ABC Comedy Family Sitcom

TV's longest-running live-action comedy was the brainchild of lawyer-turned-bandleader Ozzie Nelson and began on the radio in 1944. There wasn't, in fact, much `adventure' anyone could discern in the lives of the suburban Nelson clan (nor was it ever exactly clear what the TV Ozzie did for a living), but this wholesome sitcom ran for 14 years (and a remarkable 435 episodes), and made a bona fide rock-and-roll star out of younger son Rick.