A few weeks ago I was trying to find something to watch on netflix as usual. So I always enjoy documentaries on subjects I enjoy like TV , Movies , sports etc etc. So I found one discussing Sitcom Families as part of a bigger documentary about TV. Of course whenever you think of sitcom families you usually go from the Flintstones to TV's latest family , The Goldbergs. Well the documentary basically cut off in 2012 so it wouldn't feature them but you get the hint.
The documentary covered a lot of sitcom families from what I remember.
Father Knows Best
Leave it to Beaver
Brady Bunch
Cosby Show
Everybody Loves Raymond
Anyhow you get the gist of it...so many people would discuss each show and the impact they would have on future shows.
Then it got to the 1980's and it completely seemed to fuck up and started crediting one show beyond one that inspired the recent shows where everything isn't perfect. You see folks , this Isn't to hate Bill Cosby. The guy had a great TV sitcom family with the Cosby Show and it ruled the 1980's. It deserves the praise it receives for that.
But the documentary started claiming that Cosby Show represented almost every family and that things weren't perfect. That the show inspired Everybody Loves Raymond and family shows where the parents weren't like Father Knows Best and all. To see the experts proclaiming this was weird. But the show they seemed hell bent on skipping was this one....
It was just bizarre because as anyone would tell you , at times people claimed their families took more after the Bundy's than the Cosby's. And its clear shows like Everybody Loves Raymond , Roseanne , and others seemed to take some of what the Bundy's did as family who loved each other , but rarely would say it . Yes shows above would have the characters love each other. That much is true.
Yet to watch a TV documentary IGNORE the Bundy's as a whole and TV sitcom was just fucking bizarre. And to give them no credit for anything was beyond silly. It really hurt the documentary. But I get the feeling this was TV critics as usual who had a long history of hating Married ...with Children. The show was billed as the anti-Cosby's more or less and critics HATED THIS. The show wasn't expected to last but it did.
So to the TV critics....you ignored Al Bundy.... one of the best TV Dads ever...