# Old pop culture hits different now that I'm older. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955 "2019-09-28T16:10:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/41 "2019-09-30T18:04:38Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Oh please. Sharing a bedroom with two other people? Nope. Sharing one bathroom with five other people, three of which are males? Aw hell no! > [@Shoeless](#): > > It wasn’t until I spent some time in architecture school that I realized what a lousy architect Mike Brady was. Hell, I flunked out and I could have designed a house better than that! Wasn’t it already the Mike Brady house pre-Carol? At least then it would have had two bedrooms for the three boys (plus whatever space became Alice’s room and eventually the swingin’ attic apartment). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/42 "2019-09-30T18:28:21Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > She’s turning him away and probably has a good reason. He could be married (or she could), have a disease, be a criminal type, whatever - sh knows it’s a bad idea for them to hook up. She knows it’s her hormones revving up in close proximity, and she is using her head instead of giving into a physical response. > > Actually a pretty good song, fewer people in the world should just roll over when they get that funny feeling in their pants. The song makes a lot more sense when you realize it’s a Springsteen song with the genders flipped. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/43 "2019-09-30T18:33:11Z")
Close Encounters, 1977: “Cool, Barry gets to go with the aliens!” Close Encounters, 2000 - : “OMG, poor Jillian. That’s worse than a parent’s worst nightmare: not just her only kid being abducted, but he’s literally _disappearing off the face of the earth_!” ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/44 "2019-09-30T18:40:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The trope is called “Just eat Gilligan.” Definitely would have gotten them off the island (and into a prison). Make his body disappear and where is the case for murder? GI could also be the inspiration for a dark suspense film. The Howells brought millions in cash and items with them. They werent sharing. Slowly greed overcomes the other five castaways and they kill the Howells in their sleep. Now, down to five castaways, who will die next? Who will be the lone survivor? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/45 "2019-09-30T18:48:51Z")
The Boys Are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy. I guess the first hundred times I heard it, I thought, all right! Par-tay! Now I hear And that time over at Johnny’s place, Well, this chick got up and she slapped Johnny’s face Man, we just fell about the place If that chick don’t want to know, forget her and I wonder what Johnny did to that girl. And if the boys wanna fight, you better let 'em. :rolleyes: The boys sound like a bunch of assholes to me. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/46 "2019-09-30T18:57:18Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > The Boys Are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy. > I guess the first hundred times I heard it, I thought, all right! Par-tay! Now I hear > > And that time over at Johnny’s place, > Well, this chick got up and she slapped Johnny’s face > Man, we just fell about the place > If that chick don’t want to know, forget her > and I wonder what Johnny did to that girl. And if the boys wanna fight, you better let 'em. :rolleyes: The boys sound like a bunch of assholes to me. They sounded like assholes to me when the song was new. Always hated that song. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/47 "2019-09-30T19:02:22Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Make his body disappear and where is the case for murder? > > GI could also be the inspiration for a dark suspense film. The Howells brought millions in cash and items with them. They werent sharing. Slowly greed overcomes the other five castaways and they kill the Howells in their sleep. Now, down to five castaways, who will die next? Who will be the lone survivor? I don’t remember what ‘items’ they brought, but the Howells money wouldn’t do them any good on the island, except maybe what was in their wallets to use as toilet paper! I can see one or the other of the men killing each other somehow, fighting over the women. And I can see one or other of the women being snuffed (accidentally) fighting off the men. Or killing in self-defense. What a grim scenario! Back to the professor making a short wave radio out of bamboo and coconuts! ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/48 "2019-09-30T19:46:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > 117 episodes, but if you ask random people to describe an episode, more often than not the only one people remember is that one! It even got referenced during the NFL broadcast yesterday. I find that fascinating. > > I wonder if there are other shows like that. In a game of charades (way back in the 1990s), all my friend had to do was mime being whacked in the face and holding his nose and both teams just instantly yelled “Brady Bunch!” I can’t think of anything else where a single miming action is so pop-culture embedded. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/49 "2019-09-30T20:18:05Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > As I get older I identify with Al Bundy from Married With Children more and more. I can confirm this, and I even never have been married nor have children! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/50 "2019-09-30T20:30:06Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Close Encounters, 1977: “Cool, Barry gets to go with the aliens!” > > Close Encounters, 2000 - : “OMG, poor Jillian. That’s worse than a parent’s worst nightmare: not just her only kid being abducted, but he’s literally _disappearing off the face of the earth_!” Also: Me watching _Close Encounters_, 1977, age 9: Roy’s gotta follow his heart! He’s gotta seek out the aliens! Me watching _Close Encounters_, 1987, age 19: Who chooses aliens over Teri Garr? _Rrroowwwr._ ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/51 "2019-09-30T20:37:17Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > **The Brady Bunch** seemed to have a good old time. Sure, they had their problems-braces, glasses, getting hit in the nose with a football- but things always shook out in the end. > > Oh please. Sharing a bedroom with two other people? Nope. Sharing one bathroom with five other people, three of which are males? Aw hell no! Dad was supposedly an architect. He could afford another, bigger, house. But they have six horny aged kids living in what looks like a three bedroom ranch style house in the suburbs with a dinky back yard. And a stairway, in a one story ranch style house. And Alice must have at least had a room of her own since she was always there. That house was much larger on the inside than the outside. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/52 "2019-09-30T21:16:05Z")
How about _Three’s Company_? Sex jokes much? And loaded, loaded with slapstick stereotypes, but nothing that makes the characters interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/53 "2019-09-30T21:21:01Z")
The racist, sexist, religionist, partisan, arrogant, elitist, HATEFUL cultural crap that infused my mid-century suburban SoCal childhood seems pretty sickening now. Too much to list. Fallout shelters were hot back then. I sure hope they don’t get popular again. Then anti-establishment paradigms of my disaffected youth somewhat ruined my life. What single culture turd to point to? **“Turn on, tune in, drop out.”** Which beats **“Turn off, tune out, drop dead”** by a fair margin. “Keep on truckin’.” Aha! I just recalled a big-time luser. Which Pat Boone was the worst: Clean teen idol and castrator of R&B? Fervent evangelist? Or heavy-metal self-caricature? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/54 "2019-09-30T21:48:30Z")
The casual sexism of the sixties and seventies really sticks out in old TV shows. It was so casual, I’m not even sure either gender realized it. it was just the way it was, but 40 years has really shown how things have changed. From Uhura saying “I’m scared, Captain”, to McGarret calling HPD women police officers “honey”, to the entire premise of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, to the commonly accepted belief that women just couldn’t do some jobs, (lady doctor, lady cop, lady pilot, lady lady lady) sometimes it’s painful to watch shows I liked back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/55 "2019-09-30T21:56:28Z")
Can we talk about Heinlein? Asimov, or SF writers if the era in general. Super sexist and misogynistic. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/56 "2019-09-30T23:25:18Z")
Speaking of annoying sitcom characters there is always Steve Urkel. With his stalkerish crush on Laura Winslow. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/57 "2019-09-30T23:35:56Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > How about _Three’s Company_? Sex jokes much? And loaded, loaded with slapstick stereotypes, but nothing that makes the characters interesting. That was the same criticism made about the program when it originally aired during the late 70s and early 80s. What’s different about it now is how tired and toothless the program’s sex jokes seem since they still had to meet broadcast TV standards. (And to think, the Moral Majority and its supporters used to thunder that God was going to punish the US because of this show’s existence.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/58 "2019-09-30T23:55:36Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That was the same criticism made about the program when it originally aired during the late 70s and early 80s. What’s different about it now is how tired and toothless the program’s sex jokes seem since they still had to meet broadcast TV standards. (And to think, the Moral Majority and its supporters used to thunder that God was going to punish the US because of this show’s existence.) He did. He gave us trump and Pence. I bet you’re sorry now! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/59 "2019-09-30T23:58:23Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > The racist, sexist, religionist, partisan, arrogant, elitist, HATEFUL cultural crap that infused my mid-century suburban SoCal childhood seems pretty sickening now. Too much to list. Fallout shelters were hot back then. Maybe I am misunderstanding your post, but what is racist, sexist, religionist, partisan, arrogant, elitist, or HATEFUL about fallout shelters??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955/60 "2019-10-01T00:06:22Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > In All in the Family there was an episode about a riddle. It was difficult to figure out because the doctor in the riddle was a woman. Everyone expected a doctor to be a man. It wouldn’t even be a riddle now. > Also, when I watch All in the Family and the audience or a character reacts, I don’t get it until I remember that a black doctor or mixed race couple, or whatever was unusual back then. If you’re talking about the riddle where the doctor can’t operate on the patient because he’s their son, I’m afraid you’re being a bit optimistic. I told my son that riddle a few years ago. He’s 16 now and he told me recently that he has shared that riddle with friends many times and hardly anyone gets the correct answer. > [@squidfood](#): > > In a game of charades (way back in the 1990s), all my friend had to do was mime being whacked in the face and holding his nose and both teams just instantly yelled “Brady Bunch!” I can’t think of anything else where a single miming action is so pop-culture embedded. In days of yore one of my friends got everyone to correctly guess “The Dick Van Dyke Show” by striding up to and skipping around an ottoman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-pop-culture-hits-different-now-that-im-older/840955.md?page=4)