The ‘Jetsons’ Turn 51 – Is the Future What You Imagined?

The "Jetsons" are poised to celebrate their 51st anniversary tomorrow. The show premiered on September 24th, 1962 on ABC in glorious color. It was the first show to ever be broadcast in color.

Though never specifically stated in the show, the original source materials placed the "Jetsons" in 2062, a full century ahead of their debut. In the show they had flying cars, cities in the sky, colonies on other worlds, robot maids, and automatic everything. It's 2013 now... are we going to attain those advance achievements in 49 years?

Here are some facts about the 'Jetsons':

• It was ABC's first show to air in color, though only viewers in a few cities could actually see it in color.
• The series debuted on ABC's Sunday night schedule at 7:30 p.m., opposite "The Wonderful World of Disney" on NBC and the live-action "Dennis the Menace" sitcom on CBS.
• "Jetsons" was preceded by its Stone Age-set counterpart "The Flintstones" by two seasons--Both shows were produced by cartoon studio Hanna-Barbera, which was also responsible for Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Johnny Quest and Scooby-Doo.
• The original only lasted one season—a total of twenty-four episodes—but Saturday morning re-runs, which first started in the fall of 1963, introduced the show to generations of new fans.
• The theme song reached no. 9 on the Billboard charts in 1986.

The Smithsonian magazine blog Paleofuture called the show, "the single most important piece of 20th century futurism... that helped define the future for so many Americans today."

That's why we all expect flying cars to be the future of our world--all thanks to George Jetson.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)