Domestic comedy television shows had become (and still are) the most popular type of TV program. They depict a false reality and they,
...do not necessarily reflect family life as lived by most Americans. Nor do they reflect the larger social and political contexts in which most Americans live. TV families rarely tackle real-life problems. Rather the stories can be considered parables, morality plays, about appropriate and inappropriate beliefs and behaviors. As morality plays they teach and preach about correct (and ideal) social and sexual relationships and interactions.(Cantor,p.207)The shows usually dealt with conflicts between parents and/or children. The children were getting into some sort of adolescent mischief and parents were usually disputing over how to handle their children. Of course, since it was TV, all ended happily and events were resolved easily. Divorce was rare in TV and single parents were unheard of. The image that is produced here is of a couple happily married, yet able to mend disputes when they occurred. This couple was with or without children, but nonetheless, happy! Obviously there are problems here: ideals became reality.
TV was becoming widespread and universal standards and images were developing. In the fifties the white, middle class, nuclear family was what was shown on television. The father was a professional of some sort, the mother "a housewife who was rarely shown doing any housework other than preparing meals and at least one of the multiple children was a male."(Cantor,p.207) Different television shows that incorporated several different families all began to set standards. The Donna Reed Show,The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and Leave It To Beaver all helped shape the image of family during the 1950's. Men, women, and children had people to look up to, admire, and imitate. The image of the American, middle class, white family was on everyone's TV screen.