I want to take you back down memory lane. On our first stop, we are going to go visit Mike and Carol and their six children. For those of you who don't know who they are shame on you. The Brady Bunch was the family everyone watched. (At least my friends and I watched the reruns.) I don't ever recall anything really bad happening to them. Sure they had some minor mishaps, but nothing major.
The next stop on this ride is with that racist Archie. You got it, I am talking about All in the Family. It is unbelievable that this shows first telecast was January 12, 1971 and the last one was January 25, 1992. I know, I couldn't believe it either. When I have seen epsiodes of it as I got older, I was baffled as to how he remained on the air for so long. Nevertheless, many of us watched because there were not many shows that had Black actors/actresses in them (i.e. George and Weezy).
We are going to stay on the East Coast and visit the Drummond Family. Over all, I enjoyed Different Strokes and I don't have too many bad things to say about it. It is unfortunate that many of the shows stars had/have substance abuse issues. I loved it when Arnold was being bulled by "The Gooch." I thought that was hilarious. This is one of the few classic shows that I thought was pretty good.
The next stop on our trip is one of my all time favorite sitcoms. I am not sure if I like the family because the show was set in Chicago or what. This family of 5 live in the housing projects and was always struggling to make ends meet. (Maybe this is what made the show a little bit more enjoyable.) I am talking about "Good Times" with Florida, James, J.J, Thelma and Michael. I really like Michael because he was always trying to uplift his family and show them a different perspective on a situation. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Willona and Bookman. I thought Willona was very beautiful and she was always very stylish. I remember when Penny came on board. She was just so darn cute and lovable. It was so sad that her mom was physically abusing her. I think that is one of the first shows I remember seeing an issue such as that being portrayed. This family struggled and when they thought they finally was going to make it James had died. Many Black people cried because it felt like they lost someone close to them. Isn't it amazing how you could connect with a television show and never met any of the actors.
My final stop is with the Huxtable Family. This family was a middle/upper middle class family who realized the value of an education. I have often heard many younger Blacks who grew up without a father figure in their lives refer to the good doctor as their television dad. It was truly refreshing to see a family with educated parents stressing the importance of education and had the means to help their children get it. I also like the fact that the grandparents (Anna and Russell)played an important part in their children and grandchildren lives. I think The Cosby Show showed America that Black people can/will/are successful. When the spinoff show "A Different World" began, it really did a wonderful job of highlighting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's). This is and will probably be one of my favorite shows for a long time. I haven't gotten all of the seasons on dvd (hint, hint) but I'm working on it.
I know there are many other wonderful and not so wonderful shows I may have missed. I only selected a few to show how television evolved. I didn't have a rhyme or reason to how the shows were selected, I just picked them. If you have some favorite or not so favorite shows, please share them. My purpose in this post was to see if there are any current shows that may stack up to these shows. I really can't say there are, but I could be wrong. For those of you with children, what television shows do you watch with your child and really enjoy them? I've been trying to think of some, but I'm stumped. Everything I think of is not child friendly. Somebody help a sista out!
2 comments:
Shout out to the Huxtables! One of the best televison shows and TV families to Keep Up with! ;)
Well, those were memorable shows. Especially the All in the Family episode where Sammy Davis Jr kisses Archie on the cheek. Carroll O'Connor was nothing like his character. He later starred in
"In the Heat of the Night" with Ann-Marie Johnson and Howard Rollins. Jean Stapleton is also different from her ditsy, submissive Edith character. She even challenged Archie in a few episodes. Meathead Rob Reiner, son of Carl Reiner, and also married to fellow actor/director Penny Marshall, and later directed the smash hits IMHO When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.
All in the Family created multiple spin-offs of other sitcoms. Neighbors George and Louis Jefferson moved on up to their own show, and their smart-talking maid, Chicago's own Marlan Gibbs (Wendell Phillips HS alum) got her own show 227. Meanwhile, Edith Bunker's cousin, Maude (Bea Arthur) starred in her own show, which introduced veteran actress Esther Rolle, who starred in Good Times. Esther Rolle was 53 when the series began was 19 years older than her husband, played by John Amos (34). Jimmie "JJ" Walker was only 8 years younger than John Amos according to Wikipedia.
There were a few other family oriented shows in the '60's. Two of them single mother Julia, a nurse (played by Diahann Carroll) and her son, Corey (played by Marc Coppage); and The Bill Cosby Show, where Bill Cosby played Chet Kincaid, a bachelor physical education teacher. There weren't many other sitcoms which featured African Americans in the 1960s.
Many of the other shows featured single parenthood, similar to Julia.
Other shows:
The Courtship of Eddie's Father, starring Bill Bixby (a single parent, widower)
Family Affair - Bachelor Brian Keith becomes caretaker of three children Cissy, Jody, and Buffy with butler, Mr. French, in a high rise apartment.
My Three Sons - Fred MacMurray is a widower raising 3 sons with a grandfather -housekeeper William Frawley.
Another sitcom was Webster (Emmanuel Lewis). Like Different Strokes, the Caucasian family takes on an African American child. In Webster, there is are two parents (Played by Alex Karras, ex-football player).
By the way, the maid in Different Stroke became the house mother in a all-girls private school Facts of Life with Kim Fields (Of Living Single fame).
I'm dizzy. So many spin-offs!
AWB
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