[QUOTE=Sampiro]
I totally agree about the 70s being the Golden Era. You can add Sanford & Son (possibly my favorite sitcom of all time), SOAP, Good Times, second half of the Carol Burnett show runs (still funny after all these years) and even SNL Not-Ready for Primetime" years. One thing that’s amazing is that the quality 70s sitcoms could get away with so much more regarding race, religion, politics, etc., than today without a week long auto da fa from a thousand different activist groups and the like all screaming bloody murder. Archie yelled about the war in Vietnam with a Gold Star father present (and later had a problem with impotence- to my knowledge the first time it was mentioned on TV), Fred Sanford used the N word in one of the funniest lines every on TV (Lamont’s traffic court appearance- the line is now gone from the repeats), hell- SNL had a recurring comedy skit about Uncle Buddy (Buck Henry) the pedophile babysitter- and it flew. South Park would probably have raised less of an eyebrow then than now, and while viewers may have gotten offended and complained nobody had to go before the CNN Sanhedrin to flog themselves for the next two weeks.
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Great additions, though Carol Burnett and SNL weren’t sitcoms of course.
SOAP was a fun show, it had about a 3 year run and was yet another envelope pushing show, daring to do things and go places outside of the standard and the all to predictable formula of almost all the sitcoms on today. (Well to fair, most sitcoms have always been formulaic, the 70s had the most that broke the mold and it was still less than 20.)
Good Times and even the Jeffersons had some really well written season and then a lot of very poorly written seasons. With Good Times it was when JJ moved to the forefront of the show over the parents. The writers gave up, much as the Happy Days writer gave up with the Fronzie advent.
The Jeffersons, took a while to find their voice and I felt only kept it a few years and then went on several more years.
Maude on the other hand had a distinct and strong voice from the beginning. I did not watch or like the show that much, but I appreciate the writing and how it changed TV, pushing at least as many barriers as All in the Family.
MAS*H was really an amazing show and transitioned from it earlier zanier wartime antics to being maybe the first dramedy. SOAP may have been the second.
Sanford and Son was a funny show, it had the edgiest comic on TV and found ways for him to sneak stuff past the heavy censorship of the day. I won’t claim to remember it fondly, but I did watch it. It had some early season as funny and well written as My Name is Earl or the Office today, two of today’s best sitcoms.
All in the Family, should be in consideration for changing TV forever. From the first toilet flushing gag*, to dealing with the rape attempt on Edith, this show changed TV as much as Lucy did. The show really thrive in putting public debate out their in the form of Archie the knee-jerk bigoted Conservative and Meathead the Hyper-Liberal. It added a huge dash of racial reality with the neighbors being the first blacks in the neighborhood. For an example of pure humor it had Edith’s accident with the can of peaches in heavy cream.
Mary Tyler Moore was a really well written and respected show. Mary was considered a strong female role model at the time and deservingly so. The show was well acted and well written. For its pure humor moment, it had Chuckles Bites the Dust. This was in season six of the show, when most sitcoms writers have already given up trying. It is a small handful of shows where writers are still going strong in the sixth season. MTM, Barney Miller, All in the Family, MAS*H are three of the rare examples.
Barney Miller is probably my favorite sitcom ever. It last 8 years and was good to the last show. It was lucky enough to go out under it own conditions and finished with a 3 part story arc, providing excellent closure and a great line. As I recall, Barney starts get maudlin over the old crew and the cops he use to work with and then stops, realizing he sounds like Luger. For pure humor, this show was probably at its best with the Hash Brownie episode that had Fish leaping rooftops and the line Mushy, mushy, mushy from Jack Yemana.
WKRP was a great show that was constantly messed with by CBS. It had the Turkey Drop, the drinking test, the phone police, Jennifer’s haunted house and Les’ moment in the sun winning the softball game by making the catch in the outfield. This show had some unbelievable great writing. It also had about the best music of any show ever.
Taxi, was a killer show, a great ensemble. I had two of the great sitcom characters of all time in Louie and Rev. Jim. It had the “What does a Yellow Light mean” episode to cement its place in TV history, but it also had elegant Iggy when it turns out he is a well-trained pianists. It had Jim burning down Louie’s place and Louie agonizing over how much to ask Jim’s father for. I had the episode with Alex being scared by a girl scout and the big Broadway number and so much more. I was a show filled with genius and many sorts of humor fit together around Alex. Latka’s craziness was a whole different craziness than the rest of the show.
I am ashamed of myself for forgetting Fawlty Towers, a true classic. Though not a sitcom it bears mentioning that “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” is another product of the 70s.
Jim (sorry Sampiro, I seemed to be channeling you on this one, I don’t usually go on this much)
- I know, it seems silly and sophomoric today, but in 1971 it was truly ground breaking.
