The Golden Girls can be kinda dark....so is Little House on the Prairie, wth (1970, TV)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Couldn't stand that one, with that oldest daughter ready to turn on the waterworks at the slightest provocation.
While you'd think they'd be rather dark, with multiple deaths in some episodes, "Get Smart", "Police Squad", and "Sledge Hammer!", are really just funny.
From "Police Squad" -
widow of murdered man: Please. I don't want to answer any more questions.
Sgt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Neilsen): I'm sorry we've come at a bad time, Mrs. Twyce. We would have come sooner, but your husband wasn't dead then.
Yep, that happens to him too. If you watch most OR all of Little House, which I believe I have watched every single episode, there are quite a lot of dark-themed ones. This was one of my favorite shows when I was a child in the 80s.
I remember an episode where Andy and Barney were discussing a waitress in a "peek-a-boo blouse". Lascivious Barney is not a pleasant family-friendly memory.
I was just a kid when I originally saw them and most of that kind of thing must have gone over my head, kind of like a lot of current kids shows and movies have content for adults that goes over the heads of young kids.
Watching the episodes now it's kind of eye opening to see how much our society has changed it's attitudes towards a lot of things. I wouldn't have enjoyed being a woman back then, they were definitely seen as second class citizens.
I've been watching old tv shows to try to relax. I figured I'd watch the shows I grew up with. The tv shows I grew up with were not nearly as happy as I remember.
For example, I turn on the Golden Girls. This episode is "brother can you spare a dime" about homelessness. The girls end up in a homeless shelter and meet an old woman (Sophia's friend from Shady Pines) who ends up, penniless, there, an alcoholic who is also a PHd, etc. I mean, I thought this show was a comedy? So depressing.
Then I turn on Little House on the Prairie. I loved Little House when I was a little girl. Apparently, my parents didn't let me watch all of the episodes. There's one about a 15 year old girl named Sylvia who develops breasts early, is spied upon by wretched little boys, is raped, ends up pregnant, is going to marry Albert (who had been adopted by the Ingalls) and, instead, ends being attacked by her rapist and dying (partially because of stupid Albert). WTH.
I didn't want to resort to SpongeBob, but it might happen.
Little House on the Prairie was a drama, not sitcom. Although it had its humorous moments. The Golden Girls was a sitcom. Like Friends, it was a comedy from start to finish, but that didn't mean some episodes didn't deal w/issues of the day or some sad situations. Sitcoms are always like that, even now. Slapstick start to finish would get boring real fast. Think of Modern Family. It's a sitcom, but some episodes deal with sad situations, altho the episodes end on an up note. The Shelly Long character is an alcoholic & it's apparent in some episodes, for example.
Those older shows were great. Called family entertainment. Some episodes were straight comedy start to finish, while others were about issues of the day - but STILL were comedic, and usually had a happy ending.
I've been watching old tv shows to try to relax. I figured I'd watch the shows I grew up with. The tv shows I grew up with were not nearly as happy as I remember.
For example, I turn on the Golden Girls. This episode is "brother can you spare a dime" about homelessness. The girls end up in a homeless shelter and meet an old woman (Sophia's friend from Shady Pines) who ends up, penniless, there, an alcoholic who is also a PHd, etc. I mean, I thought this show was a comedy? So depressing.
Then I turn on Little House on the Prairie. I loved Little House when I was a little girl. Apparently, my parents didn't let me watch all of the episodes. There's one about a 15 year old girl named Sylvia who develops breasts early, is spied upon by wretched little boys, is raped, ends up pregnant, is going to marry Albert (who had been adopted by the Ingalls) and, instead, ends being attacked by her rapist and dying (partially because of stupid Albert). WTH.
I didn't want to resort to SpongeBob, but it might happen.
Try Gilligan's Island or the Beverly Hillbillies.
Not to inject politics into this discussion, but looking at many shows I might have watched or even enjoyed, most of them have a liberal ideological message. Some were obvious even at the time (Quantum Leap for example that says "righting wrongs") but others were more subtle. Now that I am alert to such things, it is easy to spot when you see the older shows.
As to your general notion, Little House, Highway to Heaven, etc., tried to depict some gritty aspects of life, and how good needed to prevail over greed, pride, narcissism, etc.
Now if you look back to shows like Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Family Affair, etc. (all before my time), you see light heartd positive images and depictions of family life.
Even if you watch Gunsmoke and such shows, it depicts the mentality of the time period, not what social engineers might want us to think.
Whatever you do, don't start watching shows like Spongebob, because that will do more to damage your brain, than if you get COVID-19.
Since "Albert Ingalls" was totally a creation of the show (that is, he didn't exist in the books), he was typically at the center of the more heinous plotlines. His girlfriend was raped by a man wearing a clown mask (if I'm not mistaken the man was her stepfather?). He got addicted to morphine and broke in Doc Baker's office trying to find some. He (accidentally) caused the fire at the school for the blind...it goes on and on.
I recall someone aptly describing LHOP as "emotional porn"--writing over-the-top shocker plots solely to make people cry or tug at their emotions. It would be easy to think Michael Landon had to have had some deep-seated emotional issues to send these characters through such heinous plotlines and still paint the series as "uplifting family fare". In my opinion it should be famous for scarring young viewers for life. You tune in expecting gentle tales of life in the old west, and instead you got anthrax infestations, people freezing to death in blizzards, and of course watching Mrs. Garvey burn to death in the fire at the blind school while the people outside listen to her screams.
On Bewitched,they referred to an old woman as an "old hag".
.
Or on Maude,when her husband wanted to divorce her because she wanted to run for the Senate.
Cartoons were no better. Smurfs,She-Ra,Heman were all dark.
I think in general,the 80's shows and movies had a dark theme to them.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
