The Jetsons

After the success of their Stone Age hit The Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera did a creative turnabout by chronicling the lives of a family in the year 2062. Their futuristic endeavor, The Jetsons, premiered in 1962 in the Sunday night time slot, where the show aired for one season before being moved to Saturday mornings, where it played in reruns for nearly two decades. A new Jetsons series using the original voice actors was produced for syndication from 1985 to 1987.

Head of household, George Jetson was a working class father of the future. He spent backbreaking three hour work days at a company called Spacely Sprockets, pushing a button at a computer. George was constantly under threat of losing his job from his diminutive boss Cosmo Spacely. In all fairness to Mr. Spacely, however, George had a penchant for being late, and he did fall asleep at his computer on more than one occasion.

Spacely Sprockets was in competition with another company called Cogswell Cogs, headed by H.G. Cogswell. Fair business practices were a rare commodity between Mr. Cogswell and Mr. Spacely, and it routinely fell on the shoulders of George Jetson to execute some wild scheme thought up by Mr. Spacely to get the better of his business rival. Of course, things inevitably went wrong and it was George who took the fall. It was not uncommon to hear an upset Mr. Spacely yelling, “Jetsooooon! You’re fired!” In the end though, George always managed to grovel his way into keeping his job.

Other members of the Jetson household included George’s wife Jane and their two children Judy and Elroy. Jane was a full time housewife who loved to shop. On occasion she had to cook dinner or clean their skyrise, which amounted to pushing a few buttons because everything was automated. Still, she couldn’t help but sigh over the drudgery of housework. To help ease the burden of her daily chores, the family purchased a maid called Rosey the Robot from the commercial cleaning agency U-Rent A Maid. Rosey was warm, friendly and helpful, and like other robots in the 21st century, her personality was more human than programmed. Rosey even cried in a few episodes, and more than one episode devoted itself to finding her a robot husband.

Judy Jetson was a stereotypical teenage girl who loved clothes and music, and spent her time dreaming of the next boy she wanted to date. Elroy Jetson was the youngest member of the family. He shared similar interests with most six-year old boys—namely superheroes and space-age westerns, and having far-out adventures. He also had a knack for working with computers and other technical gadgets.

The family dog, Astro, was as much a part of the family as the rest. He was George’s devoted and *burdensomely* over-affectionate companion, and best buddy to Elroy.

The show (at the time it was made) foreshadowed many of the things we take for granted in the modern age, like treadmills, cell phones and the internet. Surely the flying cars will get here soon; and having a moving walkway in every room could come in handy…