Comfort TV Shows Turning 50

 

Fifty years is a long time. Not by geologic standards, perhaps, but certainly in the time we are blessed to have in this world. It’s a halfway point if we’re lucky (I hope so, as I will turn 50 this year), and it’s the time when we are ousted from the highly coveted 18-49 demographic. From here on, nobody cares where we go, what we watch or which brand of toothpaste we buy.

Some shows seem like they originate from another era – I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and any family sitcom in which boys wore jackets and ties to school. But when you look back at some of the TV shows that debuted in 1964, many of them do not appear to be a half-century old. Some are still as entertaining as they were the first time they aired.

Let’s reminisce about Comfort TV debuts from the year the Beatles invaded America. Perhaps their undiminished quality and freshness will make some of my fellow future (and current) 50-somethings feel a little younger.

Bewitched

Take away the nose twitching, and the nightly foraging of the liquor cabinet, and Bewitched still paints a pretty accurate portrait of American middle-class life. Of course, it’s a little jarring to realize that Tabitha would now qualify for AARP membership. And if McMann & Tate is still on Madison Avenue, Darren and Larry are helping clients develop mobile apps and social media strategies, using technology that would certainly have seemed like magic 50 years ago. 

Gilligan’s Island

As I acknowledged in an earlier Comfort TV piece, Gilligan’s Island has never been a personal favorite, but it remains a classic TV staple that has rarely left the air. It’s a series that always existed outside current events, which has helped it to age gracefully. Put your kids down in front of an episode and they’ll still be taken with the silly but good-natured escapades of the seven stranded castaways. And the “Ginger or Mary Ann?” debate rages on, though for me it’s always been Mary Ann.

Flipper

“They call him Flipper, faster than lightning

No one you see, is smarter than he.”

I haven’t watched an episode of Flipper in 30 years but I can still sing the theme song. At least my memory is working. 

Peyton Place

This groundbreaking series has never been widely syndicated, but two DVD collections reveal a show that, give or take a few fashion statements, could find an audience today. Its stories of love, greed and power in one New England town are still being told in today’s daytime dramas. And just like any good soap, if you watch the first few episodes you’ll be hooked.

The Munsters/The Addams Family

How strange that TV’s most enduring horror-inspired sitcoms would debut in the same year. As with Gilligan’s Island these shows are not products of their era – both feature characters that predate the 1960s. But some episodes betray their age – like Herman reciting beatnik poetry in “Far Out Munsters,” or fitness guru Jack LaLanne helping The Addams Family’s Uncle Fester go on a diet.

Underdog

With Underdog we are reminded of how times have changed since 1964. Our canine hero, so memorably voiced by Wally Cox, was a humble shoeshine boy who became a superhero by taking a powerful vitamin pill. Due to subsequent pressure from “educators” and “child safety advocates,” reruns often aired with any scenes of Underdog taking the pill deleted. And see? It worked! No more drug abuse in America! 

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

At last, a show that was very much a product of its time. The 1960s box-office success of James Bond inspired a wave of secret agent facsimiles, including this popular series starring the suave Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo. The twist was having Solo partner with a Russian (David McCallum) at the height of the Cold War, inspiring millions of teenage girls to ponder how Communism could be bad when Illya Kuryakin was so dreamy. And like many classic TV shows, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is about to be adapted into a new movie that will feature a hip-hop theme and copious jokes about flatulence, while ignoring everything that made the original a success.  

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

When Christmas rolls around this year, it will mark the 50^th airing of this evergreen holiday tradition. Are Rudolph and Clarice still together? Is Hermey still a dentist in this age of Obamacare? Have the denizens of the Island of Misfit Toys filed a class-action suit demanding they no longer be labeled by the derogatory term “misfit,” and must now be classified as “recreationally-challenged?” So many questions, for which we’ll never know the answers. Thank heaven for that.

The Munsters or The Addams Family?

With Halloween approaching it seemed an appropriate time to revive an age-old pop culture debate – one that rivals “Ginger or Mary Ann?”, “McDonald’s or Burger King?” or, if you’re really old school, “Quisp or Quake?”

Two horror-inspired sitcoms debuted in the same week in 1964 – The Munsters and The Addams Family. And both ended their runs within the same week in 1966, only to begin a thriving afterlife in syndication. But for whatever reason, there has never been a lot of crossover within their respective fanbases. Classic TV lovers are either Team Herman or Team Gomez.

For me it’s always been an easy choice. I’m in the Addams camp. From the pedigree of the characters (based on the sly New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams) to the casting and the subversive nature of the stories, The Addams Family seems superior in every respect to the more slapstick-based, sillier Munsters.

Both shows had killer theme songs. The idea to use a surf-rock tune for The Munsters was genius. But even here the insanely catchy, finger-snapping classic written for The Addams Family by composer Vic Mizzy rates the edge. 

The Munsters concept ­– a family sitcom comprised of Universal horror movie creatures  – was unique but hardly groundbreaking. Universal had already exploited the humor in its monsters in a classic Abbott & Costello film. And once the premise was set they never transcended it. Sure, the show was still funny – Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis knew how to deliver a punch line – but it’s not a series I revisit very often.

Where the Munsters most often acted like a typical American family despite their creature features appearance, the Addams Family was proudly non-conformist. They perceived beauty in ugliness, a saintly virtue, not to mention a possible explanation for most reality television. They were a close, polite and loving family that faced the world on its own terms, with open hearts and an optimistic outlook.

These attributes were most noticeable when someone from the community paid a visit to the Addams home. After cowering from Lurch, stepping on the growling bearskin rug, or watching Thing emerge from his box, a guest would typically run screaming from the premises. But rather than feel offended, Gomez would typically respond with, “Poor fellow, must not have been feeling well.”

The message – if one chooses to look for one in a show like this – was to live your life the way you wish, and respect the rights of others to do the same. 

Setting social commentary side, the show was also funnier than The Munsters, at least to my sometimes-warped sense of humor. Whether it was Gomez blowing up toy trains with a maniacal grin, or turning into a lust-crazed lothario when Morticia speaks French, Lurch’s all-purpose “Uggghggh” lament (Gomez once asked him what he meant by that, and Lurch replied, “Just Uggghggh”), Morticia’s gardening, Pugsley’s pets, or any appearance by Cousin Itt, the show seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of running jokes and sight gags.

That and perfect casting went a long way toward elevating scripts that were formulaic but serviceable. There were no standout classic episodes, but none that weren’t watchable either.

The Addams Family also had a more successful post-series legacy, inspiring two feature films that didn’t damage the brand, a Broadway musical and an awesome pinball machine. There was also a 1998 television revival that few remember, and with good reason. 

A Munsters revival was launched this year, under the title Mockingbird Lane, but it appears to have stalled out of the gate. The pilot will air as a Halloween special on October 26 on NBC. It may be creepy and kooky, but I do not expect it will be altogether ooky.

Opposing viewpoints from Munsters loyalists are always welcome.