I don't usually watch TV but when I was in the hospital recently, I saw plenty of it.
I realized just how good the show, Hawaii Five-O was, for example. When it comes to people listing off their favorites or some of the best of classic TV, it's not usually on the lists. You'll see the Andy Griffith Show (which was only great for about 3 years, the rest of the series is either just plain bad (the color TV years) or just not funny (the first few years.) Compare that show to Hawaii Five-O, which was always good.
But I'm not here to talk about Andy nor Hawaii Five-O. I'm here to tell you that show radio shows were just ridiculous.
Naw, not Fibber McGee and Molly. That show was supposed to be ridiculous. It's a cartoon show, for all intents and purposes. Same thing with Jack Benny, Amos and Andy etc. Those shows are supposed to be goofy and are.
Dragnet's not ridiculous. It's serious. They did a great job of keeping it serious the whole way. The Six Shooter was another show that kept a level head. Brit Ponsitt was not a crazy gunslinger, he was a normal man, as a matter-of-fact, a laid back man, even though he had a reputation and it seemed like everyone knew him. Yet, he wasn't about shooting up the town or beating up guys. He was about cornbread and snoozin'.
Which leads me to the most ridiculous show on radio - yet one of the most loved. It's hard not to hear an episode and not like it. I'm talking about the ridiculous Gunsmoke. Marshal Matt Dillon obviously had deep psychological problems - at least the radio version of him. The TV version of him wasn't much better but the radio guy was plum nuts. How many guys did he beat up with his fists or his gun barrel? While he was a lawman and was good at what he did, isn't it ridiculous to imagine him taking as many shots as he did and killing or maiming as many guys as he did? Would it be out of line to venture that the radio version of Dillon killed 400 men? I have no idea how many times he got shot himself, but it's a bunch. How many gunshots can a man have and still live? Did he take 75-100 bullets? Doesn't that seem like a lot? Doesn't that seem like too many?
©Jimbo 2012
Maybe it was ridiculous. What I think was just as ridiculous was the detectives that always got knocked out not only once a show, but, numerous times. Funny, they never went on the seven day concussion disable list!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVery true! I think you and I discussed this once before.
ReplyDeleteAt least on radio, we could imagine what we wanted, making -just how ridiculous it was- a product of our own imagination, for the most part.