by teejay 27 Replies latest social entertainment
I loved cartoons before the PC Police got to them. Early Bugs Bunny and of course the razor-sharp satire of Rocky and Bullwinkle come to mind.
I can watch Fractured Fairy Tales and Dudley Doorite of the Mounties and still laugh my a** off.
But lest we become snobbish about the "good-old-days" of TV, let's not forget the exquisite torture of My Mother the Car or Mr. Ed. With every decade, there's good and bad stuff. Most of us tend to be selective about our memory of our favorite times.....
I've been thinking about how much better the shows were when I was coming up....
Wow dude... you're old.
When I was growing up I watched shows like Diff'rent Strokes.
I think nostalgia is strong; we perceive things as being much better when we were younger. It's corny but I have many, many more fond memories of playing the "original" Nintendo compared to the latest game console. Were the games better on the old system? They were good but games nowadays are better... better graphics, longer gameplay, better story line, etc. But the older ones hold a special place in my heart.
Ok, did I just expose myself as a dork?
When I was growing up we never had cable, just the three basic channels.
I loved Lavern & Shirley, Happy Days( seems I didnt get to see it much, probably on a meeting nite.)Sandford and Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times, THree's Company.
Others I watched,,,,,Dallas, LaughIn( the new one), Gunsmoke, Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk.
I loved the soap operas and wasnt of course allowed to watch them....... EXCEPT, when my Grannie came to stay, so I would snuggle up to her and watch them with her, my dad just gave me a dirty look, but didnt dare tell me to leave my Grandmother,,,,hehe, we watched the Young and the Restless,,,,,,her stories,,,,, as she called them.
I also got caught up in General Hospital, Luke and Laura,,,, I got out of school at 2:15 and my mom picked me up so I had time to get my snack and settle down for the last 30 minutes of it.
They used to play on channel 3 in shreveport the 3:30 movie,,,,, usually for a whole week there would be a theme for the movies they played. Shirlye Temple, Scarey movies( classic like wolfman, dracula , frankenstein), Abbot and Costello, thing like that.And remember those horrid after special after school specials, on drugs, getting involved in the wrong things, teach a lesson kind of shows?
Of course my all time favorite thing to watch, when my dad went to bed was,,,,, Saturday Night Live,,,,back in the 80's.
I think I watched other things like Soul Train, Dance Fever, the Price is Right
drwtsn32:
Dork? Not if you're a Family Guy fan. I have the entire collection on DVD.
Wasa
Dork? Not if you're a Family Guy fan. I have the entire collection on DVD.
I have the DVDs too. I love that show... too bad they canceled it. Fortunately they have reruns on the Cartoon network at night.
One thing I like about it is how crude it is. It really make me feel like I'm stickin' it to the WT by being so rebellious. lol
But lest we become snobbish about the "good-old-days" of TV, let's not forget the exquisite torture of My Mother the Car or Mr. Ed. With every decade, there's good and bad stuff. Most of us tend to be selective about our memory of our favorite times..... – wasa
Mr. Ed, huh?
Somehow I KNEW somebody was going to mention that show, or one like it. Well.... I never said every show was Classic. You're right, of course. The old days take on a mystical charm the further they recede into the past, but I still think that compared to what's on now, that was a damn fine stretch of TV.
(just remembered the theme song to My Favorite Martian... which reminds me of the theme songs/music that went with those shows... )
Wow dude... you're old. – drwtsn32
So what're you trying to say, big fella?
So what're you trying to say, big fella?
Nothing, sir. I'm sorry, sir. May I please punish myself now for not showing respect, sir?
Teejay: Yes, some of the old classics can stand the test of time. Still, I sometimes cringe at the "good old fashioned values" portrayed back then. Have you seen the movie Far From Heaven? Life was great in the 50's...unless you were gay....or black...or female.
drwtsn32: Family Guy is screamingly funny and - in my not so humble opinion - better satire than South Park. I honestly don't know how they got away with some of the more blatant innuendos such as the take-off on the diamond commercials:
"Diamonds.. because she pretty much has to...." (Silhouette of female sliding ever-so-slightly down silhouette of male....) Great stuff!!
"Sir", huh? Did you call me "sir"? So... what're you trying to say, big fella?
While we are on the topic, whatever became of the quality of cartoons? Cartoons still qualify as television programming, and within the last 10 years the quality of them as a whole has deteriorated considerably.
Granted, the Simpsons are an exception. But other than that, the other cartoons on television today are subpar at best.
Give me old-fashioned Looney Tunes anyday over the current selection of Rugrats, Pokemon, Static Shock, and Recess.
When I was growing up we had Bugs Bunny. Or for the alpha male who enjoyed gratuitious violence, we had Transformers, Go-Bots, GI JOE, Thundercats, Silverhawks, etc.
The quality of the animation was better than the crap they release today, and the plotlines carried much more depth. This serves as further testimony to the dumbing down of America I implied in my first post.
teejay - Thanks for the compliment. I think that's the first time someone complimented me for my intelligence since I joined this board.
