The Wonder Years debuted in 1988, and the first season was set 20 years prior in 1968. If it was remade today, it would be set in 2005.
With the re-release of the Beatles Anthology on Disney+ this November, it dawned on me that there’s now more time between today and the original release of Anthology (~30 years) than there was between the original release of Anthology and the Beatles breakup (~25 years).
But how about this one: more time has passed since the US first shut down for COVID (2004 days) than the span between the Beatles debut on Ed Sullivan and their rooftop concert (1817 days).
Carrol O’Connor was 46 or 47 when he started playing Archie Bunker. Jean Stapleton was 48 when first playing Edith. Ann B Davis was 43 when she first played Alice on the Brady Bunch. All of these people seemed so old to me growing up, but I’m now I’m 50 and I think “How in the heck were they younger than I am now?” The Bunkers, to me, still seem so much older than me.
Jerry Seinfeld (71) is now older than the “old-timers” on Seinfeld when they first debuted: Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza (65), Len Lesser as Uncle Leo (69), Barney Martin as Morty Seinfeld (68), Liz Sheridan as Helen Seinfeld (61), Sandy Baron as Jack Klompus (55!).
Taking a different tack, I am fascinated by how the time between Star Trek being cancelled and revived as a feature film was ten years. The time between Return Of The Jedi and The Phantom Menace releases was 16 years. Those seemed like an absolute age but were really nothing at all.
According to “All in the Family”, on an episode where Archie takes a lifespan quiz, it’s mentioned that Archie was born in 1924. So, Archie would be 101 years old today.
Hopefully this is allowed, as it isn’t pop culture, but I’ll often think about this on a personal level. I’m almost 58. I remember spending many days at my grandparent’s house when I was 5, 6, 7… 8 years old. They were old to me. Well, when I do the math… my grandmother was born in 1916, which means she was 58 when I was 7. Which also means I am now her age. It’s so surreal; I don’t feel nearly that “old,” and I’m not even a grandparent.
The characters (not necessarily the cast) of the Golden Girls in their initial season was older than the characters in the most recent season of Sex and the City.
When I was 9 or 10 back in the early 70s, I’d scan the Dallas Morning News every morning before school. At some point I became interested in the ages in the obituaries, and realized that reaching your late 60s was pretty good, and 70s? Wow!
I’m 62 now. Not quite there yet, but man those people seemed ancient.
I was in college when Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted. I and my friends at the time, accustomed to Captain Kirk, were somewhat scandalized that the Enterprise was now being commanded by “an old man.”
I am now older than Patrick Stewart was when TNG premiered.
Hell’s bells, Wil Wheaton is now older than Patrick Stewart was when TNG premiered.
When I watch shows that are set in the 80s-- let’s take Stranger Things as a prime example-- I enjoy the 80s nostalgia, but I am painfully aware that I was still older back then than all the younger generation characters on that show, including the older siblings-- born in late 1964, I was a full-grown adult by the early 80s.
Now, I’m not sure it was ever explicitly stated, but I used to figure Picard was between 60-80, because of the extended lifespans of The Future. He wasn’t no young buck Kirk, who let his hormones drive his actions. No, he was mature.
But to find Stewart was so young at the time! I guess he was born old.
The novel Cranford (written in the 1850s) is collection of stories about a group of elderly women in a small town. And when I say “elderly”, most of them are in their 50s (a la the aforementioned Golden Girls).
It’s mostly the fact that he lost his hair fairly early in life. That always makes men seem older than they are.
Lionel Jeffries played Dick Van Dyke’s father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, even though he was six months younger than Van Dyke. Like Stewart, hair loss made him seem much older than his actual age.
We like to watch old 70s TV shows. Facts about the casts are fascinating: there was one episode that featured this “really old” lady, dottering old grandma type, white hair, glasses, old style clothes…the actress was 63 at the time! oh my!
There was an episode of Maude where she mentioned her salary was $7000. That was 45-50 years ago. Has the cost of living really multiplied 8+ times since then?