Hanging My Head

by tgirsch

August 19th, 2008

There comes a time in every man’s life, I think, when he must look back upon his home town, and be deeply ashamed.

Categories: I do too have a life |

25 Comments

David Dvorkin August 19th, 2008
100 years from now, people will think that all those statues are of real people.

It may not even take 100 years. Maybe it’s already happened!
Ted August 19th, 2008
Sort of like the relationship between “Happy Days” (total crap) and the movie it was based on - “American Graffiti” (a fabulous film, especially for those of us who grew up in a small town in that time period).
Big U August 19th, 2008
hehehe. As usual I get to be the dissenting voice in the thread. I actually liked the show. Fun, simple, clean. A show I could watch with my kids and not have to worry about explaining what’s happening or censoring anything.
Ted August 19th, 2008
Big U, I agree, it was a good kid’s show. But the movie was just great. Not to mention the cast, which included about 10 new faces who went on to have careers in the biz. In any event, yo are unqualified to judge, it was a very American movie
tgirsch August 19th, 2008
Hey, I liked All In The Family, too. That doesn’t mean I want a statue of Meathead adorning my downtown…
KTK August 19th, 2008
That statue looks demented. If anything, it looks like Data from Star Trek; even with the bizarrely shiny leather jacket (which he only wore the very first season of the show; the producers canned it the next season because they were afraid it looked “rebellious”), I would never have guessed that was Henry Winkler.

I do like the “Ehhhh!” thumbs-up pose, though.

Some friends of mine know some big show-biz names, who won’t be named . . . . Anyway, one was a guest star on “Happy Days” one time, and during a break in taping the cast was talking about where to go for lunch. Winkler suggested they all go down to the new hot restaurant that had recently become popular. Ron Howard objected that they didn’t have reservations and it would be so crowded they’d never get a table. Winkler just looked at him, grinned, gave the thumbs-up, and said “E-h-h-h-h-h-h . . .!”.

They didn’t get a table.
digglahhh August 20th, 2008
Good, clean, simple fun is for the birds.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
Good, clean, simple fun is for the birds.

…to poop on!

Big U:

Then you don’t remember the episode where Richie starts dating a divorcee, whom his friends all speculate is “hot to trot.”
Big U August 20th, 2008
Yep, I remember it. And on TV today, both of them would have been either completely or partially naked and having sex on the screen.

Yes, adult topics were touched on and several comments were made in the show but especially when compared to what passes for comedy in today’s day and age, it was clean. Am I a holier than thou person? Nope. But a lot of the sitcoms today are so saturated with sex that it is tough to find much in prime time that I can watch with my youngest. I don’t have a problem watching it but I won’t let her watch it. Thus, in that context, Happy Days was incredibly tame.
Kevin T. Keith August 20th, 2008
the episode where Richie starts dating a divorcee, whom his friends all speculate is “hot to trot.”

Oh . . . my . . . god . . . I can even quote that one: “Imagine you really loved chocolate ice cream sodas. And you had a chocolate soda every day. And then, suddenly, you couldn’t get one anymore. Wouldn’t you be dying for a chocolate ice cream soda?!”

And then there was Fonzie’s explanation that he gets to screw around as much as he wants, but he can only marry a virgin. And how do you know if she’s a virgin? You ask her.

“But Fonz - couldn’t she lie?”

“HEY! Virgins . . . don’t . . . lie!”

America is a strange place. On the other hand, it provided opportunity for this classic from Gloria Steinem.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
Big U:

If you think sexual innuendo is anything even remotely recent, I suggest you go back and watch an old Marx Brothers movie. About the only difference between today’s sitcoms and the halcyon sitcoms of yore is that they’re less coy about it today.

But hey, maybe we should return to the good old days of clean, sex free family entertainment, like Charlie’s Angels, or shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza, where there was no sex at all, but blowing away the dirty Injuns was A-OK.
Big U August 20th, 2008
hehehe nice tgirsch.

Innuendo is one thing. Blatant in your face is something entirely different. Many children will miss innuendo which adults will pick up on. But it is impossible to miss blatant in-your-face presentation.

And as far as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, you couldn’t have been paying much attention if that’s actually your view (though I am suspecting you were being sarcastic).

As far as using the words “family entertainment”, I find it somewhat sad that what now passes for that has such a low bar of morality while at the same time people complain about the attitudes being expressed by kids which often mimic what they see.

As I said, I have no problem with sex, violence, etc. for a more adult audience but it is frustrating to know there is very little I can sit down with my 12 year old to watch in the evenings.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
I’ve actually never watched either show; I just used them as an analog for “old Westerns.” But it still mystifies me that we’re so much more prudish about sex and sexuality on TV than we are about violence there.

On the one hand, I’m not saying that we should be all sex all the time, but on the other, I think there’s a definite drawback to our excessive prudishness, even today. If we were more open about sex and sexuality, it really wouldn’t be a big deal. But the very fact that it is such a taboo for us actually factors into the types of shows we see today. It’s the forbidden fruit theory, put into practice.

If you have cable or satellite, turn on Univision some time; you’ll see that our TV shows, even the “raunchiest” contemporary ones, are tame. Ditto for European television, especially outside of Britain. (I think there’s something inherent in English-speaking culture that makes us stuffy and prudish in ways that other cultures aren’t.) Look at teenage pregnancy statistics. In England, where the attitudes toward sex are the most prudish, the teen pregnancy rates are the highest in Europe. And, of course, the USA shatters even their poor standard. Meanwhile, in places like France and Germany, where they’re a lot more open about sex and sexuality, and sex pervades the society a lot more, the teen pregnancy rates are a fraction of what they are here. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Wow, how’s that for a threadjack?
Big U August 20th, 2008
Just so you know, Tgirsch, I don’t let my 12 year old watch the violent shows either but they generally fall under the category of dramas (Law and Order, etc.). Since violence isn’t really a staple of sitcoms I didn’t think to raise it.

That being said, my 17 year old has pretty free reign on what she wants to watch and my 15 year old has almost the same latitude though it is a bit more restricted.

I do agree though, that it makes little sense for people to freak about the sex and yet at the same time say nothing about the violence.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
Not directly related, what part of Canada are you from anyway? And aren’t you supposed to be watching stuff like Due South all the time? (I thought that show was underrated, especially in the first season or two, with “Ray #1″)
Big U August 20th, 2008
AHAHAHAHA. Our Canadian stations are loaded with US shows. Plus, in spite of the facts we are in winter 11 months of the year, we live in igloos, and we use dog-sleds for transportation, we do have cable which provides access to US channels.

By the way, I’m from Winnipeg.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
See, I would have guessed Calgary or Edmonton. That’s where all the Canadian conservatives (oxymoron?) are.

And I’m razzing you. I’m actually quite familiar with Canada, and have been there many times. Winnipeg and Ottawa are really the only two major Canadian cities I haven’t spent time in. [Nothing in the maritimes counts as "major." Neither does anything in Saskatchewan. ]
Big U August 20th, 2008
hehehe. I grew up in southern Saskatchewan and still miss the quiet wide open spaces.

If you decide to come to Winnipeg, let me know and I will make sure you are well taken care of.
Robski August 20th, 2008
“The sculptor, Gerald Sawyer, put the initials of Winkler and his wife in the veins in the hands, “like the David in Italy,” Winkler said.”

I suppose we should be grateful the Fonz, unlike David, is not nude.
tgirsch August 20th, 2008
Big U:

Thanks for the offer. I’ll definitely take you up on it when I decide to add a fifth province.

Also, I have a correction. I suppose Halifax counts as a “major Canadian city,” and I’ve never been there.

If you’re from Saskatchewan, does that make you a Roughriders fan? Or have you adopted the Blue Bombers?
Big U August 21st, 2008
Oh my. Once green always green (Rider colors). Saskatchewan has had a major outmigration of people due to years of no job prospects. Now when the Riders show up to play in other cities usually at least 1/4 of the stadium has fans dressed in green. I cheer for the Blue Bombers but only so far. If it comes down to them or the Roughriders (like last year’s championship) I definitely cheer for the Rougriders, who won the whole thing last year by the way.
tgirsch August 21st, 2008
Once green always green (Rider colors).

I think I would have figured out that you weren’t referring to the BLUE Bombers there.

I can imagine Saskatchewan must be tough right now. It’s Canada’s North Dakota…
digglahhh August 21st, 2008
This whole violence/sex thing is just another example of people mistaking symptoms for diseases. Tons of effort - almost totally misplaced.

I’m not even sure how you restrict what teenagers watch. All this stuff seems foreign to me – really. When I was in Junior High, I was listening to N.W.A. records and Georgle Carlin comedy tapes. Both were incredibly dirty, yet both pass the SLAPS test with flying colors. The vast majority of the fodder on television probably shouldn’t – sex or no sex, violence or no violence.

Fuck violence, do some research on how profoundly the popularity of shows like Law and Order, CSI, etc. and their totally innaccurate and glorified representation of police work fucks up things like jury selection. Mofos really think there’s gonna be forensic evidence and eloquent geopolitical monologues when they sit in the jury box to at a purse snatcher’s trial. But I digress…

The point is that the true posion of TV and the like is a lot more subtle than the depiction of a dead, raped cheerleader on CSI, or Jay-Z pouring champagne down some D-cup cleavage. The real poison is reinforcement of hegemonic values, and subconscious racism. No need to go into a diatribe here, but the point is that most people judge what is acceptable for their children to watch by the lowest common denominator, ignoring the elements that more salienty affect a child’s socialization and intellectual development.

I could have watched any number of canonizing cop dramas, or pseudo-telejournalist hagiographies of police work, or I coulda listened to Cube, Dre, Ren, and Eazy-E talkin’ ‘bout, “Fuck Da Police.” Both were violent (and alpa-male), but only one was remotely parrallel to the experiences people in my community, and eventually I, would recount in regards to actually dealing with the police.

When it comes to my kids (sweetie, keep takin’ those pills), I’d rather censor myths than language or imagery.
Big U August 21st, 2008
digglahhh > my kids…my rules. period. What others let their kids watch is their choice. But it is frustrating to have so little on now that I can not sit and watch with my 12 year old.

tgirsch > Sask is actually booming right now. Started about two years ago. They are starting to develop major oil fields and the price for commodities such as grains, etc. have finally climbed. Up until two years ago they were in huge trouble but not any more. Now a lot of the people that left the province are returning.
digglahhh August 21st, 2008
Your kids, your rules indeed. I just can fathom how they are enforceable at the age of 15, barely at 12 for that matter.

My kids will indeed have a different set of rules than most. Best believe. And, indeed, the list of things I will attempt to discourage my kids from watching/encourage them to watch will be very different than that of most parents.

Again, I had a rather atypical childhood/adolescence so my perception is very different. I won’t bore you with the details.