So as I've mentioned before I'm currently unemployed and looking for work hint hint, so if you want to buy my blog or hire me to write for your site hit the "contact me" tab at the top. Anyway, since I'm not working I've got plenty of time to watch Netflix, TV, Movies, DVD's and the like so I've been watching some of the shows I used to watch when I was a kid like Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Designing Women, Doogie Howser and longing for others like Mr. Belvedere and Silver Spoons, and I've been thinking about how those shows differ from those of today.
There aren't that many sitcoms on the air now that I watch but I do enjoy Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Parks and Rec, Raising Hope & a few others. Since reality TV has taken over I'm not surprised that half of the sitcoms on the air now are made to appear like reality shows such as Modern Family and The Office. The sitcoms of my youth were usually a glimpse at a work or family environment that MIGHT appear in reality & some had a twist like Who's the Boss. A show about a housekeeper with a kid & a family is a good idea but make it a male housekeeper & a single mom & you've got a hit on your hands!!
I guess the biggest difference I've noticed is that sitcoms now don't necessarily have lessons where the old ones almost always did. I can't remember the last time I saw a good old sitcom episode about a kid getting busted smoking or drinking or stealing although I have enjoyed a couple awkward moments of parents finding out about their kids intimate encounters. Speaking of kids I need to make a side note...there are so many shows that have kids when they appear in like 1 out of 10 episodes, like Everybody Loves Raymond so I'm always thinking "why are there kids on this show?" and then there are shows that ruin themselves by adding kids like Mad About You. I just needed to point out that if there are kids they need to be more of a focus & add value to the show like Raising Hope.
Back to the lessons, one of my favorite episodes of Roseanne is when Becky gets her & her friend drunk at the house while her parents are out...it's called "One for the Road" and it's hilarious but clearly provides lessons. Lesson 1 is don't have a liquor cabinet without a lock if you have kids, lesson 2 is that getting drunk will make you feel like shit the next day, and lesson 3 is that even if you cover up what you did you won't get away with it in the end. Occasionally a sitcom now will have a lesson or two like the Halloween episode of Modern Family which taught us to change into our Halloween costumes at work rather than arriving already dressed in them!
Clearly, sitcoms have changed over the years because I've watched many an episode of I Love Lucy and the like and comparing those shows to those on the air now would be hilarious. So much has changed since then, on Dick Van Dyke & Lucy they slept in twin beds & now gay people kiss...could you imagine Laverne & Shirley accidentally hooking up one night? Anyway, I welcome new shows but I want more of them rather than more reality competition shows & I miss a lot of the aspects of the older sitcoms and would like to see more of that in the new shows. Most importantly I want to laugh out loud during every episode & not feel like I just lost a half hour of my life...that's why I gave up The Office & 30 Rock! I cannot wait for this fall season to kick in & see what the networks have in store because the previews don' mean anything.
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