Uncomfortable TV

[J.D. P. Lafrance]

Mr Craig Clark writes:
 
 I think the average TV viewer is comforted by the Bundys. Because 
they are so awful, the average TV viewer can say "Hey, we're not that
bad! We're MUCH closer to the Brady Bunch than the Beseiged Bundys."
The Bundys serve to legitimise the smug morality of Toobland every 
bit as much as every other sitcom family. I think _The Simpsons_ comes 
closer to overturning Toobland morality, but even so I haven't seen 
it do anything as subversive as the final frame of _Twin Peaks_  (the 
heroic if wildly eccentric FBI agent turned totally evil...)




Right on! I think your comments are right on the money... I think the success of
Married With... is staggering... Isn't close to becoming or already is the
longest running sitcom? I think this must be one of the signs of the
apocalypse... but I think you're right, that most people dig the Bundys because
they aren't them -to quote Homer Simpson, "It's funny 'cause it's not me."

Incidentally, I thought that last image of Twin Peaks was a classic too - it
ranked right up there with Agent Cooper's famous dream sequence... "That gum you
like is coming back in style." I think Twin Peaks came the closest to the
complexity, vast scale, and sheer density of detail of say a Pynchon novel than
any other show has done or attempted since.

bfn,
JDL