Surprise, Surprise

Boy wouldn’t Gomer be proud. We were channel surfing pre-prime time last week and an episode of Gomer Pyle USMC just happened to be on the television. Wanting to annoy my children, I stayed on the channel long enough to get the gist of what was happening. By that time, my children were asking when is the funny part? It was Sarge and Gomer going back and forth about something with Sarge getting angry and Gomer getting apologetic. Their crisp Marine uniforms and high and tight haircuts were the symbol of everything the country was against at the time. I think the only reason it stayed on as long as it did was it was shown overseas to the troops.

That era of television was much simpler then. All of the shows were of a wholesome nature with no profanity, pecks instead of kisses, and separate beds for the adults. I remember trying to figure out the Dick Van Dyke Show with the twin beds in the bedroom. I knew that my parents and my friend’s parents didn’t have twin beds but maybe other households did. That level of denial about relationships confused quite a few children at the time. The attempt to keep television “clean” also added a level of naivety to my generation. It did however explode with the advent of the free love generation and the subversive “Archie Bunker.”

It was great how the liberal agenda was pushed along by a bigot. Archie Bunker was everyone’s father. All of my friends would say that their dad talked just like him or acted just like him. He was a great vehicle for flying under the radar of our parents to show how insensitive they were to social issues. My dad, who was by my standards a very conservative man, thought Archie could do no wrong. Looking at All In The Family now, you can see just what the show was trying to accomplish. It was very funny. The writing was great and we all made fun of Meat Head. It also opened the door to the trash that is currently residing on the airwaves. Where would great shows like Dallas or Melrose Place have started if shows like All In The Family had not paved the way.

So the next time you watch Gomer Pyle USMC, think about the long dead days of television and how much our morals have changed. When parents used to sleep in twin beds and the only profanity you heard was Dang. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no way to go back, not that I want to. I enjoy seeing things are they really are. Just maybe not so much of those things.

Icool

Cobb