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Lots of good ones listed, but nobody mentioned "Hogan's Heroes"?

And for a short-lived series, howzabout Mel Brooks' first attempt at lampooning the Robin Hood legend, "When Things Were Rotten" with Richard Gautier as Robin, Henry Polic as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Dick Van Patten and Bernie Kopell as Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale, and Misty Rowe as Maid Marion?


-"BB"-

Lightning Bolt wrote:The man's vision was ahead of his time, and created a template for edgy, present-day topical comedy

Norman Lear certainly created edgy, topical comedy, but I would say he was not ahead of his time, but right in his time. I'm hard pressed to list many, if any, present-day "topical" comedies.

Even in the 80s and the 90s "topical" was mostly limited to the occasional ham-handed "A Very Special Episode of (insert your favorite family sitcom here)". ie Blossom, Growing Pains, etc. A few exceptions, of course.

Bicycle Bill wrote:Lots of good ones listed, but nobody mentioned "Hogan's Heroes"?

I have that slotted in the 60's with Get Smart as my two favorites of the 60's.

Thewino wrote:

tigzoe wrote:Shoot, forgot about WKRP

Me too. Remember Les when he dropped the turkeys out of the helicopter and realized after the fact that they couldn't fly!

Or, Booooger!

HaHa. Back in the day.

That was funny and that's probably where the writers of Coach (the Craig T Nelson show in the 90's) got the idea for Luther (Jerry Van Dyke) to free captive land tortoises into the open ocean thinking they were sea turtles....now that was funny too!

keybdplyr wrote:

Lightning Bolt wrote:The man's vision was ahead of his time, and created a template for edgy, present-day topical comedy

Norman Lear certainly created edgy, topical comedy, but I would say he was not ahead of his time, but right in his time. I'm hard pressed to list many, if any, present-day "topical" comedies.

Even in the 80s and the 90s "topical" was mostly limited to the occasional ham-handed "A Very Special Episode of (insert your favorite family sitcom here)". ie Blossom, Growing Pains, etc. A few exceptions, of course.

I'd put Seinfeld, Frazier, and King of Queens into the good-quality topical sit-com bucket for the 80's and 90's.

Lear used racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia, anti-Semitism, unemployment, sexual assault, single parenthood, menopause, Vietnam, etc. as central themes of particular episodes to provoke thought and usually to present a point of view. While Seinfeld occasionally referenced pop culture and “topics” like homosexuality, birth-control, masturbation, etc. they were really used more as props or situations to weave a character interaction story around. I believe I even read a quote where the producers mantra was “No lessons, no learning.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.....

King of Queens and Frazier. Great shows. I don’t see “topical” as overarching themes.

Murphy Brown would be one that would venture into “topical”......even before the Dan Quayle incident. Cosby, an occasional history lesson, but clearly defined as a family sitcom as much as Leave it To Beaver.

We have LOTS of sitcoms on our weekly DVR list, but I can’t think of any that I would call “topical” in the vein of Lear.

Skibo wrote:

Bicycle Bill wrote:Lots of good ones listed, but nobody mentioned "Hogan's Heroes"?

I have that slotted in the 60's with Get Smart as my two favorites of the 60's.

You're correct. Even though it ran into the '70s, I guess it would be a '60s sitcom. But I think it was z-man mentioned "Gilligan's Island", "Bewitched", and "Dick Van Dyke" show — all of which were also '60s sitcoms, and I got my time periods crossed up.

-"BB"-

How about Hannibal Hayes and Kid Curry?..."Alias Smith and Jones"

Loved that show..

Thewino wrote:

tigzoe wrote:Shoot, forgot about WKRP

Me too. Remember Les when he dropped the turkeys out of the helicopter and realized after the fact that they couldn't fly!

Or, Booooger!

HaHa. Back in the day.

To be accurate, Les was on the ground reporting. It was Mr. Carlson and Herb throwing the turkeys out of the helicopter!

I always loved the tension between Johnny and Bailey, who I thought was much sexier than Jennifer.

Thewino wrote:

tigzoe wrote:Shoot, forgot about WKRP

Me too. Remember Les when he dropped the turkeys out of the helicopter and realized after the fact that they couldn't fly!

That is my FAVORITE WKRP episode. Still makes me laugh until I cry, even just reading your comment...

surfpirate wrote:I have a young tweenager or two in my house,
and I'm not embarrassed to say that I
laugh out loud and enjoy watching iCarly
with them. Damb funny at times.

Honest.

our kids are younger and it is Phineas and Ferb at our house. Hafta admit that I will watch that even if the kids aren't around. I think it is clever and down right hilarious at times.


Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but "All in the Family" still one of the top shows I remember as a kid. and HR Puffinstuff for Saturday morning TV. Yeah, that had some double meanings for the older set watching with their kids, didn't it?