All in the Family vs. Family Viewing Hour

It's hard to believe in more ways than one, but in 1975 the FCC established Family Viewing Hour, which reserved prime time before 9pm for "family-friendly" television. A Federal Court abolished Family Viewing Hour in time for the Fall 1977 season, but by then the provocative comedy All in the Family had been moved from its very comfortable roost at 8pm on Saturday. This was before video recording became a popular phenomenon, so the schedule shift probably mattered more than it would today.

Here's a great clip of the All in the Family cast responding to Family Viewing Hour with a parody of the show's theme song. Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor are at the piano, backed by Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner.

Thanks to Frank Santopadre for the lead!



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By special arrangement with the WGA and The Late Show with David Letterman, we further interrupt our rerun schedule to bring you this fresh episode of WWW:

"A little OT since we’re talking about TV schedules – Bill Maher will be a guest on The Late Show this coming Thursday, 1/3/08. Letterman’s company (Worldwide Pants) has come to terms with the WGA, so Bill won’t be crossing any picket lines. I’m a little surprised that he’s agreed to return to his own show, however, as of January 11, 2008. I imagine that he wants to keep the other staff employed, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts out with some kind of ‘solidarity’ statement on the first broadcast!"—newsblooz at the AC 360° blog (January 1, 2008)




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Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

By special arrangement with the WGA, we interrupt out rerun schedule to bring you this fresh episode of WWW:

"I write this to you two nights before Christmas. It’s tough as hell to be on strike during the holiday season. Not only are we staging outdoor pickets and other events in the throes of winter’s cold, we’re without work and paychecks at a moment when gift giving and good times are very much on the minds of everyone around us, especially our friends and loved ones.

"Yet we know that what we’re fighting for is worth it, that we’re exchanging our temporary stress and discomfort for future gain and security, not only for ourselves but those who will follow us as wordsmiths and storytellers."—Michael Winship, President, Writers Guild of America, East (December 23, 2007)

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message from screenwriter Irving (Life of Riley) Brecher.



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WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message (thanks to Dan Radosh for the lead).



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WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and this link regarding the WGA and Broadway stagehand strikes.


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun.

TV is completely changing, the way people are watching is completely changing, and we just want some structure in place to make sure the union is treated fairly. I hope this ends as soon as possible; I’d be more than happy to do SNL this Saturday.

As far as how long we’re willing to strike, the important thing for us to remember is that twenty years ago the writers went on strike for 22 weeks, and as a younger writer I’m a beneficiary of what they went through. But we would all much rather be working!"—Seth Meyers

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photos: David Marc Fischer

WWW

"Frank is dressing up as Y2K for Halloween tonight--he's going to wear a TV screen filled with static. Why is this a joke for so many people? Is it that impossible for something in computers to go so wrong that the results will be catastrophic? Downloading all the upgrades is entirely up to me."—Excerpt from October 31, 1999 email from lizziema@osu.edu to rengob@uwm.edu, used as bookmark in copy of Westworld acquired by the Strand Bookstore in December 1999



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JACK BENNY ON TV C. 1965

This kinda captures half of a conversation I had with The Other Dave the other day. The sound isn't great, but I think the comedy is surprisingly durable.



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"Danny calls a TV a TV but he also calls a computer monitor a TV. Which got me thinking. When I think about computers on television, I think about those stories that climax when the hero cleverly asks 'Why?' and basically gives the evil computer a nervous breakdown, complete with sparks and smoke. But television on computers is actually matter [sic] of almost insidious infiltration, blending in so smoothly that you hardly notice that a takeover is taking place."—Excerpt from October 15, 1998 email from mediaprof@cuny.edu to nosmot@syr.edu, found in Syracuse University office on October 17, 1998


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

THE MISANTHROPE

I've been a fan of director Ivo van Hove ever since I was enthralled by his controversial production of More Stately Mansions at the New York Theatre Workshop. I haven't managed to see everything he's done there since then, though I caught his Streetcar Named Desire some years ago and just saw The Misanthrope earlier this month.

Van Hove is an aggressively artistic director who has a knack for tapping into the richness written into theater works while simultaneously making them "his own" with a variety of flourishes, some of them very physical. If memory serves, he had characters wrestle naked (or nearly naked) while delivering their lines in More Stately Mansions. It was a fascinating ploy, and one could see that it was literally bruising, too. In Streetcar there was the big bathtub...and lots and lots of splashing water.

With The Misanthrope there's some physicality, but it seemed constrained compared to what I saw in More Stately Mansions. Food and "trash" wind up all over the stage and the actors, but what made the biggest impression on me was its use of technology—especially video. Van Hove uses handheld cameras to enhance the stage experience, enabling a character to speak with his back to the audience and yet still have his face be seen on a large screen. Ultimately, though, Van Hove seems to making thought-provoking associations with sensational TV talk shows, reality programming such as Big Brother, and, perhaps, a general intrusion of communications media throughout many ordinary lives.

The production was the least impressive of the three van Hove pieces I've seen so far but it was still worthwhile, with some jaw-dropping moments. It's especially worthwhile with $20 Sunday night tickets, which might still be available. Try to get a seat in the back half of the audience, away from any fidgety and talkative kids.

Here's an interview/slideshow from The New York Times.

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"The broadcast of the 1947 World Series clinched television's growing importance. By the end of the 1950s, nearly 90 percent of U.S. homes could boast at least one TV set. The world no longer needed to be imagined—now it could be seen and heard. America had a new communal fireplace."—Excerpt from entry for Television (#14 out of the 100 Events listed in Life: The Millennium, the Fall 1997 Special Double Issue)


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Photo: David Marc Fischer

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RDWORRIER So I've been thinking...
BSCOUT96 Your first misteak :)
RDWORRIER lmao
RDWORRIER Anyway, what is the Emergency Braodcast system anway? does it work? does anybody take itseriously?
—Excerpt from AOL chatroom transcript printed out October 10, 1996 and found in scrap paper pile on July 15, 1999



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WWW. "I got the numbers I told you about. Many of the big Usenet groups from this July were for porn (of course) but there were other popular bulletin boards too. The TV-related ones were (not very surprisingly) alt.tv.simpsons and two for Star Trek: rec.arts.startrek.info and rec.arts.startrek.current. Oh—your favorite alt.2600 was behind The Simpsons but ahead of Star Trek!"—Excerpt from email sent from Prodigy user REKCAH to AOL user AL1962, dated October 2, 1995 (printout found in used file cabinet sold in Pasadena, California, in 1998)


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WWW. "Okay, so I need your opinion. Clark thinks that Friends is just like Seinfeld. I think he's crazy. What do you think?"—Excerpt from letter from M. L. (Columbus, OH) to B. C. (Milwaukee, WI), dated September 25, 1994



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WWW. "Have you been following the shitstorm over Bochco's new show? I can't believe that in this day and age anybody gives a flying fuck about whether a guy's ass might appear onscreen or a few curses are in the script. Who the hell cares? Unless it's Franz's ass."—Excerpt from letter from A. D. C. (Daytona Beach, FL) to M. F. (Beverly Hills, CA), dated September 13, 1993


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WWW. "So now we've got round-the-clock news for the city. It wasn't so long ago that a 1-hour news show for New York seemed like a radical thing. Now 24 hour news is like some kind of addiction. I bet it's just a matter of time before you stop seeing all the grannies looking out their windows."—Diary entry by M. L. of New York, NY, September 11, 1992


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WWW. "I'm still going through Pee-wee Herman withdrawal, but at least I got a tiny fix tonight. He opened the MTV Music Video Awards [sic] in front of a loud cheering crowd and asked, 'Heard any good jokes lately?' And then he said, 'So funny I forgot to laugh!' I don't know if there'll be any more Playhouse in any form again, not after that stupid arrest."—Diary entry by L. C. of Sarasota, Florida, dated 11:11 pm on September 5, 1991



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WWW. "You are invited to a Twin Peaks party to be held on the evening of September 30, 1990. Salmon will be served. And pie. And, of course, damn good coffee!"—Invitation to a Twin Peaks Season 2 opener party printed by a New York City pub in August 1990, scrapbooked by waitress Norma Lipton after pub was demolished by real estate developers



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WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer