THE BOOB TUBE?

As we wind down in Lisbon, I'm taking you back to the seventies.
Most of us grew with television. And as this June 2013 post shows,
we somehow learned something along the way. ENJOY!

Edith who?
Edith Bunker recently died.
Well actually Jean Stapleton
who played her on the TV
show that changed America -
All in the Family.

Tumultuous times.
During the seventies collective
rebellion came to full fruition.
Growing up in a world where
assassinations, shootings, riots,
and protests, were everyday fare,
my generation was at best jaded.
Our cultural DNA was based in
challenging the status quo.

What were they thinking?
My parents could not have been
more conservative nor believers
in the American Dream. And yet
All in the Family's controversial
message was tuned into weekly
by Ethel and Howard. Laughing
their way to a better place!

Nuclear family?
Archie was a bigot with a heart.
Edith a secretly wise "dingbat".
Daughter Gloria, liberated chick.
Husband Mike, student rebel.
Neighbor Lionel, patient friend.
Watching their journey helped
America confront our prejudices.

I never thought...
All in the Family bluntly dealt
with racism, abortion, rape,
homosexuality, war, women's
rights, menopause, and even
impotence. It's honesty gently
pushed us upward and onward.

Did you see that?
In those days one watched TV
as a family. Looking back the
next dinner's conversation was
about the prior day's broadcast.
All In The Family enabled us
to freely talk about taboo topics.

Gone but not forgotten.
Our world has changed. What
now seems archaic was beyond
breakthrough in it's day. All in
the Family was a cultural shift.
Thus Edith and Archie Bunker's
chairs sit in the Smithsonian.
And they call it the boob tube...