The image of the family as a secure refuge against a threatening outside world has persisted in the television sitcom since its inception in the early 1950s. Although some television programs have dealt with major problems directly, most, including the sitcom, have completely ignored them. Harnessing hysteria over the possibility of a nuclear attack, early sitcoms made a politically charged point about the status and importance of the nuclear family. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, "Leave It to Beaver" confirmed the sanctity and security of the borders of the nuclear family and its household--any trouble was always generated by someone on the outside. The placing of the symbolic locus of safety in the nuclear family has occurred at the expense of other social movements in the United States; anything short of a traditional family is often portrayed as dangerous. The hardships that come to two-career couples, women over the age of 35 who want to give birth, and couples who send their children to daycare are emphasized in "Trapper John, M.D." and "St. Elsewhere." These negative images of nontraditional approaches to family are buttressed by the positive images of the old-fashioned way of doing things, as presented in "The Cosby Show." Although recently there are some exceptions, such as "The Young Ones," which reverses the customary roles of "inside" and "outside," in general even the seemingly innovative sitcoms are a return to the stable, safely defined parameters of the genre. (Twelve footnotes are appended.) (ARH)