THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 15
"It Ain't Ozzie and Harriet"
Watch network TV any night of the week and it's hard to believe that just a few generations ago, the sexiest it ever got was seeing Lucy and Ricky in separate twin beds. Granted, that was the 1950s when "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" framed our moral conscience and "My Three Sons" and "Family Affair: were as disfunctional as a family situation got, but somewhere between now and then, I truly fear we've lost our way. I fear in our rush to show families as they could be, we've forgotten in large part, to show how many families in America really are. In our zealous chase to push the boundaries of free expression, I think we've lost perspective on whether there's value of what's being expressed.
Now, lest anyone accuse me of being a priggish, fundamentalist, conservative, close minded, right wing prude, I unequivocably believe in free speech and value the diversity of what's shown on television . And while I do think there is more than enough room for alternative views of family, sexuality and relationships on TV, that doesn't mean I need to see every sexual proclivity played out in living color at 8 o'clock on a Thursday night. Is it me, or do we have just about all the sexual deviance we need in Prime Time?
Did you watch TV last week? After a "Grey's Anatomy" story line that had two burly soldiers playing tonsil hockey before one headed into brain surgery and an "ER" story line dealing with a transsexual, we had Sunday night's blessed union...uh commitment ceremony... uh wedding between Kevin and Scottie on "Brothers & Sisters." Honestly, that, I was fine with. Admittedly, two guys grabbing the backs of each other's heads and tongue dancing is not my cup of tea. But, I acknowledge that there is a significant percentage of America who finds that not just normal, but pretty everyday stuff. What sent me over the edge, was a commercial I caught on CBS for a new show breaking this summer called "Swingtown."
Apparently producer Mike Kelley didn't manage to push the prime time sexual boundaries far enough with "One Tree Hill" and "The O.C." So now, he's unleashing "Swingtown" a voyeuristic peek into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the 1970s where we see couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced open marriages, key parties and challenged many of the long-held conventional wisdoms about fidelity, commitment and morality. You know, those prudish cornerstones that once built strong families and made America the greatest nation on earth.
I recognize to many people this all sounds highly intolerant. And yes, I realize that I can turn the channel. But I think this is bigger than that. Good or bad, when a TV series like "Swingtown" gets the green light, it begins to legitimize the sexual fringe as something that's totally normal. And while yes, I can control whether my 10 and 6-year-old kids watch the program, I have zero control over when CBS decides to run the promo for the new series as they did this weekend when, yes, my kids were in the room. Will it scar them forever? No. Do I want to explain the sexual dynamics of a three-way to my kindergartner? Hell no.
Call me old fashioned but I miss the innuendo of "The Honeymooners," "Happy Days," "Cheers," "Friends," "Frasier," "Mad About You," "Seinfeld" and "Will & Grace." A picture in graphic detail may be worth a thousand words, but for my money, give me the good old double entendre every time.
Oh, gotta go. Fantasy Hookups 2 is about to come on.
"It Ain't Ozzie and Harriet"
Watch network TV any night of the week and it's hard to believe that just a few generations ago, the sexiest it ever got was seeing Lucy and Ricky in separate twin beds. Granted, that was the 1950s when "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" framed our moral conscience and "My Three Sons" and "Family Affair: were as disfunctional as a family situation got, but somewhere between now and then, I truly fear we've lost our way. I fear in our rush to show families as they could be, we've forgotten in large part, to show how many families in America really are. In our zealous chase to push the boundaries of free expression, I think we've lost perspective on whether there's value of what's being expressed.
Now, lest anyone accuse me of being a priggish, fundamentalist, conservative, close minded, right wing prude, I unequivocably believe in free speech and value the diversity of what's shown on television . And while I do think there is more than enough room for alternative views of family, sexuality and relationships on TV, that doesn't mean I need to see every sexual proclivity played out in living color at 8 o'clock on a Thursday night. Is it me, or do we have just about all the sexual deviance we need in Prime Time?
Did you watch TV last week? After a "Grey's Anatomy" story line that had two burly soldiers playing tonsil hockey before one headed into brain surgery and an "ER" story line dealing with a transsexual, we had Sunday night's blessed union...uh commitment ceremony... uh wedding between Kevin and Scottie on "Brothers & Sisters." Honestly, that, I was fine with. Admittedly, two guys grabbing the backs of each other's heads and tongue dancing is not my cup of tea. But, I acknowledge that there is a significant percentage of America who finds that not just normal, but pretty everyday stuff. What sent me over the edge, was a commercial I caught on CBS for a new show breaking this summer called "Swingtown."
Apparently producer Mike Kelley didn't manage to push the prime time sexual boundaries far enough with "One Tree Hill" and "The O.C." So now, he's unleashing "Swingtown" a voyeuristic peek into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the 1970s where we see couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced open marriages, key parties and challenged many of the long-held conventional wisdoms about fidelity, commitment and morality. You know, those prudish cornerstones that once built strong families and made America the greatest nation on earth.
I recognize to many people this all sounds highly intolerant. And yes, I realize that I can turn the channel. But I think this is bigger than that. Good or bad, when a TV series like "Swingtown" gets the green light, it begins to legitimize the sexual fringe as something that's totally normal. And while yes, I can control whether my 10 and 6-year-old kids watch the program, I have zero control over when CBS decides to run the promo for the new series as they did this weekend when, yes, my kids were in the room. Will it scar them forever? No. Do I want to explain the sexual dynamics of a three-way to my kindergartner? Hell no.
Call me old fashioned but I miss the innuendo of "The Honeymooners," "Happy Days," "Cheers," "Friends," "Frasier," "Mad About You," "Seinfeld" and "Will & Grace." A picture in graphic detail may be worth a thousand words, but for my money, give me the good old double entendre every time.
Oh, gotta go. Fantasy Hookups 2 is about to come on.
posted by Michael Tuggle at 9:06 PM
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