--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Leave It to Beaver image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c58d8e8461b336/69869f2713c79f98a21936b3/t100_tv_leaveittobeaver1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _Leave It to Beaver_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett I’ll be honest: I did not expect to put this show on this list. I mean, _Leave It to Beaver_? That sugar-coated jawbreaker of ’50s naivete? But on a fresh viewing, this show—unlike, say, _The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet_—holds up. Jerry Mathers came across as a real kid, tentative, not too bright and fueled by a boy’s natural cocktail of curiosity and fear. (Beaver’s imagination always served up far more gruesome consequences for his antics than he ever actually suffered.) And in an underrated performance as Beaver’s dad Ward—June always got all the love—Hugh Beaumont added just a note of fallibility and wistful nostalgia to the typical role of the all-knowing dad. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B7HZUK/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/"},"headline":"Leave It to Beaver","datePublished":"2014-08-12T14:37:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:26.979Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/","keywords":["Comedy","Family","Sitcom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c58d8e8461b336/69869f2713c79f98a21936b3/t100_tv_leaveittobeaver1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5c58d8e8461b336/69869f2713c79f98a21936b3/t100_tv_leaveittobeaver1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/","name":"Leave It to Beaver"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Leave It to Beaver","description":"Jerry Mathers came across as a real kid, tentative, not too bright and fueled by a boy's natural cocktail of curiosity and fear.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WXpBm3pe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T19:36:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WXpBm3pe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/","duration":"PT34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103620/leave-it-to-beaver/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```