First off, let me acknowledge that there’s no way to do a comprehensive look at 70 years of sitcoms in eight hours (and considering all the commercials, I bet it’s more like six hours). There will be many omissions. Add to that, some shows will get more weight and screen time than they deserve. That’s to be expected. I’m sure if they had nine hours, BIG WAVE DAVE’S would have had a whole segment devoted to it.
Another point that’s not the fault of the producers: I found it sad seeing some of these sitcom stars from the past today. Some did not age well. And was I the only one saying, “bad plastic surgery,” “good plastic surgery?”
The series is broken down into general topics.
Part One was families. The first half walked you through the ‘50s up through more contemporary shows. The second half could be entitled, “Look How Inclusive We Are.” Inclusive except for Jews. Not a single mention. Not a frame of THE GOLDBERGS (either version) or RHODA.
And if you want to devote a large segment of the show to African-American representation and their impact on society, how can you ignore AMOS & ANDY? Feel free to say evolving society found it offensive and took it off the air. But it was a very popular show in its day and featured an all African-American cast. It's like doing a history of baseball and conveniently ignoring the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
Part Two was about sex. Maybe 30% on heterosexual sex, and 70% on LGBTQ sex. Included in the heterosexual section was I DREAM OF JEANIE. It was broken down in two categories — shows that weren’t allowed to address sex (I LOVE LUCY, THAT GIRL, etc.) and those where everybody has sex (SEX IN THE CITY, FLEABAG, GIRLS). Gee, times have changed is the obvious conclusion.
But that section all felt like an afterthought. The LGBTQ section took over most of the show. Yes, it was groundbreaking, and yes there are moments that helped change peoples’ opinions to become more accepting. But there’s way more to seventy years of sex.
For starters, how about sexual tension? How do you do an hour on sex and not even make reference to Sam & Diane in CHEERS? Or MOONLIGHTING, or the early years of MASH? Or TWO AND A HALF MEN? Several classic sex farces were done to perfection on FRASIER. And you can throw in CALIFORNICATION. You can also go way to the ‘50s for LOVE THAT BOB and DOBIE GILLIS. Like I said, straight sex was an afterthought.
My point on both parts, -- they were less history lessons and more civics lessons.
Other than Norman Lear, Steve Levitan, and Darren Starr, no writers were mentioned. They spent a ton of time on FRESH OFF THE BOAT. You would think it’s one of the five greatest sitcoms in history. Who wrote it? At one point some talking head said that black shows started finally being written by black writers. Who? Wouldn’t that be more informative than a fan coming up to Constance Wu (who tried desperately to get out of FRESH OFF THE BOAT) and telling her how meaningful her show was to her? FAMILY TIES gets a nice long segment and not a word about its creator, Gary David Goldberg.
Again, I hope the other chapters are better. So far it's very much a documentary with an agenda. What did you guys think?
from By Ken Levine
Comments
Post a Comment