The Jetsons

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The Jetsons
GenreAnimated
science fiction
Sitcom
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera (1983-1984)
Genndy Tartakovsky
Paul Rudish
Chris Savino
John McIntyre (1998-2001)
Voices ofDon Messick (1983-1984)
Jeff Bergman (1997, 1998-1999)
Paula Winslowe
Janet Waldo
Dick Beals
Mel Blanc
Alan Reed
Jean Vander Pyl
Theme music composerHoyt Curtin (1983-84)
Danny Elfman (1998-2001)
ComposersHoyt Curtin (1983-84)
Danny Elfman (1998-2001)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes75 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerFred Seibert (1999-2001)
ProducersWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Running time22–30 minutes
Production companyHanna-Barbera
Original release
NetworkABC Season 1 (1983-1984)
Cartoon Network Seasons 2–3 (1999–2001)
ReleaseNovember 4, 1983 –
May 27, 2001

The Jetsons is an American animated sitcom. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. There are 77 episodes and 3 seasons. Each episode is between 22 and 30 minutes. The series was first broadcast in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC. It was later broadcast in reruns in syndication with new episodes made from 1985 to 1987. The Jetsons was Hanna-Barbera's Space Age counterpart to The Flintstones.[1]

While the Flintstones lived in a world which was a version of the Stone Age. The Jetsons live in a version of the same world in the future.[2][3] The Flintstones had machines powered by birds and dinosaurs while the Jetsons had robotic machined, aliens, holograms, and other futuristic inventions.[4][5] The original series had 24 episodes. They were broadcast on Sunday nights on ABC beginning on September 23, 1962. Prime time reruns were broadcast through September 22, 1963.[6] It was the first program broadcast in color on ABC.[7] The program did not get much attention. It was cancelled after one season and moved to Saturday mornings. It was very successful there.[8]

After the primetime run, the program aired on Saturday mornings for decades. It was on ABC for the 1963–64 season and then on CBS and NBC.[9] New episodes were produced for syndication from 1985 to 1987. No episodes of the show were made after 1989. Much of the main cast (George O'Hanlon, Mel Blanc and Daws Butler) had died in 1988 and 1989. The 1990 movie Jetsons: The Movie was the series finale to the television program. A direct-to-video animated movie, The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania!, was released in 2017.

References[change | change source]

  1. CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records
  2. Lewis, Andy (23 September 2012). "'The Jetsons' Turn Fifty". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  3. The Jetsons: The Family of the Future. The Jetsons — The Complete First Season: Turner Home Entertainment. Archived from the original (DVD bonus feature) on 2021-10-30.
  4. "Jetsons: The Complete First Season". DVD Talk. May 11, 2004. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  5. Novak, Matt. "Automating Hard or Hardly Automating? George Jetson and the Manual Labor of Tomorrow". smithsonianmag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  6. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 445–449. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  7. O'Reilly, Terry (May 24, 2014). "21st Century Brands". Under the Influence. Season 3. Episode 21. Event occurs at time 3:15. CBC Radio One. Archived from the original on June 8, 2014. Transcript of the original source. Retrieved June 7, 2014. The program was ahead of its time in more ways than one, as it was the first television series to be broadcast in colour on the ABC network, at a time when only 3% of the public had colour television sets.
  8. Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 110. ISBN 978-0670829781. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. Alex McNeil (1980). Total Television. Penguin Books.