Years of Change

1968-1973: This pack of years was a game changer. I was five years old in ’68, just starting school. In fall 68 I started a “preschool,” a precursor to first grade. Lanark daycare in san Antonio. This was the year I slightly remember what I saw on TV. Mostly Saturday morning…banana splits, wacky races, roadrunner—cbs and nbc were my go tos. On prime time my Mom had laugh-in on a lot. I remember Jackie gleason, mayberry rfd, here’s lucy, gunsmoke, mission impossible, hogan’s heroes,Julia, green acres, carol burnett, mannix, family affair, my three sons—reruns of I love lucy, gilligan’s island, the flintstones, bullwinkle, andy Griffith. Eventually ABC would get turned on with bewitched, love American style, mod squad, room 222 and incredible Saturday morning fare. That continued with the krofft trifecta: pufnstuf, bugaloos and lidsville; all the filmation archie shows, rankin bass musical group cartoons, lancelot link, the double-deckers, pink panther, scooby doo, harlem globetrotters etc etc. OK, that being said what was going on? Oh 1968—assassinations, riots, Vietnam, protests and a full-on counterculture movement. With the exception of the smothers brothers—soon to be yanked—tv was pretty sterile. And then 1969—well documented with the manson murders. Stuff of legend. So right after manson that fall we got: scooby doo, sesame street, brady bunch and marcus welby. The next three years brought mary tyler moore, all in the family, Sanford and son, the waltons, flip Wilson, partridge family, odd couple, fat albert, bob newhart, MASH, columbo and the Saturday superstar movie and, uh, watergate. So what’s my point? If you watch the historical upheavals during this time—politically, culturally, psychologically—and see the incredible change in the tenor of TV programming, you can see what is probably the hugest shift in the mores of our nation. What we talke about, what we see, how we talk about it and how we see it. Chuck barris, working for the cia, created newlywed game and dating game….highly suggestive fare for the time (pre match game). Hollywood squares was not necessarily kiddie-fare. Ive just been discussing tv. 69’s watershed moment was midnight cowboy, the first mainstream x rated film. 1967 started it: bonnie and clyde, the graduate, in the heat of the night and the spaghetti westerns. Then we had easy rider, bob & carol & ted & alice, Barbarella, wild bunch, kelly’s heroes, patton, the producers, M*A*S*H, carnal knowledge, five easy pieces, shaft, the candidate, butch Cassidy, medium cool, deliverance, mccabe and mrs. miller, dirty harry, billy jack, little big man, rosemary’s baby, planet of the apes, Love story, clockwork orange, last picture show, French connection, 2001, Poseidon adventure, funny girl, the godfather and all those woody allen classics. And a tv movie called duel. This looks like a list…it is. I’m trying to paint the time. While I was ensconsed in tv…there was a revolution going on in film. But as those five years progressed, tv became quality, daring and a bit dangerous while film was breaking down the walls. And it was in the air. I was a kid, but I felt it. It was very visceral. This is how media is history.