Regarding Beaver in the later seasons - Wally always seemed mature for his age, polite but could still be resolute, especially with his errant friends as he got older. I think he portrayed the type that my generation's parents aspired to for their kids. But as Beaver grew up, he lost that innocence and became more entitled, was less mature compared to Wally at the same age, and had little consideration for others, particularly S6.E25 The Silent Treatment, which I didn't enjoy at all. Also, continuing the series, particularly in color, would seem to have been a very poor choice. For me it is all about nostalgia so I like that it is in B&W, but that may be because I never saw LITB when originally aired. Perry Mason tried one episode in color and tanked that idea, albeit that series was more a film noir experience.

I don't know that Jerry Mathers would have continued to be a draw for viewers. While he was a cute kid and endeared to audiences , ,he was not a cute teenager and his acting had gotten very wooden towards the end. A better idea would have been to spinoff a series around Wally and his college adventures with Ward, June and the Beaver occasionally appearing.

Leave it to Beaver in COLOR?!? Absolutely not! If you need an example of how this change affects things, just look at The Andy Griffith Show... MeTV won't even show the color episodes, and I've never heard anyone complain about that. I've seen a couple color episodes, and it's hard to believe it's even the same show. It feels like a modern-day knock off, or maybe even like an SNL skit. No, Leave it to Beaver definitely wouldn't have worked. And - the final episode was the perfect way to end the series, instead of dragging everything out with new characters being introduced and other beloved characters leaving. The whole show, from beginning to end, was done perfectly!

I think the series ended at a good time. I wish that Larry Mondello could have continued to be on the show. He and Beaver might have had more exciting adventures if he had stayed. I think Tony Dow turned into a good actor, very natural sounding during the last year of the show.

Love this show but glad it ended when it did. Just right. Unlike some shows that went on and on and darn near ruined their legacy before all was said and done.

The show had run it's course after 6 seasons. The final season could've been called "Leave it to Wally" , as many episodes were about his adventures with Eddie & Lumpy; Beaver's plots suffered by the loss of Larry Mondello, who was so good, the producers once considered a spinoff. Gilbert was a weak replacement.
The "color" story just doesn't ring true. TV networks had few primetime shows in color in the 1963 Fall season, which is when a (theoretical) '7th season' of LITB would've aired. Even in the Following season (1965-66), ABC had only 6 1/2 hrs of color programming. Color wasn't mandated for most shows until Fall season 1966. That's when several shows were dropped because ratings didn't merit the cost of converting to color ("Patty Duke") or technical problems ("Munsters & Addams Family")

I thought the show ended at a good time. Wally and his friends were going to college and Beaver was going to high school. Time to move on and color would not be good for that show.

Two things... Beaver's antics were more cute and innocent in the earlier episodes. By the last season or two, he should have known better, and would have gotten harsher punishment (in real life). Going to color episodes would have likely gotten the same result as The Andy Griffith Show did after they went to color. Black and white episodes fit this series perfectly.

Well, if you follow the series, Wally, Eddie and Lumpy were all going away to college. So how would they have worked that into storylines. Still, Beaver buying a Beatles wig would have been funny.

I really like the black and white episodes, I don't think going to color would have been a good idea. I agree with the decision.

I think it ended at the right time. I would not have liked the show to venture into anything like the British Invasion or sending kids to Viet Nam.

It is perfect as it was, existing in a very idealized window from 1957 to 1963, notably ending before November 1963. It spanned a very precise period in a family’s life, and in the stages of childhood to young adulthood. And because TV seasons were longer back then (and Leave It to Beaver ran a consistent 39 episodes a season), there was a lot packed into those six years.

Let sleeping beavers build dams...😋

They could have introduced Wally and Beaver's cousin Oliver. Or after Wally went away to Medfield College, Ward and June could have adopted a little boy named Ernie.

I am with ABC on what should have been the future of Leave It To Beaver. Television of that time frame was going to color production, and I believe that the producers of Leave It To Beaver would have eventually been behind the times in a changing media culture.

I wanted to see Beaver grow-up and get a spine. I have long felt that he was too naïve. (A part of the legacy of the program that was encouraged by the producers, but hated by me). I wanted to see a new Beaver who would have put Larry Mondello in his place. I do believe that the mother of Beaver’s best friend should have been younger; and I did want to see his older sister. (who was unseen throughout the series) I would have liked to see Larry reflect on getting spanked by his younger mother on the newer episode of the series. (And he needed a spanking; and she talks gently to him before hugging a sobbing and contrite Larry afterwards; that would have been justice). I actually do believe that Beaver himself had unspoken fears about being spanked by his parents that could have been explored had the series been expanded. (Season 1 episode from ‘Beaver Gets Spelled' “His mother spanked him and I spanked him”) It would have been neat to see Beaver getting chewed out by Miss Landers after class to be heard by classmates in a nightmare.

I understand that on the last season, the producers were conservative around Beaver and girls. I wanted to see Beaver get a steady girlfriend. As per Olivia Rodrigo; I wanted to see Beaver get romantic revenge; especially on that Penny Woods (Sue Trent) who leaked Beaver’s secret football play in the last episode of season 3, and I especially wanted to see Beaver get revenge on that line-backer (Penny’s brother) who did that turnover on the Beaver. In fact, I would have loved to have seen a tense feud between beaver and Penny’s brother. Here’s a surprising romantic pairing; Judy Hensler (Jeri Weil) and Whitey Whitney. (Stanley Fafara)

An expanded series would have been perfect for the Beatles era and the British Invasion in pop music. While I do agree that civil rights and reform would have been ahead of the time; I do think that the show could have introduced black characters with some finesse. The show would have benefited from a talented soul singer with an integrated girl group. (Jerry Mathers was never a talented singer, and this was a void). How about a nervous black pitcher who has Beaver as a battery-mate on the baseball team. I think that Wally could have gotten a significant athletic scholarship at a local college; and build up the romantic rivalry between Mary Ellen Rogers (Pamela Baird) and Julie Foster. (Cheryl Holdridge). It would be interesting to see Beaver and Julie connecting and seeing Beaver get into a heated argument with Wally over it.

Finally, Leave It To Beaver could have continued had ABC abandoned its pursuit of hour long episodes; which it did not need; and this would have kept the rehearsal schedule in place.