The first volume of the perennial favorite sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and HarrietOzzie Nelson was Red Skelton's bandleader on the populare radio series The Red Skelton Show. Ozzie's wife, Harriet Hilliard, was Skelton's singer. When Skelton was drafted in March of 1944, Ozzie was prompted to create his own family sitcom radio series. The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet launched on CBS radio October 8, 1944, making a mid-season switch to NBC in 1949. It starred Ozzie as the head of the Nelson household that included his wife, Harriet, and their two boys, David and Ricky. Each week, the Nelsons found themselves in another amusing situation, much to the delight of the listeners. In 1952, Ozzie brought The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet to ABC television, attracting an even larger audience, becoming synonymous with the ideal of 1950s American family life. Bowing out in 1966, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet became the longest-running live-action sitcom in US television history.