Leave It to Beaver was one of a number of family situation comedies that proliferated on the small screen in the 1950s and 1960s. Along with Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, and Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver portrayed the trials and tribulations of everyday life in an American suburb. The difference between Leave It to Beaver and the other shows was that it told its stories (all 234 of them) from the point of view of the youngest family member, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver. Through the eyes of a child, life in the postwar economic boom was simple and sweet. Problems arose, but they were always resolved by a kind and loving family working together.

Leave It to Beaver debuted in the spring of 1957 as a pilot called It's a Small World. When the series premiered in the fall of...