I know I keep going back to this a lot, but this is also one of the reasons why much of television today is just so . . . so . . . ugh, you know what I mean. But that's something that's slowly been evolving over the decades, even as far back as the 80s - especially with comedies. Back in the day, comedies were pretty much an escape from the harsh realities of the world: Civil Rights, Vietnam, assassinations, things like that; comedies were particularly outlandish and fantastic as a means for people to temporarily forget about their troubles, problems, turmoil, etc. Overtime, however, audiences grew more and more "sophisticated," and were wanting more and more realism, so as a reflection of that, comedies became less outlandish and wacky, and more politically and socially conscious of the world around us for people to relate to. What seemed funny to TV audiences in the 50s and 60s would probably seem corny and stupid to TV audiences today. Heck, some people today are finding shows like M*A*S*H (the top sitcom of the 70s), CHEERS (top sitcom of the 80s) and even SEINFELD (the top sitcom of the 90s) hokey and hackneyed.