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1950s: Lots of physical comedy, but at least it was fresh and new.
1960s: Lots more of physical comedy, lots more "dumbing down" comedy, but at least a small handful of shows like "Get Smart" had the balls to poke fun at the government and make offbeat social commentary, knowing they could hide behind pompous farce and get away with it (very cheeky, I love it!!).
1970s: Started out new and daring with "All in the Family" by being upfront and not hiding behind farce, but by 1976 people wanted to simply turn on and tune out - oh-so-tired of having to deal with real life issues, so unfunny 50s-wannabe crap like "Laverne and Shirley" and "Happy Days" ruled the scene. Of course, there was "Mork and Mindy" but that had to start by imposing itself in "Happy Days".
1980s: Much more mind numbing, unassuming, unthreatening rubbish - with the exception of 1987's "Married, With Children" and later "Roseanne" which was a somewhat cleaner, less "offensive" copycat of "Married" and put on a network that had a larger audience to attract. Of course, I can't touch "The Cosby Show", which was clean and wholesome and the antithesis of the 1980s - at least for the first 4 years... I'm not even going to mention "Silver Spoons" which epitomizes the wretched era. Even the sitcom "My Two Dads" was a 30 minute nonassuming waste of time, despite having a promising title...
1990s: Thanks to "Married with Children" (which ultimately became a parody of itself) and "Roseanne" (which turned from the ideal blue collar sitcom into a parody of a farce of itself), television got a little bit more daring again, though ultimately so repetitive it became as stale as the spinoff shows they attempted to generate. "Spin City" and "Ellen" however introduce gay characters whose characters are treated seriously and get actual screen time to be more than stereotypes, much to the chagrin of the stuffy geezers who live at church and never look out into the real world and would rather impose their way on life onto everybody else. "Will and Grace" also introduces gay characters but just remain on this side of "stereotype city" to be considered...
2000s: So far, it's all stale and trite and even more mind-numbing than the late 70s/80s; probably to continue the socially engineered docility of the American lower/middle classes (note how the rich are too busy going to posh social engagements and learning the violin to watch the "idiot box" (as they call it). But ABC is starting a new comedy featuring two dads and far more deserves the title of "My Two Dads" because, *gasp*, they're a couple of poofs! (Let's just see how ABC execs wanted the show to present itself, will the characters be treated seriously, or as stereotypic charicatures?)
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