A Fool's Utopia 06.03.07: Five Shows That Changed TV

Posted by Ron Martin on 06.03.2007

This week in one man's utopia: the oxymoron that is Hot Topics, questions about Pirates, really bad reality TV, Scott Stapp's own movie

-- Recent discussion on various forum boards got me to thinking. I got to thinking about why we watch the TV we watch today. What was the evolution of TV? Every once in awhile a show comes along that changes things. No, I'm not talking about my underwear. I will change those for no TV show! And as Jenny Fox found out in the eleventh grade, I also change them for no woman! That's all beside the point. Certain shows come along that change the way we watch TV. Sometimes, the show is designed to do just that. Sometimes, the show just does. The list below surely is not a definitive list by any means. It's not even a list of shows I like. I only like three out of the five, but have to admit that all five of these shows have influenced TV enough that they left the old boob tube different forever. They certainly effect what I watch today. The list is in no order of importance or anything. In fact, I think I'll put them in chronological order.



1. I Love Lucy, 1951-1957.
Okay, we all know the doors that Lucille Ball opened up during this how for women not only on TV, but in Hollywood and we'll get to that. First, let's talk about Lucy's biggest effect on TV that you may not even have known about. Back when Lucy was on the air, most sitcoms were recorded in New York and then broadcast to the rest of the country using a set camera and canned laughter. Now, some shows varied from this formula. Lucy, on the hand, destroyed the formula. The show was filmed in Hollywood using three cameras in front of a studio audience. Lucy was the first show to do this. Maybe you recognize the format because it's the exact same one (though shooting locations vary) sitcoms use to this day. Audience reactions seemed more genuine, images were sharper, and angles could be used to play up the comedy. In short, it was an amazing innovation. That's just the technical aspect of the show. What about the influence of women on TV? Yes, there had been influential stars in Hollywood before Lucy. Shirley Temple and Judy Garland come to mind and I am sure there were others. However, it was Lucy that let everyone in America know that it was okay to watch a TV show were the main character was a female. Obviously, she was not the only cast member as other cast members were very funny and worth watching. If anyone has ever seen even one episode of I Love Lucy, you know who the star of the show is without a shadow of a doubt. Without even having to think about it, America accepted Lucy as a top notch celebrity equal to any men of the era. I don't think it's a stretch to say that without Lucy, you wouldn't have had Samantha Stevens, Mary Richards, Roseanne or Murphy Brown. While not the first, Lucy was certainly the most influential show that a star of the show would continue to perform while pregnant. This is especially significant in that TV shows weren't even allowed to use the word "pregnant" at the time. The episode where Lucy gave birth? 68% of Americans with TV watched. With the TV landscape like it is today, that number will never be matched.



2. All in the Family, 1971-1979
Want some technical influence forAll in the Family? Alright. It was the first show to use videotape to record its episodes. Television before this was recorded using fragile film. With the success of All in the Family, using videotape to record would become the norm for sitcoms for a long time. Aside from that, I will assume that if you are reading this column, you are familiar with the controversial nature of All in the Family. Controversial enough that CBS aired a disclaimer before each episode. Archie Bunker was a bigot. We all know that. You can thank Archie Bunker for a lot of the language you hear on TV today such as "God damnit" and "fag". He also uttered some words that would never be used on TV today like "spade" and "nigger". You can also give him credit for being the first of many shows to use the sound of a toilet flushing on the show. While the show didn't have the Blossomesque "very special episode" it tackled issues that were unheard of by sitcoms at the time. Outside of the obvious racial and political issues, Vera was almost raped at one point and a Jewish activist was blown up in a car in front of the Bunkers house. The sad thing is, thirty years later, there is no way Archie Bunker would be aloud to be on TV today. Some progression we're making, eh? Still don't think All in the Family was influential? Richard Nixon was talking about the show on some of the infamous Watergate tapes.



3.Miami Vice 1984-1990
Ah, Miami Vice. How many times as a very young person did I sit in front of the TV and wonder what the hell was going on during this series? Dozens. Okay, let's not totally downplay Miami Vice's influence on pop culture in the 80s (have you ever seen a flashback scene or movie where one of the characters wasn't dressed as a Miami Vice cop?). It was influential in pop culture, hell it was influential in pop culture in the 2000s. Can we say Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? Aside from that, Miami Vice molded the cop drama show into what it is today. Was it pretentious? You'd better believe it. Was it different than cop shows before it? Yep. You can pretty much thank Miami Vice for the storylines you see today on Law and Order and all versions of CSI. Storyline wise, Miami Vice was doing things that had never been done before in the police genre. Now let's get to the stuff you probably know about. It's said that Miami Vice was created for the MTV generation. While that may be true, the side effects of that were a lot of innovativeness, some of which is still used today. Taking out the background noise and flooding the scene with a song? Yep, that was Miami Vice that started that in order to give the show a more glamorous, movie-like feel. What about the scenes with Crockett and Tubbs just driving around in their car? The mounted camera on the dashboard was quite an innovation for the Miami Vice series. It is still used in a ridiculous amount today. To go with the new style, Miami Vice was one of the first, and certainly the most popular show to use stereophonic sound. Yep, stereo sound on your TV. Thanks, Miami Vice!


4. The Simpsons, 1989-Present
Come on now, this one is a no-brainer. Actually, it's a two-parter. The first part is the obvious part. Can we say animated series? The Simpsons was the first animated series in primetime since the cartoon heydey of The Flintstones. It changed public perceptions of cartoons. Before The Simpsons cartoons were thought to and did gear themselves towards children. With the offbeat comedy of The Simpsons, networks realized that adults liked to watch cartoons as well. To take things one step further, using the Koreans to do the grunt animated labor cut the costs of making an animated episode dramatically. With a new found audience for cartoons and the cost of making them no longer ridiculous, the networks started taking chances. Well, FOX did. It should go without saying that without The Simpsons you wouldn't have South Park, Futurama, King of the Hill, The Family Guy or American Dad. Not too mention the entire Adult Swim lineup on The Cartoon Network. Secondly, and this effects the world as much as it does TV, The Simpsons have altered pop culture as we know it. We talk differently because of The Simpsons. In some cases, we even think differently because of The Simpsons. The Simpsons lingo has infiltrated culture and been imitated so much we don't even realize it anymore. Therefore it's only natural that TV shows created today pick up on that and have thus, been altered by The Simpsons as well. The show is also responsible for popularizing the sight gag. Many shows do it now where only the astute viewer picks up on something in the background or the foreground that probably isn't part of the main storyline. Speaking of storylines, several shows have also followed The Simpsons lead in story formatting. Especially in later years of The Simpsons the show would spend the first third of the show taking you in a completely different direction than the main storyline is going to go in. Mostly the animated adult cartoons have picked up on this, but other shows like Malcom in the Middle and later seasons of That 70s Show also adopted this format.




5. The Real World,1992 – Present
Though I can't stand the show, I have to give it its props. I will spend the least amount of space on this show, mostly because I am not fond of the trend that it started. The show that took seven strangers and put them in a house in some glamorous city to see how they would react was the first reality TV show worth note. And the bane of my existence. This MTV show was made on the cheap because it had no writers, nor did it hire actors. This got the slugs at the networks thinking. Wait a minute, this is a lot cheaper than actually producing original shows with the added bonus that we don't actually have to think! So the evolution moved on. Television shoved reality TV down your throats with the most asinine concepts. Instead of spending millions per episode on just the cast, the networks could spend nothing on real people with maybe a reward of like $50,000 at the end of the show as a prize. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands a year on a writing team, they could spend nothing and just let the people be themselves. Better make sure we get the stupidest people available though so people will watch just to see how stupid these people are. As always, the American people fell hook, line and sinker for TV's spiel and thus, reality (and quite possibly the worst thing to happen to TV) was born. Thanks, Real World.

-- After a discussion with the little lady, I was inspired to look up the 450 films that have deemed "culturally significant" and saved forever in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. You'd be surprised at some of the movies saved there. I know I was surprised (mostly pleasantly) at seeing these names on the list: Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Alien, Blazing Saddles, Fargo, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Freaks, Groundhog Day, Halloween, Animal House, Psycho, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spinal Tap and Young Frankenstein. Who knew?

-- I know I dissed on reality TV up above, but I am making it one of my bulletpoints here, so live with it. There are a slew of terrible reality shows coming your way. I thought I should let you know. The most inoffensive one it the two Corey icons from the eighties are going to be roomies – and you get to watch it all! Corey Feldman, who seemingly has gotten his life together is married, and settled in. In comes Corey Haim, who is supposedly broke and homeless, to move in with the couple. Thus, we have The Coreys: The Return of the Lost Boys. Now, it not only offends me because it's reality TV about people we no longer care about, but it also offends me because it uses the name of one of my favorite movies in vain. As Archie Bunker would say: Go Damnit! Next up, Joey Buttafuoco and Amy Fisher are leaving their significant others to move in together. And we get to watch it! I don't know if this is suppose to be a romantic thing or not, but if I was Joey, I'd just watch her go by and keep saying "Yeah, I hit that." Neither of these are as bad as a Dutch reality TV show (yes, this is a worldwide suckfest) where a woman who is terminally ill will chose between three different people who will get her kidney when she dies. I can't make this type of stuff up, people.

-- Three random reviews of three random DVDs from my not-so-random collection:


1. The Craft
I believe this movie came out in '96 and was supposed to be a vehicle for Faruza Balk and Robin Tunney. It ended up being the transitional movie for Neve Campbell to go from TV to the big screen just before Scream. Regardless of the reason, this is just about the best teen witch movie you're going to get. That's not a bad thing. Four witches whose power gets increasingly stronger, one witch decides to bail and the other three decide to make her pay for it. Shortly after the movie came out, I was throwing around ideas for a script about teen witches. I ended up abandoning the idea because well, how do you improve upon this? This movie doesn't come to mind when you think classic or anything, but it's a solid flick. 4/5


2. Storm of the Century
Stephen King wrote this as a TV miniseries. I didn't see it in it original incarnation, but instead I enjoyed the instant gratification of DVD. It's not the best King movie, but certainly not the worst. The series is based on this small community on an island during a severe winter storm. The town comes together to try and ward off the storm, but in true Stephen King fashion an unknown entity is killing off the island folk. Seems this guy wants one of the kids to teach his craft and follow in his shoes. He keeps killing and generally messing with their heads until they give in. During this, he speaks a great line that I have used many times since. "Give me what I want, and I'll go away." The town has a lottery to decide which kid goes with him though its obvious to anyone with any portion of a brain which kid is going. Fun but predictable. I don't understand King's fascination with the actors from Wings 2.5/5





3. Drop Dead Gorgeous
From the outside, this show is pretty funny. If you pay attention to details and generally know how to watch mockumentaries, then it is hilarious. Denise Richards, Kirsten Dunst and Kirstie Alley lead a solid cast about a documentary chronicling a beauty pageant in Minnesota. This is a dark comedy where several characters that stand in the way of Denise Richards winning the competition are knocked off. As with all mockumentaries, this one is pretty much you get out of it what you put into it. Will Sasso, playing the retarded brother of one of the judges, steals every scene he is in. Complete with the well-known Northern Minnesota accent, this movie is a fun watch. 3.5/5

-- How long ago was it that Creed was the biggest band on the planet and Scott Stapp was the minister of rock? Truly, I was fooled into thinking that Creed was the last true rock n' roll band around. They had two great albums with My Own Prison and Weathered. They got a little douchey with their second album, the name of which escapes me. Now, the supposed good guy of rock, gets a restraining order on him from his own wife. What an idiot!

-- Purchased by me this week: Gramma's Boy, The Ring, SNL: The Very Best of Chris Farley, SNL: The Very Best of Chris Rock, a limited edition cowhide cover of Aerosmith's Eat the Rich and The Very Best of Prince.

-- I look at the list above and only one thought comes to mind. What the hell is wrong with me?

-- Peoples! Listen up! Time to head to the arcade, bust out your old school Transformers and buy a can of hair spray for Saturday night cuz we getting RETRO up in here.

Anyone under the age of 25 out there ever even been to a drive-in movie? I guess this was more of a 70s and 80s thing. As a yute, I saw many a movies at the drive-in theater. In fact, my grandmother lived right across the street from one. She was so close that you could see the screen from her front porch. I used to sit on her porch with the radio tuned to the drive-in station and wha-la! Free movies. There's a drive-in about 20 miles south of here. For $6 you can see that motorcycle movie with John Travolta and Tim Allen and Pirates of the Caribbean 3. You can take your own food and drink. I went and saw just Pirates in the theater. Tickets for me and lady, $16. Food and drink $10 more. We were in a packed theater with a row full of obnoxious teenage boys and a crying baby two rows up. Hmm.

Anybody remember when the girls used to rollerskate your food out to you? Come on, bitches! Seriously, I'm not THAT old! I am old enough to remember many a cartoon that has not been embraced for a comeback by your local Hot Topics store. What about Underdog? Where is the love for Captain Caveman? When was the last time you heard about The Snorks or Glo-Worms? I think I should sue. Where's the equal opportunity?

So last week, I bought you the biggest badasses I was afraid of as a small child. This week the softer side spoke up. Here are a few girls I had little boy crushes on as a child:



Ah, I was easily impressed as a child, wasn't I?

-- Speaking of the Hot Topics, something has always bugged me about that place. It's a nice idea and all but isn't a goth/punk/raver store in the middle of the mall kind of an oxymoron? I mean, if you were truly goth/punk or a raver, would you buy commercial items from Hot Topics? If you do and you're supporting the commercialization of your attitude, doesn't that make you less goth/punk/raver and more of a poser? It seems to me that the people like Molly Shannon and Chris Kattan on Goth Talk would shop at Hot Topics, not people truly living the lifestyle. What do I know?


-- As mentioned above, I saw Pirates last weekend. I just have a couple of questions. By the way if you haven't seen the movie --- SPOILERS COMING UP!! So did Keira Knightley's dad stab the heart of Davy Jones or not? He acted like he did, yet he didn't end up as captain of the Flying Dutchman. When Will become captain of the same ship, why did the crewmen all of a sudden turn back to regular people? Calypso ended up being pretty useless, didn't she – well, other than creating the maelstrom. Why did the entire English armada turn back when only one of their ships was destroyed? I can make my own assumptions on all of these, but I thought they could have been better explained in the movie. It was okay. Better than the second, not as good as the first. The main characters must be incredibly lucky. Whenever they were in a no-win situation, a cannonball crashed through the side of the ship and helped them out. This happened like three times.



-- Your podcast review of the week: Hometown Tales. The show is the brainchild of the hosts, Gene Fitzpatrick and Bryan Minogue. Broadcasting from New Jersey, the show focuses on folklore stories. The two hosts simply share stories written in by e-mailers or stories they've researched themselves. Some shows are based around theme such as moms who kill their kid, things that fall from the sky or legends surrounding Disney. Sometimes there are guests, but it is very rare. Mostly the format is freestyle. The two hosts just talk for a half hour. As far as entertainment value goes, the show doesn't have a whole lot of bells and whistles. There are some pretty bad jokes and at time when the hosts are in odd moods, things can get annoying. Those are exceptions rather than rules, however. Overall, if you like listening to good folklore stories, there are worse ways to spend a half hour. The topics are usually interesting enough to keep your attention. If you're only listening to podcasts for an hour during your commute to work, there are better things to listen to. However, if you can listen to podcasts during your workday, download a few. 2.5/5

IT CAME FROM MY IPOD
Five songs directly from my ipod to celebrate the finding of 20 something more planets:

1. Super Nova by Liz Phair
2. Just Like Heaven by The Cure
3. Flying High by Jem
4. Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys
5. Big Empty by Stone Temple Pilots


And now I must leave.

Until next week, kiddos, remember this – If MC Hammer wouldn't do it, neither should you.