Please let me start by saying that I’m not having some crisis about my age. I’m only 26. I have no reason as to why I’ve been reminiscing about my childhood days so much lately. Maybe I just miss them. Don’t we all? Maybe it could be because I still feel closer to being 15 than I do being 30. Either way, I’m always up late at night. If I can’t find the motivation to work or if I go to bed just to lay awake, I have no choice but to watch TV to entertain myself. Besides infomercials and really bad soft-core porn on Cinemax, the only thing to watch are reruns of old sitcoms. It got me to thinking - these shows from the 80’s and early 90’s were great! I remember as a kid hearing about how TV would be the downfall for my generation. Maybe in some instances I see where media and TV may have failed us, but overall - I have to strongly disagree with that statement.
I had a great childhood. My grandma raised me from the time I was 3 years old. She was the best parent a kid could ever wish for. Whenever I asked one of those “life” questions she always had an answer. I never got any fairy tales (ie - the stork) because she was always very straight forward and honest - without any sugar coating. Looking back now, I completely appreciate that. But there are times in every child’s life when the answer comes before the question. There are also times when life lessons heard can hit you the same as life lessons learned. With that being said… Thinking back - all of those TV shows I watched as a child really taught me a lot:
Roseanne: I had to ask my grandma what a period was when Darlene got hers for the first time in 1989. Roseanne also taught me that a family can be a family without having to be the Cleavers.
The Golden Girls: In 1985 Dorothy said that she needed to “memorize every line and wrinkle” on Sophia’s face before she was gone. My grandma was 60 at that time. I really took that advise to heart. I’m glad I did. Estelle Getty was a comedic genius - probably why she reminds of my grandma so much.
Murphy Brown: I aspired to be Barbara Walters until I watched this show for the first time in 1988. Murph was more “real”. She made it ok for a young girl to think that they can do whatever they set their mind to do - even in a field comprised mainly of men. And no, Murphy Brown didn’t teach me that it’s better to be a single mother. What I got out of that fiasco was that families didn’t have to be composed of a mother and a father to be a real family. I appreciated that.
Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Besides maybe the Cosby Show, this was the only show that was popular with the white kids from old neighborhood in the 90’s. It was so cool that if you didn’t know the theme to the show, you were a total loser. Breaking racial barriers… Hmm.. seems like a good life lesson to me!
So anyways, my point: not all TV is bad. I know that a lot of things have changed since the mid-80’s / early 90’s, but still - not all TV is bad. If you think about it, there is actually a lot more on TV that is just for kids. Back in the day, all we had was Nickelodeon - which became Nick-at-Nite after 8:00 pm. Now-a-days there are channels that run 24/7, dedicated to programming for children; something we didn’t have 20 years ago. I ended up watching things that traumatized me like Fritz the Cat on HBO late at night. And in case you didn’t know, Fritz was released in 1972 - quite a few years before the generation which was ruined by TV was born.
- Krissy
I had a great childhood. My grandma raised me from the time I was 3 years old. She was the best parent a kid could ever wish for. Whenever I asked one of those “life” questions she always had an answer. I never got any fairy tales (ie - the stork) because she was always very straight forward and honest - without any sugar coating. Looking back now, I completely appreciate that. But there are times in every child’s life when the answer comes before the question. There are also times when life lessons heard can hit you the same as life lessons learned. With that being said… Thinking back - all of those TV shows I watched as a child really taught me a lot:
Roseanne: I had to ask my grandma what a period was when Darlene got hers for the first time in 1989. Roseanne also taught me that a family can be a family without having to be the Cleavers.
The Golden Girls: In 1985 Dorothy said that she needed to “memorize every line and wrinkle” on Sophia’s face before she was gone. My grandma was 60 at that time. I really took that advise to heart. I’m glad I did. Estelle Getty was a comedic genius - probably why she reminds of my grandma so much.
Murphy Brown: I aspired to be Barbara Walters until I watched this show for the first time in 1988. Murph was more “real”. She made it ok for a young girl to think that they can do whatever they set their mind to do - even in a field comprised mainly of men. And no, Murphy Brown didn’t teach me that it’s better to be a single mother. What I got out of that fiasco was that families didn’t have to be composed of a mother and a father to be a real family. I appreciated that.
Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Besides maybe the Cosby Show, this was the only show that was popular with the white kids from old neighborhood in the 90’s. It was so cool that if you didn’t know the theme to the show, you were a total loser. Breaking racial barriers… Hmm.. seems like a good life lesson to me!
So anyways, my point: not all TV is bad. I know that a lot of things have changed since the mid-80’s / early 90’s, but still - not all TV is bad. If you think about it, there is actually a lot more on TV that is just for kids. Back in the day, all we had was Nickelodeon - which became Nick-at-Nite after 8:00 pm. Now-a-days there are channels that run 24/7, dedicated to programming for children; something we didn’t have 20 years ago. I ended up watching things that traumatized me like Fritz the Cat on HBO late at night. And in case you didn’t know, Fritz was released in 1972 - quite a few years before the generation which was ruined by TV was born.
- Krissy
Labels: television, tv
