really quite awful

i realize it's a different era.
i've watched quite a few shows/movies from the time,and earlier decades.but even if you set aside the sexism,the humor/storylines themseves are lame and boring.my mom,who grew up in the 50's,saw the same dvd i did,and had just about the same reaction.granted we only saw 3 episodes.perhaps we happened to see the only 3 episodes that were awful.

Agree with your post, theoldmedic-1... as a kid, I watched this with my family too, and we ALL loved it. As has been noted, the times were simply different then, "sophistication" and tastes may have evolved, so it's likely difficult to judge it fairly by today's standards. In the day, it was funny (and to my knowledge) quite well received. Good early TV.

Absolutely, theoldmedic-1, you are right on the mark!

One cannot apply today's standards, morals, etc. to entertainment of half a century ago. But beyond that, aside from technological advancements of today, I think most television and films of the past are better acted, directed and written than most films & TV of today.

A situation comedy or episodic TV show of today has to contrive and shove in the viewer's face a heavy-handed (and politically-correct from the left) moral. Many child characters seem more to be reciting propaganda than acting naturally, as did the young actors who portrayed "Beaver Cleaver" and "Opie Taylor" (on their respective series' of the past), who made those characters seem so real their names are now part of the lexicon of our culture.

But to address the TV show of this thread, "Topper" was adapted from the MGM film series, the first of which starred Cary Grant, Constance Bennett and Roland Young (the latter a friend of Thorne Smith, author of the novel on which "Topper" was based). "The Kerbys" of "Topper" were similar to the sophisticated and fun-loving couples of other romantic/screwball comedies of the era, and specifically the married couples of comedic detective films (Myrna Loy & William Powell of "The Thin Man" series, and "Mr. & Mrs. North"), both of which were also developed into television series'.

I just don't understand how one may listen to the rapid-fire and wisecracking dialogue of characters in "Topper" (both the film and TV series) and not find the humor and writing to be heads and tails above most of the TV shows of today.

In fact, watching the family sitcoms of the 1950s and early '60s ("The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet," "The Donna Reed Show," "Father Knows Best," etc.), which are frequently lampooned by critics as being too idealized, wholesome, etc., one will actually notice a great deal of sophistication in the characters and writing (i.e.-references to high art, politics and pop culture of the respective era).

For instance, in one episode of "The Donna Reed show," the "Stone" parents were trying to encourage their offspring to read "War & Peace." And in "Leave It to Beaver,' there are frequent references to the Cold War and science--Khrushchev, Sputnik, etc., and "Eddie Haskell" even emulates Beatnik culture, playing some bongo drums. So not necessarily as "white bread" and innocent as popularly espoused.

In fact, "Leave it To Beaver," particularly in the first, two seasons of the program, might well be termed a 20th Century, mass media updating of "Tom Sawyer," while "The Andy Griffith Show," with its tales of a gentle, quite life in the mythical "Mayberry," often evokes Thornton Wilder's "Our Town."

And an early, TV police drama such as "Dragnet" is clearly a precursor to the well-respected "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue," not all shoot-'em-ups, but showing the drudgery and routine of everyday police work. In its era, that was groundbreaking.

Yes, the production values have evolved, but good storytelling is timeless. I think younger viewers would do well to try and get beyond the fact old TV shows are filmed/recorded in black and white, and pay more attention to the acting and writing of programming from TV's first, two decades. If that was done fairly, one would have to concede, on balance, television of the 1950s through '70s was far better than the crap to which we are subjected in this first decade of the 21st Century.

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone," "The Goldbergs" and "Mister Peepers" (the first, two seasons now available on DVD), the original adaptations of "Marty," "Requiem For A Heavyweight" and "Twelve Angry Men," all these from TV's first, two decades.

And much was made of "The Larry Sanders Show" for its having broke the "fourth wall" of theater, and of "Seinfeld" as having been a "program about nothing," and both for having been shows "about a show"

Well, one need only watch some episodes of "The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show" to see that George Burns was breaking that "fourth wall" four decades earlier; in the early episodes moving beyond the proscenium to talk with the audience about the events of each episode, in later episodes watching the proceedings of his TV family and friends from a TV screen upstairs in his fictional bedroom.

"Ozzie & Harriet" not only also sporadically broke that "fourth wall" (all four principals looking and talking, with a nod and a wink, directly into the camera, on multiple occasions over 14 years), but was one of the first sitcoms to make heavy use of dream sequences. The sequence of one, very inventive episode (about the ethics of applying for a job, while circumstances of favoritism keep cropping up) had David Nelson playing defense lawyer, prosecutor, judge and a witness; another, male actor playing all members of a jury, including a few in drag). The saga of America's favorite (pre-"Simpson") family, The Nelsons, was, basically, a "show about nothing" and the confusion and minutiae of everyday, family life. Sound familiar?

And both "The Jack Benny Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" were "shows about shows," Benny incorporating a fictitious rendering of his personal life with the goings-on of his radio and TV programs; Van Dyke mixing his home life as "Rob Petrie" with that of his work as the head writer of "The Alan Brady Show" (essentially, a re-telling of the life of comedy writer/producer Carl Reiner, from his years working on Sid Caesar's "Your Show Of Shows").

But with what are we deluged on broadcast TV today?

A plethora of judge and reality shows, overdone talent contests (nothing new there, either--Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" and Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour" were the pioneers, albeit Mack utilized a "wheel of fortune" and viewer mail instead of a panel of judges and a "1-800" number), and forensic crime dramas. I fully expect the next franchise to have gay corpses being autopsied--"CSI: Provincetown."

You could see the wires moving things around? Man, you must have had good reception and a good set! Or maybe it's that I could see them, but just took them for granted and ignored them. Anyway, it's one of my all time favorites.

I think Stephen always wanted to be a composer (at least since he was 15), but took the writing job because it provided a steady income. Still looking at the episodes he wrote or co-wrote, I can pick out his wit in the script.

I loved it as a kid, and recently saw an episode that revealed things I wasn't aware of as a kid -- notably, the sexual tension between Cosmo Topper and Mrs. Kirby. All I saw as a kid was some patronizing flirting on her part, but didn't really notice the subtle acting.