Tonight, I finished watching my the Eighth Season of All in the Family. This is the final season with Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers, which in my opinion should have been the final season of All in the Family. The final episode of the season even plays like it could be a series finale.
All in the Family is one of my favorite series of all time. But there is definitely change in tone in the series around the Sixth Season. I believe this is when new show runners took over and this is also the season where Mike and Gloria are pregnant and they move into the Jefferson's house next door. The audience reactions aren't quite as loud and wild as they were in the first five seasons. Still loud but not the same. And there seems to be an increase in the level of slapstick in the series. i.e. Gloria and Archie giving each other the raspberries all the time, Mike and Archie always getting stuck in doorways, Gloria hitting Archie on the head, pulling on his chest hairs. The show still deals with major topics but they seem more universal and less of the time as they were in the early years.
Also in Season Six, the show was moved from its Saturday 8pm time slot because of the FCC's new Family Hour which meant the no shows with adult content could be shown before 9pm. That ruling was overturned due to law suits from producers like Norman Lear. But by then the damage had been done. For Season 7, All in the Family moved to Wednesday where it fell from 1 to 12 in the Nielsen Ratings. Midway through the season it was moved to Saturdays at 9 and then in Season 8 it moved to Sunday nights where it bounced back up to 4 and stayed in that time slot.
Now Season 8. What can I say. This particular season in my opinion is the best of the later seasons. In this season alone, Archie forges Edith's signature to mortgage the house and buy Kelsey's bar (the two-part season opener), they go to Cousin Liz's funeral and discover she was a lesbian and her roommate was her lover and wants the family heirloom tea set (Emmy best writing), the next episode, Edith almost gets raped on her 50th Birthday (Emmy for direction) and also a two-parter. There's a bunch of two-parters this season. Archie opens the bar and gets very little business so he gets hooked on pills (two-parter). Next up, he gets recruited by the local KKK who have targeted Mike to burn a cross on his lawn (even though he has no lawn!) also a two-parter, a nice flashback episode for Mike and Gloria and how they met (clearly a showcase for there soon departing Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers), then another two-parter where Beverly LaSalle is killed as the result of a hate crime and Edith loses her faith in God. Archie's Super Bowl party is held up at gunpoint. Archie and Mike get locked in the storeroom overnight and Archie reveals a great deal about his upbringing. And then the final three episodes leading up to Mike and Gloria leaving for Mike's new job in California. There are a few lighter episodes in there but Boy! A lot happened to this family in the course of six months! I'm glad this wasn't my family. Oy vey! (Sorry Archie)
As for that last episode, I can never sit through it without balling, I just watched it again for the umpteenth time and that last scene where they say their goodbyes...well let's just say I was sniffling and tears were streaming down my cheeks. That last shot of Archie and Edith sitting there in silence staring out as the camera slowly pulls back (what happened to the TV set that's usually in front of their chairs?) and the slow fade out..wow! just, wow!
Season Eight swept the Emmys in 1978 winning in all but one category, Supporting Actress for Sally Struthers. She won the next year for her guest appearance in the Ninth Season. Like I said its the best of the later seasons. Season Nine is a different show. No live studio audience, No Mike or Gloria and instead an adopted seven-year old girl, the daughter of a second cousin of Edith's. Not so great and not a fitting end to a great series.
Saturday nights on CBS were a family ritual in my house growing up. It's comfort food for me, watching all these old TV series and re-living my childhood and teen years.
Showing posts with label tv shows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv shows. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2016
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
My Not So Secret Love
I began yesterday's blog by starting to get into this but wound up on another related subject. So here it is...
Over the last few years, I have become more open about this and have begun the slow process of coming out to my friends. I have always been a bit embarrassed to admit this about myself. But I am more comfortable sharing this about myself. I've been afraid of being labelled a "geek" or a "nerd". So here it is...
I love television. No, I mean really LOOOOVEE it! I cannot imagine living without it. I know more about television shows and the actors and creators then I do about the people in my own life. I am a walking encyclopedia of television history. I know the Emmy winners through the years. I can tell you the top rated shows from the beginning (1947 Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle) through today (NCIS). I can tell what years and networks that shows aired on and who starred on them, who they were married to, who directed, produced etc.
I even won a great deal of money on Trivial Pursuit - America Plays, the game show.
I used to go straight the TV insert of the Sunday paper every week and memorize it.
I started reading the weekly Nielsen ratings every week when I was 12 and I haven't stopped.
But my knowledge kind of trails off as we get into the mid-2000s because of the proliferation of the cable networks and subsequently other sources of programming such as Netflix. But when it comes to the networks (ABC CBS and NBC) I know everything. Even who runs the networks and who ran them in the past. Its in there. In my head. And whenever someone says something that I know is incorrect, I immediately blurt out the correct answer. It's almost like tourettes. I can't help it! I think I may have a problem.
I'm not so crazy for present day TV. Most of it is like movies anyway. They look the same. They're just 22 or 43 minutes in length. I miss the days when it was just the big three (ABC CBS and NBC) . They programmed for everyone. Now, everything is splintered. Networks for kids, networks for women, networks for sports, networks for original movies. No more Saturday morning cartoons on the networks. No more made for TV movies of Hallmark Hall of Fames. No more original programming on Saturday nights!
I miss the old shows. I grew up in front of the TV. On Friday nights, my sisters and I would roll out the sleeping bags, get into our PJs and watch the ABC Friday night line up (Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and Love American Style), fall asleep and wake up on Saturday morning to watch all the cartoons (Archies, Sabrina and the Groovie Ghoulies, Scooby Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, The Monkees, HR Pufnstuff, The Jetsons, Pebbles and Bam Bam). Saturday nights, the whole family including my parents watched the CBS line up (All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett). Sundays were Disney and Lassie.
Afternoons were loaded with reruns, Bewitched Jeannie, Mr. Ed, Superman, Mickey Mouse Club, The Musters, The Addams Family, Gilligan, the list goes on. The networks used to program daytime reruns in the mornings of their recent shows The Lucy Show, Andy Griffith, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dick Van Dyke, That Girl. There were the game shows, Concentration, Password, Match Game, Tattletales, Joker's Wild.
My parents were always after me to get out from in front of the TV and to go outside and play. "You've seen this I Love Lucy 100 times!"
What's left today? Two game shows on CBS and that's it. No more daytime reruns. Only four soaps and no cartoons.
Because of the fractured landscape of television today, we don't sit down as a family and watch TV together anymore. Kids today don't even watch TV on a TV! And never mid rushing home to catch your favorite shows. You can watch it anytime thanks to DVRs and streaming services.
I an still remember the thrill of rushing home from my part-time job at Sears on Friday nights to catch Dallas. Watching the drama unfold from week to week on St. Elsewhere and Knots Landing. God! How I loved those shows. I miss that. I want the old days back. Or am I just old?
And if you doubt my knowledge of TV history, go ahead and ask me if you see me. Its kind of hard to prove on here. Who's to say I won't use the internet to get the answer. So if you see me in person, ask away.
What do you think? Do you prefer the good ole days? Or do you prefer television today? Or am I just an ornery old guy longing for the good ole days? I'd like to hear from you.
Over the last few years, I have become more open about this and have begun the slow process of coming out to my friends. I have always been a bit embarrassed to admit this about myself. But I am more comfortable sharing this about myself. I've been afraid of being labelled a "geek" or a "nerd". So here it is...
I love television. No, I mean really LOOOOVEE it! I cannot imagine living without it. I know more about television shows and the actors and creators then I do about the people in my own life. I am a walking encyclopedia of television history. I know the Emmy winners through the years. I can tell you the top rated shows from the beginning (1947 Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle) through today (NCIS). I can tell what years and networks that shows aired on and who starred on them, who they were married to, who directed, produced etc.
I even won a great deal of money on Trivial Pursuit - America Plays, the game show.
I used to go straight the TV insert of the Sunday paper every week and memorize it.
I started reading the weekly Nielsen ratings every week when I was 12 and I haven't stopped.
But my knowledge kind of trails off as we get into the mid-2000s because of the proliferation of the cable networks and subsequently other sources of programming such as Netflix. But when it comes to the networks (ABC CBS and NBC) I know everything. Even who runs the networks and who ran them in the past. Its in there. In my head. And whenever someone says something that I know is incorrect, I immediately blurt out the correct answer. It's almost like tourettes. I can't help it! I think I may have a problem.
I'm not so crazy for present day TV. Most of it is like movies anyway. They look the same. They're just 22 or 43 minutes in length. I miss the days when it was just the big three (ABC CBS and NBC) . They programmed for everyone. Now, everything is splintered. Networks for kids, networks for women, networks for sports, networks for original movies. No more Saturday morning cartoons on the networks. No more made for TV movies of Hallmark Hall of Fames. No more original programming on Saturday nights!
I miss the old shows. I grew up in front of the TV. On Friday nights, my sisters and I would roll out the sleeping bags, get into our PJs and watch the ABC Friday night line up (Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and Love American Style), fall asleep and wake up on Saturday morning to watch all the cartoons (Archies, Sabrina and the Groovie Ghoulies, Scooby Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, The Monkees, HR Pufnstuff, The Jetsons, Pebbles and Bam Bam). Saturday nights, the whole family including my parents watched the CBS line up (All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett). Sundays were Disney and Lassie.
Afternoons were loaded with reruns, Bewitched Jeannie, Mr. Ed, Superman, Mickey Mouse Club, The Musters, The Addams Family, Gilligan, the list goes on. The networks used to program daytime reruns in the mornings of their recent shows The Lucy Show, Andy Griffith, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dick Van Dyke, That Girl. There were the game shows, Concentration, Password, Match Game, Tattletales, Joker's Wild.
My parents were always after me to get out from in front of the TV and to go outside and play. "You've seen this I Love Lucy 100 times!"
What's left today? Two game shows on CBS and that's it. No more daytime reruns. Only four soaps and no cartoons.
Because of the fractured landscape of television today, we don't sit down as a family and watch TV together anymore. Kids today don't even watch TV on a TV! And never mid rushing home to catch your favorite shows. You can watch it anytime thanks to DVRs and streaming services.
I an still remember the thrill of rushing home from my part-time job at Sears on Friday nights to catch Dallas. Watching the drama unfold from week to week on St. Elsewhere and Knots Landing. God! How I loved those shows. I miss that. I want the old days back. Or am I just old?
And if you doubt my knowledge of TV history, go ahead and ask me if you see me. Its kind of hard to prove on here. Who's to say I won't use the internet to get the answer. So if you see me in person, ask away.
What do you think? Do you prefer the good ole days? Or do you prefer television today? Or am I just an ornery old guy longing for the good ole days? I'd like to hear from you.
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