It could have been set in the Roaring 20s

The sitcom is set in the '50s and '60s, but the original idea was for it to be set in the '20s and '30s, however, late creator Gary Marshall persuaded the network that he knew a lot more about growing up in those later decades.

The late 'Pretty Woman' director told The Guardian: "I said, ' know nothing about that era, but I’ll do it if it’s set in the '50s.' Back then, it would have been hard to do an honest depiction of teenagers without showing drugs and booze – and we didn’t want to do that. By making it nostalgic, we avoided all that. When I did the original pilot, no one would buy it. The networks said, 'Who cares about the '50s?' Luckily, along came a wonderful film called 'American Graffiti' and ABC said, 'We can have some of that.'"