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Systematic Chaos

(8,601 posts)
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 12:28 PM Sep 2012

There was virtually nothing on TV earlier this morning, but what I did briefly watch got me thinking

Most of the premium cable channels were in their infomercial mode this morning at 4, and I really can't deal with the so-called morning "news" shows. Even the Adult Swim on Cartoon Network had ended and been replaced with the usual morning inane kiddie crap.

So, in desperation I flipped over to TV Land where they were about to play a few episodes of Three's Company. I was a pre-pubescent during that show's original run in the 70s and early 80s, but I remember watching it -- along with many other prime time sitcoms and dramas of the day -- and generally enjoying it.

Anyway, my point is that I just realized this morning how horribly obsolete much of the premise of Three's Company has become in this day and age with the advent of texting and social media. For example, the episode I managed to get through about ten minutes of (because now I understand just how horrible it is the way they made Suzanne Somers act so freaking ditzy, as in way beyond what was needed for her character to be funny) was based upon Chrissy having this "secret admirer" who'd leave her messages on her desk at work, for her to find the next day. So then Chrissy puts up a note on the bulletin board at her job, asking this "admirer" to meet her at a local bar. So then the remainder of what I saw just turned into a comedy of errors while Chrissy is trying to figure out which man is actually the admirer, while Jack and the other roommate egg the whole process on.

In today's world, the entire episode could have been resolved in a 30-second segment, never mind 30 minutes. A quick e-mail, a couple of text messages, and done.

It just got me thinking about how much of the popular entertainment from even 15 years ago has been rendered so utterly impractical by the ever accelerating race of technology. Maybe that's why so much of popular entertainment is going so far downhill? Maybe it's because just as soon as some concept is dreamed up there's something coming along tech-wise which makes it seem quaint almost overnight? I dunno....

Anywho, thanks for reading. I just wanted to share my thoughts about nothing of particular importance.

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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There was virtually nothing on TV earlier this morning, but what I did briefly watch got me thinking (Original Post) Systematic Chaos Sep 2012 OP
A Post About Nothing KamaAina Sep 2012 #1
But isn't the Lounge already full of those? What's one more gonna hurt? Systematic Chaos Sep 2012 #2
Delightfully, marbley wry. OriginalGeek Sep 2012 #3
I see you are master of your domain. KamaAina Sep 2012 #5
lol! OriginalGeek Sep 2012 #10
I remember in 76 or so the premier for a new show (hyped all to hell) involved a ditzy blonde. HopeHoops Sep 2012 #4
My problem with some/most of pipi_k Sep 2012 #6
Yeah, but they were like that in the 70's too. All of the hype commercials implied sex scenes. HopeHoops Sep 2012 #7
It sure does keep rubes tuned into bad TV doesn't it Populist_Prole Sep 2012 #18
I used to love the shows you named, plus a number of others. Systematic Chaos Sep 2012 #11
I watched the first crew as often as possible, and some of the second crew. HopeHoops Sep 2012 #16
I am an early riser. RebelOne Sep 2012 #8
I suppose these old shows could be looked at as quaint marzipanni Sep 2012 #9
I could never understand how 2 women in their mid-20s could still share a bedroom... LynneSin Sep 2012 #12
I love the technology of the Internet, especially Youtube aint_no_life_nowhere Sep 2012 #13
The quality of that recording is unbelievable for 1965. Systematic Chaos Sep 2012 #14
It's weird to watch movies in which people have to use pay phones. alarimer Sep 2012 #15
I notice that. texanwitch Sep 2012 #17
 

HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)
4. I remember in 76 or so the premier for a new show (hyped all to hell) involved a ditzy blonde.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 12:53 PM
Sep 2012

The very first joke was someone mentioning a sperm whale and her saying, "aren't those the ones with the really long tails?"

We turned it off at that point. It didn't make it through the season.

Now I liked 3's Company. Ritter made the show. But yeah, it was before dial-up modems were even common. But we had M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, and some other great shows, along with silly shit like "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" (which I watched anyway). I gave up TV about '82.

pipi_k

(21,020 posts)
6. My problem with some/most of
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:25 PM
Sep 2012

the modern TV shows is that it seems like 95% of them involve sex.

Sexual situations. Sexual jokes. Sexual innuendo and not-so-subtle double entendres.

Like they're targeting pubescent boys or something. And maybe they are...

Sad, because writers don't have to be particularly witty or creative to make the scripts all about sex.

PS..."Barney Miller" was a hoot.

 

HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)
7. Yeah, but they were like that in the 70's too. All of the hype commercials implied sex scenes.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:40 PM
Sep 2012

And yes, I was a pubescent/teen boy during that time. When I was younger I used to watch Benny Hill with the sound off because ONCE in a while you got a grainy tit shot (at 2:00 a.m. when it was on channel 45). SitComs died off a long time ago. Things like "WKRP" and "Dick Van Dyke" aren't coming back. Those were clever. Now it's all about fighting for space. As Pink Floyd said in "The Wall", "I got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from". Now it's what, 400 or so channels of 24x7 shit? It's not just ABC, NBC, and CBS anymore. Factor in the Internet and all they've got to draw in viewers is the promise of sex stuff. Over ten years ago, I was having a conversation with a coworker about this and said, "Just type in something random like nippleclips.com" - and D'OH! It was an actual web site (did NOT know this in advance). Sex sells. It always has and it always will.

Populist_Prole

(5,364 posts)
18. It sure does keep rubes tuned into bad TV doesn't it
Wed Sep 12, 2012, 02:05 AM
Sep 2012

I hear so many idiots defend some totally inane shit sit-coms that would make anyone with an IQ over 100 roll their eyes and groan, with "Yeah, but dem' chicks are hot...." or some other overplayed masculinity bullshit.

Systematic Chaos

(8,601 posts)
11. I used to love the shows you named, plus a number of others.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 06:17 PM
Sep 2012

I remember Saturday night being so awesome back then, because my mom didn't enforce a bed time like on school nights, so I could stay up all the way through SNL if I wanted to, and believe me I did.

 

HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)
16. I watched the first crew as often as possible, and some of the second crew.
Tue Sep 11, 2012, 09:30 AM
Sep 2012

Then I gave up TV all around. Curiously, Dan Akroid will be at one of our local liquor stores in about 10 days.

RebelOne

(30,947 posts)
8. I am an early riser.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 02:13 PM
Sep 2012

Fortunately, the local news comes on at 4:30 a.m. That is the only thing worth watching at that time.

marzipanni

(6,011 posts)
9. I suppose these old shows could be looked at as quaint
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 02:29 PM
Sep 2012

The way we look at Westerns and other movies set in the past.

When "All in the Family" was a new show my dad commented that he didn't like the bathroom humor when Archie made a comment about "meathead" and the "terlet" after you could hear a flushing sound coming from upstairs. If The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's new non-water-wasting toilet idea takes hold the flushing sound will be a thing of the past.

Here's an article from the Telegraph that lists 50 changes in our day-to-day lives that technology changed-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8949090/50-things-killed-by-technology.html

LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
12. I could never understand how 2 women in their mid-20s could still share a bedroom...
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 06:26 PM
Sep 2012

especially when some of them were very gainfully employeed.

Mind you I have no clue what job Crissy had. But I remember that Janet managed a Flower Shop and I think one of the later roommates was a nurse.

I would have thought after Crissy moved out Janet would be like 'Hey I have a good job now and I want my own bedroom so I can get some action'.

That always bothered me.

aint_no_life_nowhere

(21,925 posts)
13. I love the technology of the Internet, especially Youtube
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 06:35 PM
Sep 2012

because for the first time I can watch live performances of great jazz artists from the past like Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Bll Evans, Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow, Charle Christian, Lenny Breau, Ted Greene, Charlie Byrd, Baden Powell, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery and many, many others. Not only is it enjoyable but also a great learning tool when you can watch the fingering and phrasing of immortals like Wes Montgomery, close up.

&feature=related

alarimer

(16,245 posts)
15. It's weird to watch movies in which people have to use pay phones.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 06:51 PM
Sep 2012

I mean movies from 15 years ago or even less. No one had cell phones then, or at least not most people.

texanwitch

(18,705 posts)
17. I notice that.
Tue Sep 11, 2012, 10:34 PM
Sep 2012

I am watching a show right now that was made in 1997, no cellphones.

Few laptops.

Things have changed really fast since then.

I didn't get a cellphone until about 2003.

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