Successful TV shows will always have a copycat within the year ... These are the earliest I can remember. Let me know if you agree or disagree:
Addams Family vs The Munsters
The Addams were indeed ‘creepy’ but not all that ‘kooky’ ... so it’s Munsters all the way, baby. Every member of the family was lovable (especially Hermann, or maybe I was reading too much into the size of his feet). Nobody in the Addams house was remotely lovable.
The Waltons vs Little House on the Prairie
"Goodnight, John-Boy" ... 'cos when Pa Ingalls took his shirt off to chop the wood, there was no contest. I’d be Michael Landon’s “Half-Pint” anyday. Yes I know he was apparently a hypocrite and a control freak, but I don’t bloody care.
Remember the Oleson family - owners of the General Stores in Walnut Creek? Thank goodness their bitchy exchanges cut through the saccharine of the rest of the script - example:
Willy Oleson to his mother: "You've got wrinkles around your eyes"
Mrs. Oleson: "I beg your pardon! They're not 'wrinkles' - they're laughter lines."
Willy Oleson: "Nothing's that funny."
Bewitched vs I Dream Of Jeannie
No need to call Dr Bombay – Bewitched wins easily. Even as a little girl, I found Jeannie’s simpering “Master” act a bit hard to take.
There's even a sub-contest to choose your favourite Darren: Dick York or Dick Sargent?
(Just as an aside: how did Larry Hagmann go from SO handsome to SO not?)
Donny and Marie vs Sonny and Cher
Blergh, neither! Although let’s give an honourable mention to Sonny for the night he cracked that very funny (if cruel) line to Cher: “Is that your nose, or are you eating a banana?”
These days, it's hard to say who looks the most scary: Cher, Marie or Marie's line of dolls. Have you seen those? They'd even scare the crap out of Chuckie!
Ok. I wouldn't confess this to just anyone. But the very first "kissing" dream I ever had was...wait for it...me and John Boy Walton. Yep. Must have been something about that big mole on his face. Or is it a freckle? Birth mark??
ReplyDeleteI can only compare the Waltons and Little House on the prairie because I haven't seen most of the others. Yes, I can see a similarity. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I used to buy 'Mad' magazines, one of the funniest 'Mad' sattires or parody's (whatever they are) I ever read was called the 'Dummy & Mareek show'! Mad had such a clever (but childish) way of capturing one's character & taking the p**s!
ReplyDeleteI actually loved both Sonny & Cher & Dummy oops I mean Donny & Marie. Cornball ham humour with singing ohhhh yeahhhhh!!
I loved bewithched & also I dream of Jeanie because I had a major crush on Major Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) but the coniving JR Ewing cooled my heels on that crush :)
I dont think I ever watched the Waltons but I loved little house on the Prairie. I always wanted to pull that snotty Nelly Olsens ringlets out. Everytime I see ribbon on gifts curled into corkskrew curls, I think of Nelly Olsen (or Miss Piggy!! hahaha).
Oh yes the Munsters were definately more entertaining than the Adams family. Herman was so awkwardly adorable.
But Lost in Space was my favourite show as a kid.
The Brady Bunch deluded me into believing that step family parenting is easy but I found out the hard way that step families are really hard work!
Ah the Munsters, I loved that show. It was different to the Addams Family, which I also enjoyed. Agreed with you, the Munsters were way more outlandish. They had such original ideas and you couldn't help but love Herman. :))
ReplyDeleteBewitched and I dream of Jeannie are such different shows. I couldn't pick one or the other. I love both, well, maybe Jeannie a little more. She was so naive, fun and spontaneous. It just made the show what it was. Since the day I watched it, I wanted to be a Jeannie. Can you imagine going to Baghdad today?? I don't think so. :))
ReplyDeleteThe thing I think most of us didn't get with Bewitched was that Samantha agreed not to use her powers cos she had married a mortal. WHAT???? omg, who wouldn't want to 'magic' the housework, or be invisible and spy on someone??
ReplyDeleteRe MAD magazine, do you remember one of their favourite artists named Torres?? His work was amazing quality, in spite of all being mean and silly :0)
Lost in Space rocked. Dr Smith and the Robot were beyond fabulous - how adorable was the Robot?? I thought both the younger girls were beautiful too. Will wasn't, but a great little actor.
Those old shows were classic, weren't they? In 4th grade, I played Herman in a school play called "Grandpa has some new toys in the dungeon." We found some green chalk, wrote on the blackboard, and then wiped it clean with an "eraser." Remember those? I would "apply" the chalk to my face just before curtain time by patting the eraser on all areas above my neck. Chalk is ITCHY.
ReplyDeleteI hated music shows and variety shows as a kid, but I miss them now. They say that all things come around. I'm still waiting.
"May tomorroooooow, be your perfect day ... " hehehe I didn't like them as a kid either, Mike. Way too cheesey, weren't they? I think the absolute low point though was those "Brady Bunch Variety Hour" specials ... possibly because there was hardly any singing talent there. Cher at least had - and still has - an amazing voice.
ReplyDeleteRe the chalk dusters: if we talked in class, the teacher would hurl one across the room at us. Imagine if they tried that now :S
Yeah, I had a teacher who liked to "hurl" 'em. We had one black boy in class who always went home with some white chalk on him. We called him OREO because he was usually white on the outside and black on the inside. LOL.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about some AUSTRALIAN shows too? Video Villege, Adventure Island, Magic Circle Club, The Channel Niners.
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