(ABC, September 23, 1962-March 17, 1963
Syndication, September 16, 1985-November 12, 1987)
After successfully visiting the
Stone Age, Hanna-Barbera
set their sights on the future with The
Jetsons. George Jetson (George
O’Hanlon) lived with his family--wife Jane (Penny Singleton),
teenaged daughter Judy (Janet
Waldo), son Elroy (Daws Butler),
and dog Astro (Don
Messick)--in an apartment in Orbit City on earth. He worked
an hour a day for two days a week as a literal button pusher at Spacely
Sprockets, owned by the grumpy miser Cosmo Spacely (Mel Blanc).
Like most sitcom fathers, George was often beset upon by his family’s antics,
his boss’ overlording, or his own schemes backfiring. It was heavily influenced
by the Space Age sensibilities of the time: cars resembled flying saucers,
sidewalks moved on their own, food came from a machine with the push of a
particular button, bathrooms bathed a person automatically, robots were
everywhere, etc. But, despite all that, the residents of the world suffered the
weariness of the daily grind familiar to those in the present.
 |
| Astro, Judy, George, Elroy and Jane getting their photo taken by Rosie. |
The Jetsons debuted on September
23, 1962 on ABC, becoming the first program
that the network would broadcast in color. Unfortunately, it was up against Walt Disney’s Wonderful
World of Color and Dennis the Menace and
performed poorly as a result, leaving it cancelled at the end of its sole
season. However, ABC continued to air it through 1964 on its Saturday morning
schedule, after which it moved to CBS and
then NBC for the next two decades. Hanna-Barbera
pondered the possibility of a spin-off featuring an older Judy, but that was
rejected by CBS and ultimately retooled into the series Partridge
Family 2200 A.D. A resurgence in the show’s popularity led to
Hanna-Barbera producing an additional 41 new episodes in 1984 to create a
syndication package with the original 24. While essentially the same show,
elements were updated with the times such as putting a greater focus on technology
that gave the Jetson’s robotic maid Rosie (Jean Vander Pyl)
more prominence and George a work partner in the form of sentient computer, R.U.D.I.
(Messick). The family got a new pet: a spring-legged alien named Orbity (Frank Welker).
Plots expanded from standard sitcom fare to feature more science-fiction
elements. The theme, while similar, was also updated to include some modern synthesized
instrumentation.
During the revival’s production, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to
produce a film based on the show. Written by Dennis Marks, the film sees the
Jetsons relocated to an asteroid colony to oversee Spacely’s new plant that
keeps being sabotaged. One of the challenges faced by the production was the
advanced age and poor health of many of the cast members. 71-year-old Butler
died of a heart attack before recording a single line, leading to the casting
of Patric Zimmerman as
Elroy. 76-year-old O’Hanlon and 81-year-old Blanc both died after they completed
their recordings, with Jeff
Bergman stepping in to fill in for both of them for any additional dialogue.
While Waldo did record her lines for Judy, singer Tiffany was stunt-cast to replace her and
sing a few songs in the hopes that she would prove a box-office draw. Unfortunately,
Jetsons: The Movie was critically panned when it was released in 1990 and ultimately only
earned $20.3 million. It wouldn’t be until 2017 that another film, the
direct-to-video The
Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania!, would be produced.
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