The Jetsons

***The Jetsons*** is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962 to March 17, 1963 on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication.

The show's original run consisted of 24 episodes that first aired on ABC from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, and, as was standard practice at the time, contained a laugh track.

It was shown on Channel 5 in the UK, as part of their *Shake!* block.

## Premise

The Jetsons are a family residing in Orbit City. The city's architecture is rendered in the Googie style and all homes and businesses are raised high above the ground on adjustable columns. George Jetson lives with his family in the Skypad Apartments: his wife Jane is a homemaker, their teenage daughter Judy attends Orbit High School, and their son Elroy attends Little Dipper School. Housekeeping is seen to by a robot maid named Rosie which handles chores not otherwise rendered trivial by the home's numerous push-button Space Age-envisioned conveniences. The family has a dog named Astro that talks with an initial consonant mutation in which every word begins with an "R", as if speaking with a growl; a similar effect would also be used for Scooby-Doo.

George Jetson's work week consists of an hour a day, two days a week. His boss is Cosmo Spacely, the bombastic owner of Spacely Space Sprockets. Spacely has a competitor, Mr. Cogswell, owner of the rival company Cogswell Cogs (sometimes known as Cogswell's Cosmic Cogs). Jetson commutes to work in an aerocar with a transparent bubble top. Daily life is leisurely, assisted by numerous labor-saving devices, which occasionally break down with humorous results. Despite this, everyone complains of exhausting hard labor and difficulties living with the remaining inconveniences.

## Voice cast

* George Jetson – George O'Hanlon
* Jane Jetson – Penny Singleton
* Elroy Jetson – Daws Butler
* Judy Jetson – Janet Waldo
* Astro the Space Mutt/RUDI/Uniblab/Mac – Don Messick
* Rosey/Mrs. Spacely/Miss Galaxy – Jean Vander Pyl
* Cosmo Spacely – Mel Blanc
* Spencer Cogswell – Daws Butler
* Henry Orbit – Daws Butler (Howard Morris in a few early Season 1 episodes)
* Orbitty – Frank Welker
* DiDi – Selma Diamond (and Brenda Vaccaro after Diamond's death)

## Episodes

As part of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon saturday, on Channel 5's *Shake!* block in the UK, there are 24 episodes, not the 1980's revival.

The episodes contained a laugh track.

In the original closing credits, George came home and tried to walk Astro, the family dog, but when Astro noticed a cat by the electronic dog walk, he began to chase it, and George got caught into the dog-walk. Astro and the cat both looked on as George is trapped on the dog walker running for his life while crying out "Jane, stop this crazy thing! Help! JANE!" This was a counterpart to *The Flintstones*' closing credits in which the saber-toothed cat Baby Puss puts Fred Flintstone out for the night. This ending was parodied in an episode each of *Animaniacs*, *The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*, *Family Guy*, *Clarence*, and *Jim Henson's Muppet Babies*.

The episodes are now available in colorized versions.

1. *Rosey the Robot*
2. *A Date with Jet Screamer*
3. *The Space Car*
4. *The Coming of Astro*
5. *Jetson's Nite Out*
6. *The Good Little Scouts*
7. *The Flying Suit*
8. *Rosey's Boyfriend*
9. *Elroy's TV Show*
10. *Uniblab*
11. *A Visit from Grandpa*
12. *Astro's Top Secret*
13. *Elroy's Pal*
14. *Test Pilot*
15. *Millionaire Astro*
16. *The Little Man*
17. *Las Venus*
18. *Jane's Driving Lesson*
19. *G.I. Jetson*
20. *Miss Solar System*
21. *TV or Not TV*
22. *Private Property*
23. *Dude Planet*
24. *Elroy's Mob*