Seventies TV, Dysfunction And Delight

A spotless living room, a perfect bow on every problem, and a smile that never cracks—early TV taught us that’s what family looks like. Then the 70s kicked the door open. We trade tidy myths for the glorious mess of All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, MASH, Good Times, and the gleeful chaos of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. By the end, we answer a simple question with layered truth: did those shows make us feel normal—or finally seen? Press play for sharp takes, a few guilty-pleasure confessions, and a reminder that the best TV doesn’t fix life; it helps us name it. If this trip through TV history sparked a memory, leave a review, subscribe, and tell us your top three retro shows!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to the Dysfunctioning Companies Podcast. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen it up. And now, here are your hosts, Carrie and Chrissy.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

I think he was trying to see if we're paying attention. Hi, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

No, actually, I did that because uh a few weeks ago. Yes. Chrissy was talking about how when I say her name, it sounds like that I'm pissed off or how it sounds when I'm mad at you.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that means you have to say your name first now.

CHRISY 0:42

Hi hi, everybody. Welcome to Dysfunction Junkies. Hope everybody's feeling great. I'm Chrissy. And I'm Carrie. I almost wanted to say I'm Carrie.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

I'm just really embedded in the layout. Nick's got us on our toes today.

CHRISY 0:58

Wait, we're gonna have to break here for a minute. Why? Does it uh you're not this is the this episode? It looks like it's like recording right behind another episode. Is that the way that looks or okay? I well, I it's not my business. It's not what I do here. Stay in your lane, Chris. It's not the tape. Stay in your lane.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Never mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

TJ Mick has got it in hand.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

All right. Thank you. You can't edit that out. You need to keep that in there now. All right. Chrissy all thought she knew what she was doing. I was just worried. You just worry about content and making us laugh over there, Chrissy. Okay, I'll stay in my lane. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Quick lesson. It's in stereo that's left and right.

Setting Up The TV Theme

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Chrissy's looking at the screen and seeing all this, you know, EKG stuff going on over there. Yeah. So all right. So today we are going down another favorite topic of Chrissy's. Guess what it involves? The big black box. Sort of media. Yes. The TV. The TV. Because it so is dysfunctional. It is.

CHRISY 2:07

And I grew up watching so much of people either being dysfunctional or really trying to portray that they were not dysfunctional.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Right, right. So Chrissy has a lineup on these are a lot of these are 70s TV shows. Some might, you know, breach a little bit late 60s, early 80s, but for the most part, we're talking general 70s. So we're we're gonna kind of review this. So hopefully you'll enjoy this uh throw back down memory lane and see how these TV shows affected you. Maybe they reminded you of your family or what your family was trying to be.

CHRISY 2:42

And maybe you were doing what I was doing, which was basically completely phasing out everybody in reality to spend 30 minutes with people you had no you had no connection, but you had a connection with. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

These people with these characters sometimes on these TV shows that you do feel like they're they're real sometimes, they become part of your life.

CHRISY 3:06

Absolutely. And when you're young like I was and nobody else was working with me, these were my family. I love them.

Idealized 50s And Early 60s TV

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Still do. Absolutely. So, where let's where do you want to start? Do you want to start with those that pretended not to be dysfunctional?

CHRISY 3:22

Well, what I was trying to get was I think there was a time period in the 50s and early 60s where television was really trying to not be dysfunctional. Yes. Whether that was even a recognized understanding. Right. I'm sure it was probably considered something else. But you had shows that were rolling over from the 50s into the early 60s. I referenced three that I can think of offhand was like Leave It to Beaver, total nuclear family type situation, nothing serious going on. And like they always used to say with these shows, everything was wrapped up in 30 minutes happy with a bow on it. Yes. The only thing dysfunctional about Leave It to Beaver was I know, and I don't know how many people still know what this term means, but if somebody calls you an Eddie Haskell, do you know what that's it's a suck-up. It is, yeah. Because that's all he did was suck up to all the adults on the show. The other one, uh I don't know how many people watched. Molly. Yeah. Molly and Beaver and uh Mr.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

and Mrs. Cleaver. I never understood why he got the nickname Beaver. Do we ever do we ever know why?

CHRISY 4:33

Well, his name was Theodore. Right. I believe.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Was it the father's name and they had to give him a nickname? I know, but I don't know. But why did they call him the Beaver?

CHRISY 4:43

I don't know, but it made a really great, unfortunate, uh, off uh color uh humorous jokes. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Uh-huh. Uh I'm not gonna repeat any.

Leave It To Beaver Deep Cut

CHRISY 4:55

So, but I don't know, but that was his nickname. I bet you there's a reason. Are you looking at it? I'm trying to Google it. I'm trying to Gemini. We'll see if if Nick gets it first. So keep going. Another show that was sort of like this was the Donna Reed show. Yeah, I didn't watch that one much. Uh again, because I was smacked in front of that TV a lot. I've pretty much seen I've seen some I am not even mentioning here. What do you got? I got it.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So older brother Wally couldn't pronounce Theodore when they were younger, I guess. So saying tweeter or thiever eventually morphed into beaver.

CHRISY 5:27

Wait a minute, that is a massive backstory that I don't think they ever who finally wrote this down somewhere. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

This is this is uh Gemini gave me this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Are you seeing the same thing? I'm kind of getting the same thing, but I'm actually on a uh on a website or something. So showbiz quit cheat sheet or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

There's videos on it, like from the actual show. It must be very early episodes.

CHRISY 5:53

We're getting that's crazy. I never knew that. I just assumed they gave kids crazy nicknames.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Nope. Wally couldn't say Theodore.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Yeah, yep, yep, yep. That's consensus.

CHRISY 6:05

So okay. Well, interesting. But again, Donna Reed was sort of the same formula of uh very functional uh family and a dysfunctional type world that everybody was ignoring at the time. Yes, and another one that was out there, I don't know, it was an old one. I I don't know. I guess it cracked the 60s, maybe or not, but it was an old one. Father knows best. It was another nuclear family, everything got taken care of within 30 minutes, and the problems were not really problems by today's story.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

From 1954 to 1960.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Oh, it made 1960. Remember the movie Pleasantville was kind of a oh yeah. I did get that.

CHRISY 6:44

It was I would highly recommend that movie if you've never seen that. Yeah, it's uh it's a very good film.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

It it basically says why those shows were really dysfunctional.

CHRISY 6:54

Actually, I'm so glad you brought that up because I totally, and that was like one of my favorite movies when it first came out. Yeah.

Donna Reed And Father Knows Best

SPEAKER_02 6:59

What I would add to your little list here, and you know, just because this was the one I related to was Lassie.

CHRISY 7:07

Oh, the animal say now. I was just gonna bring up because you were saying Lassie, and for a minute I was thinking Mr. Ed. Oh, I love Mr. Ed.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

And then there was a horse, of course, of course.

CHRISY 7:18

The dolphin. Oh why is it that we had Big Ben? Was that the name of a show? It was about the bear. The bear, uh-huh. Flipper. Flipper.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

We had we had to put these animals. These animals, yep, I loved it. But Lassie just, you know, that was kind of your little quintessential family, you know, they had little farm and everything, and then Lassie saves the day. Thank God. I know. Thank God for Lassie. Timmy fell down a well.

CHRISY 7:41

Timmy's in a why is but there's so many wells there. Well, because he had a farm. Oh. Well, geez, oh man, could you put a flipping cone up or something over there? You know? Some yellow caution tape. What the hell? This kid doesn't know about it. It's better than falling in the septic tank. I guess. So those are your real traditional, very clean, happy, feel-good shows. But then I think there were these ones that were sort of squeaking through in the 60s that really wanted to see things change. Like the 60s was a pivotal, yes, sort of changing decade. And I was an Adams Family fan. We were just talking about that. You liked it too. I loved it, but I was not allowed to watch it.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Why? Oh no, no, no, no, no.

CHRISY 8:23

Too much of a not, it was the opposite of nuclear family.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

No, yeah. That I don't know. My mom just probably thought that it was um, yeah, way too goth before it was goth. Yeah, it was way too not Catholic. And uh Gomez, Gomez was a little bit uh randy. Yeah, he was a bit randy.

CHRISY 8:44

So but so was Morticev, yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

CHRISY 8:48

Uh but I love the humor and just the quick you that was a show you had to listen to the dialogue.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Oh yeah. I love the Wednesday Adams character, and I love how modern day how they've taken like I've watched all the Wednesday movies and stuff, you know, and the series and everything. I I just think she's hysterical.

Pleasantville And Animal Heroes

CHRISY 9:04

I didn't see, I think it is a great character, and I know that those were very popular. I uh would should really give it my attention. I have not watched those, but what they did with the Adams family movies in the 90s. I haven't seen any of the new incarnations of it. No, but with uh Rawl Julia and Angelica Houston, Christina Ricci, wonderful. Yes, yes, they really I think stayed true to and I have books with the actual comics. Oh, okay. And those are really fun to look through. Okay, because it just again, based on dialogue, based on the written word, it's very amusing if you like that kind of humor. Dark.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

But the other opposite, opposite but the same of the Adams family was the Monsters. There are people who love the Monsters.

CHRISY 9:49

I don't hate it, but I would not let it be.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

I felt like they were the knockoff.

CHRISY 9:53

I wasn't exactly sure if it was right.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

One in ABC and one was C B C or one or CBS or whatever. Like, were they two different networks and they were rivaling for each other? They probably were. We'll have a DJ Nick look that I can bet you they were. But I just feel like the monsters were like they were both on it. They were the Walmart version of Adam's family, you know. Well Adam's family was, you know, I don't know.

CHRISY 10:17

Maybe it's more amusing if you think of it in the sense that maybe these people really just had such a complete inability to hold on and grasp reality that they thought they were like monsters. So they dressed up and everybody just had to sort of basically deal with it.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Right.

CHRISY 10:32

The Adams family I like because I think they were just so old family. Yeah, they had come over on the Mayflower. Yeah. And they had so much money that they could be whoever they want, crazy, and it was just you had to accept it.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

CHRISY 10:48

Other crazy shows that were sort of trying to push our sense of uh reality was like I Dream of Jeannie, which was a total sex pot show when you really think about it. No belly button, though.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

And no belly button cannot show the belly button. That was not allowed.

CHRISY 11:04

No, Bewitch 2. Love Bewitched. And we were just talking about uh the big thing was oh, do you have an answer as to Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

So the Adams family was on ABC and The Munsters? The Monsters were on CBS.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Okay, so they were yeah, but they didn't weren't on like the same night or anything. Oh, I don't know if they were on the same night, but they were the same time frame, same years. Oh, same years when they were on television 64 to 66. Yeah. Yep. So, but so I dream of genie, I absolutely loved, and bewitched, and uh, we were talking about that, you were saying.

CHRISY 11:39

Yeah, so uh the one thing was who would win against each other? Sort of like this common thing that comes up when you're dealing with supernatural or superheroes or whatever. Who was more powerful? Yeah. You had the DC thing that exploded and the Marvel thing that exploded. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

You like Jeannie or Samantha? I'm 100% think it was Samantha.

CHRISY 12:03

Well, I think we both came to the same conclusion. And anybody out there wondering what's the difference?

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah.

Addams Family Vs. The Munsters

CHRISY 12:08

Remember, if you watch enough TV, like obviously I did, and Carrie, obviously. This I did know. This she didn't know. So both of them were at a disadvantage. Yes. If for Jeannie, if another genie did a cast a spell or did a wish or whatever you call it for her, you could not undo another genie's wish or a spell or whatever. Yeah. Same thing for Samantha.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Yes.

CHRISY 12:32

If another witch did a spell on somebody, it had to be them that took it away. Right. She could not undo it. Undo it. But here's where we agree that Jeannie was at a disadvantage. Yep. You could lock Samantha up anywhere. Yeah. She can get out. Blink, done. Boom. And she had a broom. Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle. And she had that nose. Which by the way, it wasn't her nose that twitched. Yes, it was not. It was her uh mouth. Uh-huh. That everybody thought it was always her. Jeannie, if somebody put her in that bottle and put that lid on it. She locked up. She couldn't get out. She locked up a broom. So she was done. So this is why we've come to the conclusion that Jeannie was more was the weaker.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Yeah, she definitely had. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

So was that was that a little bit sexist? What? You can control the woman, so you put her in a bottle and oh, the whole show was sexist.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

It's a genie.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Okay.

CHRISY 13:24

I believe that even a larger statement. No, because what's a Disney movie with the genie? Aladdin. Yeah. He was in a lamp. Yeah. It was a lamp. I'm sorry. It's it looks like a bottle, but it's a big one. Well, a genie in a bottle. Well, wait.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

No, I think hers was a bottle.

CHRISY 13:40

It was a bottle. What does it call it?

SPEAKER_02 13:43

But guy genies are in a in like a and they call it a lamp, but it's not a lamp. It's like a T. Was it something that held oil so that you can light lamps or something? I don't know, something like that. But yeah. But the whole show, I mean, come on. It was yeah. So well but I loved Bewitched. I absolutely love Bewitched. And funny that whenever, again, I don't look at the show notes or anything, but when I saw this come up, I had to laugh because you had about the two Darens. Yes, you have to know about the two Darens. The two Darens.

CHRISY 14:14

And are you a Dick York? Or a Dick Sargent.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

See, and that's I always have to look at them. All right, let me let me get it. Dick York was first.

CHRISY 14:22

Was he first? Yes. Okay. And Dick Sargent was the replacement.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Okay, so Dick York. Okay. I think I'm more the other guy.

CHRISY 14:30

You like Dick Sargent? I think so. I'm all about the original guy, Dick York. And I think his and he had hurt his back. That's why he had to leave the show.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Oh, no, you're right. I do like the first dick, Dick York. The first dick? Awesome. That's what he said. That's what she said.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Junkies after donkeys.

Jeannie Vs. Samantha: Power Debate

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Yeah, Dick York. I do like him. Yes. Now that I see the picture of the other one, yeah. The other guy was fine. Oh, yeah, he was good. He did his show. We kind of like the original guy. Yes, I will agree with that. So what's funny is I have been, I don't know why, I don't know what hooked me on to it, but I've been I I had this thing about a month ago where I talked about the Twilight Zone. And I just remember that was like such an awesome show. I loved watching it. So I'm like, oh, I should go back and watch it from the start. I don't know what I was thinking back then because it's, I mean, it did have its purpose and it was kind of like sometimes scary and ooh, you know, whatever. So it's been kind of nostalgic watching it. But I just watched an episode and Dick York was in it. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's the that's the Be Witch guy. And it was so weird seeing him in a role that was so not Darren Stevens. Right.

CHRISY 15:41

Yeah, he he does pop up in some of the stuff from then I've seen him in some things. Yeah, Twilight Zone, that's too much. You gotta think. I that's I want to be entertained, I don't want to have to think too deep. That that show will make you think and it freaks me out. And then I overthink. Anything's gonna make me overthink, I'm out.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

It's not a fan of Twilight Zone. Yeah, and I think I think what it was is I used to love the Alfred Hitchcock shows. And I think in my mind, I was thinking that Twilight Zone was Alfred Hitchcock, and then the more I'm watching these Twilight Zones, I'm like, oh no, this isn't what I was remembering. I was remembering Alfred Hitchcock, but now I'm stuck and I'm watching the series. So yeah. Not a bad thing. It's not bad. It has been interesting. I like again, I don't watch a lot of TV and I rarely get TV time by myself because you know, usually Jim's um he's got the the coveted times, and I don't usually watch always the same things that he watches. But when I'm when I'm by myself and I'm like working on the computer, I like something playing in the background, and so the Twilight Zone lately has been my go-to.

CHRISY 16:40

All right, well, there you go. Not a bad show to have in the background. Yep. So other ones Green Acres was sort of some of these shows are they're better known for their their theme song. That one, Beverly Hillbillies. I mean, basically, you get the whole summary of the show right in the beginning. You don't even need to watch it. But the Beverly Hillbillies was amusing because I I just thought the whole dynamic of that was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

I would rather watch Green Acres than Beverly Hillbillies. I'm not a fan.

CHRISY 17:10

Okay. I I was I lean the other way, but hey, both good shows. Yep. So then we segue into the 70s and we have a good list. Because I think the 70s really came into its own about dysfunction, but it was it was so entertaining. It was so different than what we had had before. And this was when we were little. I remember being able to watch my father or mother watch these some of these shows and laugh. Now, as a child, you didn't catch on to what the humor was. No. Uh you just usually saw people being overly excited about a topic. Talk about one. Or laughing and being like, I don't get it. I remember my mother laughing ridiculously at Bob Newhart. Oh, okay. The first one when he was a psychiatrist. Okay. Not when he had the inn. Okay. But I remember her, I was like on the floor playing with toys, and she like laughed so hard, and I was like, what the hell's wrong with this?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Something with this bra.

The Two Darrens And Twilight Zone

CHRISY 18:07

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't past her bedtime. I don't know what the hell's going on.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

We have to talk about the one show. We've brought this up a lot of times off of uh the podcast, we've talked about it, but that's the love boat.

CHRISY 18:20

Well, yeah. That I mean we've got to be able to do that. Actually, the list the list I actually printed out didn't include that, but when you brought it up, I was like, I don't know why it's not probably because it was like late 70s and then it ran into the 80s. What if if anybody was worried about what was going on in the late 70s and into the 80s that you were terrified in regards to having sex and getting something that was life-altering, life-changing, life-ending. Life-ending. Why did the love boat totally not give a shit about what they were portraying on that damn boat? STDs everywhere. Totally, totally. Don't drink the water. Don't drink the water. You know, don't swim in the pool. You would have been better off at the mansion, the Playboy mansion in the lagoon. It was probably more sterile.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

So the love boat is kind of funny. You know, I loved, you know, I love the ocean. I love a good beach, you know, give me, you know, Caribbean blue waters. But I have no desire ever to be on a cruise ship. And people always are trying to convince me, oh no, you'll love it. And I'm like, no, no, it's not for me. And it's too many people crowded on one place. No, I don't think so. But now I'm starting to think that maybe my aversion to being on a big boat comes from watching the love boat and seeing all the horrible things that the adults happen on the on these cruise ships.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

You didn't want to get accosted by the ship's physician. Yeah.

CHRISY 19:53

So the two most responsible Nick brought this up with the doctor on there. Yeah. The doctor and the other most responsible person, supposedly, on this ship. Yeah. The flipping captain. Yeah. Two of the biggest whores on the whole boat. And I tell you what, the flipping captain of the Titanic was more responsible than the captain on the love boat. He seemed to man his station a little bit more. We saw how that ended. I mean, what the hell, dude? Stop flirting. Stop inviting people to your table for dinner and stop visiting people, huh? The whole flipping hour, I think that one ran an hour. That wasn't a half. It was all about opening up them cabin doors. Everybody coming in and out of everybody's room. What the hell? Jesus Christ. What a horrible show. I'm sorry. Sorry. The funniest thing was Captain Stubing uh appearing in Ace Ventura, even though he wasn't really there. Do you ever see that? That scene.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

I'll have to go back and watch that now.

Green Acres And Hillbillies

CHRISY 20:55

It's some guy who looks like it, but he opens the door for Ace Ventura. They're at this, they go to this party and this the butler opens the door. Looks just like Gavin McLeod. And the first thing out of Ace Ventura's mouth is, hey Captain Stub, how are gopher and doc? And this is hilarious because the guy did. If you looked at him real quick, he looked exactly like the captain from the.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

CHRISY 21:21

So the love boat, yeah, should have been on this list of dysfunction.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

And what show came on after the love boat? Dallas.

CHRISY 21:28

Oh, fantasy island. Oh wrong night, wrong night. I can't believe I screwed that up. Duke's a hazard, then Dallas.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

And then Falcon Crest. I didn't watch that one.

CHRISY 21:40

I was still reeling over everything that duh.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

We're in the 80s now.

CHRISY 21:43

You gotta go back to the I know we gotta back up, back up, back up. Anyhow. We're in the party. But Fantasy Island was bullshit too.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yeah. It was. What the hell? Yes. That was tattoo. Why was his name tattoo? That's ridiculous. Because people get Tattoos in Hawaii? I don't know. Um, what are their 70s shows? What's on your what's on your faded, not barely printed? I couldn't even read it. Chrissy needs to buy a new toner for a part or two.

The 70s: Enter Dysfunction

CHRISY 22:11

But let's give uh credit to the person who compiled the uh list of this that I'm borrowing from. Okay. And that is Hunter Cates, compiled the 10 TV shows from the 70s that defined the decade. And also, I think, in my opinion, defined dysfunction. So I'm gonna throw that out. Yes. So we have, of course, I mean, all in the family. Oh my Lanta. Beautiful, perfect. I can't say. The only thing I can say is that it, you know, like every show, it that runs its time. Yeah. As it phases itself out, it just starts to get tired. Yes. But when it was hot, it was hot. And oh my God. Still can well, and that's the other test to a good show, especially from that long ago. If you can sit through it and actually sit and still relate to it and enjoy it, that speaks volumes of the writers and the people who were involved in creating the show. And that is one of them. All-time classic.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Yes. Another good one, Mary Tyler Moore. Yeah, well, I I mean, I've seen a couple shows and they were cute and all, but I never really got into it. Maybe it was just because I didn't have enough TV time to, you know, I saw that experience everything.

CHRISY 23:23

I probably saw Mary Tyler Moore more in syndication than I did when it was first run. Okay. What was funny was I think the Mary Tyler Moore, the beauty of that is that a lot of those people around who surrounded Mary Tyler Moore, uh the people who worked at this TV station with her, they were all fantastically dysfunctional. And I think it they try to stick Mary in the middle of that, her character, as the one that wasn't dysfunctional. The normal one. But I think in the fact that they try to make her so normal, so perfect. Yeah, it was dysfunctional. She was probably the most dysfunctional out of all of them. So kudos to doing that. And everybody loves Mary. Teller more. Here's one, and I had to coin this phrase. Did you look it up? What did I tell you yesterday about this TV show? He didn't realize what they called it. And I think because another show came on with it or around it. I think it was called Jiggle Television, Jiggle TV.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Oh, Charlie's Angels.

CHRISY 24:23

Charlie's Angels.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Oh, I love Charlie's Angels.

CHRISY 24:27

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Me too.

CHRISY 24:28

Yeah. Most of the, most, uh, especially the male population.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Hey, Charlie. Yeah. What the hell is that? Everybody.

CHRISY 24:40

I was really upset when she passed away. Number one, real quick, she got screwed on that. She passed away the same day as Michael Jackson. So she was only important for about two hours that day. And then when the news broke that he it was done. Lights out. And then there was a big controversy, as there generally is when they do like at the Oscars or these other award shows when they do the immemorium. Yeah. She was not represented at the Oscars. Oh. And they the their uh reasoning for that, they said back then when everybody got upset, because I think Michael Jackson was, was that she was mostly known for television. They they say there's so many people they try to get to that they have to exclude people. Yeah. My argument for Farah over Michael, and maybe Michael's just as important, and you gave him his props, but she didn't, is because that poster was in the background of a lot of film. This is true. And one being Saturday Night Fever. Yeah. It was there in John Travolta's bedroom. Okay. Another movie later on that I think was featured, and I'm sure there's a bunch of other ones too, but I remember it appearing in the movie Boogie Knights in what the hell was his real name before he turned into Dirk Daigler. He had another movie.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

I don't know who I don't know Boogie Knights. Oh gosh. These looks. Chrissy gives me when I don't know a TV or movie reference.

CHRISY 26:05

Let me just say something real quick. Boogie Knights, have you seen Goodfellas? Mm-hmm. Yes. It's basically the same outline. Okay. Dysfunctional family. Yeah, there you go. One's porn industry, one's mafia. Yeah. They pull it off. Look it up. There's an article written about it. Anyhow. Farah, Charlie's Angels, Jiggle TV. Jiggle TV. You gotta love it. Mm-hmm. What's another? Oh, the Brady Bunch. Jesus God. Everybody loves the Brady's. I don't. And what they did to that house, they took the house that was the exterior. Uh-huh. And they turned the interior. Yes. Because the interior looked nothing like it. Because that was all on a sound stage. Yes. I am amazed at that. Yeah. And let me tell you, though, we grew up watching that. Because not only generally it probably was over by the time we were really able to watch. Yeah. But in syndication, I think I remember it being on once we came home from school.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

I was never as terrified as one of the episodes of the Brady Bunch when they went to Hawaii. And they had the tarantula scene with the tarantula. What about the little trinket that gave them bad luck? That didn't bother me. But the tarantula crawling up in his sleep and on the bed and everything terrified me. Totally freaked out. Terrified me. Yes. The fact that it's stuck with you speaks volumes. Yes, that's what I remember from when I think of the Brady Bunch. I think of two things. I think of that tarantula, and I think of chap shin up sh. That's it.

All In The Family And Mary Tyler Moore

CHRISY 27:44

I I I I remember that. It's so embedded in our yes. Uh just pulp culture in general. So you have to give it credit for that. But Taxi is listed. Good show. I don't know that I would I unless you want to consider the people who are the taxi drivers working out of the garage under the great Danny DeVito's character as a one big dysfunctional family. Yes, I see that. But some of these I I wouldn't say it's as that, but equally as good. Saturday Night Live is on the list. That's which I they're important. It's a definite important show. It's still running.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

MASH. Oh, we have MASH marathons all the time. Jim loves that show. I love that show. So that's another one of those that'll run in the background if we're doing stuff or whatever. But I I'm a MASH fan. Yeah.

CHRISY 28:31

The movie. Yeah. Just as yeah. Great. Yep. Wonderful movie. Wonderful show. Yeah. When it can last that long. Yeah. And it's just I don't know so much. Again, it's like a people put into a situation where they're all from different backgrounds and personalities. It's like a one big created dysfunctional family. They didn't get to choose who was in their camp. Here's one. I have something specific to say about it. It's really important, especially for I think you and I. Because we just grew up with that and were in love with it. It was happy days, and we're Fonzie girls. Oh, Fonzie. Everybody.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Five-year-old birthday. I still remember to this day. We went to McDonald's, and my big present that I was so excited about was a Fonzie calendar. I think I had a Fonzie. Or not calendar, a Fonzie poster. Oh, okay. Okay.

CHRISY 29:17

I had a mug, I think. Yeah, you just I wanted to be Pinky Duscadero. And I even had I have a picture of me dressed up in what I thought was a look like pinky Tuscadero. So you wanted to be. But here's the great question. The question for the ages. I hear you. Do you know I'm going to be able to do that? I think I know what you're going to ask. What happened to Chuck?

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Oh, that wasn't what I was going with. That's the brother.

CHRISY 29:40

Richie and Joni had an older brother. That's right. They had an older brother. He usually was walking around with a basketball in his hand. Yes, you're Did he get hurt in a bad basketball accident, never to be seen again? Yeah, you're right. That was the big mystery. What happened to Chuck? These these some of these shows, they were able to bring in a character and then just like they gaslight you. They do.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

I thought you were gonna go with why was this 30-year-old man always hanging out with teenagers? Do you think Fonse was 30? I don't know. I thought that's I mean, I didn't think he was 19. I didn't think he was a teenager. I didn't think he was I always thought he was like older.

CHRISY 30:15

I never really thought of him.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Oh, yeah.

CHRISY 30:17

Or connect him with an age. I guess it just felt he was ageless. I don't know.

Charlie’s Angels And “Jiggle TV”

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah, but he was, yeah. So he rented the room above their garage. I know. Yeah, but I always I always kind of saw him as definitely not in the age group and not even on the cusp of. Like I never felt like he was oh, just the two years ahead of them in high school. He was like this older guy, you know? And so, but I and in hindsight, I'm always like, why is that older guy just hanging out with the kids? I never thought of that, but that's a good point.

CHRISY 30:48

It's a good point. Good times, never watched it. Love good times. Yeah, and I feel like we all love good times. Well, we do, we try. But I really felt like this was exposing me to be able to be involved with yeah, diversity to understand what other families who are not like my family, right, what they go through, and the similarities and the things that make us maybe different, but yet make us the same.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

I oh let me see how I want to word this. Um, watching that type of TV was discouraged, and I just Because of the diversity aspect. I think I feel like it was because of the diversity aspect, and I think that that was a challenging subject in my household growing up. And so, I mean, I ne I didn't recognize it, and I thankfully did not continue that cycle, but I do feel like in hindsight, I can look back and see the things that I wasn't allowed to watch, and I usually can say, Oh, because it like like the Addams family, that was just not Catholic enough.

CHRISY 31:52

You know, it was just you know There was nothing in that that was Catholic at all.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Maybe there were candles burning. Uh Nickelodeon. I wasn't allowed to watch that, you know, and I could just you know, so there's things, but yeah, uh diverse TV shows, culturally diverse TV shows were they I was never told why I couldn't watch them, but I was not, and I I feel like in hindsight, you know, looking at it from an an adult's perspective of, you know, I I think that's why I wasn't allowed to watch it.

CHRISY 32:21

Well, it I don't think that that is a concept that's that unusual for probably we grew up. The area we grew up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

The time period we were growing up. The Cosby show would have been the the that one was when it broke the mold, and that one was allowed and encouraged and respected in the household. But anything before the Cosby show, no. I didn't like and it has nothing to do with anything current of that.

Brady Bunch Memories And Fears

CHRISY 32:47

Nothing about right. I just didn't like it. I just think it had nothing to do with the family, their background, nothing. I it just it was too happy.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Everybody was happy. You would have rather watched uh The Father's Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver. Well, just it was just it was like it It was modern day of that.

CHRISY 33:09

There are general it was and there are general showsby show that will all of a sudden come at you with a very controversial topic. The one thing that comes to my mind, well, number one, let me do a shout-out to All in the Family again. I'll backtrack. There was uh an episode where Edith, I believe, was sexually assaulted.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Uh almost. I think I don't think that actually followed through.

CHRISY 33:35

I thought No, it wasn't, because the gentleman was in the house and it it ended up where she was able to get away. Yes. Very troubling episode. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

And Rob Ryan, they did an interview with Rob Reiner about that and about the set that day and everything. It was r it was, it was really um it was it was hard to watch.

CHRISY 33:53

I'm sure it was hard to film. It was the other show that really came at you hard in the same time period, and of course, was an offshoot of All in the Family, Maud.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

I don't know that one.

CHRISY 34:05

She, I believe, made the choice getting pregnant older. Okay. She made a very hard decision to they tackled abortion. They tackled that.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Oh, okay. So some of those shows I don't I couldn't even put a picture of a character on that show.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

So Maud was B. Arthur, and she She was Edith's cousin.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Oh, was it spinoff? Yes. Yeah. Oh Jefferson, like the Jeffersons were also spinoff.

CHRISY 34:30

But love the Jeffersons, by the way. They weren't on this list, but just a quick shout-out to them. Here's one I didn't watch. And I don't like it. I don't want you to talk to me about it. This, and there's another one I'm gonna bring up. And I you can hate me all you want. Come at me, bro. Little House on the Prairie and that goddamn Waltons.

Taxi, SNL, And MASH As Found Families

SPEAKER_02 34:50

What the hell? Okay, first of all, love Little House on the Prairie, but of course, it might have been because that's what I was allowed to watch. And Farm Boy Jim is a 100% Walton fan. That is also on the playlist at the house all the time. I couldn't.

CHRISY 35:06

There's nothing I could relate to. Number one, we are, I am, we're talking about a very ethnically diverse family. I I come from a background of Italian, uh Polish, um, you know, uh Slovak type uh English background. I'm not that white.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

What? I love that you just said it. That's great. I'm so proud of you.

CHRISY 35:40

Yes, I get it. Those are very if you wanted to go on the other side and say that those other shows I brought up that I did watch that you said that you felt maybe you were discouraged to watch Like Good Times or something. They were not. Yeah, I mean, yeah representing their culture and their background, they weren't as hardcore as the Waltons or Little House on the Prairie, as far as we are in your face white. The Brady Bunch wasn't even that white. So, anyhow, I'm sorry. I know people have a fondness and a love for these shows. I don't want to crap all over it. I well, I do, I guess. I'm crapping all over it. I'm crapping all over it. I am so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Real quick, funny story. I have a my- Well, remember, those were also kind of period pieces.

CHRISY 36:32

That was a thing in the 70s to be nostalgic. Like Happy Days was like the 20-year, let's be nostalgic about the 50s. Yes, yes, yes. And then I don't know why in the 70s we thought we should be nostalgic about the depression and living out on the I don't know what that was, the prairie, I guess. What the hell was that? I have no connection with that. Once a year we had a fair, and I would go into that village, by the way, that Nick hated. He never wanted to go in there. Oh, really? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

It had a schoolhouse that's like Jim's favorite place that goes. Yeah. Even when we go to the fairgrounds when there it's not the Campfield Fair, he's wants to walk around all there. So yeah.

Happy Days, Fonzie, And Missing Chuck

CHRISY 37:08

So that was like, to me, I I like to go in there, but I was like, and you know what? This all of a sudden feels a little bit like little house on the prairie. I'm not. I'm happy now. So anyhow. But yeah, I I don't, I'm sorry. Uh please, no judgment. I'm not judging. I'm just, I guess, am I going to hell again? Another show. Chrissy's going to hell. Too white. So there you go, everybody. I love it. Dysfunctional 70s shows. Great time for television. That's what formed me that decade. Yeah. Quick shout out to Lee Majors and uh, what's her name? The six the bionic woman. Linda, Linda. Lindsay Wack. Lindsay Whack. I just saw a picture of the two of them together celebrating the 50th anniversary of being bionic. I was a huge six million dollar man fan. I actually, you're gonna laugh. I still have my six million dollar man fan club card.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Okay, I don't that doesn't surprise me. It shouldn't. And my doll.

CHRISY 38:08

I still have him floating around here somewhere, except his jumpsuit's gone. But anyhow. He's naked. Well, no, he has gotchies on. Oh, gotchies. Red guccies. We don't want to see any extra bionic parts, okay? Anyhow. But the uh was a little depressing to see how old they are, but they are old. But love their shows. Thank you to the 70s, the dysfunction, the TV.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Made us who we are. Made us who we are. Oh my gosh. Well, this was definitely a rabbit hole we went down. Definitely. A little longer than normal episode, but I hope everyone enjoyed it. Yes, please. Cut out any parts that I'm offensive.

CHRISY 38:51

Please we'll shut the time down a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

What well there won't be anything left. It'd be it'd be shorter than our Thankful Sunday episode. It'll be a three minute episode. It'll be intro. It'll be intro, Carrie saying hi, and then the extra. Anyways. Well, uh, thank everyone for joining us. We do want to hear what your favorite shows were, or maybe did you watch Chrissy's shows or Carrie's shows? Were you a Adams Family or a Munster or uh Leave It to the Beaver or a Green Acres? Or anyways, uh share, share with us on our Facebook page, and uh we'll see you next week.

CHRISY 39:28

Bye, everybody.