Every once in a while I come across a movie or TV series that catches my attention and won't let go. By this I mean, and through the years, shows like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Brady Bunch, Three's Company, Happy Days, MASH, Friends, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Two and a Half Men, and my current fixation: The Big Bang Theory. Movies that have captured my attention were Dances With Wolves, Sister Act, Forrest Gump, That Thing You Do, Apollo 13, and my current fixation: Easy A.
Let's break it down:
As far as the TV shows go, let's start from the beginning with those lovable 60s shows Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Having grown up a child of the 60s I watched the original airings, not reruns. These two shows were based on fantasy: Bewitched was about a pretty, blonde witch married to an advertising exec who just wanted to fit in and live her dull and boring life in Suburbia. Obviously things never quite worked out that way, especially when her family got involved, and by family I mean her mother, Endorra, who made life difficult for her husband, Darren, who she always called Durwood.
The premise behind I Dream of Jeannie was about a Mercury astronaut who splashes back down to earth slightly off course and his capsule ends up washed ashore on an uninhabited island where he stumbles upon a magic lamp with, guess what, a pretty blonde genie as its occupant (you've probably picked up my attraction to blondes by now).
Then came The Brady Bunch, loosely based on the movie Yours, Mine and Ours, with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball - about a recent widower and his three young sons, and a recently widowed young woman and her three young daughters. We all had our favorite characters we cheered on. Everybody had a thing for Marcia, the eldest daughter, or Cindy, the baby, probably because of her pigtails. I had a thing for Jan, the often-ignored middle daughter. I thought she was prettier, and certainly smarter than Marcia. But that's just me. The show went downhill once the kids were all grown up and they introduced "Cousin Oliver," a concept I'll come back to in a little bit.
Three's Company, Happy Days and MASH were all bunched together in the 70s. I liked them all. However, I only acknowledge the first three seasons of MASH, what I refer to as "the Henry Blake era." After Henry Blake/McLean Stevenson left, Alan Alda pretty much took over and the show became "preachy." I still watched it religiously up to the very end, hoping it would get funny again. It never did - just made you think. You can see a trend here; respectively they all went downhill after Suzanne Sommers left, Ron Howard started losing his hair and started looking like, oddly enough, Ron Howard; and I've already given my analysis of MASH.
The 80s had some good shows, too: Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Married With Children. A common thread they shared was their introduction of "Cousin Oliver" towards the end of their cycle. As the kids grew older, ratings dropped and the producers introduced a young member to the household. Which pretty much led to their demise. Thus, what I call the "Cousin Oliver" concept.
A clean, and breath-of-fresh-air came during the 90s in Friends, about three guys and three gals who share a tightly-knit bond while living and working in New York City. The second season defined the show: Ross and Rachel were together (finally!); Monica was dating the (much older) optometrist, Dr. Burke; Joey was "Dr. Drake Remoray," Chandler was a successful executive with his own office in a high-rise; and Phoebe was, well, Phoebe. I've always wondered how she could earn a living as a masseuse during the day, and part-time singer at night at the coffeehouse, Central Perk, where they all hung out. She lived alone in a nice apartment. The show went downhill after Ross and Rachel's breakup and the other characters took on different jobs and/or relationships. I enjoyed Friends. I didn’t think it could ever be equaled again until the 2000s with How I Met Your Mother.
The dynamics of How I Met Your Mother were different/similar to Friends: three guys and two gals: Lily and Marshall are married to each other, Ted is an architect and love-sick guy, Robin is Canadian (need we say more?) and Barney, the incorrigible fifth-wheel. They all live in New York City but instead of hanging out at a coffeehouse they hang out at a bar, MacLaren's. I watch the show occasionally, preferring the reruns on late-night TV as opposed to the prime-time showings. It’s still an evolving show and so far I like it.
Looking back I've noticed I've rambled on quite a bit. I'll finish the TV segment with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory another time, with some assorted shows tossed in, and then we'll tackle the movies after that. Gives me an excuse to write about something. Until then.
By the time I was old enough to watch MASH in prime time, Harry Morgan and David Ogden Stiers were members of the cast. I found the connection to Trapper John MD to be confusing, until I had seen enough of the early reruns to understand who the original character had been.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Friends. I loved the show up until Monica got scary skinny.
Looking forward to your comments on Buffy!