By: Joshua Glenn

Is Taylor a Br’er Rabbit-like trickster? Is he wrong-footing us?

By: Mark Kingwell

“This endless TV road trip set the standard for crew-cut cool.”

By: Peter Doyle

It’s potentially subversive, but at base, all Dobie really wants is in.

By: Gary Panter

An oscilloscope sine wave display, atmospheric woodwind and harp flutter.

By: Jessamyn West

Push buttons existed to make everything easier, not to make the life of the already-privileged another 5% better.

By: Mimi Lipson

“But Granny, they ain’t varmints. They’s my critters!”

By: James Hannaham

NBC could not get a national sponsor for the show because Cole’s color “would not play in the South.”

By: Devin McKinney

This “zone” was not some inconceivable nexus light years away. It was your house.

By: Barbara Bogaev

The puns clued me in to the magic that things are not always as they seem.

By: Adrienne Crew

Why do people in Steve’s household keep disappearing?

By: Chris Spurgeon

The sheer number of eye-pokes, cheek-slaps, noggin-knocks, and hair-pulls…

By: Luc Sante

We laughed and laughed, blissfully unaware we were getting an education.

By: Joshua Glenn

Introducing this summer’s series on TV shows of the Fifties (1954–1963).