Sorry about the delay between posts. Got distracted by more work than a retired guy should be doing.
As both my readers know, a few months ago I totaled my car and had to buy another. The new car has satellite radio, a trial anyway. One of the stations is called Classic Radio. It rebroadcasts old radio shows.
I was thrilled to discover it. I actually own a number of tapes of some old radio shows as well as a book titled The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio. Born in 1940, I grew up listening to radio. My family didn't get a TV until I was 12, so the "theater of the mind" was a regular companion for me. I confess to a lot of nostalgia for the time.
Lately, when I have a trip of at least 15 minutes I tune into an old show. I've listened to a lot of mysteries, complete with dramatic (or over dramatic) organ music to create tension. Interestingly, the stories still hold up, though the settings are antique. Cars shifting gears, phones being dialed, odd sounding police sirens. Still, the stories work--perhaps a little melodramatically, but they still work.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of comedies. They hold up as well, too. Not necessarily knee-slapping funny, but I do find myself smiling a lot, and even laughing out loud a little. Fibber McGee and Molly, the Great Gildersleeve, Lum and Abner, Jack Benny--these were the programs of my youth. They are a bit antiquated too, but still amusing. Now, here's why I bring this up: they are all clean. Now foul language, no sexual innuendo, no outright sexual situations, no mean-spirited humor. Just funny stuff. Ordinary people doing and saying, what were for the times, ordinary things in a funny setting.
As I listen and remember all the happy hours of my childhood listening to Luigi and Judy Canova, and Bob Hope, I wonder what went wrong. When did funny always have to have a blue tint. The other night I watched the season opener of four comedies. In three of them, people slept together, even those who had just met or who were committing adultery. Did we really need that to make it funny. Plus one of the new series is based on the same premise as the movie Knocked Up. Boy and girl hook up for a one-nighter and she gets pregnant. Great. This is what we need more of on TV to normalize it even more.
I'm not a prude, but like the guy in the funny little commercial about putting the No in Innovation, I've got to ask, "Have we gone too far?" That's what I've been thinking lately. What about you?
Peace,
Jerry+
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I have to comment on your post about the radio shows.........though I was born too late to catch them on the first go-round, I'm a huge fan of them. A station in Texas used to re-broadcast The Shadow and The Lone Ranger, and then did some Lum and Abnder and Fibber McGee and Molly shows. I still love them. (Is it XM radio that you have/? or I guess now Sirius owns them.........I didn't realize they have a "Classic" station.......I'll have to catch it!) You're right, TV has gone too far. I think there's just too much effort going into seeing how far they can go, with both sex and violence. I miss westerns!!
Post a Comment