Summer of '60s

MeTV (a new-to-me cable network) is mining the 1960s for its summer programming. Since I like to have something mindless on the TV while I sew, this means that I have been watching a lot of 1960s sitcoms and adventure shows lately.

Some observations:

Green Acres is a show I never watched as a kid, though it was on Nick at Nite. I had recently heard that it had an absurdist sense of humor, and thought I'd give it a shot. In some ways, you can see the roots of good-weird sitcoms like "Better Off Ted" and "Community" in it. The Ziffels and their "son," Arnold (who is a pig) are a good example. (The pig is pretty cute. I may keep watching, on and off, just for him.) Of course, that's marred a bit by the ubiquitous laugh track, but you have to expect that for a 60s show.

You know this, even if you've never seen the show, but: "Green Acres" is the story of Oliver and Lisa Douglas, a New York couple who (at his insistence) buy a farm and move out to the country. It's all right there in the theme song ("Fresh air!" "Times Square!").

I was blown away by a line in the first episode I watched, in which Mr. Haney (the con artist who sold Oliver the farm) attempts to sell him a planting machine.

HANEY: It's like having a mechanized wetback!
ME: What the fuck? Did he just say what I think he said? (Rewinds TiVo) Yep.

I know we're way more (pick your term: politically correct, progressive, non-racist) now, but I'm still kind of gobsmacked that they were allowed to say that word on TV. They couldn't say Lucy was "pregnant," but they could say "wetback." Sheesh.

Eva Gabor is pretty adorable as Lisa, Oliver's city-loving, Hungarian wife. Oliver is a total yutz, plowing and planting in his three-piece suit. In the second episode I watched, a guy from the Dept. of Agriculture meets him and makes fun of that, which helped me be less annoyed by it, somehow.

The Monkees, on the other hand, was a fairly significant part of my childhood. I remember watching a few episodes in syndication in the 1970s, but mainly I remember watching (and taping) every single episode when MTV aired it during my junior and senior years of high school. I bought their albums (on vinyl!), and I had a crush on Micky Dolenz (Davy was too short for me, plus I like funny boys).

It's a very silly show. A dumb show, even ... but I still have a lot of affection for it. As for the music, a lot of it holds up, I think. In our age of autotune and boy bands, maybe it's harder to look down on the Prefab Four than it was back then. (P.S. I still have all of their CDs.)

The Wild Wild West  is a show I remember fondly, though I don't think I saw all that many episodes. It's fun, and a little cheesy -- sort of a steampunk James Bond with a sense of humor. And this was, what, 40 years before steampunk became the huge thing it is now. I think I'll hang onto this season pass.

Other shows on my TiVo that I haven't watched yet: "The Green Hornet" and "Batman." Maybe I'll do an all-superhero post next.