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Beyond the Basics

The futuristic family cartoon The Jetsons premiered in 1962 and was set 100 years in the future. It featured the Jetson family: George, an employee of Spacely Sprockets; Jane, his homemaker wife; teen daughter, Judy; young son, Elroy; and Astro, the family dog. Also appearing in The Jetsons were George’s boss, Cosmo G. Spacely, and the family’s robot-maid, Rosie. The Jetsons Predicted the FutureWell Set in 2062, many of the cartoon’s contraptions are already around today

The Jetsons was produced in color and was the first show ABC broadcast in color. But in 1962, less than 3 percent of Ameri- can households had the pricy novelty of a color TV set. (It wasn’t until 1972 that 50 percent of American households owned one.) Plus, many ABC affiliates had yet to install the color transmitters that would allow them to broadcast anything but black-and-white programming.

people watching on Sunday nights saw the episodes in black and white—a less engaging visual experience. This was one reason for poor ratings and why The Jetsons was canceled after just one 24-episode season. However, the produc- tion company Hanna-Barbera, the minds behind The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo , revived The Jetsons with new episodes that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1987.

most households had this technology. More importantly, The Jetsons provided a glimpse into what everyday life in the future might be like that was remark- ably prophetic in many ways. Let’s take a look at some of the concepts the show got right. Video Calls Members of the Jetson family could see the people they were talking to on the phone, and in 1962, that was a fairly out- landish idea. In 1964, AT&T introduced

So while the show portrayed a bright and colorful space-themed future, most

Clearly, the show was ahead of its time. It showcased color television long before

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