"... On Fox's Married ... With Children, which began as a cleverly bawdy parody of the saccharine family sitcoms of the 1950's but has become, in the many critic's opinions, an over-the-top parody of itself. 'We don't have any sort of deep philosophical reason for joking about sex,' says Ron Leavitt, the creator of the show. 'Our intention was just to subvert the genre of squeaky-clean family entertainment.'" Again, what a terrific, eye-opening admission of the hidden agenda behind today's TV shows. At the time of writing the show, of creating it, the writers and producers wanted to "subvert" the normal family values. How much more clear can it get, my friends?
"After 10 seasons ... even the character's outrageousness has become predictable. The few jokes that don't refer to the sexual habits of the characters (a sexually frustrated mother, a prematurely ejaculating father, a slutty daughter, a sleazy son) revolve around their bad personal hygiene." Is this the picture of the 'normal' family today? The mother is sexually frustrated because the father prematurely ejaculates, the daughter is "slutty" which means she has sex with just about anyone, and the son is "sleazy" which means the same thing. What a difference from the "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" depictions of the 'typical' family in the 1950's. Oh, how far we have fallen!
35 comments
Would everyone like to know what I do when I am not watching tv?
Same thing I do all the rest of the time.
Seriously...un-plug, people.
Too late to stop it now, David. That show went out of production years ago and is now only available in reruns. So, if anyone's to blame for the downfall of family values, it's you for not speaking out earlier. I hope you can live with the guilt.
As you say, it was a "parody..." meaning that you missed the whole point.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but has that show even been on the air in like 15 years?
Your idea of typical is sadly warped. Married with Children, while not one of my favorite shows, was certainly more realistic than the Beav and other fake families of the 50's.
It's agenda was certainly not hidden; not in any way, shape or form. Combined with the fact that it was satire; a parody. You acknowledge that, yet you don't seem to understand it.
What a difference from the "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" depictions of the 'typical' family in the 1950's. Oh, how far we have fallen!
Way to miss the point - the whole joke is that there was never a time like those ghastly '50s visions of utopia. That's how subversive humour works; by taking those one-dimensional propaganda pieces and showing them for the impossible dreck they are by inserting examples of real life into them! There have always been dysfunctional families, and they have always been the majority. Life is never that fucking perfect for most of the population. It may be something to aspire to, but constantly bombarding people with depictions of such unattainable perfection being normal is psychologically dangerous. (come to think of it, most religions' visions of heaven and ideal human life also fall foul of this principle)
The only question is, do you take the position that saturating the media with impossible depictions of utopia is better than humourous depictions of real, dysfunctional life for helping the average viewer cope with their own imperfect existence, or do you actually swallow that bullshit propaganda and believe the '50s really were Pleasantville?
So, sit-coms went from "this is how it should be" to "don't become like this"...
... I think the latter is better...
You can't fall far from "Leave it to Beaver." That show sucked.
I'm gonna bet this person doesn't have a job and is too lazy to do anything else, and spends all day watching bad soaps and complaining about the state of society.
I'm amazed at how many people who seem to think "Leave It To Beaver" and such are documentaries.
Pick up a history book and read up on the 50's in the US, it was a rather scary time. Nuclear War, Communism, Recession, Strikes. It was a hard time.
Dave, read Stephanie Coontz's book "The Way We Never Were." She pretty much blows up the notion of "typical" 50s families pretty damn effectively.
I'm no fan of the Bundys but I also dug Christina Applegate. Hell, I still think she's hot though I can't get into "Samantha Who?"
I've read this site before, because I love outrageous conspiracy theories. David Bay and his crew seem to be perpetually stuck in the 1990s. My parents watched "Married With Children" when I was three years old. I've never seen an entire episode myself. It's certainly not "cutting edge," and if this show changed the basic structure of American society, I sure haven't noticed.
Check out his other pages - he's got great stuff on He-Man ^_^
Have you ever noticetd that everyone on those 50's sitcoms was white? Maybe that's why D.B. likes them so much: it's the fantasy of an all-white America, even if it's a world that never existed. The Onion caught on to the unrealistic view of life with these headlines to parody the 50's: "Nation's Housewives Agree" and "Supreme Court Rules U.S. Fathers Should Not Be Disturbed During Dinner Hour."
"'Our intention was just to subvert the genre of squeaky-clean family entertainment.'" Again, what a terrific, eye-opening admission of the hidden agenda behind today's TV shows. At the time of writing the show, of creating it, the writers and producers wanted to "subvert" the normal family values. How much more clear can it get, my friends?”
He didn’t say he wanted to subvert family values.
He wanted to subvert the industry standard of using family values for entertainment. And the family here is NOT presented as heroes. They are not the ideal family of the 50s tv, or the 60s. Or even Happy Days of the 70s portraying the 50s. It’s not even subtle, the couple is disfunctional, the family are idiots, and they are not winning.
Maybe you’re just too stupid to watch television?
"Is this the picture of the 'normal' family today?”
No. Not at all.
What did you not understand about ‘subvert’?
They’re mocking the people who put out ‘normal’ families who were perfect except for a tiny flaw each week that was solved by the fourth commercial break.
“What a difference from the "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" depictions of the 'typical' family in the 1950's. Oh, how far we have fallen!”
You are too stupid to watch television.
This observation is the entire POINT of the show! They’re not perfect, they’re nowhere close.
Think of family sitcoms in the 70s. They always had a weird neighbor, or a neighborhood family, someone who’d make a entrance, drop a line about how weird that family was, then leave to make the protagonists look better. THIS show is ABOUT the weird neighbors. The couple next door started first season as the typical family. By the end, they had become the weird neighbors because the writers had no other idea how to use them.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.