Not my old TV the size of a freezer that weighs 300 pounds – I want what was ON TV back in the good old days, the days where family values were the main theme of shows.
I’ll be the first to admit the shows back then were lacking in content, a little insulting to our intelligence, very formula driven cop shows, and situation comedies. I would doubt any Generation Z’s have seen or heard of these tv shows: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Little House of the Prairie, Happy Days, Beverly Hillbillies, Laugh In.
There weren’t many choices, and TV was called the ‘vast wasteland’. It also didn’t reflect what was going on in the real world – social issues, wars, politics.
Times have changed, right? Today, we have reality tv classics (yes, sarcasm) like the Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Toddlers in Tiaras, 16 and Pregnant, My 600 Pound Life, Bad Girls Club – and who can forget My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé, just to name a few of the 100’s of Reality Shows currently on air . By the way, reality TV isn’t reality, it’s just terrible acting.
Of the many flaws of entertainment from years ago, it did have one huge benefit: it brought the family closer together. When was the last time you sat with your whole family to watch a show – rather than dad watching in the living room, mom in the kitchen, and the two kids in their own rooms with their ipads catching up on the latest gossip with friends. If nothing else, old TV promoted the family unit and tried to bring us back to a simpler time and place.
I miss the old TV – even if it’s sitting in amazement for half an hour wondering how the professor made a radio out of coconut shells.
“I find television very educating.
Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.”
— Groucho Marx
Heroes of yesterday vs the ‘stars’ of today – that’s another blog for a later time.
-Will
