When I was in my mid to late teens I began watching the TV series SOAP on ABC channel 7 from New York. It was ground-breaking, funny as all hell and a show I will never forget.
I just binged watch the first season of 25 episodes from a free website I use for this stuff and haven't laughed out like this in a long time.
The jokes and comedy are still funny 40 years later.
When you see the cast, it's amazing how nearly everyone on the show became a star over the years. Just awesome in every way.
Some of you "youngsters" should check it out along with shows like Good Times, Sanford and Son and All in the Family.
I really liked that show when I was a kid, particularly Chuck and Bob.
However, the main thing I remember is how it absolutely scared the fuck out of me one night. I was probably 11 or 12, and my mom was out that night with one of her friends. Watching Soap, the scene where a baby had been recently born and a bunch of people were gathered around a bassinet. One by one the people left the room, until only the baby in the bassinet remained. Suddenly, the baby lets out a booming, demonic laugh, and the show ended.
Well, watching a comedy on TV, and not being old enough to have ever seen Rosemary's Baby (which the upcoming story arc was a comic take on), and being alone in the house, I freaked the fuck out. Turned on every light in the house and sat there shaking. That actually scared me worse than Jaws. Fuckers! :-) [Reply]
I watched it some back in the day. There was so few TV viewing options, it looked good by comparisons. Billy Crystal as the first openly gay person in a mai stream series that wasn’t played for the “gay” laughs only. [Reply]
Though the show’s ratings were still quite good in season four, ABC cancelled the series because of continued pressure from the so-called “moral majority.” By the end of the series, only Vlasic pickles was the only advertiser interested in the series. In They’ll Never Put That on the Air, executive producer Paul Junger Witt said, “We weren’t killed by a fearful network. The network had been incredibly supportive. We had been doing this long enough to understand that they were in a business, and they sat down and showed us — dollar for dollar — why they couldn’t afford to do it anymore.”
Originally Posted by Frazod:
I really liked that show when I was a kid, particularly Chuck and Bob.
However, the main thing I remember is how it absolutely scared the fuck out of me one night. I was probably 11 or 12, and my mom was out that night with one of her friends. Watching Soap, the scene where a baby had been recently born and a bunch of people were gathered around a bassinet. One by one the people left the room, until only the baby in the bassinet remained. Suddenly, the baby lets out a booming, demonic laugh, and the show ended.
Well, watching a comedy on TV, and not being old enough to have ever seen Rosemary's Baby (which the upcoming story arc was a comic take on), and being alone in the house, I freaked the fuck out. Turned on every light in the house and sat there shaking. That actually scared me worse than Jaws. Fuckers! :-)
In the 70's Soap was excellent, couldn't wait to watch it every week. Besides launching Billy Crystal's career, the father played by Richard Mulligan was hilarious and went on to get his own show, only to die too young. Also it got Robert Guillaume his own show as the butler.
I had two more favorites in the 70's, already mentioned was Taxi and I liked Mary Tyler Moore, primarily for Ted Knight, who got his own show as well and once again, died way too young. Who can forget Ted from Caddyshack. They ran several episodes MTM back at Christmas a year ago on Hallmark and I recorded them and watched them for months.
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
Family Ties is on Amazon and it holds up very well.
Taxi is another one that’s still extremely funny.
Never watched Taxi. I wished I caught FT's earlier than I did. I didn't watch that much TV back then...or even later.Just a few shows in phases. I love Big Bang Theory but missed more than half of it. I don't have Amazon Prime but used the trial and too much is a paid for episode or movie. [Reply]
