I will admit that - as a young adult in the 90's - I was full-on into the golden age of the SitCom. The gloriously funny ones like Seinfeld and Friends. The short-lived ones like Sports Night. The smart ones like Murphy Brown. The trashy ones like Roseanne. The family ones like The Cosby Show. The Golden Girls. Will and Grace. Cheers. Coach. Designing Women.
Then there are some of the older ones too: WKRP in Cincinnati, Laverne and Shirly, Soap, Mork and Mindy, Taxi.
Where did all that GREAT TV go? I blame the Writer's Strike. A few years ago (10? 7?) There was a big Writer's Strike. This was just as the whole Reality TV thing was gaining momentum. The Real World was a bit for MTV, as was it's spin off Road Rules. Survivor was H-U-G-E. But when the writers went on strike, there was no one writing script. No one creating new characters and show ideas. So the networks looked at Survivor and MTV and said "Hey - those shows are doing really well, and there are no high-paid actors. You don't have to pay writers. You just throw a bunch of people in a situation, add a host and some cameramen, and voila! Hit TV Show. Cheap.
Don't get me wrong. Once upon a time I was a BIG Survivor fan. Deadliest Catch is one of the only shows I watch. And lately I've gotten into the show Cupcake Wars. Love Mythbusters too, and the occasional Dirty Jobs.
The only exception to this general Reality TV movement seemed to be towards Criminal TV. Shows like CSI and CSI Miami and CSI Las Vegas and CSI Texarkana and CSI Hoboken became the norm. I guess these are OK if that's your thing, but really...how many shows like that do you need? There were something in the neighborhood of 12 CSI shows, and then a whole plethora of shows just like it. I was never into the whole digging around in decomposed bodies thing, so I never watched much of that.
Some of these shows are great, but they just don't leave the mark on our popular culture like some of the famous SitComs did. Walk up to anyone - ANYONE - in their 30's and 40's and say "Could I BE wearing anymore clothes?" and they will know EXACTLY what you are referring to. Ditto with phrases like "There was no pick!"; "Going commando"; and "Norm!". I will never again hear Ray Charles's "Night Time is the Right Time" without seeing the entire Huxtable Family doing the anniversary Lip Sync. Julia Sugarbaker's rousing defense of her sister's participation in the Miss Georgia Pageant (I believe the episode was called "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.") made me view family loyalty in a whole new way. Spicy Blanche Devereaux made me thing there's hope for old biddys to still get their groove on. Will doing the "Footloose" dance with Kevin Bacon? Priceless.
And long before Mythbusters did their alcohol episode, Venus Flytrap and Johnny Fever were getting hammered on the air, with Johnny stumping the state patrolman. Remember the turkeys bombing out of the airplane? or Les Nessman saying Chichi Rodriguez's name as "Chy Chy Rodreegueeze"? I actually had Purple Cows on my 21st birthday (thank you Mr. Carlson...)
These shows changed the way we looked at life; the way we spoke; the way we interacted with each other. I have yet to find anything on TV right now that has that kind of impact. And to be quite honest, I just miss LAUGHING. I want to see Herb Tarlek wear some ridiculous outfit. I want to hear Chandler Bing say something razor sharp. I miss Kramer crashing into the room. I still laugh my ass off when I think of Ross - stuck in a date's bathroom, trying to use baby powder and Vaseline to get off the new leather pants he wore. And you KNOW you know all the words to "Smelly Cat."
So this is my plea to any network folks out there who may stumble upon this blog: please bring back some funny, senseless, quality SitComs. The world is a scary, depressing place sometimes, and we really miss our old friends who made weekly appearances into our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment