The Jetsons

Original Air Date: 1962-1963

Network: ABC

Have you met George Jetson? His boy, Elroy? Daughter Judy? Jane, his wife?! Of course you have, thanks to good old Hanna-Barbera, who first gave us the adventures of this futuristic nuclear family all the way back in 1962 -- on primetime no less. Animation during evening viewing times just didn't happen back in the day, until fellow HB series The Flintstones arrived in 1960 and started a mini revolution. Several other cartoons followed, but The Jetsons, along with its Stone Age brother, proved to be the most enduring of these primetime shows... at least until The Simpsons completely changed the playing field in the late 1980s.

The future-world depicted in the show was all gee-whiz airships and robots and, uh, treadmills, and the overall feel of The Jetsons' setting proved to be incredibly persuasive considering that the show originally ran for just one season of 24 episodes. Another 50 or so episodes would follow in the far-off future of the mid 1980s, as did TV movies and theatrical films. A live-action film is rumored to be in the works.