Everything ‘The Jetsons’ Got Right About the Future

via Warner Archive/YouTube

From the start, The Jetsons was a blueprint for the future. It was the first-ever show to appear on ABC in color! Set in 2062 – exactly 100 years on from its premiere date — the cartoon imagined an ultra-sleek space age. And while we may not have flying cars, plenty of kooky Jetsons predictions have already come true.

Videos by Rare

‘The Jetsons’

Premiering from Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1962, The Jetsons was Flintstones for the modern era. Despite their similar premise, though, The Jetsons never matched The Flintstones commercial success. It ran for just one season on ABC primetime before finding a wider audience through Saturday morning syndication.

Although they lived in the 2060s, the Jetsons were a nuclear American family with all the middle-class conventions that defined ’60s TV. They lived in the elevated Orbit City, where father George Jetson worked at Spacely’s Space Sprockets, a high-tech manufacturing company. Like most TV dadas of the time, George was a well-meaning, easily frustrated career man. His famous catchphrase? “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”

Jane Jetson, of course, was George’s homemaker wife. Obsessed with the latest fashion fads, gadgets, and gizmos, it’s Jane’s furnished world that established the futuristic aesthetic that defined The Jetsons. Together, she and George raised two children: teeny bopper Judy and Elroy, her precocious little brother.

‘The Jetsons’ Inventions

The Jetson household was full of 2062’s cutting-edge technology. Check out which inventions came true in real life.

Flat Screen TVs — and Televised Workouts

Jane exercises via The Smithsonian

Almost everything in the Jetson home revolved around various flat screens — a lot like our homes today! In this screenshot from the pilot episode, see Jane using the technology to complete her at-home workout. Today, she would definitely be Peloton mom.

Zoom and FaceTime

Throughout The Jetsons, people communicate via video chats on monitors throughout the house. Think of it like a prototype for FaceTime or the pandemic-era Zoom party. In this clip from from 1962, George Jetson answers a call before Jane has out her face on… we’ve all been there.

Smart Watches

George’s smart watch via Business Insider

Like most communication on the show, watches were also affixed with video chat capabilities. The technology is essentially identical to modern Apple watches which gained the FaceTime feature back in 2015.

Online newspapers

George Jetson reads the digital news via Screen Rant

In this snapshot from the cartoon, George Jetson looks like just about any modern-day dad, catching up with the news. Although newspapers weren’t read on the computer on The Jetsons, the flat-screen appearance is not unlike a giant iPad.

Holograms

Hologram on The Jetsons via fluidpowerworld.com

Although flat screens were essential to the Jetsons experience, it’s not how the family actually watched TV. Instead, they preferred viewing a holographic TV. That’s not how entertain ourselves now, but hologram technology has emerged. From Michael Jackson to TuPac Shakur, holograms are now a viable form for presenting the work dead artists.

Roombas

The family vacuum cleaner via zimbio.com

Most cleaning in the Jetson home was done by Rosey the Robot: their autonomous robot housekeeper. But episodes also featured a small, automatic vacuum cleaner that zipped around the house — much like a Roomba!

Drones

Elroy in drone transport via Screen Rant

Ok, so maybe they weren’t being used for unethical warfare or expedited package delivery, but drones definitely existed in The Jetsons. Right in the famous intro, you can spot little Elroy being dropped from family’s car via drone transportation. That’s how he got to school!

Who knows? Maybe one day, as the century progresses, we will also see toddlers whizzing by in carrier pods. But for now, we’re still working our way to that flying car…

READ MORE: Why Did the ‘Jetsons’ Theme Song Hit the Billboard Charts in 1986?

What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson Hilariously Try to Prank Call Luke Wilson, Immediately Goes Wrong

The Tragic Life Story of Audrey Munson: America’s First Nude Movie Star