Old time TV shows

[skysthelimit]

I was never a fan of Leave it to Beaver. It was a little formulaic, and the things he did, we probably would have gotten a spanking for. It's quite a bit different, because both of those shows not only presents a time barrier, but a culture barrier as well. The way parents handled those situations was dramatically different than the way my grand mother or my parents would have dealt with them. Less :talking" and more "pick your own switch from the tree."<br /><br />__________ Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:16 pm __________<br /><br />

An excellent novel that portrays the era in Canada is "The Way the Crow Flies" by Ann-Marie MacDonald. I came across it recently and was blown away with how it captured both the smooth surface and the turbulent undercurrents of the time.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7199 ... Crow_Flies

That sounds like a good read. Most of the books from that time, seem to be in direct opposition to the happy orderly TV shows.

 

[Zass]

hmm, now days though, the parents do handle things much more gently, and no one picks switches.
(I'm sure it's illegal) Perhaps that is one of the culture changes influenced by TV?

 

[akane]

Illegal or not my dad will gladly get out his belt to settle things. He said he only ever had to do it once to me and my full sister but my much younger (just graduating highschool this spring) half sister endured many spankings.

None of my family was religious. My great grandmother on my mom's side tried to get the women of the family to be more feminine but it didn't even work on my grandma. We all grew up tomboys not setting foot in a church. My dad's side was all rough housing male cousins and siblings growing up. Oddly his generation was all male and my generation was all female from that side of the family. I have only 1 male cousin in my age range. My dad's parents never expended the energy to take all of their large family to church. They worked pretty hard all day at providing necessities.

For tv we watched whatever we wanted. I'd give my sister nightmares all the time. I can remember stuff all the way back to 3years old and I only ever remember waking to 1 nightmare. Once I woke up and thought about it I shrugged it off. My mom gave up yelling at my dad for letting me watch things when it never phased me. There were incidences with my sister though like having to find a new babysitter because while at her house my sister dreamed a monster attacked her.

It's probably been 8years since I paid for tv. I've been downloading and streaming everything since I moved out of my mom's house. Had some antenna tv, maybe 4 channels, while renting the farmhouse and otherwise it's been 8 years since I watched a commercial. Missed most of the reality tv crap.

 

[ottersatin]

Ahh the late 50's and 60's was such a world full of
wonderful DREAMS! Were it that life was really as it was with Beaver Cleaver,
[Mom doing house work in a lovely dress with pearls around her neck and
high heeled shoes]. Father knows best always available and there when you needed him!
Life was SO carefree and exiting in the TV shows of the Era. But reality was, often
a bit different from the picture displayed on the tube. There were quit a few similarities,
such as the clothes, the strictness of the teachers and how their word was gospel to
you parents! You did not want a note sent home from your Teacher about some infraction
you committed in School. You always tried to be on your best behavior till you were
home! As was stated previously, I never knew a parent that would hesitate to bring
out the "BELT" when a punishment was required, and sometimes you got it, even if you were innocent!
All it took was an accusation for you to be up the creak! It was simply not allowed to bring
discredit on the family name. Oh I learned quit a lot from watching the Beaver, The Real McCoys,
and the rest. I swore that I would NEVER be A swearing Belt swinging Dad when I grew up!
I was never driven to spankings or threats when my Daughter was young. How fortunate I was
that she never created a problem that could not be solved with explanation.
I still enjoy watching the reruns of thee shows I watched in my Youth!
The Lone Ranger, Beverly hillbillies, Have Gun will travel, too many to mention.
What a shame it is that today's shows are about nothing but Violence, heartache
and destruction of what is really important. Times change and I have to believe
that in the future things will be better and the youth of today will find out
the truth and perhaps solve the worlds problems and make it a truly better place.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[grumpy]

The very first time I saw "blood" spurting from a gunshot wound
was when I watched a movie with Burt Lancaster called, The Lawman.
I was near voting age when I saw it. Shocked the Be-Jesus out of me.

Now.....blood and gore are as normal as peanut butter and jelly.
No big deal.

grumpy.

 

[skysthelimit]

hmm, now days though, the parents do handle things much more gently, and no one picks switches.
(I'm sure it's illegal) Perhaps that is one of the culture changes influenced by TV?

That depends on what race/culture you are. You could still get a serious butt kicking in most black families. It's not illegal at all, and in some cases, if more parents did it, I think there would be less in jail. We used to say, spank your kids before the police get to them...<br /><br />__________ Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:15 am __________<br /><br />

There were quit a few similarities,
such as the clothes, the strictness of the teachers and how their word was gospel to you parents! You did not want a note sent home from your Teacher about some infraction you committed in School. You always tried to be on your best behavior till you were
home!

Boy, I sure wish this was the case now a days. But I think a lot rids on hat you said, you didn't want to get it when you got home.

As was stated previously, I never knew a parent that would hesitate to bring out the "BELT" when a punishment was required, and sometimes you got it, even if you were innocent!
All it took was an accusation for you to be up the creak! It was simply not allowed to bring discredit on the family name.
I was never driven to spankings or threats when my Daughter was young. How fortunate I was that she never created a problem that could not be solved with explanation.

I remember the 4 of us in a grocery store. We would never ask for anything, we talked quietly to each other, pushed the cart and helped mom shop. People would remark on how well behaved we were. Well we knew what would happen if we weren't. Now I see kids running through the store by themselves, tearing up merchandise and knocking into customers. No discipline. For the first time in years, I saw a father pop his kid in Walmart, for mouthing off to his mother. I almost wanted to give him a high five.
I can only remember getting one spanking, I punched my brother in the face. I was the kind of child you could talk to, disappointing my parents was worse than a spanking.

The Lone Ranger, Beverly hillbillies, Have Gun will travel, too many to mention.

Who did not like the Lone Ranger? Recently, my brother and I started watching all the TV shows we used to watch as children. The Beverly Hillbillies was as funny as I remembered it. My Dad used to call me Ellie May, I was the kid who brought home strays... I've never seen Have Gun Will Travel, I'll put that on my list.

 

[mystang89]

I'm very curious about how realistic those TV shows were?

I think the shows themselves help to showcase today's societal attitude simply because if people didn't watch the show it wouldn't be on. Also, and this pertains mainly to reality shows of which there are FAR too many, the persons in the show aren't always acting out a script but for the most part are being who they normally are. This helps to see what many people want to watch, want to see, how to act and many other things.

Take Judge Judy for example. The reason people love shows like this is because they love drama. LOVE and obsessed can be interchangeable here. How often do you see people actually be respectful and polite? Not often. How often do you see people fighting and arguing? A lot. Are arguments intrinsically bad? No. Arguing is a way of exchanging two different points of view and laying out the facts as they are. Arguing without any charity behind it is bad though as normally it leads to fractures in relations that could have been saved had a simple bit of decorum been used. People love to see the former though and as the TV has been so eager to give us, there is much out there for people to see.

Even if you don't think about movies from today vs 50 years ago there is a vastly different way of thinking. Much of what is put in today would never have even been though of being put into mainstream movies from that era. Were all the movies then good? No, but more were worth watching then than now. Sex, bloodlust, violence etc were not a staple of the movies in which they are now. If you find a movie now that doesn't have some kind of sex seen in it, whether soft or not, it is a rare suprise.

In short, yes, I think TV shows show exactly where the world is today.

 

[skysthelimit]

I'm very curious about how realistic those TV shows were?

In short, yes, I think TV shows show exactly where the world is today.

Well today yes, but I'm interested in the 50's and 60's, and since I didn't live then, I have no basis for comparison.

 

[mystang89]

Ah, my apologies for the long post then. But I would have to think they were a decent representation of how people thought then as well based off of the same logic used in the post. If people didn't want to see it then it wouldn't have been watched. How I wish that shows such as Andy Griffith (I know I butchered the spelling) and Ed the Talking Horse were main stream shows today.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I hate drama.. So i only watch a few series.. I have bought cd that i couldnt get on tv anymore.. Like..The little house on the praires and..lot of others that i have.. I watch them everyday.. I like wilderness series.. and farm

 

[Wheels]

I can't think of one modern day show that I follow regularly (excluding some cartoons) I think the last series that I watched all the way through was LOST and in the end it let me down.

I let my 9 year-old daughter watch some Twilight Zone with me one night - All she could say at the end is "I don't get it" :lol: I tried to explain to her that sometimes that is the point

She and her little sister are hooked on Gilligan's Island, absolutely adore it and so we watch it every night.

 

[Miss M]

We don't have cable, but we have lots of videos. Most of them we pick up at thrift stores. We all, including the kids, love watching old shows and old movies. We know they're largely idealistic, but that's okay... we see plenty of reality around us already.

We watch Svengoolie with the old horror movies -- the ones that are funny, they're so bad. Green Acres, Gilligan's Island, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, Emergency!, Adam-12, I Dream of Jeannie, Dragnet, Wild Wild West, Batman, Star Trek, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Rebel, Ellery Queen, The Invaders, The Munsters, The Dukes of Hazzard, Gomer Pyle, Transformers (original)...

We've also watched the original Spiderman pilot, the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, as well as Flying Disc Man from Mars (yes, it's as hilariously awful as it sounds). Some Rocky & Bullwinkle, Lassie, F-Troop, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Three Stooges, Little Rascals, Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Andy Griffith Show.

We all love it. It's clean, and a lot of it is funny.

Some of my 12yo and 17yo kids' favorite actors and actresses:
Jimmy Stewart
Cary Grant
Humphrey Bogart
John Wayne
Audrey Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Maureen O'Hara
Michael Rennie
Yul Brynner
Dick Van Dyke
Peter Lorre
Boris Karloff
Bela Lugosi
Rex Harrison
Elizabeth Taylor
Grace Kelly
Doris Day

We watch very little current or even recent stuff. Most of it is too dark, too racy, or too violent for our tastes. The "Lord of the Rings" movies are a recent thing that we have watched -- after reading the books together.

 

[Galadriel]

The "Lord of the Rings" movies are a recent thing that we have watched -- after reading the books together.

love, Love, LOVE it! :lol:

We watch very little current or even recent stuff. Most of it is too dark, too racy, or too violent for our tastes.

Yecchh. You said it, Mom!

We love the oldies!

 

[Peach]

I miss some of the 90s cartoons. They were fun. Now, I can't stand what they put on TV. I can't watch reality TV because it just doesn't interest me. I like to keep up with my own life before I keep up with a whole other family I remember when my parents wanted to get me a TV as a gift for my room and I told them to please save there money. If I want to watch TV, I can walk the 10 steps into the living room to watch it. I appreciated the thought though :lol:

I do like HBO series like True Blood and Game Of Thrones....but that's about it. I watch the news with coffee in the morning sometimes with my mom, but that's about it. I just can't sit down for long periods of time when I could be outside doing something. I do enjoy a good read!

My parents aren't by the book catholics, but it has influence us as in to be generally good people. My parents never restricted what we watched (Poltergist scared the living crap out of me forever lol...and Pet Cemetery was also pretty scary)

I pretty much knew what I did and didn't want to watch. If I got in trouble, my parents beat the living crap out of me with a nice backhand or a nice belt, but that was rare ( One time I talked back to my mom when I was young...I really wish I hadn't :? )and I learned my lesson. If anything, it made me better and made me think twice

I really feel like kids are really pacified now and really sheltered in some areas.

I'm nannying a brother and sister during the week and have to take them to swimming practice (one is 3years old & 1 in 1st grade...so like 6?) and I made them at the end of practice walk to their coach and thank him for their lesson.

The little boy looked at me and complained why! I gave him a stern look and explained, "Because it doesn't hurt to show you appreciate them" It doesn't hurt to do a little communication and show some appreciation!

We have so many commercials and tv shows of everything being in such a hurry and people seem to want less emotion, but want to communicate more digitally. Read a great book called "Alone Together" and it's really relatable.

I think there is too much garbage on TV now.

 

[MaggieJ]

OMG. Peach! Your post reminds me of the emphasis on manners in days gone by. Back in the 1950's, kids were drilled on thanking their friends' parents for rides, having us over to play or to supper... all that kind of thing.

The MANNERS of the times were portrayed well by the TV shows of the time. Anyone who watched Leave It To Beaver will remember Wally's friend, Eddy Haskell, who was always so nicey-nice (but totally insincere) in his manners toward Mrs. Cleaver. The "natural" good manners of Wally and the Beaver were more what parents were aiming at... and provided a good role model. I think that was one of the differences between "vintage" TV and modern shows. They modeled appropriate behaviour and (although not totally realistic) thereby helped to shape it. Not a bad thing.

 

[mystang89]

LoTR was a great trilogy, *though not as good as the books* and the hobbit has been good too. Wish they had just made that into a really long movie instead of 3 but I'm ok with it. Only reason I'm not liking the 3 is because that makes me have to wait.

And Gilligans Isle is a true classic!

 

[Miss M]

The "natural" good manners of Wally and the Beaver were more what parents were aiming at... and provided a good role model. I think that was one of the differences between "vintage" TV and modern shows. They modeled appropriate behaviour and (although not totally realistic) thereby helped to shape it. Not a bad thing.

Very true!

LoTR was a great trilogy, *though not as good as the books* and the hobbit has been good too. Wish they had just made that into a really long movie instead of 3 but I'm ok with it. Only reason I'm not liking the 3 is because that makes me have to wait.

Yes, they ripped all of Middle Earth right out of my head, I am sure of it! I read the books in the 80s. Everything in the movies looked just like I imagined it. You are right, though, they aren't as good as the books... but I think they did about as well as they could, without doing a miniseries. :lol:

I hesitate to bother with "The Hobbit". The reviews sound like they ruined it. Added all kinds of odd stuff that wasn't in the book and didn't really belong... a love triangle? Really? :?

And I could see making one long movie, or two 1.5 hour movies, but not three movies. Way too much. The book was not much larger than any one of the LoTR books!

 

[skysthelimit]

I hate drama.. So i only watch a few series.. I have bought cd that i couldnt get on tv anymore.. Like..The little house on the praires and..lot of others that i have.. I watch them everyday.. I like wilderness series.. and farm

I watched almost the entire 7 seasons of LHONP (as it's known) on Youtube last year. I didn't even know it ran that long. Of course I love all things Michael Landon. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:37 pm __________ <br /><br />

OMG. Peach! Your post reminds me of the emphasis on manners in days gone by. Back in the 1950's, kids were drilled on thanking their friends' parents for rides, having us over to play or to supper... all that kind of thing.

The MANNERS of the times were portrayed well by the TV shows of the time. I think that was one of the differences between "vintage" TV and modern shows. They modeled appropriate behaviour and (although not totally realistic) thereby helped to shape it. Not a bad thing.

And that makes me wonder what happened. I remember manners like that probably until the late 80's. Pretty much I went to college and the whole world went on a downward slide. The last 20-25 years have been ridiculous, and I wonder how parents and grandparents who grew up in that atmosphere suddenly lost control of their children to end up like this. Perhpas we can blame it on the rise of the media (tv, internet). Perhaps the know it all information culture made it harder to tell children what they should know and do. Or maybe it's uncovered the seedier side of our culture and allowed it to flourish?

 

[Bunny-Wan Kenobi]

The "Lord of the Rings" movies are a recent thing that we have watched -- after reading the books together.

love, Love, LOVE it! :lol:

Ooooohhhhh yyeeaahh!!!

 

[Randy]

Well only being 21, I do like a lot of comedy's from the 60's. There are many British comedies that I like as well. Other comedies I like are the animated show "wait til your father gets home" wich really did reflect the culture at the time, still does oddly enouph lol. SCTV, Charles in Charge,The Red Green Show, Corner Gas are some modern north american tv shoes I like. (Ok I know most of those arn't that modern but I'm not cut out for the 21st century.) I miss a lot of how documentries were, still a few good ones on occasionally.

Don't watch much tv overall though, just the news such as the local news, cbc national, bbc world news, al jazerah. Not a fan of Movies after 2000. Something I like to do is listen to radio talk shows, quite a good ones out there and its always great to here old repeats from decades ago.

I guess what is going to get my attention is something has to be so much like my reality that it's interesting or soemhow just so stellar that its facinating/amusing.