Hmmm.. I wonder..> From: Erik Reuter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > To take the easy shot, all us meatheads would have to stifle > > ourselves. > > I doubt if that show were made today if they would use the term > meathead. Today, it sounds to me like an insult an AI robot > or computer > would use for a human.
J walks to a brand-new ATM. Inserts his ATM card. Waits a little longer than he should, checking the options. All of a sudden, an electronic voice with a thick Brooklyn accent yells out:
"Hey, MEATHEAD, gitovahe'e and press ENCHER, will ya?".
Wasn't that show great? I think sitcoms made a turn of the worse after "All In The Family" in the late 70's, and through most of the 80's. No other TV show in history could possibly insult and alienate so many ethnic groups in 21 minutes. :)I don't think the show *could* be made today. I don't think anyone would take that sort of risk...
JJ
Who thinks the DVD's of the first 2 seasons of "All In The Family" are awesome. Two thumbs up.
The Jeffersons weren't bad either. I didn't know AitF was out on DVD....but can't imagine watching them either.
For the amount of TV I watch, I have thought about sitcoms. I don't think they got worse after AitF. The show ended in 1983? Didn't know it was that long. MASH ended the same year with great fanfare, while AitF was wheezing for years, once Mike and Gloria left, even before that. (back to the point) In that time there wasn't much to be happy about. 1983 was still pretty bad in America.I'm trying to recall the sitcoms from then. Mork and Mindy started great but had some seriously bad episodes. (Although anything with Jonathan Winters is #1 in my book). Happy Days ended in 1985 and was never that great. (Just had a flashback of something I did after a show. Checked the program guide, it was Nov. 1976. Wow.) Soap was wonderful. Three Company? The end of MTM show? WKRP! That was funny. "They are dropping the turkeys out of the helicopter. .something is wrong! They aren't flying! Oh the humanity!"
Okay maybe there was a decline. The sitcoms were a reflection of society. The country was nesting, parents and kids interacting in the home. Same as AitF with younger kids, except now the kids were playing the Archie Role. With Cheers of course being the exception. I hate Cheers. I liked it then but I can't stand to watch a re-run. Seriously other than Seinfeld and the Simpsons I don't like any sitcoms re-runs if they are more than five years old. Won't that be a better yardstick? Can you imagine watching any of the current sitcoms 30 years from now?
Plus the hour long Drama was so dominant back in the early 80s.
Some facts:
* Norman Lear was the founder of "The People for the American Way." From 1980 to 1986, this group compelled the state of Texas to accept textbooks incorporating the theory of evolution.
* In a NBC interview from Oct 15, 1985 Lear stated that people should not force religious views upon others.
Kevin T. - VRWC
ramblings r us
Anyone read American Gods? I liked the little Dick Van Dyke show rewrite.
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