Posted on 08/04/2025 5:39:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
They had something back then that is sorely missing from today’s creative talent... An imagination.
Entertainment used to be entertaining.
How about a woman who gets reincarnated into a 1928 Porter? Or a prehistoric family with a dinosaur and sabertoothed cat for pets?
They made it work and they made it all seem easy, America was overflowing with talent everywhere and nothing looked difficult or strained, excellence was just a given.
Yeah, I don't think the "creators" of Mr. Ed had ever heard of Francis the Talking Mule.
Well, they had a bit more than half the population we have now, but only three networks. The talent’s still there but it is far more diffuse now.
Mr. Ed was a reality show.
Oh, much more - does anyone have a collection of TV Guides? I bet we could fine some real doozies that didn’t hang around long enough for anyone to remember.
Shows about show business (I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, etc) get an extra dishonorable mention.
Who writes this crap? The Clampetts were from Tennessee, not Texas, and the castaways were on a three hour (not day) tour.
If this bozo had ever watched the intro to these two shows, he wouldn’t have made a fool of himself.
With double the population you would think all that talent would still be showing up somewhere, diffused or not, but where is it, is it in the music, the movies, the TV shows, in late night comedy, in science fiction writing, in novels?
My grandpa was a WWI Marine veteran, and Hogan’s Heroes was his favorite show. He never missed an episode. That plus Bonanza at 9 pm every Sunday night.
After “My Favorite Martian,” and “My Mother the Car,” it seems reasonable enough.
How could he have forgotten “My Favorite Martian” and “The Flintstones”??
There were so many other greats, but not in the preposterously silly genre that he came up with:
The Donna Reed Show
Dennis the Menace
Leave It To Beaver
My Three Sons
The Many Loves of Dobie Gilis (pretty silly)
The Andy Griffith Show
Car 54 Where Are You? (Silly)
That Girl
The Wild, Wild West
F Troop (Silly)
McHale’s Navy
The Munsters (Silly)
The Addams Family (Silly)
Dragnet
The Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Mission Impossible
The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (who names a moose “Bullwinkle”?)
College Bowl (zero college kids today could make the grade)
Perry Mason
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Candid Camera
Wow, just listing them and remembering them is tiring!
I think the nation was still reeling from WW II and was still seeking solace in light-hearted and just plain crazy fare.
That was funny.
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