A few days ago, I was flipping through channels at my parents' house, and I came across Hogan's Heroes on TV Land. I paused for a few moments to enjoy the raucous antics of those wacky Nazis in that hotbed of hilarity: the concentration camp. My brother happened to wander into the room, and he looked at the TV and said, "Hey what are you.... wh.... are those NAZIS!? On a sitcom!?" What's not to understand? What could be funnier than a zany group of cute and befuddled Nazis?This got me thinking about the nature of television. I've read a lot of articles about how the quality of television has waned in the last several decades. With reality television, MTV, professional wrestling, and Cold Case dominating the airwaves, I guess television critics are understandably weary of poor-quality shows. But their nostalgia for a golden age of television is sorely misplaced.
I'd love to meet Mr. Sensitive who green-lit Hogan's Heroes... like 15 years after World War II ended. "Yea, I think the Jews have had plenty of time to get over that whole Holocaust thing. Besides, surely it was more fun than they let on. Nazis are HILARIOUS!" I kinda like Hogan's Heroes because I'm a cynical and insensitive prick, but I just don't see how it caught on like wildfire back in the day. (Side Note: Did you know Colonel Klink was played by a Jewish guy!?)
But lest you think the Nazis were having all the fun, let's not forget about some other gems. What about I Dream of Jeannie? A show with a slave girl who lives in a bottle will do the bidding of her "master" while wearing a slinky genie outfit has absolutely NO misogynistic overtones AT ALL! What woman would not want to serve her man unconditionally while never having free will or the ability to leave her home? God bless 60s TV for showing us how women REALLY want to be treated.
But if the social messages of the 60s aren't your cup of tea, TV can still provide you some bat-shit insane concepts that should have never gotten beyond the planning stages. When Billy Bob from the Ozarks somehow wandered into a television studio and said, "Hey, I gots an idea about a guy who lives with a talking horse!" an assistant should have written his idea down on a piece of paper, dropped it on the floor, and then promptly taken a big shit on it. How did a show about a talking horse survive for five years!!?? The mind reels!! Of course, this is the same decade that gave us the Adam West Batman series, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
And what the fuck was The Flying Nun? I'd heard of it before, but I assumed that there must be some sort of wordplay at work. Maybe she was air pilot. Maybe she was an avid kite enthusiast. I was wrong. Wikipedia informs me that the show was actually about a nun who could fly... like Superman!! That show lasted THREE years. Somebody explain this shit to me.
Most of these shows were, of course, made with tongue firmly planted in cheek; however, I just wonder about the pitch process for sitcoms at the time. I want to know what kinds of shows were rejected. "Sorry, Frank, but your show about a penguin astronaut is far too ridiculous. Come back with a flying nun or a talking horse and you've got yourself a deal." Actually, there was a show in the 60s called My Mother the Car, which lasted for only a single season. The premise was exactly what you'd expect. Some guy purchases a car that's possessed by the spirit of his dead mother. Apparently, critics and audiences universally despised the show, and this boggles the mind!! A talking horse enchants the public, but a talking car just doesn't cut the mustard? The situation becomes even more baffling when you realize that Knight Rider would be hugely popular only 15 years later.
If only TV execs had this mindset today. I'd be able to sell my uproarious sitcom about a chicken who travels through space and time with a rocket pack. I call it The Rooster Booster.
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9 out of 10 readers have seen the show Greatest American Dog and believe that this show single-handedly refutes JP's argument. The last reader is still too busy organizing his petition to bring back My Mother the Car.
4 comments:
You forgot to mention Archie Bunker.... in no way would that fly with hypersensitive america today.
Archie Bunker was intentionally written as a sexist, homophobic racist. But every episode of the show deals with Archie being wrong in his assumptions and never learning from new experiences.
All in the Family is repeatedly praised as one of the most progressive television shows of the 20th century. I somehow doubt that Hogan's Heroes can make the same claim.
How's that job going for you?
If you are referring to the manual labor that I'm doing right now to keep some money flowing my way, then I'm doing just fine.
If, however, you are alluding to my greater goal of finding long-term gainful employment... well then I'd rather not bore you with a depressing tale of failure and nothingness.
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