Anon[125]:
“I agree with you. I remember The Waltons, Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Miami Vice, Dynasty, Barney Miller, Alice, All in the Family, et cetera from childhood and Middle School. I don’t remember the overt political moralizing at all. It was just entertainment. Vegas, The A Team, Starkey and Hutch, Columbo,and several more …….Soap, Night Court. A New Deal Democrat and a Goldwater Republican could watch together and neither would get a guilt tripping. Matlock, and Carol O’Conners In The Heat of the Night serial reboot in the 80s also.
“Now everything is woke political and is calibrated to cause guilt, and arguments replete with shaming. I looked forward to having after work dinners when I was a grown-up like the denizens of Cheers with a beer and a television set some nights. It would be uncomfortable these days.”
John Johnson, february 15, 2023: “Yes they push guilt and liberal narratives in practically every fictional show or you have to jump over to Fox’s Big Alternative World of Stupid.”
N.S. to John Johnson: That’s a great line, worth stealing!
N.S. to anon[125]:
“I remember The Waltons, Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Miami Vice, Dynasty, Barney Miller, Alice, All in the Family, et cetera from childhood and Middle School. I don’t remember the overt political moralizing at all. It was just entertainment.”
Your memory is failing you, 125, at least where All in the Family is concerned. There was plenty of political moralizing, re race, feminism, and homosexuality. Bea Arthur road-tested her character, Maude, as Archie’s feminist cousin. Michael Conrad (later Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues) bullied Archie into sort of accepting homosexuals as guest star one week. And race, race, race.
However, Norman Lear, God bless him (he’s still alive, at 100!), had a sense of humor. And so, one week, in which Cleavon Little was the guest star, Lear had a couple of black burglars commit a home invasion. The “pinko” Meathead son-in-law, played by real communist, Rob Reiner, sucks up to the black criminals, and seeks to throw his father-in-law, whom he’s completely leeching off of, to the wolves. But it blows up in his face. Little’s character takes to Archie, who does not suck up to him, and mocks the Meathead, saying, famously, “Oh, so you’re a ‘lib-er-al’!”
I didn't watch "All in the Family" until cbs did afternoon reruns back in the mid to late 70s(remember those?)Of course,the episodes shown were the first 5 epic seasons and after school,I watched them every day about 4 pm.The original "Match Game" with Gene Rayburn was mixed in there too.
ReplyDeleteThe last couple years,Jimmy Kimmel teamed with Lear to present re-enactments of two classic episodes of AITF verbatim--with Woody Harrelson horribly miscast as Archie.
Instead of doing that,NEW episodes should have been written--there's plenty of material--from Biden to blm to crime and lgtbq.I thought up a couple ideas which would work in 2022,that I posted here.
Who would be a good Archie though?The Edith character and Meathead roles were played very well by Marisa Tomei and Ike Barinholtz,respectively.Ellie Kemper was a lousy Gloria,however.
There aren't too many White guys on TV today,with a Carroll O'Connor look to them.There aren't too many middle aged White guys --period.
Best I could come up with is Liam Neeson,but he's pushing 70.
M*A*S*H was sort of political,but mostly comedy.Just the Lear shows--even "One Day at a Time" constantly got into topical stuff,but others such as "Mary Tyler Moore"?"The Bob Newhart Show" and "Carol Burnett" did not.
Remarkably,the last three shows mentioned,were on Saturday nights--in a block--for years.The ratings were always huge.I believe M*A*S*H started on Saturdays and were part of the night's schedule for about three seasons,
Remarkable quality--and a huge supply of laughs.
--GRA
NY times archived news clip
ReplyDeleteCBS‐TV announced yesterday other changes in its daytime line‐up starting Dec. 1,1975, “As the World Turns,’ which the network previously said would ,expand to an hour, will begin from 1:30 to 2:30.
“The ‘Guiding Light,” which currently begins at 2, will move up half an hour and precede “All in the Family.” “Match Game ‘75” has been shifted to 3:30, and “Tattletales” has also been moved up half an hour, to 4.
--GRA
The episode called cousin Liz archie says they are trying to get into the schools and teach the kids does stuff they meaning the homosexual and archie was right
ReplyDelete