TV and Movies

[VegasBusinessWoman]

<-----Also not a tv person.

[Nbo]

I watch television for entertainment not values.  I like to watch some old shows like my three sons, I love Lucy and my favorite The Brady Bunch but there good shows out there now. 

[Nancy Drew]

I think there can be a space for the gentle families on tv and maybe the more gritty family life on others. Take The Brady Bunch. A huge fan base. Even Maureen McCormick said she wished her real life was that wonderful. Maybe we can take something from both. The Cosby family also a show that was vastly different from the lead actor and creator. I have heard people say that show motivated them to something better than what they were experiencing.

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Midmod wrote:
hi. I'm 51 and can hardly stand to watch today's tv. I only watch the inspiration channel, meTV, feTV, Grit and Hulu (because I can watch whatever I want to).
I was watching Father Knows Best this morning and it was such a heartwarming episode that I did a search on the show. I want to watch tv that reflects what people ought to be to each other: respectful, caring and friendly. Families should be loving and considerate, patient. Every show on TV is the opposite of what I hold dear to my heart and what I know we should be watching. I read in this excerpt from an article about Father Knows Best:Like many family shows, Father Knows Best drew inspiration from real life, but not from the actors' families. The show's writers, Paul West and Roswell Rogers, garnered ideas from their own families. West had four children; Rogers had three.

Rogers and West specifically targeted plots that would cause viewers to say, "that happened to us once." They highlighted character-building and what Robert Young called "built-in moral lessons." The show's producer, Eugene B. Rodney, placed great emphasis on the script. Good scripts weren't big action or bagfuls of jokes," he said. We sought character, motivation."

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@Midmod 

I understand your point, but TV production is a BUSINESS and TV is a form of entertainment.  It's not supposed to take the place of parental guidance or a religious or spiritual influence.    Ratings also greatly influence what stays on TV.

I have seen Father Knows Best, and even as a kid I thought it was rather fake ... I guess I would now use the description  "not authentic".

By the way .... if you want to watch more meaningful television, start watching your local PBS stations.   

Personally, I don't think we need as many channels as have sprung up .... but there's something for everyone ....  even adult "fairy tales" like FKB.

[TheMemphisVette]

the waltons

i still miss that show!

[bikerbabe]

@Oznell
I’m not saying that the show never should’ve existed. Not at all. What I’m saying is that I don’t wish for a return to a time when everything on television was an unrealistic and sanitized version of life. A dose of reality is a good thing vs pretending the bad isn’t out there and not talking about it. Even “problems” that were portrayed on TV in the 50s were a plain vanilla version deemed suitable for middle-class white America.

[Oznell]

I simply don't believe that, @bikerbabe,, that that particular show was "sanitized", any more than any other television show with values of whatever kind, and a point of view.

Although I know the critique you are speaking of, all too well, since it first appeared in the Sixties, when some analysts deconstructed aspects of family TV in the terms you mention.  I took pains in my earlier post to show that the show was not about a perfect family, or perfect people, and that it showed conflict and disadvantage at times.  It was about a particular set of people, the Andersons, and many viewers-- of all backgrounds and situations-- could identify, if not with the exact dilemmas of that family, but with the universal problems and small victories they had.

I think some-- not all-- of the academics and other highly critical analysts were eager to "deconstruct" the idea of that type of household, for whatever reason, but I simply don't buy what I consider to be their oversimplifications.

Not to undercut any of your perceptions, of course--  I do think it's quite possible for two different people to have entirely different reactions to any "work of the imagination", based on experience and other factors.  I respect yours, but stand by mine. 

[snakebite60]

you hit the nail on the head I was fortunate enough to be raised just like Father knows Best, Leave it to Beaver etc. I miss good stories on TV. when i was a kid Sunday had the best lineup. there was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, then the Wonderful World of Diseney then either Bonanza or the Sunday night movie. except for streaming I watch the Animal Planet's the Zoo. ,  Dr Jeff, and Fox News.

[shaggygirl]

Geez, even Family Feud is becoming embarrasing sometimes. I forget the question, something about husbands and what they do well (or not well)  but one of the answers was "give glee to the vee." That's not the first time I've been hearing suggestive questions which are probably purposely designed to elicit suggestive answers.

[LyndaGee]

Years ago, I remember seeing Lauren Chapin on Geraldo's old syndicated talk show and she discussed her troubled childhood.  NOT the show's fault, of course, but I sure wish her family life was more like Kathy Anderson's.