It's Friday, you've reached the end of the internet. You're out of pieces to read, your go-to rotation of sites is as exhausted as Big Pelf. Panic sets in. It's only mid-morning, and the balance of the day yawns before you.
We've all been there. Here's a fantastic piece by Todd Van Der Weff of the A.V. Club that will occupy minutes-upon-minutes of fun, a tour of the great sitcoms of the 1970s. All in the Family, Taxi, Barney Miller, Good Times, and Sanford & Son just some of the jewels that emerged from funky times. For me, Barney Miller stands out as a lost and underrated classic. Abe Vigoda slays, and the opening theme song features and impossibly funky bass-line. The video excerpts chosen for the piece are killer, I highly recommend the WKRP in Cincinnati scene where Loni Anderson (Burt always had good taste) and Herman Hesseman almost get down.
The twin beauties of growing up in pre-internet age were syndication and a handful of channels on the teevee. Thus, a young coachie had no choice but to peep all these classics on channels 5, 9 and 11. Today, in the internet age, we have access to everything yet nothing unites us, pop-culturally. These great shows already lived on far beyond their time, but the time when they are remembered is already drawing to a close. Inevitable.
The piece also covers a couple of lost gems, like Bridget Loves Bernie, about an Irish Catholic who falls for a Jewish cab driver. Freddie Coups should keep an eye out for his alma mater P.S. 6 in the intro where the Bridget character works. In this clip, wait for the 1:44 mark for the "Zoinks! Sitcom Premise" moment.
Posts
