The Rockford Files

[StringPicker6]

After a bad cold the last week, I got into watching the first season of that old 70's show The Rockford Files. I was born in '76, so a bit before my time, but I'm having a blast watching it. Nice distraction from the daily news, and I enjoy the window into simpler times and simpler entertainment. Now if you excuse me, I need to get off my rocking chair and see if there are any kids outside to yell at to get off my lawn (there never is, because you rarely see kids outside these days...).

[Queequeg]

After a bad cold the last week, I got into watching the first season of that old 70's show The Rockford Files. I was born in '76, so a bit before my time, but I'm having a blast watching it. Nice distraction from the daily news, and I enjoy the window into simpler times and simpler entertainment. Now if you excuse me, I need to get off my rocking chair and see if there are any kids outside to yell at to get off my lawn (there never is, because you rarely see kids outside these days...).

Takes all the fun out of having a lawn; dunnit? 

[teh]

Great show, great cast and great music by Mike Post who also did music for Law and Order, Magnum PI, and Hill Street Blues among others. If you haven't seen James Garner, Bruce Dern, Walter Brennan and Jack Elam in "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "Support your Local Gunfighter" with Chuck Connors and Jack Elam, you're missing a treat.

P.S. I can handle the kids, it's just the people who don't clean up after their dogs.

[StringPicker6]

I had a new thing happen last week- someone bagged up their dog poo in a little green bag, tied it up, and left it on the curb of my lawn. As a John Prine song goes, some humans ain't human.

[B0WIE]

Funny, I'm a 76'er as well and my memory of the Rockford Files was that it came on after cartoons so I HATED it. The theme song (as cool as it was) meant time to go do something outside.

These days, I find myself watching so many shows that I hated as a kid. My parent's shows, and their music as well. There was a lot of good entertainment in the 70's and 80's. My wife (who is 40) just fell in love with Columbo and made me buy her the complete DVD set. I introduced her to Different Strokes this year and she was mind blown that such a show could have existed w/o being divisive or politically leaning. It was just positivity. Times sure have changed.

[StringPicker6]

Back before we had a kid, my wife and I spent 3 nights in New Orleans. We ended up watching The Golden Girls in the hotel room before bed every night. Super funny show.

[teh]

On the subject of Columbo, I remember reading a story that C.F. Martin IV told him about his grandfather C.F. Martin III (aka Fred to the employees) who was still chairman of the board at the time. Unbeknownst to Fred, the employees made a black dreadnought for Johnny Cash which was expressly forbidden by him. He was at home watching an episode of Columbo with his wife with guest star Johnny Cash appearing as an evangelical preacher (I think) playing his black Martin. Needless to say, he was none too happy when he came to work the following day. Fred was the same guy who would inspect a worker's trash can after work and retrieve discarded sandpaper with a reminder to keep using it until it was worn out. He also provided a tube for employees to put on the end of their pencil stub to keep using until it was completely worn down.

In today's "throwaway" world, there is something satisfying about reading stories like this and it's probably one of the reasons that Fred's company survived in lean times. As a kid, growing up with returnable bottles and raised by parents who had a victory garden and recycled scrap including tires, steel and other materials during WWII, and it certainly made an impression on me. I've tried to instill those same values in my kids and grandchildren.

[Silence Dogood]

TV shows were pretty good, even up through the 90s.  There seemed to be a vibe-shift in the early 2000s and I lost interest in network television around that time. Yep, off my damn lawn!  I can't even relate to what's on TV now.
  

Sometimes I'll run across old shows like The Jeffersons, All In The Family, et al, and will put them on.  My kids can't believe the humor that was "allowed" on TV back then.  I'm not sure when everyone became so sensitive or just how it all happened, but comedy now is all but ruined.  I'll sometimes see clips from SNL online and it's not funny at all, at least not to me. 

Old shows like Columbo, Rockford, Murder She Wrote, et al, were so cleverly-written and well-executed.  They were more like reading short stories than watching TV.  It's also fun to see all the up-and-comers who ended up being big stars make small appearances in these shows. 

[StringPicker6]

This country used to have a better sense of humor. We didn't take ourselves so seriously and we got along better.

[Silence Dogood]

This country used to have a better sense of humor. We didn't take ourselves so seriously and we got along better.

I agree, and I'm not sure when or exactly how all that changed. Late night TV is the worst now.  Go back and watch some old Johnny Carson shows.  It was funny for the whole country, but now late night is only funny to one political demographic, while the rest of the country is held in contempt and derision.  And hardly anyone is watching anyway.  I mean, do these people not like success, money, etc.?  It's baffling to me. 

[Riverbend]

My mom was a big fan of Rockford Files and Columbo, so they occupied our TV screen quite often, and I became a fan straight up. Notice I mentioned "screen" in the singular? Most of us had one TV in the house back then, and 3 or 4 channels if you had the one UHF signal some of us did. Peter Falk was fantastic! Most of those type shows back then served up a simple recipe of good vs. evil, with good always prevailing, and the evil being usually along the lines of greed or lovelorn, and rarely as catastrophic as today's storylines can get. Simpler times, for sure.

[StringPicker6]

Yeah, the victim was usually lying on the floor hidden behind a desk with a knife or gun nearby. Today's tv show victims are chopped up into several plastic bags by some demented murderer.