oldies

Because my parents are under the Asianet trance, I've resorted to watching television on the computer. In fact, I recently read that more and more people are tuning into their PCs (and Macs. and Ipods. etc) and foregoing the traditional tube. Hulu has been an amazing resource. Its allowed me to discover those fantastically good programs I've only heard about but never got a chance to watch because I never grew up with cable and Nick at Nite.

The two shows I'm most frequenting are the Dick Van Dyke (DVD) and Mary Tyler Moore (MTM) shows. I knew that Mary Tyler Moore starred as the wife on the former show and so was relieved to know that her show was completely unconnected with Dick Van Dyke's. It would be really uncomfortable to watch her show if it was a spinoff where she's divorced from Rob Petrie.

Anyhoodle, these old sitcoms make me long for the days when television was well-written, funny and didn't resort to crude humor. But there are definite and obvious generational/cultural gaps with some of the themes on the show. For example, DVD is very humorous but there isn't an episode that goes by where Rob Petrie reminds his wife Laura in subtle and not-so subtle ways what a "good little housewife" she is. For all its wholesomeness, the show sure did a good job of telling its audience what and where a woman's place was.

MTM turns on the opposite side of the coin, but it doesn't feel any better. You have a single, working woman who's desperately lonely and constantly reminded that she is those three things, but especially the fact that she's unmarried. And its not that she's this staunch feminist who hates men; she's really eager to find someone but she's surrounded by jerks or pervs or really old guys. Its a comedy with strong undertones of sadness. *Sigh* I thought career women were supposed to have it together by 30.

I need to find a book to read before I start psychoanalyzing these characters and drive myself berserk.