Retro TV

Here we are, starting off a new show, with the very first episode of One Day at a Time. As the title is “Ann’s Decision“, I was worried that we’d have to sit through the whole “decision” of Ann’s to get a divorce, pack up her two daughters, and move to Indianapolis.

But no, the Romano-Coopers are settled in their apartment, and we see all that happened in that rousing opening credits sequence. But hey, who is that moving the non-nuclear-family in? Why it’s that one guy, David, played by Richard Masur, who is Ann’s boyfriend in the first season. Were they seeing each other before Ann got divorced? Oooh, scandal!

“Ann’s Decision” opens on Julie (played awkwardly by MacKenzie Phillips) talking on the phone with presumably a friend. Something about two teenage girls plotting to do something without their parent’s full knowledge of the true situation, which I’m sure we’ll find out soon. It’s one of those “I’ll tell my mom that your mom said yes.” No dads at all…

Note that Julie reassures her friend, Trudy, about the plans, describing her mom as a “liberated woman” when the issue of boys comes up.

The door opens and Mom’s home. Ann is an Avon lady? And it’s a recession. Hmm, timely.

So Julie breaks the news about Trudy’s mom saying yes, so she’ll call Trudy and tell her that her mom said yes…but Ann is not having it. She gets the truth out of Julie about the camping trip with boys, but not before Julie calls her “old”. Julie then tries to assuage Mom’s fears by explaining that the boys are seniors, so it’s ok. No deal, and Julie poutingly brings up how things were different before the divorce. I wonder how many times that little trick is going to come up.

Thank goodness that cute, fiesty Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) runs in the room, saying “it happened!” Ann naturally starts to worry, but “it” is Barbara making the boys’ basketball team. Julie gets indignant over Barb’s attention-stealing ways and how great Barb is — maybe because she doesn’t freak out over stupid stuff, Julie.

Ann lies on the floor to stretch her back, and says a little prayer to her chick “God” about routing for the girls’ team. Meanwhile, Schneider (Pat Harrington) sneaks in — a habit that we see him practicing in the opening credits — and he starts posing in the mirror. Kind of weird, and today I’m sure this guy would not be so welcome in the apartment of a single mom and her two teenage daughters, but it was a different time, and this is Sitcomland afterall. Schneider is the sitcom staple — the looney side character that constantly hits on the main single lady.

David arrives, after Schneider leaves. Something about a quick wedding, but Ann rebuffs him. He’s only 26 and she’s 34. He’s only 26? He looks about 40. Ann cutely wonders why David wants her, and we find out he is her divorce lawyer. Ah ha.

And he is a lawyer that carries mini bottles of booze in his briefcase, in addition to collapsible cups. Nice.

Cue the girls fighting, and Julie forces her mom to make a different decision about her co-ed camping trip, or else she’s is going back to live with Daddy. Ann gets livid, and refuses to budge. Julie is so petulant, and I already don’t like her. Ann gives her bus fare to go back to her dad’s. She hesitates, and even Barb asks her to not go. But Julie is stubborn…and lame.

Now, pretty little Ann is distraught. She says something dramatic and serious about during her first 17 years, her dad made her decisions; the second 17, her husband did, and it’s her first decision and she blows it. Aww. I feel so bad for her. David tries to lighten up the situation, and gently reprimands Ann for not discussing the trip first calmly with Julie before making a decision. Ann agrees.

But Ann also has to call the ex, Ed, about the Julie situation. He starts asking her if she can handle everything, and she starts getting mad. Schneider stops by to hit on Ann (again), and it doesn’t help the conversation with Ed. David, who had popped into the bathroom to shave while Ann calls Ed, enters the room, and now there are all kinds of men in Ann’s apartment.

And back to the phone, Ann is asking Ed to meet Julie at the bus station, but then Julie walks in. She’s such an attention whore.

Ann is tearful, and Julie sees the pain she has caused her mom and even Barbara. Time for a sit-down. Bonnie Franklin gets the opportunity to show off her acting chops with a heart-felt speech to the girls about not being perfect, but she is trying.

I think they are going to make it after all…

And Julie gets to go camping, because…Ann is “not sure”. What? Julie goes to her room to call Trudy, and she says that she cannot go camping. Wow, she made a good decision on her own. Maybe there is hope for her yet — or not.

One Day at a Time, sitcom, television, show, TV, Bonnie Franklin, Valerie Bertinelli, MacKenzie Phillips, Richard Masur, Pat Harrington

The Mary Tyler Moore Show began it’s seven season run with “All is All Around.” It all began on a Saturday night at 9:30 way back in September 1970…

Funny how Saturday night is now one of the worst nights in TV programming. In the 1970’s, it was the night to watch network television. CBS Saturdays nights during the decade included All in the Family, M*A*S*H, and The Bob Newhart Show. I couldn’t even name one show that airs currently on a Saturday. What caused that change, I wonder? Did restaurants and bars ask the networks to stop showing their better shows on Saturday, so more people would go out and spend money instead of staying in? Hmm, another topic, another day.

“Love is All Around”

I am not entirely sure whether or not the premiere episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show can be considered a pilot. Pilots are usually rougher than this, more awkward and unsure of themselves. Not only that, but pilots are usually a sort-of audition for a television series. I am thinking that The Mary Tyler Moore Show was guaranteed a spot in the CBS lineup, and maybe it is because of that confidence that “Love is All Around” may just be one of the best pilots ever produced for American television.

Ok, so Mary Tyler Moore is Mary Richards. She has just moved to Minneapolis. She has just left a long-term relationship with a man that she supported through medical school, but who doesn’t want to get married. Mary is living above her long-time friend, Phyllis, who owns a large Victorian house, and her new apartment is coveted by the aggressive and gruff Rhoda. You learn all of this in about four minutes. That is what I call efficient writing. And the writers you ask… James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.

Cloris Leachman is Phyllis and Valerie Harper is Rhoda. Both of these characters will go onto their own spinoffs.

In addition to the exposition in the first part of the episode, we also get insight into Mary’s less-than-assertive nature. However, I have a feeling that is all going to change. Of course, one of the foundations of storytelling is a little something called the character arc, and despite most shows best intentions, I find that few American sitcoms have much in the way of a character arc for it’s main characters. They may change a little, but can you name how Dr. Cosby grew as a character over the many years of the Cosby Show? I didn’t think so.

What makes the Mary Tyler Moore Show so good in terms of story and character is not only the absolutely stellar casting of the wacky band of newsmen that Mary is surrounded by as well as the strong personalities of Phyllis and Rhoda, but also that so many of those characters get character arcs. And when they get to really show development in an episode, it usually resulted in an Emmy.

But let’s get back to our episode, “Love is All Around.” The title itself is coming from MTMS’s theme song. it comes after the opening lines, including “How will you make it on your own?” This all goes back to the theme that Mary is unmarried, but rather than feel sorry for herself like so many of the women of the earlier decades did (but hardly on TV), she is a liberated woman. She was going to make it on her own. Dammit.

So after Mary sees her new home and meets the ascerbic Rhoda, she goes in for an interview at WJM news. She is going for a secretary position, but it has been filled. However, even though Mr. Grant (the brilliant Ed Asner) is “thinking of hiring a man” for the job, he’s willing to give Mary a shot at it, after she shows she’s got “spunk.” Grant: “I hate spunk.”

We also meet for the first time Ted Baxter, played by the delightfully obtuse Ted Knight (Caddyshack); as well as the chronically-put-upon newswriter Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod before the awful Love Boat). These co-workers will become Mary’s family, in a twist from the traditional family-based sitcom. Instead of Mary as a wife or mother, she becomes just that to a hard-drinking father-type Grant, the boobish childish Baxter, and the angst-y Murray.

To finish the episode, Mary’s as-of-a-month-ago ex-boyfriend is coming for a visit. Rhoda hopes he’s coming to beg for Mary back with a marriage proposal, so she can finally get the apartment. Phyllis hopes Mary does get married so she too can understand how “suffocating” it is. The ladies leave, and the doorbell rings.

It’s a very drunken Mr. Grant. And why is he there, Mary asks. Grant slurringly tells Mary she’s got a great caboose, and Mary suddenly realizes why she got the job at WJM. Grant says his wife has a better caboose. And then he starts rambling on about missing her, before he resolves to type her a letter on Mary’s portable. The bell rings again and Bill has arrived. As Bill and Mary express their feelings to one another, Grant’s soused brain thinks it’s his own thoughts and the words go into the letter. Until Mary adds, “All my love, Lou.” And the letter is finished. Brilliant. Grant leaves to send the letter.

Bill is a dumbass, showing up with flowers from a patient in the hospital. He cannot say the words I love you without stumbling, and he pleads with Mary to say something, as she always has a way of saying things just right. But Mary says she is horrible at saying goodbye. Bill gets it, and takes off with a “take care of yourself.” Mary’s response: “I think I just did.”

You go, girl! She’s might just make it after all.

Mary Tyler Moore, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, CBS, All in the Family, Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod, Caddyshack, The Love Boat,

About the same time that Archie Bunker was the king of prime time sitcoms, All in the Family’s prolific producer Norman Lear didn’t rest on his working-class-character-based-sitcom laurels. No, he found another British show to retool for American television audiences.

Sanford and Son

A mid-season replacement, Sanford and Son debuted on January 14, 1972. It became an immediate success, enjoying a top ten spot in five of its six seasons (being number 2 for three of them). Redd Foxx stole the show as Fred Sanford, an elderly, yet childlike junk man. His foil was his son, Lamont, played by Demond Wilson.

Basically, the show was about a father and son, who needed each other, despite their desire to not acknowledge that need. Lamont was often times the father in the relationship, holding down the home and the family business — a staple of sitcoms, the ol’ role reversal of having the responsible child take over for the irresponsible parent.

Add to that comedy formula the fact that our main characters are black, and you have comedy gold.

“Crossed Swords” was the first episode and the pilot. I did note that the episode is a rip-off of an episode in the British parent, Steptoe and Son.

In “Crossed Swords”, Lamont comes across a fine piece of porcelain statuary during his travels around Los Angeles looking for “junk” to bring home to his father’s junkyard. Lamont paid $15 for it to some old lady that he thinks may have been a movie star back in the day. She only wanted ten, but Lamont, who has been reading up on antiques, gives her more, knowing that he is going to make some money on this deal. Aw, he seems sweet. He really thinks he is going to solve all his problems one day by finding the right piece of junk.

It takes a while for all this to come out during the beginning of what seems like a long 20 minutes by the time the episode’s end comes. The episode starts slowly enough, and as it is so predictable, maybe that is why is seems slower than perhaps it is, or was to 1972 audiences.

Of course, I don’t need to tell you that Lamont takes the figure to a ritzy Beverly Hills antiques dealer, who offers him a princely sum. However, Lamont sees dollar signs, despite Fred’s appeal to sell it to the antique dealer. Next scene is an Auction, which lots of rich, white people, a perfect opportunity for two black guys to make fun of white people and how weird they are. Fred and Lamont are the only minorities in the room, but no matter, laughter is to be had. Once the bidding starts slowing down, Lamont starts bidding in order to drive up the price. All is going swimmingly, and it seems like things are going to work out for the Sanfords, until at the last moment, Fred starts bidding.

“Crossed Swords” then turns to pathos. Lamont wants to be something, Fred is old and will die soon, but wants Lamont to stay with him. It’s a sad commentary, as it is more than Lamont’s inability to leave his father that is keeping him down. Socioeconomically speaking, Lamont does not have a lot of other options.

The 1970’s was an interesting decade to study sitcoms, as they often played at the front of progressive politics. Blacks on television were a fairly rare thing to find during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Sanford and Son was one of the pioneers in African-American-centered television shows. And yes, you still find racism and racial humor, in spite of the fact that the original British version featured white actors.

Also, I had to laugh at the similarity in “pilot” plots between Sanford and Son and Gimme A Break! In both, a son or daughter threatens to leave home and starts going through the motions to carry out the threat, only to give up and join the family in order to start the series.

Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Norman Lear, Archie Bunker, All in the Family, Steptoe and Son, pilot, sitcom, 1970’s, african-american, racial humor, British television, American television

Let’s go back to 1981, shall we?

Gimme A Break! debuted on television on October 29, 1981. The pilot was called “Katie the Crook.”

Honestly, I scarcely remember Gimme A Break! before Joey Lawrence entered the show. As the episode was starting out, I kept looking around for him, thinking that he was one of the kids, but then I remembered that he was one of those orphans that sitcoms loved adding to the sitcom family back in those days. So no, Joey Lawrence in this episode. His character, Joey, (easy enough for him to remember, I guess) comes along in the third season.

So here we go…”Katie the Crook,” everyone.

My first question when this episode opens was, “Is the fish tank always half-full? Those fish are going to die.” I should have known from the opening credits montage that maybe this would be the day that Nell (Nell Carter) accidentally vacuums up the goldfish. And then she did…wow. However, I am still wondering if the half-full thing was because vacuuming up a full fish tank would take too long or if subsequent episodes will also have a half-full tank? Is this an on-going gag? It’s kind of mean if it is. Unless the goldfish are fake, then it is kind of funny.

Sam, the youngest Kanisky daughter and future lesbian, comes home from school with a black eye. A boy hit her, and she wonders how come boys can beat up girls? Like I said, she’s going to be a man-hater. Nell is going to teach her to box, to defend herself, but instead jumps around a bit and does that cute Nell Carter-is-a-big-girl-but-she-can-still-move thing she does. Problem solved!

Next, Nell enters the kitchen where bookish, gawky, nerdly-er middle child, Julie, is studying sex ed from a book and her study buddy is a mono-brow shorty named George. There is a long stretch of Julie talking about polliwogs and an oven, which just keeps going on, until Nell cracks a joke about not doing anything she wouldn’t do. Um, yeah.

But where is Katie? She has been staying out later and later as of, um, late, and she is again late. Sorry.

Chief gets home. Chief is an old, white, probably Polish police chief and as he lives in a Los Angeles suburb, I am not sure where this guy is a chief. I’m thinking small town rather than LA, but who knows, it’s a sitcom. I’m just thinking that a police chief for Los Angeles would be better paid, as exhibited in the house of the Kanisky family. A racial joke or two, and then Chief catches Julie kissing George (ew). Daddy is old-fashioned, and as this is the year that saw the birth of MTV and a year before the release of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the old fashioned father thing is going to be one of the show’s themes.

A knock at the door and a uniformed policeman is delivering Katie to the Chief hoping to get noticed for promotion, I suppose. Katie and her friends were caught shoplifting.

Gee, that Katie sure has been different since her mother died…And it begins. The show is about Nell “Harper” working as a don’t-call-her-the-maid. Chief’s wife died and he’s got three daughters. What will he do? Ah, Nell had promised the now-passed Margaret that she’d stay around and take care of the family. Yeah, because that would be the only way that Archie Bunker’s brother, Carl Kanisky, would ever hire a sista.

Dad and Katie fight. She points out the obvious and says, “But she is dead.” He kicks her out. She goes to pack, sisters come in to persuade her to stay, she apologizes. So does Dad. They hug. And to try to save the schmaltzy ending, Nell steals the spotlight by crying loudly for…the goldfish.

Yeah. How did this show become a hit?

Gimme A Break, Nell Carter, Joey Lawrence, MTV, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Archie Bunker, sitcom

After receiving the second disk’s-worth of Season One episodes from the Bob Newhart Show, I noticed that the first episode listed was called “P-I-L-O-T,” but hey, this is the second disk. Now, let’s see. Howard the neighbor is not a pilot but a navigator for the airline, but he’s not a pilot, and what’s with all the hyphens and caps. So, it must be the pilot.

Suzanne Pleshette’s hair is long and shag-a-rific. Truly, a sexy mama mullet of which to be proud. But the other episodes don’t have long hair, so it definitely shows that this was filmed prior to the other first season shows.

I love watching pilots. I love finding the differences, the tweaks, the cast changes or drops. So watching Bob Newhart’s pilot was a real treat. And I can say that the changes made were a tremendous improvement.

I did a little work, not much really, and I guess between the pilot and actual series production, Bob Newhart wanted to change the focus from babies, which was the whole focus of the pilot. Bob and Emily think about adoption, because…get this…they don’t want to wait nine months for a baby. Yeah, stupid. Luckily, comic timing help get you through the show. You can see the promise, but the pilot is the weakest show I have watched to date.

I mean why would you take a smart show about a couple and make it about the need to be normal and have kids. Babies usually show up during the show’s death knells, after the show has jumped that shark or an immediate precursor to the jump. That is rarely interesting, and that is exactly what makes the pilot rarely interesting. The writing is a little stilted as well.

Cosmetic changes between the pilot and the series include another good move from stripes to a light solid color on the walls of the Hartley’s apartment and on the couch. Emily’s hair definitely changes, and though my boyfriend seems to think rather highly of the pilot’s ‘do, I think it makes her look older and kinda dowdy. She is a hot, foxy mama with more modern short hair. They also put her in more sexy clothes in the series — lots of empire waists with her boobs all perky, as opposed to the pilot.

And the first floor neighbor, Hoover, is never seen again…

The pilot didn’t air until November 1972, so it was obviously held back as the first show aired during the first season. The first show was instead “Fly the Friendly Skies,” which was a much, much stronger debut for the show. It focused instead on Bob’s inherently funny profession of psychologist.

It’s an age old comedy equation: Crazy people = Funny

Bob Newhart, Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette, pilot, comedy, sitcoms