Gemini Girl

As a child I watched way  too much TV. During the summers especially, my parents would allow my older brother and I to stay up as late as we wanted . Since cable wasn’t what it is today, we didn’t have too many options.

We stumbled across Nick @ Nite and were instantly hooked. I was 9, my brother 12. We spent hours watching “Father Knows Best”, “Patty Duke”, “Dick Van Dyke”, “Dobie Gillis”, “My Three sons”, “Get Smart”, “Donna Reed”… the list could go on and on.

It was quality programming! Although we were in the early 90′s, the shows from the 50′s/60′s made their way into our hearts. Yes they were outdated, yes they were sappy- but by darn they were better shows than what current TV had to offer.

I don’t think many 9 year olds could have competed with my Father Knows Best knowledge, nor would they want to.

I have very fond memories of those days.

So you can imagine how I feel with the current lineup Nick @ Nite has to offer these days.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: vs. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

As a child I watched this show. Will Smith was a young rapper who was plucked from the music industry (his music has never recovered) by Quincy Jones and place in his own show. Smith had not acted a day in his life prior to the show and was quite the novice. Will would often memorize the entire script (including his co-stars lines) and would mouth them along with his co stars as they were reciting their lines. You can catch a quick glimpse of this in the very early episodes.

While I enjoyed Smith’s comedic timing, and Alfonso Rivera’s Tom Jones Dancing it still was no Dobie Gillis.

The content of both shows (fresh prince/dobie) were often the same.

Dobie  (1959-1963) revolved around a teenager,  who aspired to have popularity, money, and the attention of beautiful girls. This is pretty much the premise of Fresh Prince, but without adult situations (as Will did get his share of booty).

Dobie embodied a time not so long ago where  teens listened to their parents, focused on their schoolwork, and were afraid to hold hands. A somewhat innocent time in the world.

Dobbie wins this round (although his sidekick Bob denver aka “Gilligan” didnt match up to Alfonso Rivera’s Carlton)

 

Round Two:

 

Donne Reed vs Roseanne:

 

“The Donna Reed Show”

I often watched this show and wondered why my own mother wasn’t so amazing. Donna was actively involved in her children’s lives, was there to tend to the house and  husband. What set Donna’s character a part from other TV moms at the time, was that she had a job outside the home as a nurse. So not only did she leave her house immaculate, she brought home the bacon and then cooked it (all the while not a hair out of place). 

 ”Roseanne” (1988-1997)

One of my favorite shows of ALL TIME. You cannot get better than this comedy- trust me. Roseanne was about a typical lower-middle class family trying to make ends meet while laughing at life. Roseanne was not perfect in any way. She was loud, overly opinionated, pessimistic, laughed at her children and frankly did not care about her appearance (except for that one episode where she has a breast reduction because of her back problems). But the show dealt with REAL problems: Infertility, underage drinking, underage sex, money troubles, death, abuse, etc. It was real and gritty and wasn’t wrapped up in a neat bow after 30 minutes.  The show was funny in a way that we had yet to see. Remember when they replaced Becky with a different actress (the girl in scrubs)? One day the old Becky came back. Roseanne was in the kitchen with new Becky while the original Becky walked in. Roseanne looks at new Becky and says “Who the hell are you?”. Instead of making it awkward- they poked fun at themselves for recasting another actress. Dude, that is comedy genius!

Roseanne wins hands downbecause she taught us that you dont have to be perfect to be a good mother. Sorry Donna.