“Making Sense of the 60′s,” the latest PBS opus, tells the story of that “most tumultuous, confusing and controversial decade” through the recollections of some of its participants. These middle-aged folk seem generally pleased with their youthful activities, and they cannot complain of unkindness from the producers of this six-hour series, which begins tonight at 9 on Channels 13 and 49 and runs two hours a night through Wednesday.

The first hour, “Seeds of the 60′s,” offers a picture of the 1950′s that is straight out of the New Left canon. Writers and others, most of whom seem to have been chosen for their congenial opinions, comment on scenes from “Ozzie and Harriet” and other easily put-down television shows. The program delivers a simple scenario: see the poor baby-boomers growing up in the 50′s, that time of social and political conformity, anti-Communist fanaticism, fear of atomic annihilation, sexual repression, weak career-driven fathers, mothers consigned to housework and the pall of Eisenhowerism over the land. No wonder the poor kids rebelled.