# First TV Couple in Bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143 "2011-11-16T17:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/41 "2011-11-19T01:17:22Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I’ve seen some episodes where they have one large bed instead of the typical two smaller ones. I think it was after they had little Ricky and moved into the larger apartment. It was definitely before they moved to the house. Look closer. That was 2 twin beds shoved toghether on a queen-sized frame. Each bed has it’s own twin sized sheets and bedding. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/42 "2011-11-19T01:35:38Z")
Had I not read the answers, I would have guessed the Mr and Mrs Brady. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/43 "2011-11-19T02:36:32Z")
Rob and Laura Petrie may have had separate beds, but I think they were the first couple on TV who you could believe actually slept with each other. Laura even had some pretty suggestive lines for the early 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/44 "2011-11-19T03:06:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder if Mike and Gloria (Bunker) Stivic were the first married couple to openly address their sex life on the show. I vaguely remember the topic coming up on **Love American Style** , but since that’s in a grey area between sitcom and sketch, that answer always has a big asterisk next to it. **Rhoda** , which began several years after **All in the Family** but whose run was contemporary with it, was (for the era) pretty open about discussing Rhoda and Joe’s marital difficulties. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/45 "2011-11-19T04:43:39Z")
Just to switch this up a bit, who were the first same-sex couple show in bed together? Or the first interracial? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/46 "2011-11-19T05:29:44Z")
In 50 years, will we be wondering what show on network TV showex the first money shot? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/47 "2011-11-19T05:46:29Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Rob and Laura Petrie may have had separate beds, but I think they were the first couple on TV who you could believe actually slept with each other. Laura even had some pretty suggestive lines for the early 1960s. No shit. I was watching The Dick Van Dyke Show a few days ago and the downright obvious sex jokes practically blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/48 "2011-11-19T19:40:07Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > No shit. I was watching The Dick Van Dyke Show a few days ago and the downright obvious sex jokes practically blew my mind. Entertainment Weekly did a reunion issue of various classic shows a few years back and commented that Rob and Laura were the first couple you knew had good sex. It was accompanied by [this picture of the two stars](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krgt0hno2Z1qz9qooo1_400.jpg). (I can’t believe they got either to do that.) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/49 "2011-11-19T20:41:59Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Laura even had some pretty suggestive lines for the early 1960s. 'Oh, Rob" could definitely be said in a fit of passion. ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/50 "2011-11-19T20:44:06Z")
> [@YoSaffBridge](#): > > Nope. About the Petries in same bed: In one episode they DID sleep in same bed (mattress on floor iirc) and it was a Rob-Laura-Sally-Buddy 4some. Swear to god. Can’t recall now if they literally went to sleep or just laid there telling jokes. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/51 "2011-11-19T23:01:26Z")
I do remember reading somewhere that Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore had minor crushes on each other while doing the show. That probably helped it come off a little more realistic. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/52 "2011-11-20T03:22:28Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Just to switch this up a bit, who were the first same-sex couple show in bed together? Or the first interracial? I’ve heard the Ricardos refered to as the first mixed couple on TV, but that’s really misleading. Hispanics were considered more to be funny foriegners than a seperate racial group in the '50s. In any even Desi Arnaz was of pure Spanish descent; he sure as hell wouldn’t have been allowed to play his wife’s husband on national TV if he looked otherwise. Still th ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143/53 "2011-11-20T08:11:53Z")
Were Tom and Helen Willis of the Jeffersons ever shown in the same bed? I know Ward and June had twin beds. I thought Donna Reed and her on screen husband had good enough chemistry that you believed they were “doing something.” I can’t think of anyone in the 70s still having twin beds. By the mid 60s most TV marrieds were in the same bed, even Katie and Robbie Douglas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-couple-in-bed/603143.md?page=2)