The Golden Age Of Television

Quote Of The Day: David St Hubbins (Spinal Tap): "There's a fine line between clever and illegal."

I've just been watching the DVD of the first season of the television series "Cheers."  What a magnificent programme it was -- at least at the beginning.  Actually it fared well through several seasons.

It has been said that the Golden Age Of Television was the 1950's -- Thomas G. Aylesworth says that in his book "Great Moments Of Television," but i'm afraid i can't agree.

In the 50's, America was infallible, in the cop shows and westerns you could always tell the bad guy because he hadn't shaved, and in the sitcoms, no one ever had any problems that Dad wasn't able to fix in under 30 minutes.

The 60's -- i dunno, the only remarkable thing about 60's television was The Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan

Reality asserted itself when "All In The Family" was first broadcast (1971) -- but i was never a particular fan (although i did watch it).

But then came "M*A*S*H"  which was great for a while, "Barney Miller," "WKRP In Cincinnati" -- all very clever in their own way.

In England, we had "The Sweeney," "Van der Valk" and, later, "Minder" -- and "Monty Pyhton" --all brilliant.

After that, "Hill Street Blues" and, later, "Seinfeld."

After that i pretty much lost interest in television.  With the exception, of course of "Father Ted."