This is copied from the Snopes/Urban Legends site:
It's one of the ultimate TV trivia questions: Who was the first couple to be portrayed on a television series as sleeping in the same bed? It may sound like a silly question to younger readers, but those of us who were around for television's first few decades recall how squeamish the industry remained for many years, much more so than its cinematic counterpart, which was a bit looser because, unlike television, it did not broadcast its product directly into viewers' living rooms. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who were married in real life and portrayed a married couple on the most popular show of television's early years, I Love Lucy (1951-57), were depicted as sleeping in separate beds. Even more astonishingly, although Lucille Ball's character, Lucy Ricardo, was portrayed as gaving birth on an episode of the series the very same day that Lucille Ball herself bore a son, and the character of the real-life child was incorporated into the show itself, CBS was still unwilling to allow the word 'pregnant' to be used on the air and did their best to avoid displaying Lucille Ball's obvious 'condition' to the viewing audience. Yes, this all took place in the 'early days,' but even as late as the the 1969-74 series The Brady Bunch, six children shared a single bathroom that lacked a toilet.
So, when did television bow to the obvious and finally show a married couple sharing a single bed? The Brady Bunch, the series without a toilet, is often named, but then others point out that Herman and Lily shared a bed on The Munsters from 1964-66. (The eligibility of this one as a valid answer is sometimes questioned because the Munsters weren't exactly a 'human' couple.) Others claim that Fred and Wilma bunked together on The Flintstones from 1960-66 (but their eligibility is also questioned because despite be
Aug 02 2001, 12:35 PM