Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Where's Kevin Arnold?

Everything is in reruns so Trav and I were flipping through channels and guess what we found...The Wonder Years! This is what the episode was about:

Kevin's high school basketball team is doing great because of the star player, Bobby. But uh oh, look who's out celebrating instead of studying for his test...you guessed it, Kevin! So, he gets a "D" on his test. Kevin's parents decide to let him go to the games, but Kevin's dad decides to tag along to the championship. Kevin is all embarrassed and gets mad when his Dad isn't optimistic about the star player...basically Kevin thinks his dad is just a Debbie Downer who thinks he's always right...and Kevin's team (the Knights, by the way) loses. Kevin tries to console the star player, who blows him off. Kevin and his dad go for coffee afterward and Kevin realizes that his dad isn't the hard gruff guy he thinks he is because..."it's not easy being a hero." And, that's just what Kevin's dad is...his hero.

Guess what...Kevin didn't slip Winnie a rufie and sexually assault her behind the bleachers. There weren't any jokes about Paul not being able to get it up and Winnie even made a sports comment and was taken seriously. I'm not saying tv shouldn't deal with real issues...but a sitcom doesn't need a teacher talking about her sexual prowess (I'm talking to you, Glee) to be entertaining. Seriously...people, why aren't shows like this on tv anymore? Now we are watching Three-and-a-half Men and fricken Jersey Shore. I'm not judging...I do it too, but you can bet I'm going to start DVR-ing Wonder Years and Doogie Howser reruns and my kids are going to watch those when they are older. For now I'll have to find some copies of David the Gnome and Today's Special. However, as I post this I realize that my generation watched these shows and we are the ones who have come up with some of the crap that is on today....so, I guess the answer is that our kids should be watching...dang-it, what did our grandparents watch...oh wait, nothing because tv wasn't invented and they were out milking cows and calling out "Extra Extra" on the street corners (as in selling papers...get it?).

So, what did I learn from watching The Wonder Years tonight, besides the fact that Fred Savage's voice never really changed? The only way my kids are going to turn out better than the kids in my generation is to become Amish. Time to start working on that electric fireplace...