Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It stars Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers ("as The Beaver", as the opening credits put it).
| Leave It to Beaver | |
|---|---|
Season one title screen | |
| Genre | Sitcom, children's television series |
| Created by | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | David Kahn Melvyn Leonard Mort Greene |
| Opening theme | "The Toy Parade" |
| Composers | Pete Rugolo (1957–62) Paul Smith (1962–63) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 234 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Production locations | Republic Studios Universal Studios Los Angeles |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Revue Studios MCA TV Gomalco Productions (1957–1961) (seasons 1–4) Kayro Productions (1961–1963) (seasons 5–6) |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | October 4, 1957 – July 16, 1958 |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | October 2, 1958 – June 20, 1963 |
| Related | |
| Still the Beaver The New Leave It to Beaver Leave It to Beaver (1997 film) | |
CBS first broadcast the show on October 4, 1957, but dropped it after one season. ABC picked it up and aired it for another five years, from October 2, 1958, to June 20, 1963. It proved to be a scheduling challenge for both networks, moving through four time slots (Wednesday through Saturday evenings) over the course of its run. The series was produced by Gomalco Productions from 1957 to 1961, and then by Kayro Productions from 1961 to 1963. It was distributed by Revue Studios.
Leave It to Beaver never broke into the Nielsen Ratings top 30 in its six-season run. However, it proved to be much more popular in reruns. It also led to an unsuccessful 1997 film of the same name.