# american television - first couple seen in bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 1999, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596 "1999-11-08T20:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/1 "1999-11-08T20:54:00Z")
One of our local newspapers carries a trivia column by Lou Boyd. Most of his trivia items seem dubious to me. Last week I read this “fact”: The first couple seen in bed together on American prime time television was Fred and Wilma Flintstone. I looked in my history of television book over the week-end and didn’t see anything to contradict or confirm that. Wouldn’t it be Ricky and Lucy Ricardo? Or maybe Ralph Kramden and his wife? * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/2 "1999-11-08T21:03:00Z")
Fred and Wilma have separate beds, with a little end table between them. Just a WAG, but I think “Ralph & Alice” or “Desi & Lucy” is WAY too early, considering national squeamishness about issues of sexuality at the time. I’m thinking Mike & Carol Brady. My memory on this is hazy, but IIRC Sherwood Schwartz (sp?) mentioned how the network was scandalized when he wrote their sleeping together in the same bed into the script. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/3 "1999-11-08T21:24:00Z")
The internet to the rescue. Just follow this link and let Snopes ease your mind [http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marykay.htm](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marykay.htm) * * * Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling. ---
**Author:** ![drollman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@drollman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drollman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/4 "1999-11-08T21:47:00Z")
Here’s a little TV Trivia, although it’s not much help: Ozzie & Harriet’s bedroom on “Here Come The Nelsons” was the first double bed on TV. (A man and wife sleeping the same bed! Scandalous!) Before this, couples always had those “twin beds with the lamp between them”, although they were never seen in the bed(s). I’m having trouble getting verification from my sources, but rumour around here is the first couple seen on TV in bed was Rob and Laura Petri on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” No scandal here, they were sitting up in their twin beds with mandatory lamp between them, watching TV. * * * With God as my witness, I thought turkey’s could fly. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/5 "1999-11-08T21:53:00Z")
Thanks, Mullinator, for the link. I guess that’s the answer! Now I’ll have to watch some Flintstones cartoons to see if indeed they had the same bed or if, as rastahomie says, they had separate beds. * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/6 "1999-11-08T22:50:00Z")
IIRC, Herman and Lily Munster were the first married television couple to be shown in bed together. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/7 "1999-11-08T23:15:00Z")
I seem to recall hearing that on the Donna Reed show, there was an ironclad rule that if Mr. and Mrs. Reed were sitting on the bed, they had to keep one foot on the floor at all times. * * * Live a Lush Life Da Chef ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/8 "1999-11-09T00:07:00Z")
That “rule” predated Donna Reed, being quoted as part of the original movie production code in the 30s. I don’t know if it actually was a rule before then, though. The early TV couple shown most regularly in a single bed together was Oliver Wendell and Lisa Douglas, who were often shown sharing a bed. * * * Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/9 "1999-11-09T01:39:00Z")
Ozzie and Harriet have been mentioned… What I heard was that Ozzie and Harriet were the first couple to have a double bed. It was okay since the actor and actress were married in real life. Is this true? I don’t know if they were shown in bed though. * * * Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group. - Boris Badenov ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/10 "1999-11-09T01:50:00Z")
On “The Honeymooners,” they avoided the question entirely by never actually showing us the Kramdens’ bedroom at all. Remember? Their apartment was supposed to be a two-room flat and we never saw the bathroom either, for that matter. The Flintstones were the first _cartoon_ couple to have a child in the course of the series. And the Rubbles were the first to adopt a child. All of you check that Snopes link above. It mentions a series that doesn’t exist today _in any form_. No wonder I don’t remember it. What was the first TV series to show a bathroom? * * * Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/11 "1999-11-09T03:28:00Z")
I Love Lucy too early? Wasn’t there an episode where Lucy and Ricki got handcuffed together and couldn’t sleep on their usual respective sides of the bed because of it? I’m sure I remember that. Also, I know it ain’t true (and it’s radio to boot) but I’d have been crossing my fingers in the hope that it was Charlie McCarthy and Marilyn Monroe; I loved that show; too bad they didn’t tie the knot 🙂 * * * “I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.” –Wayne Knight ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/12 "1999-11-09T06:18:00Z")
What was the first TV series to show a bathroom? Just guessing again, but I’m going with the Brady’s again. Never showed the toilet-- just the kids in their pajamas, brushing their teeth. I guess they did their business outside behind the semen-- er, Carob tree (they lived in LA, remember?). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/13 "1999-11-09T07:14:00Z")
Actually, a toilet was shown on “Leave It To Beaver” in the late '50s; or rather, a part of one. The story called for Beaver to hide a frog (or tyrtle, I can’t remember) in the toilet tank. Censors didn’t like the idea, but finally said it would be OK if only the toilet _tank_ and not the _bowl_ were shown. “The plane will be landing in Havana shortly” * * * TT “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/14 "1999-11-09T07:26:00Z")
Here’s the snopes version: [It’s Potty Time](http://snopes.simplenet.com/radiotv/tv/toilet.htm) Aligator, turtle, frog; whatever. * * * TT “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-television-first-couple-seen-in-bed/4596/15 "1999-11-09T17:12:00Z")
Mike and Carol Brady,eh? It figures;people were sposed to be scandalized,and it turned out he was gay!