Yes, we are now tag-teaming the blogs. Everyone needs a partner
in crime, and we are the Demented Duo. Our first blog together will be about
something that we spend a lot of time playing with. We like to rub it and caress
its various parts. It makes us laugh, giggle and even sometimes, it makes us
giddy with anticipation. We like to hold onto it and feel its power to make men
drool. Have you guessed what this blog is about yet? If you said tv and remote
controls, you are correct. If not, you might be a member of the Righteous
Perverts.
As Luna and I are older than most of you, we remember the
days of getting off your ass to change the channel. We remember the days that
there were only three channels and, if you were lucky, you could pick up a
local PBS station, too. If there was breaking news, you were screwed (and not
in a good way) because all the channels ran the news and your shows were
preempted. We, as children, were also
known as remotes because Mom/Dad would make us get up to change the channel. In
a time where you can watch tv on your phone, you wouldn’t remember the big ass
tv that had to stay in one place because it was too big and heavy to fucking
move.
In the good old days, all sex was innuendo. Nowadays you
have teenagers having sex on the beach, and I am not talking about the drink.
Even now there is still a censor in studio, but they will allow you to use certain
dirty fucking words on tv. Genie couldn’t show her belly button. Lucy wasn’t
pregnant. She was adding to the family, like she was just going to the hospital
to pick up a baby like a takeout order. Mom’s stayed at home cleaning in her
pearls and high heels while Dad went to some mysterious job. Now, most of the
shows we are talking about are shows that we watched as reruns, because we are
not that damn old, and Mia you can stop laughing now.
Television progressed as we got older. That Girl, Mary Tyler
Moore, Rhoda and Maude became television icons. We can remember when these
women were considered ground breaking trailblazers for women’s rights. Ann
Marie and Mary were the first single women with careers. Rhoda was one of the
first divorced women, and Maude was one of the most opinionated liberal women—then
or now. Most of the shows we grew up watching were the brainchild of the great
Norman Lear, who brought social awareness to the masses by humor and not
preaching.
In the mid-seventies, one of our favorite shows began, Soap.
Although it only ran for four seasons, it made a huge impact on television. Most
of you know Billy Crystal from movies and hosting the Oscars, but we know him
as Jody, the first openly gay character on television. This show was a fully
functioning dysfunctional family. The parents were just insane. One daughter
was a nymphomaniac having an affair with the priest. One son was blackmailed to
kill his stepfather by the mob, the other son was a dummy who everyone talked
to, and grandpa was still fighting World War Two. The smartest character on the
show was the butler, Benson, who went on to have his own show.
Another hugely popular show from our childhoods was One Day
at a Time. Ann Romano was a divorced single mother of two teenage daughters.
This show brought to life some of the most hot button issues of the era. Teen
drinking and sex were discussed many times during the run of the show. This was
also one of the shows where it wasn’t just the parent raising the children. The
girls had a surrogate father figure in the apartment supervisor, Schneider.
A never missed show was WKPR in Cincinnati. What an amazing
cast of characters. Jennifer was the brilliant but hot secretary who ran the
station instead of her boss, the clueless Mr. Carlson. Les Nessman was the
nerdy newsman, Herb was the tackily dressed ad man, and Bailey was the shy
assistant to Andy, who was the hot program director. The cool DJ’s were Johnny
Fever and Venus Flytrap. This was one of the first shows that the music was as
much a part of the show as the characters. Even though the show was a comedy,
it still tackled some of the most important issues of the day. One that stands
out for us was the stampede at The Who Concert where 11 people were crushed to
death rushing for festival general admission seating at Riverfront Stadium.
This brings us to the resurgent of classic family sitcoms of
the Eighties. Shows like Cosby, Growing Pains, and Family Ties. These shows
brought the two parent family back to television. For some, these were must see
television. They brought the Eighties to life, two professional parents raising
their kids together. Some of the episodes tackled drugs and sex and the
pressures of being a teen in the Eighties. These were important and very
topical subject matter for sitcoms.
The Nineties brought drama back to television. Shows like
ER, Law and Order, and The West Wing. These were some of the most well written
and acted shows on television. Most of
the actors from these shows have huge careers now. These are the shows I watched. This also brought
shows geared toward teens and college students to tv. Who can forget the most
popular zip code in America, Beverly Hills 90210, or Melrose Place? This is when
we pretty much stopped watching tv.
During the 2000’s, we watched fewer and fewer tv shows as we
drifted away from the loving embrace of the idiot box. That is not to say we
didn’t watch tv, but it was more hit and miss and not something that we made
our plans around. This is when we started to be corrupted by books. The more
books we read, the more we were sucked into the never ending genres of romance.
People like Sophie Oak, Mia Ashlinn, Melissa Schroeder, Heather Long and
Corinne Davies just to name a few have kept our imaginations on a path to
smutty goodness.
Do you remember these shows or were you captivated by
something that Luna and I failed to mention?
Shmuttmeister and The Lost Lunatic
I remember all of these shows! Plus all the great cartoons in the 60's on saturday and sunday mornings! And I remember when MTV first started and it was all music vidoes.
ReplyDeleteI miss the old TV shows. No wonder I don't watch TV anymore.
I miss the videos on MTV. I remember when Kiss took their makeup off live on MTV.
DeleteSaturday morning cartoons were the BEST back then. It was the only morning where I wanted to get up early so I could watch those shows
DeleteI'm old, too. Cable wasn't available in my area until I was in 5th or 6th grade, so we only had three channels. I also remember when MTV started and was thrilled that we had cable by then so I could watch it. Now I've got over 500 channels and never even turn the TV on...
DeleteI am with you Chloe I had tons of channels and never watched them so I cancelled my cable lol
DeleteI'm not afraid to admit I am old enough to remember a day without remotes. When TV's were huge, stereos were inserted into furniture and the phone was firmly attached to the wall. I remember WKRP in Cincinnati with great fondness, as well as Laverne and Shirley. (I also remember being sent to bed the moment the Dallas theme song started because I was too young to see it. I'm sure I could have learned so much from that show!)
ReplyDeleteLoved Laverne and Shirley not to mention Happy Days!!
DeleteLaverne and Shirley was a favourite one of mine. Lenny and Squiggy were two goofy guys that always cracked me up. The Dallas theme was like the alarm going off for TV time being over and bed time starting. I learned to hate that theme LOL
Deletei watched the radio show one. i was a remote control for my parents too. we only now have over ten channels on free to air tv. the tv has been replaced in my affections by my books. I love them so much. thanks to my authors for putting your hearts on the line each time. cheers you depraved duo. luff ya guts.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to lie this blog started out about shows that Luna and I watch now but we went off the rails pretty quickly lol
DeleteWhen do we not go off the rails? :P
DeleteCripes, you two make it sound like you're wearing diapers and using walkers! You're not that much older, and I remember MOST of those things. I'll admit that I don't recall only having three channels, but I was certainly the remote control for the first part of my life. I've also watched most of those shows-in reruns because I was watching Rainbow Bright and Fraggle Rock when some of them were originally on-so I can appreciate the progression. I rarely watch TV anymore, you're more likely to find me watching a movie than a weekly series, but I think the progression is perfect when it means we're spending more time reading!
ReplyDeleteWe are a lot older than you Lori but we just don't act like it.
DeleteFraggle Rock!!! I will admit I have found a channel that shows that now and I have stopped on it while channels surfing to have a few minutes of fond memories with the show.
DeleteWe watched WKRP as younguns... and now we DVR the reruns heehee
ReplyDeleteThat was one of my favorite all time shows
DeleteI'd love it if one of the channels here re-aired some classic TV shows like WKRP.
DeleteWKRP and Emergency are played still almost daily. We were watching WKRP when I first posted my comment, and last night we were watching Emergency. Heck my kids LOVE both of them. Nothing like the good ol TV shows :)
DeleteI'm probably about the same age as you both. I also remember that Saturday morning was full of cartoons from 7 am until 1 pm then the Creature Double Feature ran two movies back to back. I remember watching all these shows and YES my sister and I were the "remote" you spoke of LOL. Those were great times.
ReplyDeleteyep we sure did get our exercise running back and forth to change the channels
DeleteI remember the same show as i am around the same age as Shmuttmeister Dowds and The Lost Lunatic. I also remember the great Saturday morning cartoons and shows like The Banana Splits or H.R> Puffenstuff with Witchie Poo and a magical flute. I also remember Emergency about to cute paramedics who always went to Rampart hospital. I also remember the original Hawaii 5o.I remember Drive in movie theaters. But no Tv show has ever moved me like some of the books I have read.
ReplyDeleteI loved Emergency
Deletei think that was my first uniform fetish lol
DeleteOH,My, the memories that you have brought back for me. We would sit in the living room on Sunday night, and only sunday night because back when I was a kid, we had to go outside and play, and watch the Ed Sullivan show, Gunsmoke and Bonanza. I remember watching the Beatles first appearance in America, Elvis, The Stones, Frank Sinatra, Topoe Gigoe, Ella Fitzgerald. I watched Matt and Miss Kitty, and I was so in love with little Joe. Having few telivision shows made me use my imagination as a child. Having books in my life has let me use my imagination my whole life.
ReplyDeleteOMG how could I forget Bonanza!! I was all about Adam and Hoss when everyone else love Little Joe. I guess I should have known then that I would grow up to read Menage.
ReplyDeletewoohooo Shmuttmeister Dowds and the Cartwrights
Delete