Iconic TV shows from the 1965 fall season revisited

Sixty years ago, the 1965 fall television season had entered its second week. But already, the view from the couch was not promising. Critics were in a lousy mood. They seemed to hate everything they saw, from sitcoms to Westerns.

Jack Gould of The New York Times declared that "the new television season is being written off as the biggest yawn in the modern annals of broadcasting." The new comedies bugged the critics most of all. A genie in a bottle? A World War II sitcom? A talking car?

Alas, their reviews are forgotten. The shows are not. One of the most memorable fall seasons in TV history was officially underway, and most of these reviled shows have endured — in repeat, then syndication, later on YouTube and streaming.

They made an immediate cultural impact back then, too, as a sunn