Quiet, meathead I loved watching reruns at grandma and grandpa’s house when I was little. Oh, how about the Saturday night movie on the local network affiliate...right after the 10:00 news
He was certainly more complex than the other two, which are figuratively and literally cartoons, but I wouldn't call him competent either.
What makes him incompetent as a father? I thought he was a great father. Provided for his family (and his son in law) while working two jobs, showed nurturing to his wife and daughter (and son in law), and most importantly was someone that could be counted on (though like any human, he made mistakes along the way). Fail to see where he was incompetent. Cartoons or caricatures have nothing to do with the discussion. Characters are characters. Delivery is out of the realm to me.
It's not from a show but more about old TV stations themselves. Where I live there is a TV station that is now an ABC affiliate with local news and one local history show, but when I was a kid in the 70s-80s it was much more independent. One thing it had a lot of were locally-produced commercials for businesses. So I would see a dozen or so commercials each day with the local used car dealer, whose business was less than a mile from my house, vowing that he would move heaven and earth to give you the best deal on whatever used car you want. He always "starred" in his own commercials and everyone knew who he was, even the kids that were way too young to drive. Other oddball commercials I remember: a local plumbing supply company had a commercial that repeated for years. My social studies teacher was in this commercial for some reason, and she was dancing around and telling you what a great deal you could get on tubs, toilets, pipes, or getting your whole bathroom redone. Perhaps the most interesting one was a very very old animated commercial for a seafood restaurant that was popular among older folks. The commercial was done in what seemed like an archaic 1950s animation style (grainy with very little actual animation except when mouths were moving) and showed menu items seated at a table talking about how great the restaurant was. I saw this commercial in the early 1970s and 20 years later when I visited home on leave from the Navy the commercial was still being shown! Also: Mammoth Mills was a huge shopping center with all kinds of goods, the Wal-Mart Superstore of its time. For years they had commercials that showed a cartoon (or B&W photograph) elephant face and the sound of an elephant trumpeting loudly. Then a male voice-over would describe certain items that would be going on sale. These commercials were rather low-budget, but definitely memorable. Nowadays I almost never see commercials for local mom-and-pop-type businesses that have only one location. The commercials that do show up are usually brief still shots of the inside of the store, and not very interesting like they used to be.
From WKRN Channel 2 (ABC in Nashville, TN), when that ABC station was known as WNGE: the Monday, May 23, 1983 edition of World News Tonight; David Brinkley was sitting in for Frank Reynolds; this is, IIRC, the last year of the three-anchor format on WNT
I remember that from China Beach when i was younger- the show would end, the credits and theme song would play (w/the logos or other mentions) of the entities behind that show(Scarlet Productions/Warner Brothers Television Distribution) then there would be a promo, assorted commercials, and then the local news would start. In 1990, it would have been Twin Peaks as that show followed CB.
Network television was structured differently back then. From its beginnings, shows would end about a minute or so before the hour or half-hour, and the time would be filled with a promo or network ID ("This...is CBS"), a news teaser, and a commercial or two. And you could set your clock by the moment a show started. The top of the hour usually had a chime indicating the ":00" second mark. Then things went awry, the way they are today. The networks discovered that when a show ended, their audiences would have that one minute time frame to: - get up and use the facilities, and maybe not coming back - get up to get food, and maybe not coming back - get up to change the channel, and definitely not coming back - get up to turn off the TV, and definitely not coming back All of that was unacceptable, so they arranged things as such: - Butt the end credits of one show with the start of the next to avoid all of the above - run the end credits so quickly that no one could possibly read them - mute the ending theme song and play a promo over-top instead - stick the studio logos first before anyone knew what hit them - run the local news teaser and local break at roughly the :45 position while the show was still going - that some people will sit through and endless string of commercials as long as the show hasn't finished - that they could insert more commercials in a popular show and shunt the start time of the next show a minute or so late Add to that the effects of digital broadcasting, which has time delays, so the top of the hour may be eight or twelve seconds after the real top of the hour. THIS...is CBS
This also reminds me just how much I (still) miss Peter Jennings, to this day. Always my favorite of the big 3 anchors all through the 80's and 90's. My definite go-to for big, breaking-new type stuff.
When the massacre of the Jewish athletes happened, he was the only person in the booth who was able to keep his cool and keep the broadcast going. I don't fault McKay, etc for losing their tongues, they weren't hired for that ****. But Jennings knew that people were watching by the thousands and someone had to keep discussing the topics at hand. Keep his composure? YES times 10
Comedy. Don't even have to go back decades...just years: Entertainment is awash w/crime-thrillers, sci-fi, dark-comedies & some medical dramas. When there are somewhat decent comedies, they're taken off. Ironic...when the world sorely needs comedy & laughter. Also miss stand-alone episodes - many are of a continuing storyline; that if you don't come in @ 1st episode, you won't follow it; at least not as well, or you'll have to play "catch-up".
It wouldn't break my heart to see this return as the norm. When I look around our office & see many people in shorts, tank tops & flip-flops, it really makes me wonder where the professionalism went. Some days it looks like everyone is going to a beach party.. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I wear a 3-piece suit to work, but I do wear pants, a shirt with a collar and real shoes at minimum. Unfortunately, when working with these folks, I have to pretend that I take them seriously, when in fact, I don't. We now return you to your normal programming....
agree one thousand percent...but, those days are so far gone one can't even comment about their dress code to them...heaven forbid....sick, sick, sick...
If your job takes you out among the public, you are representing your company. If it doesn't, I don't see what difference it makes. Most people work better when they're comfortable.
He was an old-school local newspaper and radio journalist, learned his craft covering cops, courts and politics from an early age. The best broadcast journalists started out as good newspaper reporters. Miss him, and I miss that golden era of network news. dan c
A camera that doesn't wobble all over the place. The mockumentary movement has passed me by. (Well I guess MOST shows don't use that cliche).
I remember this one too, from Cheers (Charles-Burrows-Charles/Paramount Television [logo of Paramount Television being the tall-peaked Blue Mtn.], this from WSBK Channel 38 in Boston, from an apparent rerun of a 1986 episode):
THIRD..it replaced the original theme for the first two. One of the very first third season ones, "INVISIBLE BARNEY", intoduced the open and close we all know.
FLIXBLE and General Motors Fishbow/New Look Buses (and I'm a member of a new bus groups)..like in the old 1960s TV shows (and the old looks from before..) Cars that DON'T have "Hybrid/Electric" on the side.
