1961 "Vast Wasteland" speech

[MichaelMartinD]

Hope this is an OK topic for the LITB board.

In 1961 the FCC chairman Newton Minow gave a famous speech in which he denounced television as a "vast wasteland" filled with mindless game shows, depictions of violence, and "generic sitcoms filled with totally unbelievable families."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dGRgLfaGwo

I sincerely hope he wasn't referring to our favorite show by that last remark. If so, I would say he was pretty obtuse. But it does bring up the fact that people often criticize the families in classic sitcoms as "unbelievable." For the life of me, I've never understood this criticism. What is "unbelievable" about the families in LITB, FKB, TAGS, etc.? They have normal problems that people can relate to, exhibit good qualities as well as imperfections, and a solid moral lesson is imparted. If Minow was upset by the violence in westerns and police shows, then you'd think he would have applauded the good moral values in the family sitcoms.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by MichaelMartinD

But it does bring up the fact that people often criticize the families in classic sitcoms as "unbelievable." For the life of me, I've never understood this criticism.

Its unbelievable if you grew up in an enviroment that did not have what was portrayed.

[MichaelMartinD]

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

Its unbelievable if you grew up in an enviroment that did not have what was portrayed.

True - but Minow seemed to mean unbelievable in an absolute sense.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by MichaelMartinD

H For the life of me, I've never understood this criticism. What is "unbelievable" about the families in LITB, FKB, TAGS, etc.? They have normal problems that people can relate to, exhibit good qualities as well as imperfections, and a solid moral lesson is imparted. If Minow was upset by the violence in westerns and police shows, then you'd think he would have applauded the good moral values in the family sitcoms.

Let me begin by stating that I believe the "vast wasteland" observation is as valid today as it was 60 years ago. The reality TV shows, and the "pop" shows are mind numbing.

As far as the "unbelievable" aspect, well several things. The homes usually appeared "straightened up for company" ...where's the ironing board with the box of Pampers sitting half used on top of it next to the paper plate with half eaten pizza slices that were abandoned when the babysitter had to go answer the front door?
Where is the neighbor with the noisy lawnmower right outside the dining room window just as we are sitting down to Sunday dinner?

How many fathers wear their office suits around the house after dinner until bedtime? How many mothers do their housework wearing pearls?

I believe the shows go to excess lengths to depict their characters "on their best day", when most Americans just do not have lifestyles that are that starched and pressed.

Peggy Bundy was always a little more fixed up than most middle class mothers I remember, full make up and a hair do just to sit around the house all day eating bon bons?

And the Huxtables? Don't even get me started!! LOL!

Basically I do not think such shows serve as an accurate portrayal of the way most people that I've ever known, actually live their lives.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

The homes usually appeared "straightened up for company" ...where's the ironing board with the box of Pampers sitting half used on top of it next to the paper plate with half eaten pizza slices that were abandoned when the babysitter had to go answer the front door?
Where is the neighbor with the noisy lawnmower right outside the dining room window just as we are sitting down to Sunday dinner?

Not our house. We did not live in a pigstye, nor were our neighbors mowing lawns on Sunday.

Sorry that you lived like that.

[stevea]

I think the vast wasteland comment is more applicable today. Some sitcoms are total gutter humor. Who needs it?

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

Not our house. We did not live in a pigstye,
Sorry that you lived like that.

Well, I don't really think that I lived in a "pigstye". Perhaps you were not intending to editorialize quite to that extent, but lacking more familiarity, one may never know?

Life is a series of interruptions, bordered by impromptu events, THAT was my intent. While I am sure that the babysitter in my example DID NOT INTENTIONALLY leave the ironing board in disarray when she had to answer the front door, what would you propose as an alternative, making the person at the door wait while we wrap the pizza in foil and stash it in the fridge, hide the box of pampers, and stash the ironing board in a closet?

The point I was trying to make is that with unexpected interruptions, things like that get left out, ...and darned if they don't get noticed unintentionally while we have out guard down attending to more pressing priorities.
And the shows of the 50s are rather unrealistic in the way they deny that aspect of life.

Of course there are the "Vinnie Verducci" households too, but we were not allowed to go inside those until the 70s.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by stevea

I think the vast wasteland comment is more applicable today. Some sitcoms are total gutter humor. Who needs it?

The sad thing about that, I absolutely love a good documentary like they used to do on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel, both of those venues have deteriorated to the point of being nearly worthless, IMO.
And PBS' Nova, Nature, and POV shows? Absolutely the high point of my viewing week.

But my friends, they all ridicule me for even being interested in such shows. They all want to watch the Kardashians, and other slop of that caliber. Such shows make me nearly comatose with boredom.

[GentlemanJim]

And don't forget the little 14 month old running around the house without any britches, because he was only halfway to being "repampered" when the doorbell rang.

[GentlemanJim]

LOL, I had this one neighbor who when I was like 7-8 years old, and I'd go over to visit, there were always empty beer bottles and ashtrays full of cigarette butts on the kitchen table.
I remember asking once "are those still there from last night?" And was told no "only since breakfast".

[stevea]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

The sad thing about that, I absolutely love a good documentary like they used to do on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel, both of those venues have deteriorated to the point of being nearly worthless, IMO.
And PBS' Nova, Nature, and POV shows? Absolutely the high point of my viewing week.

But my friends, they all ridicule me for even being interested in such shows. They all want to watch the Kardashians, and other slop of that caliber. Such shows make me nearly comatose with boredom.

Ah yes the Discovery Networks. Which in the last few years have gobbled up the HGTV networks, snd have not yet figured out how to screw them up.

And the ABC-owned A&E networks, which used to have interesting things like Evening at the Improv and Biography. Now we get giant pimples, weird toes and other assorted claptrap.

[MichaelMartinD]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Let me begin by stating that I believe the "vast wasteland" observation is as valid today as it was 60 years ago.

There was FAR more quality on TV in 1961 than today.

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

As far as the "unbelievable" aspect, well several things. The homes usually appeared "straightened up for company" ...where's the ironing board with the box of Pampers sitting half used on top of it next to the paper plate with half eaten pizza slices that were abandoned when the babysitter had to go answer the front door?
Where is the neighbor with the noisy lawnmower right outside the dining room window just as we are sitting down to Sunday dinner?

How many fathers wear their office suits around the house after dinner until bedtime? How many mothers do their housework wearing pearls?

I believe the shows go to excess lengths to depict their characters "on their best day", when most Americans just do not have lifestyles that are that starched and pressed.

Peggy Bundy was always a little more fixed up than most middle class mothers I remember, full make up and a hair do just to sit around the house all day eating bon bons?

And the Huxtables? Don't even get me started!! LOL!

Basically I do not think such shows serve as an accurate portrayal of the way most people that I've ever known, actually live their lives.

Who wants to tune in to a TV show to watch empty pizza boxes and half-used pampers? I think most people could do without that kind of "realism," and I'm sure most TV execs at the time realized that.

The other problem I have with this objection - and I know it's a common one people make - is that it's superficial. Just because Ward chooses to keep his suit on at the dinner table (note, he already had it on when he came home), that makes the family unbelievable? Just because June dresses nicely around the house, that makes the family unbelievable? She was Barbara Billingsley, a Hollywood actress; she's not going to appear on screen wearing an ratty bathrobe and curlers.

As for not depicting those annoying details we all live with, like the lawnmower while eating dinner: well, the shows did depict those things, but only if they were relevant to the plot. A writer isn't going to stick some random incident in the script if it doesn't advance the plot.

[stevea]

Yes, June in pearls and fully dressed for breakfast and Ward in a suit for dinner is a common observation. Really irrelevant to the plot, just details for nitpicking.

For a short time I worked all nights many years ago. For me the power mower wasn't just an annoyance--it meant lost sleep.

[Torgo]

Seems like Jerry Mathers in an interview said that one of the producers or writers on the show was like Ward in the fact he wore a tie around the house.

It's definitely not an unrealistic notion in a time when most men wore suits/ties that some would wear them at home.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Seems like Jerry Mathers in an interview said that one of the producers or writers on the show was like Ward in the fact he wore a tie around the house.

It's definitely not an unrealistic notion in a time when most men wore suits/ties that some would wear them at home.

Agreed. THe only thing unrealistic for me and the enviroment I grew up in where the pearls and that was explained away, so... It all depends how you grew up.