Maybe Those Really Were the Days in the 1970s
I wonder if we went back to making more shows that pushed the envelope on social sensibilities and offended people Americans wouldn’t be so divided. We bonded and found common ground over TV laughs.
Don’t ask me why it happened because I’ve now gone down so many rabbit holes I can’t possibly remember, but I’ve been diving into shows from the 1970s. Maybe it is because I was born in 1971, so look back to that decade as when I discovered television (though back then it was only ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS). Maybe seeing how fractured my family panned out, I look back to when things were simpler and more stable…when the whole family—two parents and six kids—sat around the television to watch the menu of shows we all loved, with the most contentious moment being when the show “Dallas” showed Dallas Stadium in the opening credits, which elicited cheers from the Cowboys fans like me and boos from the Steelers fans like my nemesis older brother, with both groups trying to drown out the other side. Or, maybe it is because the shows were just better back then as they showed what felt like real people in real life saying and doing real things no matter how offensive, political incorrect, and boorish.
All of this nostalgia started when I was tired of reading one night, so jumped on Paramount+ to look for something to just pass the time until I went to bed. The opening screen showed “The Love Boat.” I used to love that show along with “Fantasy Island” because of the stars who came on those shows. I launched into the first season with glee. Though I find the show a bit campy and the behavior of the crew half inappropriate and half creepy, especially Doc who sexually harasses every woman who comes on the boat, seeing the stars of the day each episode is enjoyable. It also spurred me to Google the shows that the guests were on, as I mentally kept track of who came on from which show each episode.
Happy Days
Laverne and Shirley
Charlies’ Angels
The Incredible Hulk
The Brady Bunch
Three’s Company
M*A*S*H
Little House on the Prairie
The Jeffersons
Good Times
Sanford and Son
Mork & Mindy
Eight Is Enough
One Day At a Time
CHiPs
My lovely lady friend has had to listen to me tell her about what I learned that I had either forgotten or didn’t know. For example, I didn’t realize “The Love Boat” was on for so long (ten seasons—1976 to 1985). Or that “Mork & Mindy” was on so briefly (four seasons—1978-1981). Had you told me Gavin Macleod who played Captain Merrill Stubing was only forty-five or that Bernie Kopell who played Dr. Adam Bricker was only forty-six in 1976, I would have laughed you out of my house, as both men looked far older than I do now at fifty-four. Did you know that “Laverne and Shirley” left Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for Los Angeles, California, in season six? I have no idea if Jack Ritter’s character who acts gay to live with two women in “Three’s Company” came from his appearance on “The Love Boat” when he played a man dressed as a woman or not, but it seems likely his role spurred elements of the latter character. And I’m fairly certain the famous line from Human League’s song “Human” came straight out of an episode of “The Love Boat” (“While we were apart, I was human, too.”).
With the news this week that Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were murdered by their son, my deep diving took me to “All In the Family” in which Reiner played Carroll O’Conner’s (only forty-seven at the time!!!!) Archie Bunker’s son-in-law, Meathead. I watched a few clips of the show to remind me how offensive and funny it was. As I did, I thought to myself that there is no way such a show could be made today. We have become too soft. Too offended. Too progressive. Too serious. In just two short clips, Archie referred to blacks and Jews using words censors today would prohibit on broadcast television. The words would spur protests to cancel the show and O’Conner. The show is described as one that:
revolves around the life of a working-class man and his family. It broke ground by introducing challenging and complex issues into mainstream network television comedy: racism, antisemitism, infidelity, homosexuality, women’s liberation, rape, religion, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, divorce, and impotence. The series became arguably one of American television’s most influential comedies, as it injected the sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts.
“All In the Family” was rated number one by Americans for five straight years, which had never been done before. It was so successful it spun off five new shows: “Maude,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “Gloria,” “704 Hauser,” and “Archie Bunker’s Place.” The lyrics of the show strike a nerve even today [my comments]:
Boy, the way Glen Miller played.
Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made. [blue collar Americans are the forgotten MAGA folks]
Those were the days
Didn’t need no welfare state. [SNAP fraud unraveling now]
Everybody pulled his weight [Disability fraud higher than ever]
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. [America built great cars]
Those were the days
And you knew who you were then. [Social Emotional Learning in schools and counseling for everyone wasn’t needed]
Girls were girls and men were men. [Transradical agenda debate]
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
People seemed to be content. [Smartphones driving FOMO non stop]
Fifty dollars paid the rent. [Joe Biden’s inflation]
Freaks were in a circus tent. [Furries…]
Those were the days
Take a little Sunday spin,
Go to watch the Dodgers win. [Go Dodgers!!!]
Have yourself a dandy day
That cost you under a fin. [Biden’s inflation again]
Hair was short and skirts were long.
Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don’t know just what went wrong
Those Were the Days
“All In the Family” ran for nine seasons from 1971-1979, with “Archie Bunker’s Place” then running for four more seasons from 1980-1983. Not bad for a show about a blue collar bigot from Brooklyn.
That brings me to Tommy Norris. As I see it, Tommy is about as close to Archie Bunker as we can get these days. If you don’t know who Norris is, you should check out “Landman” on Paramount+ some time. Played by Billie Bob Thornton, Norris is a hard charging oil man in Texas who says whatever he wants to say to whomever he wants to say it to. His soliloquies have become legendary. You can watch a few at this link. Every week after each new episode of “Landman” runs, the Internet is ablaze with Tommy’s latest speech. Americans LOVE Tommy and his speeches. Why? Because like Archie, Tommy is an American archetype: a man’s man just trying to get by in a world that doesn’t like him, doesn’t appreciate him, and finds him to be uncouth. Tommy is why “Landman” is breaking viewership records and outperforming Taylor Sheridan’s (creator and writer) other massive hit, “Yellowstone” with Kevin Costner. I love Sheridan’s other shows “1883,” “1923,” “Tulsa King,” and “Mayor of Kingstown,” too. All have the same American archetype leading man—Tim McGraw, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, and Jeremy Renner, respectively.
I wonder if we went back to making more shows that pushed the envelope on social sensibilities and offended people Americans wouldn’t be so divided. Back in the 1970s, we bonded and found common ground over laughs watching “All In the Family” (and other great shows) whether we related to the offender, Archie, or the offended, Meathead. Today, we are offended just by how people vote, not by what we say or do. In fifty years, will any shows made today still be watched and talked about? I know the 1970s weren’t perfect (the 1980s, however, were), but it is hard to look around today and not think “those were the days.”
P.S. There is offensive then there is beyond the pale. Donald Trump’s Truth Social post about Reiner’s death was just too much. He frankly makes the Right look as bad as the Left looked after Charlie Kirk’s murder and, in my opinion, he comes across as a bit mental in his own right. Reiner suffered from Trump Derangement Syndrome, but he and his wife were brutally murdered by their drug addicted son. No matter what Reiner said over the years about Trump and his MAGA followers, his shocking death, like Kirk’s, wasn’t the time to muck the depths of depravity. I hope Melania read Trump the riot act once she saw the post and J.D. Vance privately told his boss what he did was classless. It was.
The fact is Reiner made some really good movies in the late 1980s. Like some of the best from 1986-1992. Then, it appears he got heavily into left-wing politics per news reports. He didn’t make another top movie thereafter, which really is too bad.
P.P.S. How many times do Trump and the White House kids need to touch the stove when it is hot? This time White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles decided it was a good idea to speak extensively to Vanity Fair about all things Trump. Not surprisingly, Vanity Fair then used what Wiles gave them to make Team Trump look stupid. It has been over four years since I urged Republicans to boycott all media outlets that demonstrated bias in their coverage. Yet, Republicans continue to run to CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS, ABC, NBC, and countless other outlets mistakeningly believing that whatever fundraising clickbait they get will be worth it. It isn’t, as it merely helps those struggling outlets boost their ratings while they lump crap upon the Right day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year. Please, I beg all Republicans, just stop. Now.
