Leave It to Beaver | |
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Season one title screen
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Genre | Sitcom, children's television series |
Created by |
Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | David Kahn Melvyn Leonard Mort Greene |
Opening theme | "The Toy Parade" |
Composer(s) |
Pete Rugolo (1962–63) Paul Smith (1962–63) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 234 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
Location(s) |
Republic Studios Universal Studios Los Angeles |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Revue Studios MCA TV Gomalco Productions (1957–61) Kayro Productions (1961–63) |
Distributor |
Universal Television NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network |
CBS (1957–58) ABC (1958–63) |
Picture format | Black-and-white |
Audio format | Monaural |
Original release | October 4, 1957 | – June 20, 1963
Chronology | |
Followed by |
Still the Beaver The New Leave It to Beaver Leave It to Beaver (1997 film) |
Leave It to Beaver is an American television sitcom about an inquisitive and often naïve boy, Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver (portrayed by Jerry Mathers), and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver's brother Wally. The show has attained an iconic status in the United States, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.
The show was created by the writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher. These veterans of radio and early television found inspiration for the show's characters, plots and dialogue in the lives, experiences and conversations of their own children. Leave It to Beaver is one of the first primetime sitcom series written from a child's point of view. Like several television dramas and sitcoms of the late 1950s and early 1960s (Lassie and My Three Sons), Leave It to Beaver is a glimpse of middle-class American boyhood. In a typical episode, Beaver gets into some sort of boyish scrape, then faces his parents for reprimand and correction. Neither parent was omniscient; the series often showed the parents debating their approach to child rearing, and some episodes were built around parental gaffes.
Leave It to Beaver ran for six full 39-week seasons (234 episodes). The series had its debut on CBS on October 4, 1957. The following season, it moved to ABC, where it stayed until completing its run on June 20, 1963. Throughout the show's run, it was shot with a single camera on black-and-white 35mm film. The show's production companies included the comedian George Gobel's Gomalco Productions (1957–61) and Kayro Productions (1961–63) with filming at Revue Studios/Republic Studios and Universal Studios in Los Angeles. The show was distributed by MCA TV.