I’m feeling old lately. Seriously.
When Bates Motel first came out as a series I watched a few episodes and was hooked. Our 21 year old neighbor was also a fan, and he used to come hang out with us once in a while. He didn’t have a relationship with his parents and I suspect we were a bit of a fill-in. Anyway, we started talking about Bates Motel and I made mention of how it was so cool to see the evolution of Norman into someone who would dig his mother up, etc., etc. My neighbor got very upset with me because I’d just spoiled the show. He was unaware of a movie with Norman Bates in it.
Last week my neighbor (not the same one, this one is in his early 30’s) started watching Ratched. We’re all mad AHS fans. So, my husband and I binged the show, too and loved it. On Saturday night we had the neighbor and his sister (who also, yes, lives in the neighborhood) over to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. To his credit, he had heard of the movie, he’d just never seen it. They liked the movie. I pointed out Christopher Lloyd and Danny Devito in the film – you know, from TAXI? Well, they knew Lloyd from the Back to the Future movies, and knew Danny Devito from something called Matilda, but had never seen Taxi. I did what anyone else my age would do; after the movie I opened YouTube and pulled up the scene from Taxi where Jim takes his driver’s test. EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT SCENE I’M TALKING ABOUT! What does the yellow light mean? They’d never seen Taxi. Never heard of it.
I mentioned some of the other sitcoms we used to love. Oh, first I mentioned how Sherwood Shwartz single-handedly dumbed down the whole country with shows like the Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island. Anyway, I brought up All in the Family…. crickets…. Why are there people out there who’ve never seen All in the Family? It’s not just classic, it’s historic. It was a protest without anything getting burned down or and no looting. They were both horrified when I quoted some of the things that Archie would say. And if they haven’t heard of All in the Family then what are the chances that they’d have seen Maude? Maude was groundbreaking! OMG…
I just know I’m going to be one of those old ladies who bites people…
Tracy Petry 