WEBVTT - Sitcoms Part II 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to stuff you should know a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.120 heart radio. Stuff you should know is recorded in front 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:22.920 of a live studio audience. Hey, and welcome to the PODCAST. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.400 I'm Josh and there's Chuck and this is part two 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:31.560 of our very special two part episode on Sitcoms. SITCOMS, everybody. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.199 That's right, and we'RE gonna shoot for thirty minutes here. 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.640 If you remember an episode one, we explained all about 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.400 how sitcoms are made, in the history of Sitcoms, and 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:43.839 today we begin with part two of whether or not 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.840 these things were successful. And boy were they. Yeah, Um, apparently, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.920 between nineteen fifty and two thousand nineteen, the top rated 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.160 show for the entire year in America at least, was 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.640 a Sitcom for twenty six different seasons. So that's a 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.840 pretty significant number, considering there's all sorts of different kinds 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.479 of shows. Sitcoms are not the only kind of show 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:08.839 out there. Yeah, that's Um, I guarantee you that between 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.360 nineteen fifty and two thousand that number is more like eighty, 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.600 I would yeah, I would also say, especially if you 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.319 were going from nineteen seventy to two thousand, it's probably 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.960 you're probably right, a hundred and four percent as a 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:29.680 nomage to our menstruation episode, which we I bift pretty bad. UH, well, 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.040 we both bift that. Um. Here's a remarkable statistic, though, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:37.080 if you refer back to our Nielsen Ratings episode. Uh, 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:42.080 I love Lucy, in nineteen fifty three had a sixty 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.960 seven point three Nielsen Rating, which meant that close to 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:51.400 seventy of every household in the United States was watching 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.720 that TV show. Okay, and that's crazy and it's the 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.919 highest season rating for any TV show ever. But Chuck 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.160 Um and ED uses. For comparison, the highest rated show 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.720 in two thousand one was friends, and they had a fifteen. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:10.440 Lucy had a seventy, right, and friends huge. Friends was huge. 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.240 Consider this, though, Lucy had it way easier. There were 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:19.960 fewer TVs and fewer shows to choose from. Friends came around. Yeah, because, 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.920 let's say ten people had a TV, Lucy had seven 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:27.720 of them watching friends. But you know five, five million 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.760 TVs were out there and of them were tuned to it. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.040 So if you really think about it, friends was more 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.920 dominant than Lucy. Yeah, we should call this section in 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:39.799 defensive friends or why I learned to hate I love Lucy. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.000 I it's not that, and I'm also not defending friends, 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:48.400 believe me. So these shows back then were shot on, uh, film, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.720 Thirty five millimeter film, but it's still different. These cameras 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:56.120 weren't like movie cameras at the same time either. Um, but, 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.680 and that's a bunch of technical stuff we won't get into, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:03.200 but starting in nine teen, I guess, Seventy one, when 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:07.280 all in the family debuted, we started shooting things on 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.480 videotape and if you've ever seen those sitcoms of the 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.959 seventies in front of a studio audience, they had a 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.600 very specific video tape look. Um, it was kind of 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.680 great a lot instalgia for people in our our demographic 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.000 for Gen x and, I guess, some younger boomers. But uh, 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.760 this to us was sort of the heyday and I 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.120 think generally the heyday of of sitcoms. Yeah, because in 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.520 the fifties there were still tons of variety shows and 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.960 quiz shows that kind of edge sitcoms out. The sixties 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.720 there were like lots of Westerns, but part of the 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.560 problem with it too is sitcoms were corny and phony 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.560 and didn't really speak to anybody's actual life. They were 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.440 escapist right. And in the seventies, the very early seventies, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.160 starting with all in the family, uh, sitcoms started to 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.120 take on actual issues like out there in the real world, 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.160 but they were doing it in a funny way, so 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.680 it was more digestible and easy to kind of think 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.160 about and talk about with your friends then it would otherwise, 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.680 if you know, sixty minutes was just shoving it down 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.880 your throat. Yeah, and you know, in a funny way, 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.280 in that episodes still had to have some laughs. But 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.920 there were some episodes of some very famous sitcoms that 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.719 went very serious and dark on what was later to 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.359 be called like a special episode. Um, there are a 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.720 few real notable ones. One was all and I remember 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.920 seeing this episode as a kid and I was like 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.440 shaken because I didn't I didn't know any of this stuff. 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.640 I think it's where I learned about that sexual assault 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.920 was a thing, and it was when edith bunker was 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.559 was almost or attempted, uh, sexual, sexually assaulted on the show. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:48.279 And that episode was uh, very, very, very serious and 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.440 in a marked departure from what sitcoms we're all about. Yeah, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.680 Um Maw. It is also Um, frequently pointed to as 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.000 having like an early effect on tackling like hard stuff 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.480 when the the main character maud in a two part 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.159 very special episode, chooses to get an abortion, um, to 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.640 terminate her pregnancy when she gets pregnant at age forty seven. 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:11.840 And that was like, I mean if you did that 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.880 today it would be controversial. And this is like the 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.120 early mid seventies that they did that. So people are like, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.600 like TV show producers are starting to like really take 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.520 on more and more stuff Um, and that very special 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.480 episode did become a thing beyond the seventies. Like another 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.880 really good example is Um different strokes, very special two 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:38.599 part episode about child exploitation with Um. Uh, Mr What 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.960 was the guy's name from W K RP, the station owner? Oh, 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:46.120 Mr Carlson, he was the guy. Yes, and you don't. 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.520 If you've not seen it, then good don't, because you'll 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.840 never look at Mr Carlson the same way again, because 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.960 he played this creepy child molester like perfectly. He owned 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.400 a bicycle shop. He lured Arnold and Dudley over there, 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.919 took pictures of them in their underwear. Remember. It was 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.920 like really jarring episode and one of the hallmarks which 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.280 I know we've made fun of before in previous episodes 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.520 of a very special episode is the audience doesn't clap 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.240 at the end and it makes it even more weird 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.960 and jarring and creepy to end an episode like that. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.160 But that's definitely a hallmark of it. Yeah, and Um 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.360 also that you mentioned that was a two part or 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.520 the all in the family episode with Edith was, I believe, 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.200 just a one hour. I don't even think they aired 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.200 it in two parts. I think they just broke format 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.840 entirely and it really shows that. I mean the MoD 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.400 when MoD got an abortion. That was pre Roe v 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.520 Wade even. It really shows that. The despite it being 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:46.839 kind of a Corny, silly format generally, these writers and 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.320 producers like I think they knew they had an audience 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.440 to to really sort of get a message across at times, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:55.960 as long as they didn't like hammer it too hard. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.320 I think shows like mash dabbled much more in that 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.920 realm than other ones. Yeah, for sure, but as far 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:02.479 as doing this kind of stuff on all in the 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.080 family in different strokes, it was. It was groundbreaking stuff, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.279 it was, but it got picked up by just about everybody. 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.880 Remember our I think our last Christmas episode, we talked 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.400 about that Alf Christmas special with the dying girl. Oh 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.160 my God, everybody did that. I think everybody, with the 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.720 one exception of small wonder, did a very special episode. Say, 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.280 by the bell did that episode where Jesse was addicted 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.280 to speed. Remember, I didn't really watch that show. Okay, well, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.280 that's that one alone is worth watching, at least for 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.120 the Jesse. Which one was at? Uh, the Jesse Spano? 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.600 She was slater's girlfriend. Suld Um, oh, she'd be so 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.480 mad that I just referred to his slater's girlfriend. Um, 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:48.520 slater was her boyfriend. was that tippany and Ber season? No, no, Um, 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.840 I don't remember her name. She went on to starring 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.360 show girls. Oh, Elizabeth Berkeley. Yes, I forgot. I was 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.280 started on. So she was Um really trying to prepare 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.720 for studying finals and then like there was this show 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.800 um coming up where she was going to sing the 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:08.440 pointer sisters. I'm so excited, and so she was taking 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.960 all the speed and Zach found out about it and 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.840 it was like, you know, throwing the speed out the 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.160 window and Jesse was like, I'm so excited, I'm so excited. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.960 Really funny. It's really worth watching, man, and watch the 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:26.000 whole episode because it's a masterpiece of like unintentional hilarity 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.360 from start to finish. Uh. Yeah, I guess I think 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.120 I was a little too old for that show when 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.960 it hit its prime, but I definitely taught it here 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.559 and there because I know all those characters. Basically, it's 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:42.360 still on Sunday mornings on metvs. Really. UH, Sitcom's obviously 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:46.400 hit their sort of zenith in the seventies and eighties, uh, 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.480 into the nineties even, of course, with shows like uh, 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.840 Seinfeld and friends were huge, but in the two thousands 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.280 is when they really kind of started to dip. Of 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.720 course thanks to not thanks too but unfortunately because of 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.760 things like reality TV. Um, the gold standard, like we 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.120 talked about, was hitting syndication, and that's you know, that's 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.880 the reason Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and every member 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.720 of friends, I mean they all went on generally went 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.040 on to do other stuff, but you know, it's why 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.760 if Matthew Perry never worked another day in his life, 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.280 he doesn't have to, because they are still all making 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.480 money hand over fist, because these shows will live forever. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:31.000 They'll be showing Seinfeld in a hundred years probably. Yeah, 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.319 because you make a show and it's a hit show 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.080 and you can take those episodes and sell them to 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.760 one person, sell them to another person and sell them 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.360 again and again and again. So this one body of 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.960 work just turns into a cash register. I saw that 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.000 for Seinfeld and Larry David or the show in general, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.400 since I entered syndication has generated three billion dollars in 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:57.600 Syndication Chie. That's amazing and Ed points out, you know, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.720 very aptly, one of the reasons, and there are many 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.760 fact there's why those kind of sitcoms aren't around as much. 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:06.040 I'm certainly prestige TV and sort of that's the thing now, 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.079 but when you watch a show like that these days 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.920 you're competing not just against what's on right then, but 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:17.000 you're still competing against Seinfeld in the office and friends 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.640 in Fraser like people still watch this comfort food time 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.000 and time again. I do it, we all do it. Yeah, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.280 and I mean it was, you know, popular enough in syndication, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.640 but now it's on streaming. You can watch every episode 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.960 back to back if you've got a long weekend, you know, 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.080 or ten years. One of the two. All Right, uh, 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.200 let's take our first commercial break, because the fine folks 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.360 have been gay have been waiting. I want to learn 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.080 about a terrosortic college act, how to take a perfect movement, 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.640 all about fractals, kiscon's hunt, the lizzie border murders. That 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.599 a kind of all runs on the plane. Everything we 0:10:49.600 --> 0:11:07.160 should know. Word up, Jerry Geh. I hope Ben Gay 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.040 is actually going to give us some money for this. 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.600 We should maybe alert AD sales. They'd be like who, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.480 they're making fun of us, so chuck. Like we said, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.240 twenty six out of you know about of seasons from 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:24.640 ninety to two thousand were sitcoms, the highest highest rated show. 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.480 The reason there's a right, there's a reason that they're 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.440 so popular. One they're like really easy to digest. They're funny. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.160 That's the point of them. But there's another thing too, 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.480 that when you zoom in on a set of like 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.240 four or six characters and you spend, you know, half 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.040 hour nuggets in their lives, in just very small worlds 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:48.080 of their sets Um paying attention to their foibles and 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.760 their weirdness and who they are and, like what they 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.400 believe in, the audience really gets to know those people 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.520 and you can really play with that as a writer 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.600 and actor and a producer and it's some really great, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.240 like all time great characters have kind of come out 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:06.959 of that and one of the cool things you can 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.920 do is make a character one way and then all 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:11.680 of a sudden, out of left field, you can have 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.840 them do something else and it suddenly makes them, you know, human, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:19.199 whereas they used to be like a one dimensional, hilarious person. Yeah, 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.439 but that can really shake up an audience who was 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.600 invested in a character, because I think there's so many 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.240 shows where, uh, friends is an obvious example, or sex 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:33.280 in the city, where most women, I think who watched 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.440 sex in the city, and I watched it too, but 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.000 I think it was largely like a show that appealed 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.040 to women. I would all say like just a shock, 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.320 you know, I'm a Samantha or or I'm you know, 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.480 or I'm a joey or I'm a Ross. Like. I 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.960 think people kind of looked for themselves in these characters 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.560 and everyone had their favorites. People would watch these shows 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.280 and maybe hate one of the characters out of the 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.679 six every time they came on the screen, but still 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.800 get into it. Uh, it's pretty interesting. They're super voyeuristic. Um, 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.439 they hold a prism up about sort of our society 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.040 and you know, they're aimed at the largest demographics. So 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.480 a lot of these shows would be about like working 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:19.080 class families who struggle to pay their mortgage or who 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.880 get into the sort of Um sort of site. You know, 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:24.880 there was any situations, but a lot of times they 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:29.880 were situations based in reality such that people could really identify. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.760 Like I've been in that same situation with my boss before. Yeah, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.440 like Al Bundy has to like, you know, sell a 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.800 bunch of blood to like get his car fixed or 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.280 something like that. Like that's a great situation for an 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.920 episode that you can resolve in a half hour. That yeah, 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.040 maybe the viewer hasn't ever sold blood to get his 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.680 car fixed, but it's maybe been in that position where 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:54.000 they had to consider doing that. You know, yeah, absolutely. Uh. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.800 They also, Um, I think, to their credit, have been 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.000 able to hold up Um, not a mirror. What's it 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:02.480 called when you're looking at someone else? I guess a 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:07.600 lens on people that aren't like you. UH, yeah, telescope 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.240 for people who you don't identify with and you can 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.360 learn something about uh. There was a period in the 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:17.760 seventies where you had these three great shows, uh, the 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.960 Jefferson's good times in Sanford and son at a time 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.200 where it gave White America a real view into three 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:31.640 very sort of UH set demographics of black America. Um, 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:33.720 and we'll talk about spinoffs, but the Jefferson's was a 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.360 spin off. There originally the bunker's neighbors and UH, George 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.560 Jefferson opened up a dry cleaner that hit it big, 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.480 so they got to move it on up to the 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.880 deluxe apartment in the sky. Uh. You had good times 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.600 to sort of that middle ground family that kind of 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.080 struggled a bit, and then you had Sanford and son 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:56.320 as the Junkyard Uh guys. And you know, it gives 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.240 and and with other ethnic ethnicities as well. It really gave, 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.200 I think, largely wide America chance to sort of even 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.040 though it may not be the most realistic, sort of 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:09.960 take a peek at what other how other people lived. Yeah, Um, yeah, 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.600 which is Great. I mean that's a great part of sitcoms. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.440 Like it can make you identify with people you might 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.240 not interact with normally. Right, absolutely, Um, and it can 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:19.880 go the other way to like it can make us 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.880 very sympathetic to the rich, like, you know, people like 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.120 watching effluent families as well, Um as, just as much 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.040 as they like watching families that are struggling financially too. 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.560 Oh yeah, I mean fresh prince, the cosby show. He 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:39.440 was a doctor again, the Jefferson. So it's interesting how 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.440 sometimes people love watching the sort of working class families, 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.640 sometimes they like the escapist of watching the rich families. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.040 There's something for everyone, yea, and sometimes it's not even 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.640 a thing. Like in cheers there was not really a 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:57.040 lot of class stuff. It was basically everything but that 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.960 like no one seemed to have any real money trouble, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.200 but also nobody was particularly rich. It was just not 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.080 a thing. So it can also just be totally absent. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.200 I've got a little tidbet for you want to throw in? 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.240 Let's hear it. I read that George Jefferson was mentioned 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.560 on all in the family three years before he physically 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.960 appeared on it. Really because, yeah, because Norman Lear knew 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.400 exactly who he wanted for George Jefferson, Sherman Helmsley, but 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.600 Helmsley was involved in like a really lengthy Broadway contract 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.160 that he couldn't get out of. So Norman Lear just 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.000 set it up and waited for him to come and 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.840 he finally arrived and made TV history. That's pretty cool 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.960 to like hold out that long for an actor that 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.240 you fall in love with. Yeah, it was a good 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.360 move too. I mean norman lear was a genius. Oh yeah, 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.960 I mean, yeah, sure, we can't talk about sitcoms without 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.080 bowing at the feet of Norman Lear, and now we've 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.200 done that, so the box is checked. So, Chuck, one 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.320 of the best things you could possibly do is sit 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.080 around and talk about great moments in Sitcom History, and 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.760 I propose we do just that right now. I'm sure 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.560 they're entire podcasts that do this, and we should also 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.440 start each one with remember the time. Uh Well, we 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.680 went over some of the more serious ones, but I 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.200 think we should stick to sort of the more fun 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.760 ones now. Obviously just sort of tops of the list 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.320 if we're going historically. where, chronologically, is the UH well, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.240 there's a couple. The grape stomping and I love lucy, 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:27.479 but especially the conveyor belt episode from September two, with 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.199 Lucy and Ethel working in in the factory with a 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.639 conveyor belt. I think it was chocolates. Yeah, it was chocolates, 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.359 and the conveyor belt speeds up and like Lucy and 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.920 ethel are just doing this physical comedy that like it's astounding, 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.560 especially when you stop and realize like this was live 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.040 to tape, basically. You know. Yeah, there was another thing 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.880 that Lucy really broke ground on Um with the birth 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:53.080 of little ricky. Um. The film or the show was 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:57.320 either aired or shot about twelve hours after her her 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:01.920 real life. So yeah, then they they aired the birth 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.440 of little ricky, which is huge. But Mary Kaye and 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.879 Johnny did it first. You're in love with that show. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.159 I just I think they're an unsung show. They're another 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.080 one that was not preserved in any way. It was 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.960 filmed the kinescope, but the Dumont Network, which was really cheap, 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.840 um threw all of their reels into the East River, apparently. 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:26.080 And there's one episode left of Um Mary Kaye and 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.560 Johnny and it's at like a like a media Um 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.000 Museum in Los Angeles. You know now that you mentioned 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:38.080 that our colleague Alex's show ephemeral Um, he has an 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.280 episode about the kinescope. Okay, like an entire episode. I 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.359 remember now. I think that was in season one. Yeah, great, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.879 great show. Uh. So maybe we should talk about the 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.400 Mary Tyler Moore Show, one of the great shows. Yeah, 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.159 I mean like if you gotta, if you bow at 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.359 Norman Lear's feet, you have to bow at Mary Tyler 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:56.399 Moore's feet too. Yeah, there was an episode in nine 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:02.639 called chuckles bites the dust, historic TV episode where a 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:07.600 clown is killed in a parade accident and, uh, it 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.520 tackles death in a really funny way. Like they definitely 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.159 sort of talk about mortality and stuff like that, but 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.199 the whole time they're laughing and they can't contain their 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.080 laughter about this clown and how the clown died, and 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.920 it's a very funny episode. It is because poor Mary 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.760 Tyler Moore has to play it straight for everybody else 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.360 and like is scolding them for laughing and she they're 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.800 all trying not to laugh and she's having to keep 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:34.359 it really serious. And then, in addition to that, Um, 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:36.760 there were some really great jokes in there, like one 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.960 offs where Um Ted baxters asked if Mary can have 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.240 a ride to the funeral with him and he goes sure, 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:49.720 the more the merrier. The Great Ted Knight. Yeah, it 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.480 was Ted Baxter, right, I think that was a character's name. Right, okay, yeah, 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.840 and the actor was Ted Knight. Yeah, yeah, from caddyshack 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:01.040 and from too close for comfort. Yep, another Sitcom. I 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.119 actually quite enjoyed that show because it was I thought, 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.439 who was the guy? Jim J bullock, was very funny. 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:11.200 I thought Ted night was hysterical and, of course, as 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.120 like a young boy, I just thought that the beautiful 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.240 blonde and Brunette daughters. I was like, give me that 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.720 show all day long. Right. I think that is how they, 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:24.600 a lot of Um shows, got Um popular. Like Three's company. 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:29.320 It's just DREC man like. The writing is terrible, like 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:33.720 the plots are terrible. The physical comedy is good, like 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.160 is great. But if you think about it, he's really 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.840 the only good actor character, at least in the whole show, 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.520 because he was the only one that had good stuff 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.920 written for him. But you had like Chrissie and Janet 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:50.000 and Cindy, I think, came after Chrissie. I'm sure they 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.120 definitely contributed to it. Come on, Mr Roper. Okay, Mr 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.880 Roper is pretty, pretty funny. We talked about that in 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:01.359 the UH, the fern bar episode of our bars podcast. 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.399 Happy days. Of course we have to mention Fonzi jumps. 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:09.879 The Shark, which was and of course that became in 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:14.320 the episode Fonzi literally Um Water Skis and jumps the 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.119 ring of sharks. I think it was sharks, maybe just 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:23.040 one shark, because jumps, jumps the sharks the same, same 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.480 ring to it. I can't remember how many sharks it was, 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:27.639 but that became it sort of looked back as the 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:30.560 moment where happy days went bad and now is used 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.240 as an expression of when any show goes bad. But 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:35.480 Ed points out like there were some a lot of 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:40.080 good happy days, episodes and seasons that happened after that, true, 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:44.840 but that season, season five, they also had mork from 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.200 ORC arrived at Arnold's drive in class and it's yeah, 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.280 it is classic and it turned out for the best, 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.920 but the point is it was like a huge departure from, 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.359 you know, the norm that that show had set up 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:58.840 for itself in the previous five seasons. So I think 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.440 it's not even necessarily just a show turns horrible, it's 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:07.199 just it takes like, Um, much more bizarre turns, you know, 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.200 to maybe boost ratings. I think that's really what jumping 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.400 the shark is for me. Yeah, I think you're right. 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.159 The other thing that stuck out to me too, is 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:19.760 apparently that that phrase is from. It's that old. Oh Really? Yeah, 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:21.840 there was some particular dude who came up with it 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:23.840 and wrote a book about it and started a website 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.520 later on, and it was really like a single person, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:30.360 or maybe two people, introduced that slag into the Zeitgeist. 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:32.919 That person right now, if they're listening, he says some 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:37.359 particular dude thank you right, thanks a lot, other dude. 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:42.040 Thanks a lot, master researcher. Alright, fine, I take that challenge. 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:44.919 I can talk before we break about a couple of 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.600 more landmark events in TV Sitcom history. One, of course, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.720 it's the final episode of Mash Uh. Notable because, a, 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.639 it was one of the biggest shows ever and it 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.480 be because it was one of the biggest final finales, 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.960