Comments on: Sitconomy

By: Catlover

Catlover — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:55:06 +0000

Scott:

Not to belabor the point:

Real McCoys:
Luke
His little _sister_
His littler _brother_
Bis new wife
His _grand_father
(and the Hispanic farmhand)

His wife, brother and sister (not wife and kids) left.

The nucleus of that particular nuclear family was missing.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:27:35 +0000

The Real McCoys started as a traditional family - what is more traditional than an older person living with you? The wife and kids vanished in a later season.

Since the strip implied that almost all sitcoms inspired the crisis, I think it is a comment on absurdity.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:46:37 +0000

By the end of each Simpsons program everything is resolved and everyone in the family is at least as happy as the Huxtables. And it’s Bart Simpson, not Theo Huxtable, who grows up to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (We know this from the episode where Bart finally gets to see the movie his father wouldn’t let him see as a kid. Bart wearing his robes, and Homer as a very old man, see a repertory house playing “The Itchy and Scratchy Movie” and Homer buys two tickets: “One adult and one Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.”)

By: Catlover

Catlover — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:14:44 +0000

Joshua - while that may be true, it wasn’t being put out as a good idea. No one would say their financial position was the ideal and seek to emulate it.

In contrast with “Father Knows Best” or “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”, there is no pretense of a comfortable, middle class suburban environment in The Honeymooners. The Kramdens had an icebox! These went out of style in the US in the 30s.

By: Powers

Powers — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:57:17 +0000

The Simpsons are more well-adjusted than, say, the Huxtables? The Simpsons? The family where the father regularly chokes his eldest child?

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:08:00 +0000

Actually I remember it being commented on in the 50’s or 60’s that more T.V. families (sit-coms and other shows) had a missing parent than otherwise. My Three Sons. Family Affair. Bonanza. The Andy Griffith Show. The Beverly Hillbillies. Another thing about the sit-coms is that the strange families were the least dysfunctional. The Munsters and the Addams Family each got along perfectly well, and a decade or so later the epitome of the dysfunctional family was in fact the best-adjusted and happiest family in all of television history, The Simpsons.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:21:53 +0000

By the way, you can file one under “CIDU Bill’s title funnier than the actual comic.”

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:19:38 +0000

Gee Wally…maybe they’re taking their fiscal advice from Eddie Haskel.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:59:21 +0000

I’d think “The Honeymooners” would be the most prominent example of a 1950s sitcom where the main character’s economic policy was based on far-fetched “get rich quick” schemes.

By: padraig

padraig — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:03:45 +0000

“Fannie Mae, you gotta lotta ’splainin’ to do!”