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Posted: |
Mar 28, 2015 - 4:21 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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Another of my guaranteed-to-fall-off-the-page topics. 
During the 1970s, TV programs as varied as Kolchak: the Night Stalker*, The Rockford Files* and All in the Family commented upon the social, political (just mentioning it, not discussing it), and the subject of this post--pop cultural idiocies of that particular era. Nothing was safe from criticism and everything was open to comment. Whether it be an entire episode dedicated to a specific topic or merely a witty and spot-on throwaway one liner, the 1970s had commentary to spare.
The 1980s? For the life of me, I can't find anything. Perhaps UK TV programs did so but their American counterparts rarely, if ever, did. However, if anyone here does know of any, please share!
It seems that even by the mid '70s, TV programs shifted towards total non-think entertainment and instead of commenting or poking fun at the less-wonderful pop culture trends of the decade, embraced it to the full. Clothing styles, health fads, and anything else one can imagine was depicted, but not with anything resembling a critical eye.
Maybe I'm not watching enough--or didn't watch enough at the time--'80s TV programs to see that there was in fact some kind of satirical lampooning of the decade's trends and fads. Thoughts?
*Both involved David Chase.
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Alex Keaton's Republican views and his almost fanboyish devotion to Ronald Reagan can certainly be seen as Lampooning the 80's Yuppie culture.
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Posted: |
Mar 28, 2015 - 5:20 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Yeah, the superficiality of many 80s TV shows is itself a commentary on the pervasive yuppie mentality of the decade. But it depends on where you are in the world, of course. Here in Norway, we only had one tv channel for most of the 80s, and one of their mantras was to teach the Norwegian population just as much as entertain. So there was always a higher 'relevance' in whatever show was produced internally or imported from abroad.
But hey -- there were also some great TV shows in the 80s that had more depth and/or social relevance on occasion.
For example THE EQUALIZER, THE COSBY SHOW (middle class black family), PUNKY BREWSTER (social inquality, children's rights), MURPHY BROWN (journalism), HILL STREET BLUES, V, DR WHO, MIAMI VICE, YES MINISTER, LA LAW, BLACK ADDER, NOT THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS, CHEERS etc. And those are just off the top of my head.
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Golden Girls did a lot of gentle social commentary, though I don't recall how much political. Much more about the state of being older in a youth-driven culture, and what women of a certain age and status have to contend with. Easy to take lightly because of its snarky, joke-driven style, but consistently deeper than I expect (actually just started watching it from the beginning last night).
Frankly a level of sophistication that I don't see anywhere around me today, where so much is focused on transgressiveness and outrageous, adolescent or criminal behavior described as "adult" or "mature" or some other such laughable epithet.
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Did i ever tell you jim i met depeche mode early days around the time of New Life?
I did? How boring. "... Name-drops keep fall-ing on my head..."
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Posted: |
Sep 14, 2018 - 5:24 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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This post is from another thread, but it applies to this one, as well, as it does comment on 1980s Yuppiedom:
I was trying to remember if this was from the 1985 Twilight Zone revival series or Amazing Stories, but it turned out to be the latter:
"What If?" Stumbled on this episode some years back, long after it originally aired, but it was so wonderfully autobiographical in some ways. LOL
"Ignored by his self-absorbed, social-climbing parents, 5-year-old Jonah Kelley wanders his lonely, sterile house and then the outside world, searching for someone who will see him, while things and people disappear in his wake."
The incomparable Billy Goldenberg composed the score, and since I'm largely unfamiliar with the series and its music, for now I'll say this was my favorite score of the show.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0511130/
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Give it up, Jimbo.
Nobody cares 
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