Over the 14-year history of this blog I’ve tried to give equal attention to shows throughout the Comfort TV era. But looking back it’s perhaps obvious that more pieces have been devoted to 1970s television than any other decade.
I have many favorites from the 1950s and ‘60s, but they were discovered after their first runs, so I didn’t have a connection with them when they were new. And while the 1980s also introduced several classic shows, it also planted the seeds for where television was headed in the ‘90s and beyond.
The 1970s took me from age 6 to age 16. I grew up with these shows and never stopped watching them. Their characters, references, fashions and music are imprinted on my DNA. That’s why I so enjoyed a YouTube video entitled “The 12 Things That Made Americans Happier in the 1970s (That We Destroyed).” Especially interesting is how many of them were connected to television or were reflected in the shows of that decade.
The video is nearly 30 minutes, so I’m going to cover it in two parts.
It begins with a statement backed by data that the average American in the 1970s reported levels of happiness and life satisfaction that have not only been unmatched in any subsequent decade but have declined almost continuously over the last 50 years. In doing so it introduces us to Ray, head of a middle-class family in Flint, Michigan. His house was smaller than what many people have now, his car wasn’t as nice and his TV only got four channels, “but he was happier than you are.”
Why? Here is introduced the first point: “One income was enough for a comfortable middle-class existence.” We saw that illustrated by that quintessential ‘70s TV family on The Brady Bunch. Mike supported six kids and a housekeeper on his income, which was enough to cover the mortgage, food bills, clothing bills, utilities and other necessities, and whatever they paid Alice.
What happened to family structure, stability and economic security once two incomes were necessary? I think we know.
The video’s second point: “The neighborhood was real.” Again, something reflected in the shows of that decade. People knew their neighbors and looked out for them. Bob and Emily knew Howard Borden. Mary had Rhoda and Phyllis. Archie Bunker had George Jefferson, and when George moved uptown he had Mr. Bentley. Your neighbors were a part of your life. They were when I was a kid in the ‘70s. Today where I live now? Never even met them.
Next, and this one was especially intriguing: “There was nothing to optimize.” Ray, we’re told, did not count his steps, monitor his macros, or measure his heart rate variability. He did not have a side hustle or a personal brand. He did not think of himself as a project to be improved. He worked, he came home, he ate dinner, he watched TV, and he went to bed, and did the same thing the next day. And “he did not experience this as a failure to maximize his potential.”
Two things to note: first, one of the unintended consequences of social media is how it gave us a barometer to measure ourselves against everyone else in the world, which for some added pressure to do more, be more, and share every action along the way.
Second, Ray’s chosen after-dinner activity was to watch television, just like tens of millions of other Americans at that time. Before the internet and video games that were more sophisticated than Pong, that was how pleasant evenings were spent. Doing so was certainly more relaxing than checking our phones every ten seconds, and it was an activity we were sharing with households across the nation; a common interest of the kind that also no longer exists to the same extent.
Point #4: “The future felt like it was getting better.” Do I even need to elaborate? For many of us that is certainly no longer the case, and it’s a damn shame.
Point #5: “Work ended when you left.” This may still be the case for many, thankfully, especially those who work in an office or a retail shop and like Fred Flintstone can’t wait to hear the horn that means it’s quitting time.
Point #5: “Work ended when you left.” This may still be the case for many, thankfully, especially those who work in an office or a retail shop and like Fred Flintstone can’t wait to hear the horn that means it’s quitting time.
I know this wasn’t always true in the ‘70s either. Bob Hartley’s patients sometimes called him at home. The doctors on Medical Center and Marcus Welby, M.D. stayed on call when it was necessary.
But as the video says, “the modern American carries their work in their pocket, everywhere, always.” Too many of us are wired to our workplaces through our phones, so that hard physical boundary between work and life no longer exists.
The last point we’ll cover in part one is perhaps the most relevant to this blog: “Entertainment was shared.” I know this was true. In the ‘70s families watched TV together, in the same room on the same set. Ray’s coworkers were watching the same programs in their homes. This was, as the video states, “a shared, communal, synchronizing experience.”
The last point we’ll cover in part one is perhaps the most relevant to this blog: “Entertainment was shared.” I know this was true. In the ‘70s families watched TV together, in the same room on the same set. Ray’s coworkers were watching the same programs in their homes. This was, as the video states, “a shared, communal, synchronizing experience.”
When I wrote my book When Television Brought Us Together (revised version coming soon!), this was one of its main premises: television gave the country a common set of cultural references. Now, we are more likely to consume entertainment on personal devices, individually, with thousands of programming options instead of four channels.
More variety is nice, I guess. But how much of it is really worth watching?
The rest of the video will be covered next week. Please check it out before then, and perhaps by then you’ll also pine for what life was like in America 50 years ago.
