There was a quiet before the storm. Then Archie Bunker came along and changed television forever.
Before the advent of "All In The Family," the tv sitcom family formula was standard. There was a "traditional family" with a father who was head of the house and treated with respect. There was a mother who was subservient to her husband and great with the kids and housework (done in a dress, pearls and high heels - ugh!) and no such thing as a job outside the home. The kids were ALWAYS respectful of all adults and the problems they had were minor and even in everyday real life could be solved in half an hour or less.
There was no such thing as the divorced couple. The words were all tamed, even in a heated moment. Children did as they were told and were punished mildly when they did wrong. There were no real problems or social issues. "All In The Family" was a ground breaking show on many levels.
That show, along with its spin-offs, touched tough issues in a half hour such as race relations, women's rights, birth control, abortion, cancer, rape, criticism about the government and so on. These issues made the censors crazy as these lines have never before been crossed.
Only slightly before the airing of that show, "The Brady Bunch" premiered on September 26, 1969. It featured a blended family of 3 boys from a widowed father and 3 girls from a divorced mother. A scandalous topic, indeed! However that gentle touch which made them lovable to millions of viewers pushed the envelope only a little. "All In The Family" shoved the issue off a cliff.
Spin-offs and spin-offs of the spin-offs would follow. Such shows that arose from this giant and followed the issue of pushing buttons were "Maude," "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times". These shows are forever associated with pop culture of the 70s.
As a so-called "GenX-er," I was in great company of many children who witnessed the changing of the guard of what was acceptable television. Television was tame in the 60s, but as drastic the changes made in the 70s, tv today has gone far beyond what many would expect.
For instance, back in the 70s, George Carlin had a skit called "The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" {There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television....Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Mother Fucker, and Tits}. Note, of those 7 words, 3 of them have already been said on television. Other no-nos include hell, damn, bitch, bastard, slut, whore, birth control, abortion, pregnant, toilet, and even the word sex. Today these words are commonplace and can be found nestled comfortably, even in shows on the major networks.
An attempt was made in the 70s at ethnic diversity on television which was revolutionary on one hand and offensive on the other. "Chico And The Man" paired up a Mexican-American mechanic who live with a grumpy old man. Some complained that this show had a Mexican-American in a lowly job and straying away from his culture. "Good Times" and "Sanford And Son" were offensive due to these were supposed to be an African-American families written by White (Jewish) writers making negative stereotypes. On the other end, "The Jeffersons" was blasted for having them "trying to be White."
Although written off as offensive, one has to realize that before the 70s, an African-American face was rarely seen on tv at all and when they were it was a very degrading stereotype. Television has come a long way since then, but still has a long way to go on this issue.
To me, there was a very frightening trend in the 70s - the variety show hours. They featured any icon of the 70s doing a live performance in front of an audience with extremely corny, over-rehearsed, syrupy skits. The Brady Bunch, Sonny And Cher, The Smothers Brothers, the Osmonds, and the Jacksons Five were among the crowd of those who wanted to put on a show. It was really sad. You had to be there!
The love for excitement and adventure has never died, only the characters changed. Cop and detective shows were front and center in the 70s as well as shows with an action punch. "Rockford Files," "Quincy," "Emergency!," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "MASH," "Charlie's Angels," "Streets of San Francisco," "Dukes of Hazard," "Baretta," "Barney Miller," "CHIPS," "Kojak". Even crossovers from the 60s continued to enjoy popularity in the 70s such as "Dragnet," "Adam 12," "Hawaii 5-0," and "Ironside".
Here are some titles of the most popular and memorable shows of the 70s:
- All In The Family
- Saturday Night Live
- Second City Television
- The Flip Wilson Show
- Marcus Welby MD
- Quincy
- Mary Tyler Moore
- Gunsmoke
- Kojak
- The Waltons
- Little House On The Prairie
- Three's Company
- The Ropers
- Taxi
- Angie
- That's Incredible!
- Eight Is Enough
- Bionic Woman
- Wonder Woman
- Six Million Dollar Man
- Rich Man, Poor Man
- Dallas
- Laverne And Shirley
- Happy Days
- Mork And Mindy {Robin Williams before fame}
- One Day At A Time
- Alice
- Flo
- Facts Of Life
- It's A Living
- Different Strokes
- Jeffersons
- Maude
- Good Times
- Sanford And Sons
- Rhoda
- Phyllis
- Busom Buddies (Tom Hanks before he was famous)
- Welcome Back, Kotter
- The Partridge Family
For those of us who were children at the time, (I was only 4 in 1970,) although we partook of the shows that were supposed to be aimed at the adults (could explain why we turned out the way we did,) we were also fed our supply of children's shows. Most of them were reruns of shows from the 1950s and 1960s, but why mess with a standard formula of entertainment such as Bugs Bunny, when they do it crosses lines that make my stomach turn. {Tom and Jerry should never be friends! Let the Flintstones and others remain adults, don't turn them into kids!}
Aside from Bugs Bunny and "Tom And Jerry," other oldies but goodies still entertained many children. Other shows looked like they were done by burned out hippies on an acid trip (and perhaps the Krofft people were!). Others still ranged from great to lame. One cannot forget those special shows they ran on an annual basis throughout the 70s and 80s! Not to mention all those Charlie Brown specials. How many do you remember?
- Prince Planet
- Speed Racer
- Captain Kangaroo
- Sesame Street
- Zoom
- The Electric Company
- The Wonderful World Of Disney
- Sigmund The Sea Monster
- The Krofft Supershow
- Grape Ape
- Speed Buggy
- Magilla Gorilla
- Mister Roger's Neighborhood
- Spiderman
- Banana Splits
- The Bozo Show
- Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids
- Davey And Goliath
- Josie And The Pussycats
- Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home
- Gigglesnort Hotel (A Chicago area kid's show)
- Scooby-Doo
- Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- Kiddin' Around
- Kukla, Fran and Ollie
- The Muppet Show
- Schoolhouse Rock (Not a full feature program, but an educational 60 bit)
- Danger Mouse
- Atom Ant
- The Hillbilly Bears
- Pink Panther Show
- Charlie Brown Movies
- Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- Dudley Do-Right
- Snow Queen
- Felix The Cat
- The Grinch That Stole Christmas
- Rudolph The Red Nosed Raindeer
- Frosty The Snowman
- Huckleberry Hound
- Johnny Quest
- Inspector Gadget
- Road Runner
- Rocky And Bullwinkle
- Super Friends
- Tom And Jerry
- Top Cat
- Underdog
- Yogi Bear
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