End of an Era

As I type these words the season finale of "Everybody Loves Raymond" is being broadcast across America (don't worry, I'm taping it). It must have been less than a year ago that Frasier ended. After a really long time (longer than a lot of fans thought was reasonable) Friends also ended. Seinfeld... um, that ended a long time ago, but thats not the point. The point is that these (and others) were very funny sitcoms that I mostly missed out on during their original airing. I was too young (or not yet born). Now I must content myself with the dreaded repeats that are sometimes out of order. I missed an era. An era of good, substantial comedy that made people laugh.

What are they being replaced by? Mostly by reality TV, but also by a string of bad shows on Fox that have difficulty lasting more than one season. What is on now is a cruder, stupider humor. The writing is worse (not soap opera bad, but it's getting there) and the plots are thin. Life is no longer depicted realistically, but surrealistically (that better be a word). The generation watching these shows now is being exposed to really substandard comedy.

That is why I say, "Thank God for the re-runs!" They may not have exactly the same certain something as does a running show, but at least these great classics are still on the air for future generations. So I encourage you, go watch a re-run of MASH (all my friends reading this just let out a groan), or of Frasier. See what comedy should be... what it used to be (o.k., its a really bad sign for a 15 year-old to be talking about the 'good ol days', there's got to be something wrong with me).