The Golden Age

In the 500 channel universe TV is better than ever. Whooda thunk it?


I just got this email from a viewer named Chuck from Gore Virginia suggesting that the Hollywood writers' strike really isn't that bad a thing.

It's GREAT that writers are on strike. Gives them time to watch Red Skeleton, Lucy, Gleason, Tim Conway, JackBenny to see true comedy and maybe learn. Maybe they will discover 4 letter words and sexual content is not needed to get laughs and 2 killings, 4 rapes and 2 child molesters and 17 people with guns does not make drama. If watching a show with my granddaughter is embarrassing it's not funny.



Geez, Chuck have ya watched any television since 1974? Because I gotta tell ya I think TV has done nothing but get better and better. A lot of those comedy shows you mention just sort of did the same jokes over and over again. Tim Conway's old man act was funny...the first 93 times I saw it. After that it started to lose some steam.


And just how funny would it be today to hear Jack Benny yell "Rochester!" to his Black valet?
It's like anything else--tv is better today because today's performers are standing on shoulders of the old guys.
Do you remember Julius Erving aka Dr. J? Did you know as good as he was, Erving was bascially a one-handed player and could not really go left at all? Michael Jordan would eat his lunch, in part because he learned from Doc's game.

I respect Gleason and the rest your faves (though I would be remiss if I didn't point out there were almost no people of color on TV back then) but I respect them like I respect the '69 Green Bay Packers. Great in their time, but now? They couldn't whup Old Lady Johnson.