What are we missing

[lovethempokes]

I was looking thru the channels today and came across old episodes of “Little House on the Prairie”. As I watched -episode was when Albert lies to his real father about being blind so he could stay with the Ingalls - it struck me that we don’t see a lot of shows like this anymore, that show family units. Back in the 70s and 80s most shows had the entire family unit, so even if your family was split or going through divorce you could escape into the TV land of families that faced problems together. Not saying TV will solve the problems of today, but it was nice watching a show that I didn’t have to turn off when my kids walked into the room. Maybe if we had more shows like that and less of the Love Islands it might be a small piece in the large puzzle of issues plaguing us today.

 

[soonerinlOUisiana]

I was looking thru the channels today and came across old episodes of “Little House on the Prairie”. As I watched -episode was when Albert lies to his real father about being blind so he could stay with the Ingalls - it struck me that we don’t see a lot of shows like this anymore, that show family units. Back in the 70s and 80s most shows had the entire family unit, so even if your family was split or going through divorce you could escape into the TV land of families that faced problems together. Not saying TV will solve the problems of today, but it was nice watching a show that I didn’t have to turn off when my kids walked into the room. Maybe if we had more shows like that and less of the Love Islands it might be a small piece in the large puzzle of issues plaguing us today.

Agree, but doesn't every generation long for the way it used to be? I remember at that time my mother being drawn to old re-runs of Lucy, Beaver, Ozzie, etc. And my Dad, who was 10 years older, would listen to re-runs of old radio dramas on the local college station. But the best was my grandfather, while watching televised sports, would long for the days when he and his friends would get together and "watch" the Babe Ruth Yankees downtown with each play being read by a telegraph operator, and recorded on baseball diamond display made out of plywood and light bulbs.

 

[iasooner1]

Man that takes me back; I'm old but not quite that old. I'm old enough that I remember when some of those shows were first ran...

 

[lovethempokes]

Agree, but doesn't every generation long for the way it used to be? I remember at that time my mother being drawn to old re-runs of Lucy, Beaver, Ozzie, etc. And my Dad, who was 10 years older, would listen to re-runs of old radio dramas on the local college station. But the best was my grandfather, while watching televised sports, would long for the days when he and his friends would get together and "watch" the Babe Ruth Yankees downtown with each play being read by a telegraph operator, and recorded on baseball diamond display made out of plywood and light bulbs.

I agree with your assessment. I just wanted to point out the content of tv today. It’s hard to watch tv today with kids since most shows are reality shows. They don’t give kids that escape they need. Maybe more of us need to unplug from time to time. I know I do. 24 news cycle doesn’t help either.

 

[soonerinlOUisiana]

I must admit, I was entertained by SatC, and many other cable series that are far from "family entertainment." (ie. would have been rated R if they were movies). That being said, I never tried to emulate any of them.

Getting back to OP, we watched a whole slew of TV shows that fall in line with Little House [Waltons, Happy Days, Eight is Enough, Family (good grief, what did we see in Kristy McNichol!?!) etc.] By the 80s, we began tuning out, not so much because of "adult" content, but rather because shows started to become agenda-driven. Most notable were the "family" shows with a smart wife, stupid husband template, or smart kids, stupid parents. Even Tool Man was guilty of this. It just got to be complete garbage.