Rant Gingerly

It's probably a symptom of aging combined with a fear of my memory becoming increasingly crappy, but I find myself lost in nostalgia a lot these days. I'm sure it's also a symptom of a tired brain seeking shelter in pleasant thoughts of my choosing rather than school-related topics. Music always can take me deep into nostalgia, as can photographs or old letters. I'm grateful for all of the amazing people I've had and have in my life, and for the experiences I've been gifted with over the years. But today, my nostalgia was focused on one of my truest and most reliable friends growing up. The TV.

Although we kids of the 70s and 80s went outside and played a lot, like most kids with two working parents, I watched A LOT of TV. When I was little, there was no cable, not even VCRs yet, so network TV and PBS were about it. And it all began with Sesame Street, of course, which in the 70s was a pretty small cast of characters compared to now. Thankfully, no Elmo, but lots of Oscar, Kermit, and Big Bird. The Electric Company was also on, but I wasn't that in to it. I watched Captain Kangaroo even though it skeeved me out a little (don't know why), and Mister Rogers, but didn't like any of them as much as Sesame Street. As an adult I had the privilege of working with a Sesame Street muppet for a live stage production at the Kennedy Center, and it was magical to get to see how it all worked from behind the scenes. The 4-year-old in me lost her shit, pretty much. But what really did it for very small Alli, and still never gets old for grown Alli, is the amazing Looney Tunes cartoons.

Hanna Barbera and Disney tried, but I just wanted to see Looney Tunes all day, every day. And the older, the better. To this day, the WW2-era cartoons can still make me laugh out loud, Mel Blanc was such a crazy person and just straight awe-inspiring with those voices. Never much of a Pepe Le Pew or Foghorn Leghorn fan. I was Bugs all the way, or Daffy pre-60s, which is when he stopped being the funniest and looniest and just became Bugs' bitch. And the music was really the thing. Carl Stalling and his orchestra, oh my god. I was introduced to opera and classical music by these cartoons, and when I was just starting out in opera, about to work on a production I had never heard of called Tannhauser, imagine my delight when I found out I knew its main theme, and knew it well. Thanks, Bugs, for "What's Opera, Doc?"! That's enough about cartoons. You know what I was seriously obsessed with?

No, Jan. The Brady Bunch! It was on so much, like 4 times a day or something. I saw every groovy episode more times than I could probably count at that age. I would sit and roll my eyes while Grams watched her "stories", waiting for that magical Brady hour to arrive, secretly hoping it would be a musical episode. Because come on! Everybody's smiling! Everybody's laughing! Everybody seems so happy todaaaaayyyyy! As I got a little older, my tastes became more sophisticated, though.

All in the Family came on the air in 1971, the year I was born, so it was a while before it was on my radar. But Archie Bunker was pretty much my Gramps and my uncle Merv wrapped into one hilarious body, and although I enjoyed it through a child's eyes, I never had a clue then what the show's impact was on America. If I ever have the treat of seeing an episode now, it still has the same impact, because this country still has the same issues and the same kinds of people, amazingly. One of my favorite memories was constantly and randomly singing the theme song with Merv at the top of our lungs, both doing perfect Edith and Archie impressions. Those were the daaaayyyyys!

And to say I spent a ton of time pretending to have super powers or that I was bionic is an understatement.

The 70s TV was super great and all, and gave this kid plenty to imagine, but the 80s took the crown in every way as far as impactful memories. And with the coming of the 80s, cable TV started to emerge, first just HBO and Cinemax and porn, then more and more, like CNN and TBS. And the single greatest thing of my young life in terms of TV happened in August of 1981 when I was 10 years old.

We didn't have cable yet, but my neighbors did! And I'm sure their parents just loved all of us hanging out in their living room as much as possible to watch MUSIC VIDEOS, which is what MUSIC TELEVISION used to be. It was never enough, no matter how much I watched. I had always been drawn to anything musical, Broadway shows Grams took me to, Solid Gold and Sha Na Na on TV, whatever I just get my eyes and ears on. But this was next level obsession, and it expanded my tastes and imagination to no end. It was uncharted territory for these artists, and their videos were ridiculous and over-the-top, or straight-up raunchy, or even just a view of concerts I was never allowed to see at that age. It was the stuff pre-teen dreams were made of.

I could write another blog just on my 80s television habits, but I won't. There was just too much good stuff. The A-Team, Knight Rider, Dallas, Cheers, Night Court, Moonlighting, The Facts of Life, The Love Boat.....man, we had it good. I hope I read this blog when I'm 80 and tell my robot Dante to project some of this stuff on my 12-foot TV for me on heavy rotation. So I never forget. :-)