The "You know what?" thread

[snichols1973]

One of my favorite sitcoms ever (and one of the best ever on tv) is "All in the Family".
When I was younger, I thought Archie Bunker was just a loud, ignorant racist pig. Just like my dad.
I thought Mike Stivic, the hippie liberal that I identified a lot with, that's how I was going to end up like. But things change.

In the beginning, much of the humor came from the tensions between conservative Archie and the liberal Meathead. But as the series progressed (and as I got older) I began to see Archie wasn't always wrong, and Mike wasn't always right.

Archie (when the series started, the character was 49, like me now) was a white, conservative, blue collar working stiff, stuck in a soon-to-be-outdated-job, unable to keep up with all the world changing around him. But he had a solid marriage to Edith the Dingbat, and strong Christian ties underneath his bigotry.

Mike Stivic was the polar opposite of Archie. Liberal, left-wing, aetheist, but felt entitled to live for free under Archie's roof and criticize his "old-fashioned" beliefs. Mike was the poster boy for the 70's equivalent of "Black Lives Matter", going out of his way to be Lionel Jefferson's best friend, and furthering the cause for Black people. But for all his self-righteousness, Mike was every bit as stubborn, cheauvinistic, and narrow-minded as he accused Archie of being.

I didn't think it was possible, but I can identify more with Archie now than I ever can with Mike. And that's not a bad thing.
Thank you Norman Lear, and your writers, for making the characters so deep over the course of nine seasons, as opposed to shallow stereotypes.
Some of the topical humor may have not aged well, but "All in the Family" can still strike a chord today.

By the time of Archie Bunker's Place, the spin-off/continuation of the franchise, Arch still had a number of rough edges, many of which smoothed out with the passing of Edith's character, and Stephanie, his Jewish niece, living in the home. One of the notable episodes of ABP is when he ultimately decides to resign from the lodge when one of his fellow members starts insulting Mrs. Canby, his African-American housekeeper with racial insults, and he punches his lodge brother in the grocery store for the slurs made at her expense.

On another occasion, Archie is faced with a difficult decision, and he ultimately volunteers to take a shift in watching over the synagogue, taking a step in the right direction to combat Anti-Semitic vandalism for the sake of Murray, his Jewish co-owner of the bar, and Stephanie, his niece...

Another touching moment in ABP is an early episode involving Edith and Stephanie preparing a Shabbat dinner, with Murray's mother and aunt coming over as guests, and Archie's awkwardness at participating in such an occasion...

Throughout the years, I've noticed that Edith usually seems to be the only sane person in the family sometimes, serving as the voice of reason that somehow manages to keep the peace, despite Archie calling her a "dingbat" and often telling her to "stifle it"...

 

[snichols1973]

In Monsters University, Sulley's Scare Simulator subject is a 7-year old girl from Kauai who is afraid of thunder and lions.

It sounds like the M.U. animators made a cameo reference to Lilo & Stitch in that film...

 

[minor muppetz]

In UHF, after RJ Fletcher called Uncle Harvey with an offer to buy the station, he comes to the station to look at things and announce that he's going to buy it. However, a contract finalizing his ownership had not yet been signed, so in real life, could he have just gone over to the station to look at things like he did, unannounced? I could see it being okay to show up and say that you're the new owner, but I can't help but feel he stepped over his rights when he had not yet owned the place (and Uncle Harvey clearly didn't inform the staff that he'd be coming over).

 

[scooterfan360]

i watched silver spoons as a kid, and never once noticed how Kate eased her way into Edward's and Ricky's wealthy family, by buttering up Ricky, to get him to help her, until now.

 

[fuzzygobo]

i watched silver spoons as a kid, and never once noticed how Kate eased her way into Edward's and Ricky's wealthy family, by buttering up Ricky, to get him to help her, until now.

Rick Schroder is lucky. He avoided many of the pitfalls that former child stars fall into. He never got caught up in the scandals that plagued his colleagues on "Different Strokes" (he and Gary Coleman did show up on the set of "Facts of Life" once). He did some low-profile gigs in various tv movies, before really hitting his stride as an adult on "NYPD Blue".

I keep wondering if the price is really worth it. For a couple of years when you're young, you're cute, you're popular, you got money rolling in, everyone adores you, you got a hit show, you're on top of the world. Then the show gets cancelled, or you hit puberty and you're deemed "too old", and the world comes crashing down. Then it's back to reality, back to regular school, back to being poor- or broke-, dealing with the fact you're not "it" anymore.
That's a tough pill for too many to swallow.

As tempting as the trappings may be being a child star, it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Still, sometimes I wonder "why couldn't I be rich instead of good looking?"
Such is life.

 

[snichols1973]

Rick Schroder is lucky. He avoided many of the pitfalls that former child stars fall into. He never got caught up in the scandals that plagued his colleagues on "Different Strokes" (he and Gary Coleman did show up on the set of "Facts of Life" once). He did some low-profile gigs in various tv movies, before really hitting his stride as an adult on "NYPD Blue".

I keep wondering if the price is really worth it. For a couple of years when you're young, you're cute, you're popular, you got money rolling in, everyone adores you, you got a hit show, you're on top of the world. Then the show gets cancelled, or you hit puberty and you're deemed "too old", and the world comes crashing down. Then it's back to reality, back to regular school, back to being poor- or broke-, dealing with the fact you're not "it" anymore.
That's a tough pill for too many to swallow.

As tempting as the trappings may be being a child star, it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Still, sometimes I wonder "why couldn't I be rich instead of good looking?"
Such is life.

Another notable example of child-star burnout is Macaulay Culkin, who is now estranged from his father Kit Culkin, due to a costly custody battle that might have cost him his earnings as a child star actor.

Losing two of his sisters, Dakota who was hit by a car when stepping off a curb in 2008, and half-sister Jennifer Adamson to drug overdose in 2000 doesn't seem to make the situation any better....

Even Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace and was arrested for reckless driving (without a license) in 2015, cited bullying from classmates and the stress of doing up to 60 interviews a day as reasons for retiring from acting in 2001.

 

[D'Snowth]

As I've said before, as overrated as I find Neil Patrick Harris, I do respect the fact that he's managed to maintain a positive image for himself following his days of child stardom (Doogie Howser), whereas so many other child stars have managed to throw their talent away by getting caught up in the wrong kind of lifestyle - like Lindsay Lohan, for example: once upon a time, she used to be talented, and actually had a promising future ahead of her, but she threw it all away in favor of drugs, alcohol, hard-partying, petty robbery, and sex; now, whenever she does try to get back into acting, it's just plain sad and awkward to watch. Ditto, but less pressing for Amanda Bynes, since she evidently has serious mental problems.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Another notable example of child-star burnout is Macaulay Culkin, who is now estranged from his father Kit Culkin, due to a costly custody battle that might have cost him his earnings as a child star actor.

Losing two of his sisters, Dakota who was hit by a car when stepping off a curb in 2008, and half-sister Jennifer Adamson to drug overdose in 2000 doesn't seem to make the situation any better....

Even Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace and was arrested for reckless driving (without a license) in 2015, cited bullying from classmates and the stress of doing up to 60 interviews a day as reasons for retiring from acting in 2001.

Who lost two of his sisters? Macaulay?

 

[snichols1973]

Who lost two of his sisters? Macaulay?

It was Macaulay Culkin who lost two of his sisters; sorry for the typo, it must have slipped my mind when dividing it into paragraphs....

 

[D'Snowth]

We sure have been having tons of rain these past few months, but honestly, it more than makes up for the terrible drought we had last year.