What is “Leave It to Beaver”?
A: An American television sitcom broadcast between 1957 and 1963.
What was it about?
A: An inquisitive and often naïve boy, Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his
adventures at home, school, and around his suburban neighborhood.
The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh
Beaumont as whom?
A: 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 what?
A: The idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.
Who created the show?
A: It 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 what?
A: In the lives, experiences, and conversations of their own children.
Leave It to Beaver is one of the first primetime sitcom
series written how?
A: 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 what?
A: Middle-class American boyhood.
In a typical episode, Beaver gets into some sort of
boyish scrape, then what?
A: He then faces his parents for reprimand and correction.
Neither parent was omniscient or infallible; the series
often showed the parents debating what?
A: Their approach to child rearing, and some episodes were built around
parental gaffes.
Leave It to Beaver ran for how long?
A: For six full 39-week seasons (234 episodes).
When did the series have its debut?
A: On CBS on October 4, 1957.
The following season, it moved to where?
A: 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 what>
A: Black-and-white 35 mm film.
Contemporary commentators praised Leave It to Beaver,
with Variety comparing Beaver to whom?
A: Mark Twain's
Tom Sawyer.
Much juvenile merchandise was released during the
show's first run, including what?
A: Board games, novels, and comic books.
In the first two seasons what did Ward Cleaver drive?
A: A 1957 Ford.
Episodes were budgeted at $30,000 to $40,000 each,
making the show one of the what?
A: One of the most costly to produce at the time.
High production costs were in part due to what?
A: Many outdoor scenes.
Who played the part of Ward Cleaver?
A: Hugh Beaumont
Barbara Billingsley played what character?
A: June Cleaver.
Who played Wally?
A: Tony Dow.
What actor played the part of Beaver?
A: Jerry Mathers
For the first two seasons where was the show filmed?
A: At Republic Studios in Studio City, Los Angeles.
For its final four seasons, production moved to where?
A: Universal Studios.
What was the time setting of Leave It to Beaver?
A: The late 1950s and the early 1960s.