The Jetsons (1962– )
A look backward at the future-
25 December 2003
This show is pretty funny. One of the more amusing things about it is the venue- the World of the Future. Anyone who remembers (or has since studied) the future as it was imagined in 1962 will find a load of images here that will be familiar: personal service robots, flying cars, the push-button, fully automated workplace, the self cleaning house, automatic food dispensers, the works. And of course, highly-prominent were the star-fields of space, the "last frontier."

This is the sort of stuff that was touted as being in our future at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, the "Century 21" Exposition.

As to the cartoon itself, it was amusing how the characters found themselves interacting with the technology of their time- the daughter blabbering on the phone, the son off pursuing his projects or grumbling about school, mom finding that the food dispenser requires a refill, dad returning from work moaning about how exhausted he is from a long hard day of pushing buttons, the bullying boss, and so on.

In 1962, "Cen.21" touted the future as being, if not perfect, then at least far more congenial than the (then) present. The cartoon stated that this would not necessarily be so- and our own world of the 21st century has proven that the latter was more right than wrong, sociologically speaking at least.
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