This is exactly correct. Mainstream entertainment is almost invariably predictable and formulaic specifically because it is therefore comfortable and familiar; c.f. the “kiss my grits” anecdote related above. Similarly, note how the height of Steve Martin’s popularity coincided with his clockwork employment of the “excuuuse me” catchphrase, and almost to the instant he got bored and stopped using it, his popularity fell away.
Says something about human nature that we seek comfort in a world of chaos by telling ourselves rigorously regularized stories over and over again, doesn’t it?
I remember that show – it was about an “escort service” in the original sense of the term, i.e., providing arm-candy to gentlemen who will be seen in public, sexual services definitely not included.
As a man who’s watched alot of TV. I agree with the nomination of Perfect Strangers. No joke, plot or gimmick was too cliched, stupid or overused for them. OTTOMH, this included being locked in their own apartment with a security system gone beserk (naturally, they use a massage/stereo chair to break a window only to discover that the system doesn’t really release poison gas), setting up a driver education system using a plunger for a shifter, and having a wife go into labor while on a hot air balloon.
Re Family Matters Erkel not only had a talking doll. He had his own cereal- Erkel O’s! The slogan? “You’ll be Erkelized with Erkel-O’s!”
Funny thing is that Jerry Van Dyke had to choose between his part in this show and the part of “Gilligan”. He couldn’t see how a show about castaways would last very long…
Something I thought was very funny on the recent Happy Days reunion was that the cast chided Garry Marshall for his non-stop attempts to launch fads and catchphrases. After “Heyyyy!” and “Sit on it!” and “Nerd” entered the pop-culture he became a man obsessed. That’s why Chachi was seen for an entire season wearing a bandanna around his leg (Marshall was trying to start a fad among high school age boys) and why he said “Wah-wah-wah” all the time, and it’s why Joanie had some embarassing hairstyles and outfit choices and why Richie always sang “Blueberry Hill”.
Garry, darling- I loved you on Murphy Brown, but fads are just sort of naturally occurring for the most part, or at least don’t usually take cues from Scott Baio.
I must be humor impaired from reading some of the nominations for good sitcoms (almost an oxymoron). Gilligan’s Island, The Andy Griffith Show, the original I Love Lucy-that stuff was funny. The whole Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore crowd was about as humorous as a fire in an orphanage. Bob Newhart should get a lifetime achievement award for producing the most totally unfunny TV shows. The only sitcoms which come to mind as being tolerable would be Cheers, Taxi, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Married with Children-but the last was just an excuse to check out the eye candy.
For true humor, give me Ren and Stimpy, Duckman, and Rocko’s Modern Life.
WATCH it rather than make assumptions. It was a comedy of manners in the classic tradition and Moliere would’ve loved it. And it was cancelled because of a new direction at CBS, not because of bad ratings. AND with her money Irene Ryan (Grannie) endowed the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship at the Kennedy Center which helped finance Dan Butler’s (Bulldog on Frasier, another show that outlived its welcome) education. But Moliere would’ve liked Green Acres
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even more, especially after dropping acid.
That’s the problem with you kids today. You don’t approach these shows in a condition that harmonizes with that of the guys who wrote them. “The Dick Van Dyke Show”: permanently tipsy. “Green Acres”: tripping. "Alice’: while vomiting.
Other shows with totally pointless pregnancies (i.e. the actress wasn’t pregnant in real life):
Too Close for Comfort (a show already mentioned on here- Ted Knight’s wife has a baby in her 40s I think strictly because they couldn’t think of anything else to do with her, and of course the baby ate steroids and aged three years in the first few months)
Frasier- a great show in its prime, but I just don’t think that Roz was the type to have an unplanned pregnancy (or for that matter, the type to go to full term with it if she did).
Murphy Brown- another “this woman was a feminist before there were feminists”- her first birth control pill was probably shaped like Dino and she’s been spouting safe-sex and condoms for a decade. The odds of this happening are incredibly slim.
Fresh Prince of BelAir- we have to do something with Vivien- knock her up.
Are you sure about this one? My recollection is that Candice Bergman gave birth to her daughter Chloe around that time.
I’m not disagreeing with you in the context of the show (I remember thinking that the baby was pretty much ignored and invisible after that big public birth scandal), just that I think they wrote it in because the acress was pregnant.
I was attending St. Olaf College in Minnesota while The Golden Girls was on TV. (The school sent her shirts & memorabilia…I didn’t see it myself, but supposedly several items made it on the air) The St. Olaf Choir went on tour through California a couple of times during the run of the series. The first time, they got to watch a taping of the show – and to serenade Rue McClanahan, on her birthday. The actresses had learned the St. Olaf fight waltz for the occasion.
The second time, Betty White came to watch one of our concerts (I was in the choir at this point). She enjoyed it.
The next year, Ms. White visited the St. Olaf campus, where she watched another choir concert (the crowd acknowledged her with an ovation, which she immediately tried to re-direct to the choir. Classy lady) and gave a lecture to the theater department. Much fun was had by all.
During her lecture, Ms. White told this story:
While she was on the plane to Minnesota, a flight attendant came by and asked her what she was going to do there. She told him that she was going to visit St. Olaf College. The steward then looked at his watch, and said, “I hope we arrive on time. There’s only one road up to the St. Olaf campus, and it closes every night at eight!” Ms. White went on to say that she actually believed him for a moment, until she saw him laughing with another flight attendant about it.
He was wrong, by the way. There are two roads up to the St. Olaf campus.
