Nathan is fond of these “kid sitcoms” on cable TV. Seems to me like there are a dozen or so of them, though there may be three times that many, for all I know. I think Hannah Montana is his favorite. Everyone overacts; the dialogue 
is stilted; and the plots are frequently ridiculous, turning on some harebrained scheme for resolution. Moreover, there are two heaping scoops of sugarlicious moral goodness in whatever lesson is learned. The Right Thing To Do clocks you in the melon every time.
(In other words, they’re exactly like almost all of the sitcoms for adults were 25 or 30 years ago.)
I’ve screened them for content, of course, and they’re fine. I’m satisfied that Nathan won’t be learning how to shoot heroin, or the finer points of any satanic rituals. I am, however, concerned that these things are going to warp his sense of funny. Oh, they’re bad. Sitting on the couch and marinating in treacly bromides for half an hour? I’m ready for three hours of Tarantino like right now when it’s over.
So I do what I can to balance this banality. He gets generous helpings of The Three Stooges, and there is an old Warner Brothers DVD floating around here and there. There’s even some modern stuff that passes muster. Pixar is usually reliably funny, and therefore helpful in this regard.
I’m probably worrying too much. I survived every episode of The Facts of Life and Alice.
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When I read this, all I could think of was how over the top and ridiculous “Three’s Company” was.
Oooof – I’m trying my damnedest to keep Punkin’ Pie away from these things, but they’re insidious. You know, when Wal-Mart is marketing Hannah Montana, that it’s inescapable.
I’m thinking back to my t.v.-intensive childhood (I was the child of essentially neglectful parents, and the t.v. raised me). I have vivid memories of Hogan’s Heroes, The Munsters, The Jeffersons, All in the Family and Happy Days. There were others, of course – all of them, really – but those are the ones I remember the most. I turned out okay, too (at least, I THINK I did – I could just be kidding myself). Still, I’d rather my girls read for that half an hour…
‘seester: Good call. There was some occasional genuine comedy with the Ropers.
Chili: OK, you’ve actually named a couple there that are generally well-remembered. But when was the last time you saw Happy Days or All in the Family? Wow.
The good ones are bad. The bad ones are nearly inconceivably awful. TV Land had a marathon of The Facts of Life a few years ago, and that’s a show I never missed in prime time. So I sat down to get my nostalgia on, and I couldn’t watch five minutes in a row. Oh, it was criminally terrible.
And of course, you’re right about books. We get those in there too, but there is TV time, and always will be. I don’t have any illusions about that, so it must be balanced with quality. 🙂
I think we can trace today’s kid sitcom to Saved by the Bell, which had a bit of an identity crisis. It tried to grab both audiences. What it was trying to do with older demographics became things like 90210 and Dawson’s Creek.
The other end spawned the current plague.
When I was a kid I loved All in the Family and Maude (my dad didn’t know I could see them from my bedroom when he thought I was asleep.
Later, probably when Facts of Life was on, I was watching Dr. Who and Blake’s 7. Bad teeth and bad effects, but damn those shows were good.
Babycakes watches those idiotic shows like Hannah Montana and the one with Zack and Cody, whatever that bit of drivel is called. I watch with her occasionally, and finally figured they are no stupider than much of what passes for adult TV these days, and, in my opinion, what has passed for entertainment on television from the beginning. It’s okay, most published books aren’t worth reading, either. Most music I hear sucks.
I think it is funny in a sad, ironic way, that we have so many channels of TV now, and so little content to fill them. Even “news” shows are mostly fluff.
I watched The Brady Bunch and Bewitched religiously after school as a kid. I turned out ok. A bit warped and “deviated” … but ok nonetheless.
Oh, and heaping helpings of Bugs Bunny, et al. Violent as all get out, as viewed from today’s society, but fun and a great intro to classical music scores.