We were Entertained - Don, Flip and the ilk.

[Tom]

I sat down to the TV This afternoon to get out of the heat and searched for some entertainment.   News shows, News magazine shows, Interviewing Shows, talking heads everywhere.

I kept going up the channels. (cable)   The Crocodile hunter was catching rattlesnakes in Colorado, Jeff Corwin was examining Mane-less lions up close, Japan is attacking Pearl Harbor again.....and then..  ......and then...    Flip Wilson!

Flip's shows from 1971 were being shown on a network called TVLand.  The 38th anniversary marathon, showing non-stop.  I watched Geraldine sing with Ray Charles and Flip be the rear of a 2-man horse with Lucille Ball as the head.   The Osmond Brothers did a song and dance routine and Don Rickles emphatically and continuously insulted Flip as they walked around the stage.

During an advertisement it was announced that a show had been put together to honor Don Adams, who died day before yesterday at 82.

You know, we were entertained by the TV back then.  It was worth it to let the TV sit idle in the corner all day while we worked, ate, played games and talked,   to be turned on for that special show that we would watch and talk about tomorrow.   We weren't submerged into Hollywood's version of "reality" that tried to mimic our lives, nor were we having to watch lectures to which we could almost expect a test later.   

The News lasted 15 minutes with a dabbling of weather and advertising.  The shows were for our enjoyment.  Remember Andy Griffith, The Real McCoys, Candid Camera, Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan and Red Skelton?   Our reality shows were Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Untouchables and Alfred Hitchcock.   There was Flip Wilson, Lucy, Laugh-in, Hee Haw and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

We could sit as a family and watch a show without worrying that the kids would see something of which we didn't approve.

Would you believe.....I'm going to miss Don "Maxwell Smart" Adams? ....sorry about that chief.

[pasbuild]

Thats one of my favorite late night channels, pretty EZ decision its ether TVland or infomercials.   

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, TVland/Nickelodeon is full of those 'good' old shows. I don't have a working satellite receiver so I'm on the free to air channels now. Out of those I mostly watch PBS for the documentaries and science. Tom, how could you forget Carol Burnett and Friends ??? :D And for 'reality TV' we had All in the Family. ;D

[Tom]

I couldn't name them all.  And besides, I would have stolen your thunder. :D :D

Carol was a hoot, wasn't she?  She's still acting and cab do that serious stuff, but, her comic timeing is on-the-money.  And straight man Lyle Waggoner and Harvey Korman were always setting up that Clown, Tim Conway.   What a bunch of nuts.   :D

Seriously, Its good to have someone remember those shows and the fact that we were entertained from a stage instead of either being immersed in the cast or having the story  move into our living room.   Enough stuff happens to us each day.  It's kinda nice to be able to stand back and watch a parody of it happening to someone else.  I also find it relaxing to not having so much "canned" laughter and the camera men weren't so enthralled with themselves. 

Today, between the camera men and the guy in the booth switching cameras and the actor's need to spew words 10,000 a minute, it's difficult to follow a story line.  I find myself wanting to study an actor's facial expressions and body language as they present the scene, but, the scene doesn't stop long enough.  I find the camera being swapped form actor to actor by the beat of the music or the fact that he is talking and they get swapped at the phenomenal rates of a steady one or more a second.   Perhaps these guys should again be limited to one camera.

I have changed channels because I didn't want to see a scene happen that I knew was getting set up.  Somebody was getting ready to have their throat slit or head blown off.  Even actors don't have conversations anymore.   You can look through the channels and if you are lucky enough to find a "play", the audio is either Mad and screaming or Crying and depressing.  No wonder our society is so screwed up.  There is no sanity anywhere.

I guess I must be one of those nerdy people, in the minority, who wish for  "Froggy went a courting" kinds of entertainment.

[Bro. Noble]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who can't stand to watch those awful dramas------How about more shows like Mama's Family ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I can remember my grandparents in their reclining years. They used to pull up the rocking chairs by the wood stove in the winter months and watch the tv that was sitten across the kitchen in the corner. They'de never miss Carol Burnett and friends.  That is unless someone came by to listen to grand father's fishing and hunting stories. Now we've gone know one to tell those good old stories  :( Even the guys that came up from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to hunt bear came for the stories.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I used to love Get Smart, that show wah a HOOT! Sorry to hear about ol Don

The Monkeys were great too. Green Acres, Hogens Heros, Gilligan's Island. Just good dumb humor.

Jon

[Roxie]

Hey Tom!  We were watching Flip right along with ya!  We watch TVLand a lot for the Bonaza and Gunsmoke shows.   smiley_horserider
One of the shows had the Jackson Five singing "ABC" and it made me sad to look at what Michael Jackson was and how he has become.  But, Sammy Davis Jr and Flip did the funniest skit about starting a rent-a-car company.   :D
Get Smart was one of my favorite shows.  I could not watch it without laughing....remember how Maxwell Smarts shoe would ring at the most inopportune moment!   :D  The Cone of Silence!!   :D :D
That was good stuff.  I must be a nerd too!   :-[

[Patty]

We nerds need to stick together here. I had forgotten all about the Real McCoys, what a great show. My dad would never miss Gunsmoke, and Combat, and Rat Patrol....classics!