Monday, September 13, 2010

MeTV

My friend, Miss Healthypants, recently informed me about a channel called MeTV which airs a lot of sitcoms from the 1960s and 1970s. It turned out that it was included on my cable line-up -- who knew?

Now I can watch reruns of Mary Tyler Moore rather than renting them through Netflix. How cool is that?

This weekend, I watched a bit of MeTV's lineup and wondered about the following:

Leave it to Beaver: Why was "washing up before dinner" such a huge event in the Cleaver household? Oh my gosh, Wally and The Beaver were constantly being sent upstairs to "wash up before dinner." It was a huge, two-story house. You'd think that there'd be a downstairs bathroom where this all-important activity could take place.

Dennis the Menace: If I'd had a kid like Dennis, I would have given him up for adoption. Not because he was a menace (hardly -- especially compared to today's kids) but because of that shrill, high-pitched voice. One day of listening to him screech like a pterodactyl and he'd be sent away. Okay, maybe not for adoption, but at least to a boarding school until his voice changed.

Family Affair: Uncle Bill was a city planner, yet could afford a five-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue with a butler and a terrace. Ridiculous. There are no five-bedroom apartments in Manhattan. And why did Buffy and Jodie have to scurry from one room to another? Scurry-scurry-scurry! Had they no capacity to walk?  (However, I did notice that Uncle Bill had an avocado green trimline rotary phone in the living room. I just about lost it over that and now I want one. I remember going nuts over that phone when I watched Family Affair back in the 60s. Trimline phones were so cool back then.)

My Three Sons: I don't think any series lasted longer than this one. It was never-ending (from 1960 to 1972) First, there were three sons. Then one went away and Ernie was adopted. Then Robbie moved out. Then Robbie got marriedand had triplets (three sons). Then Chip married Polly when he was only eighteen. Then Mr. Douglas got re-married to a woman who had that irritating little girl, Dodie.
That series sure passed up a lot of good stopping points along the way. . .
Oh, incidentally, there was always the same incidental music that played whenever the camera panned in on the house. I can play that on the piano. Everyone's heard it but can never identify it. Stuff like that is fun to play at parties.

So, those were my observations as I took a trip down memory lane this past weekend.

Oooo! I found an avocado green trimline rotary phone on ebay.
It is so gonna be mine. . . .


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:30 PM

    Happy Days: How come the front door and the back door were both on the same side of the house?

    Why were two of the Partridge family children replaced? Did they go to live with the original Darren?

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  2. I loved My Three Sons. I also used to have a Mrs. Beasley doll, just like Buffy.

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