Doug Considers Buying a Sport Car - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

seedub · 08-24-2024, 12:06 AM

Start of a rant:

I never much cared for "Family (1976)" during its first run; there were other shows I catered to more at that time. Family just did not stand a chance against the "competition." I knew it existed only because my mother watched it but found it somewhat boring.

Recently, I discovered it on Tubi and have added it to my list. What a delightful show. I have truly been enjoying it. I suppose that I can appreciate it now that I am an adult and not the preteen I was in its first run. Today, I got to S4:E2.

The writers really balled this one up. First, the premise that the Corvette is a young person's car. Sorry (not sorry), but the majority of Corvette drivers are Doug's age because they are the only ones who can afford to buy it! Buddy's retort, Doug's "the kids love it," and the bag boy at the bakery...it's all wrong. We are talking a 'Vette, not a Trans Am or Z-28.

A more realistic angle would have been the it's-not-practical-for-a-family-man-it's-a-single-person's-ride bent. The direction that Doug is not acting his age just does not mesh with who the average Corvette owner is. The first Corvette owner that I knew personally was a CPA. She was single, but she was well in her 30s. My baby brother's dentist drove his son to grade school in *his* Corvette...not your dashing man about town. A magazine article 20 years ago on a sixty-plus CEO of a major corporation who commutes to work in a 'Vette but who brown bags his lunch...there are many other examples which counter the Corvette as a young person's car supposition.

Then, the writers go all Hollywood on us and write Doug keeping his old clunker. TV Land just cannot allow characters to get new cars, houses, anything. There are a few exceptions, but they are *VERY* few. Hollywood is in America, and it was the American way last century to get a new car when the old one died, and to move to a new home or a better neighborhood, sometimes several times in a family's lifetime. So, in the real world, when Doug ditches the flashy car, he picks up where he left off and signs the buyer's order on the sensible sedan he was already looking at.

Other than that, the ep is well written in its treatment of whether Buddy will give up her virginity when she just does not feel ready. And Kate's behavior towards the new car is classic. As a matter of point, Doug has been married long enough to know that when a wife says, "Whatever you want," she means the exact opposite and we husbands learn that early on. He should have listened to her, or there should have been a bit of dialog at the finale where he tells her he should have heeded her.

Alright - that's me done ranting.

08-24-2024, 12:06 AM	#1
seedub Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 17, 2016 Posts: 27	Doug Considers Buying a Sport Car Start of a rant: I never much cared for "Family (1976)" during its first run; there were other shows I catered to more at that time. Family just did not stand a chance against the "competition." I knew it existed only because my mother watched it but found it somewhat boring. Recently, I discovered it on Tubi and have added it to my list. What a delightful show. I have truly been enjoying it. I suppose that I can appreciate it now that I am an adult and not the preteen I was in its first run. Today, I got to S4:E2. The writers really balled this one up. First, the premise that the Corvette is a young person's car. Sorry (not sorry), but the majority of Corvette drivers are Doug's age because they are the only ones who can afford to buy it! Buddy's retort, Doug's "the kids love it," and the bag boy at the bakery...it's all wrong. We are talking a 'Vette, not a Trans Am or Z-28. A more realistic angle would have been the it's-not-practical-for-a-family-man-it's-a-single-person's-ride bent. The direction that Doug is not acting his age just does not mesh with who the average Corvette owner is. The first Corvette owner that I knew personally was a CPA. She was single, but she was well in her 30s. My baby brother's dentist drove his son to grade school in his Corvette...not your dashing man about town. A magazine article 20 years ago on a sixty-plus CEO of a major corporation who commutes to work in a 'Vette but who brown bags his lunch...there are many other examples which counter the Corvette as a young person's car supposition. Then, the writers go all Hollywood on us and write Doug keeping his old clunker. TV Land just cannot allow characters to get new cars, houses, anything. There are a few exceptions, but they are VERY few. Hollywood is in America, and it was the American way last century to get a new car when the old one died, and to move to a new home or a better neighborhood, sometimes several times in a family's lifetime. So, in the real world, when Doug ditches the flashy car, he picks up where he left off and signs the buyer's order on the sensible sedan he was already looking at. Other than that, the ep is well written in its treatment of whether Buddy will give up her virginity when she just does not feel ready. And Kate's behavior towards the new car is classic. As a matter of point, Doug has been married long enough to know that when a wife says, "Whatever you want," she means the exact opposite and we husbands learn that early on. He should have listened to her, or there should have been a bit of dialog at the finale where he tells her he should have heeded her. Alright - that's me done ranting.