Food for Thought

[Smartboy]

My guess would be that some of the people reading this thread have children or grandchildren who watch "Sesame Street". I watched "Sesame Street" religiously until I was 9. There had been a time when it was on as many as 4 times a day on the average public television station. Now it is only on for a half an hour once a day on the public station that I get. I tune into it every once in a while. I find it very watered down compared to the show that I grew up with. A lot of people of my generation will say that Elmo killed that show. Well, I would say that, in between the time that Elmo started to monopolize that series and now, there have been other characters that I find even more stale than Elmo. A lot of people will say that the latter seasons of "Three's Company" were quite stale. A good number say that it overstayed its welcome. It will take another paragraph for me to explain how my ideas about "Sesame Street" relate to "Three's Company".

"Sesame Street" premiered in 1969. "Three's Company" premiered in 1977. In my opinion, when the two shows first came out, the former was as much of a school of hard knocks show for children as the latter was a school of hard knocks for adults. As year followed year, both shows started to go soft. When "Three's Company" first came out, it was a show about dead end marriages, living paycheck to paycheck and being stuck in California with no way to obtain a car. However, as year followed year, the situations became much for "Brady Bunch" like. In my opinion, it became a rather watered down show. I would be very interested in what other fans think of my ideas about how "Sesame Street" overstayed (it is still overstaying) its welcome is quite similar to the way that "Three's Company" overstayed its welcome.

[ClarenceAlabama]

Originally Posted by Smartboy

My guess would be that some of the people reading this thread have children or grandchildren who watch "Sesame Street". I watched "Sesame Street" religiously until I was 9. There had been a time when it was on as many as 4 times a day on the average public television station. Now it is only on for a half an hour once a day on the public station that I get. I tune into it every once in a while. I find it very watered down compared to the show that I grew up with. A lot of people of my generation will say that Elmo killed that show. Well, I would say that, in between the time that Elmo started to monopolize that series and now, there have been other characters that I find even more stale than Elmo. A lot of people will say that the latter seasons of "Three's Company" were quite stale. A good number say that it overstayed its welcome. It will take another paragraph for me to explain how my ideas about "Sesame Street" relate to "Three's Company".

"Sesame Street" premiered in 1969. "Three's Company" premiered in 1977. In my opinion, when the two shows first came out, the former was as much of a school of hard knocks show for children as the latter was a school of hard knocks for adults. As year followed year, both shows started to go soft. When "Three's Company" first came out, it was a show about dead end marriages, living paycheck to paycheck and being stuck in California with no way to obtain a car. However, as year followed year, the situations became much for "Brady Bunch" like. In my opinion, it became a rather watered down show. I would be very interested in what other fans think of my ideas about how "Sesame Street" overstayed (it is still overstaying) its welcome is quite similar to the way that "Three's Company" overstayed its welcome.

When do you think it became watered down?...

I think when they introduced Jack's Bistro in season 7 is when Three's Company started to lose it's spark a little. The tone shifted. It was still a good show, but it wasn't as good as it used to be.

A big chunk of the fans bailed after season 7. People weren't looking for the show when season 8 premiered. The ratings dipped to their lowest. It's a shame because I think season 8 had a lot of great episodes up until they introduced Vicky and her father. That was the final blow for the fans that were still watching.

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by ClarenceAlabama

When do you think it became watered down?...

I think when they introduced Jack's Bistro in season 7 is when Three's Company started to lose it's spark a little. The tone shifted. It was still a good show, but it wasn't as good as it used to be.

A big chunk of the fans bailed after season 7. People weren't looking for the show when season 8 premiered. The ratings dipped to their lowest. It's a shame because I think season 8 had a lot of great episodes up until they introduced Vicky and her father. That was the final blow for the fans that were still watching.

I would say that the series started to get watered down when the Ropers left. Their dead end marriage is one of the things that made it a school of hard knocks show. However, when Mr. Furley first came on board, he was sort of like a Mr. Roper without a wife. However, as the seasons progressed, he became much more Brady Bunch like. When Terri entered the picture as the third and last blonde, her character seemed quite sugar-coated compared to earlier characters. And, I will agree that, when Jack's Bistro opened, the show became even more middle class suburban style. I would say that when the show first came out, it was in a league with Good Times, What's Happening and Sanford and Son in terms of being school of hard knocks. The only real difference that I could see between any of those shows and "Three's Company" is that, on "Three's Company", the main characters were white. However, by the end, it was much more soft core.