiling contentedly, but in that last season, she'd look down at her watch, or something, get a look on her face like "Oh $#!t, I've gotta run!" and bolt out the door herself to get to work.
I’m not sure if it was a job or that she was off to one of her several other committed organizations she was a part of, because Donna was ALWAYS busy, and by season 8 her kids were old enough that she did not need to stay home all the time.
❤ life with donna ❤
❤ quynh anh and Donna Reed ❤
❤️
❤ nickelodeon donna Reed ❤
If proper research was completed, you'd discover the reason for such bland story lines was the show's sponsor, Campbell's Soup. Like Reed said herself, "We didn't work for the Network, we worked for Campbell's," so what Campbell's wanted, Campbell's got. The only other show Campbell's sponsored at the time was Lassie, so that should give you a taste as to how and why things ran the way they did. So, no, the past certainly wasn't a mistake. TODAY is where the mistakes are being made by our society to allow Socialism to destroy our country bit by bit. I'd gladly jump into a time machine if one existed and relocate to 1955.
❤ donna Reed ❤
😢 donna Reed 😅 is another one of those
🎉 donna Reed 🎉
"The perfect American Family" from the 50s... disgusting :(
y?
❤ Michael and Janet ❤