What were the most "risque" shows of the 1960s?

Were there any shows in the 60s which tackled or displayed taboo subject matter or which serve as a great time capuscle of the period? Compared to say, All in the Family in the 70s or The Sopranos? Something like Dragnet I suppose (but not a cop show and less right wing)?

Laugh-In and Love American Style come to mind.

I just checked with Wikipedia, and the latter debuted in 1969, so it also counts.

Those were going to be my suggestions, along with the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, though their run-ins with the censors were more about political satire than sex or drugs.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In debuted in 1968 and pushed a lot of the envelope.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour debuted a year earlier and was quite controversial (leading to its sudden cancellation), but mainly for political/cultural reasons than being “risque”.

Anything earlier than 66 or 65?

Not risque, but Family Affair dealt with some unconventional situations.

Turn-On - Wikipedia was cancelled after one episode - apparently racier than Laugh-In or the Smothers Brothers, but not as good.

I Spy (1965) count as risque? It seems like it pushed the envelope for the time.

I happened to see some show on early Television, possibly a soft documentary, that mentioned The Munster’s was the first show to actually show a married couple in the same bed. There are or at least were many rules about depicting beds and bedrooms (it might have extended to movies also, but I doubt it). Early TV only depicted twin beds such as the Ricardo’s and the Petrie’s, but there was also a ‘one foot on the floor at all times rule’ about which I have forgotten any detail I may have known. They could not even say the word ‘pregnant’ at the beginning of the sixties – I believe they used ‘with child’ or ‘in the family way’; quite a difference from the shows of the late sixties as the suggested Laugh-In. (There were no replies when I started typing this, will be surprised if the joke below isn’t already posted.)

(I also predict there will be an off color joke concerning Jerry Matthers, Hugh Beaumont, and possibly Barbara Billingsly within seven posts.)

I had to look one up: Playboy’s Penthouse,

Never saw it, but I would think it must have pushed boundaries at the time.

Perry Mason.

Yeah you read that right.

There was a doc about 60’s tv recently that went out of it’s way to talk about how Perry Mason of all shows had been one of the first if not the first tv drama or comedy to do an episode about abortion. Standards and Practices predictably went apeshit and some ads were pulled bu they went ahead with the episode.

Cite? Are you sure you’re not thinking of The Defenders, another courtroom drama show that did a show on abortion in 1962?

Jeannie and her jiggling boobs were pretty risque, though we were never allowed to see her navel. :frowning:


Star Trek: TOS*** addressed some important issues (e.g., Vietnam, mutual assured destruction, exploitation, racial bigotry) by setting its stories in space.

A number of shows in the late '60s tried to address social issues by being “relevant”: Room 222, The Name of the Game, and Marcus Welby, f’rinstance.

Not really. I tried watching it when I was ten (it wasn’t on cable, or anything like that), and I found it pretty boring. It was basically Hef being Hef. He was on screen more than any of the women were.

It was going to happen. It might as well be me, since I saw it.

Peter Gunn (1958-61)

Route 66 (1960-64)

Shindig! (1964-66)

Honey West (1965-66)

Batman (1966-68)

Julia (1968-71)

Probably the best example of this was The Storefront Lawyers, with Robert Foxworth and Sheila Larkin. Lasted about thirteen weeks until it morphed into Men at Law, and Larkin was reduced to pouring coffee for her male counterparts.

I guess Jeannie cohabiting with Major Nelson was also pretty risque for the time.

That’s a common misconception. TV historians credit Mary Kay and Johnny as the first, in 1947. It also dealt with Mary Kay’s pregnancy.

But back then, audiences were small and primarily urban, so it was not really noted. Plus it was on the Dumont Network.

Wasn’t The Flintsones second do do both?

Ozzie and Harriet were sleeping in the same bedyears before The Munsters. Some people say that doesn’t count, because the Nelsons were real-life husband and wife (but so were Lucy and Desi!)

And Samantha and Darrin shared a bed from the very beginning on Bewitched. Also, for that matter, Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

But back to the OP, if you want a show that really pushed limits, try East Side/West Side with George C. Scott as a New York City social worker. Not risque in the sexual sense, but risky.

In the category of Very Special Episodes there was an episode of Leave It to Beaver where Beaver unwittingly gave an alcoholic booze (not in a funny way, but showing Ward and June had screwed up as parents.)