Covid-TV

​                                              Welcome to Covid-TV
 
            We were a “tv” family in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s.  Actually, there’s a picture of our apartment in Canarsie, taken when I was an infant, featuring a HUGE console (the shape of a jukebox) with about a 12-inch television screen in it--- that’s how much of a tv family we were.  Dad even created a hole in a rec room wall to place our big Admiral cathode-tube tv in --- creating a “movie theater” effect.  I bring this up because, while I’ve remained a tv viewer throughout my life, the pandemic has led to watching far more streaming/cable/broadcast television than at any other point in my adult life.  As we approach the end of January 2021 and have marked one full year since the first case(s) of COVID-19 was identified in the United States, I’d like to note several things I’ve observed in the past few months --- which you may also have noticed if you’ve been watching an inordinate amount of television, too.

            #1.  During our months of involuntary sequestering I discovered I was oblivious to  hundreds of sit-coms and dramas produced for broadcast television over the past 30 years.  They are far too numerous to begin listing here but I do think it’s worth noting that if it’s a comedy Chuck Lorre is involved and if it’s a “police procedural” Dick Wolf created it.  At least that’s what it looks like to me.  Lorre was a producer of Roseanne and Mike and Molly  (I’m sure the pitch meeting was, “Aw, c’mon, everybody loves fat people….two words: Ralph Kramden!”).  He was  the “brain” behind Grace Under Fire, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men (“unusual” --- and dysfunctional? --- “family” sitcoms) and he is currently behind the Michael Douglas/Alan Arkin The Kominsky Method, Bob Hearts Abishola, and Mom.  Lorre is best known, of course, for The Big Bang Theory or, as I like to call it, “Seinfeld Does Science.”  That, of course, spawned Young Sheldon --- tracing the genesis of boy (and later man) genius Sheldon Cooper. Going back to the 1990’s, the shows run the gamut from borderline stupid broadcast tv sitcoms to pretty amusing broadcast tv sitcoms.  If you’ve watched television over the last 30 years or so, you’ve certainly been exposed to (yes, like a disease) Chuck Lorre.

            As regards the “police procedural” no one holds a candle to Dick Wolf.  There is a long history of “cop/detective shows” on television (remember “Dragnet,” “Naked City,” “Peter Gunn,” “Columbo,” “The Rockford Files,” etc. etc.?).  However, since 1990, Dick Wolf has dominated the scene with his Law & Order and “Chicago” franchises, in particular.  Wolf cut his teeth writing for Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice before striking out on his own with the original “Law & Order” program --- a show that ran until 2010, matching Gunsmoke for the longest-running series (at the time --- surpassed now by Law & Order: SVU).   In the process, I’d say the Law & Order shows influenced all that followed (NCIS, CSI, et al):  a repertory cast with recurring characters in clear, identifiable roles with vague (but interesting?) back stories (which we get in dribs and drabs).  Law & Order is the template --- now followed by two new Wolf shows: FBI and FBI: Most Wanted.   So, that’s what I’ve learned about all the tv I missed while I was teaching and writing and leading my life without broadcast television (and, yes, it took until retirement for me to actually watch Seinfeld). 
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#2.       Starting with the 2016 election rollout (which means late 2014, early 2015) we became addicted to “the news” --- particularly MSNBC.  After the election, as the soul-crushing Trump Administration dragged on and on, we watched “the news” less and less (hence the previous observations about broadcast t.v.) and became tired of the incessant punditry on MSNBC (less so, CNN).  We started watching local news (Channel 12) and NY1, our old standby from when I lived on the Upper West Side.  But recently we discovered Shepard Smith on CNBC from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., realizing it is a perfect throwback news show, reminding us of the news shows we grew up with --- before cable broadcasting and infotainment tainted the news world.  Growing up with Walter Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley, and Howard K. Smith --- followed by Dan Rather and Peter Jennings, the “news” was informative and objective.  While there may have been an occasional “opinion/editorial” piece, we learned to trust those reporting the news --- believing they were giving us the facts.  Certainly the reporting from Vietnam fueled the anti-war movement, as did Civil Rights coverage.  With the advent of “infotainment” in the early ‘90’s and then Fox “News” in 1996, we headed down that slippery slope of biased reporting and disinformation.  Enter Shepard Smith.  Unlike David Muir, Lester Holt, and Norah O’Donnell, who each have only a half-hour (if you’re lucky enough to catch them between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m.) “Shep” has an hour on the edge of Prime Time and his show, aptly named The News with Shepard Smith is a wonderful throwback to real news shows.

            Smith rather famously left Fox News after being there for 23 years!  As a journalist, he could no longer countenance the “lies” and “falsehoods” the network insisted on propagating (he had already withstood savage blowback from Fox viewers after announcing he was gay in 2017).  NBC scooped him up, giving him the 7 p.m. slot and, if you have not watched (and particularly if you are an old Baby Boomer, like us), we highly recommend catching the show --- which is straight ahead news reporting with an occasional human interest story and nightly features entitled “Around the World in 80 Seconds” and “Coast to Coast” --- reporting on a variety of interesting stories you would never even know about if you watched MSNBC or CNN.  It’s a nice reminder of how the news can be delivered without strident partisan overtones --- a welcome relief during this pandemic.

#3.      Finally --- and I’m not sure if this is exclusive to the Northeast --- or possibly just Blue States --- BUT has anyone else noticed that almost all the families featured in commercials these days are “mixed-ish” --- that is, interracial??  The product doesn’t matter, wherever you turn insurance, automobiles, AARP membership, dog food, meal kits, you name it, there’s an interracial couple/family selling it to you.  Suddenly, we’re in this post-Obama commercial world.  But I do wonder if all these ads are running in Alabama and Mississippi and other Deep-Red states.  If so, that might be progress, right?  If not, it’s simply clever demographic advertising.  I think the litmus test will be February 7th, the Super Bowl.  Let’s see if any of what we know are “national” commercials feature interracial families --- that might give us an inkling as to why the Proud Boys, et al are losing their shit beyond limits.    Just a thought.

            And finally, finally: if you are also watching a lot of tv these days, do you also hate those fucking red and blue Charmin Bears wagging their butt in your face?  Just sayin’ . . .

                                                    Stay safe, the vaccine is on the way.  But stay safe.