Two ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS The Sullivans, named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers who lost their lives when their ship, USS Juneau (CL-52), was sunk in November 1942. This was the greatest loss by any one family during World War II.

The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.

The show was purchased by Channel Nine without a pilot programme being produced. They commissioned 34 hours with a view to extension. Fourteen writers were assigned to the thirteen plot lines which had been devised.

The cast hadn't even been established when they started writing the series and even three months later they still only had two cast members. They were Vikki Hammond and Noni Hazelhurst.

When researching the time period, the set designer Nick Rossedale said at the time "when you are dealing with a period of time that is well within living memory, you have to watch things very carefully". Hence, the painstaking research into the reality of the show.