Well, Sammy,

“Those rosy memories we all share are actually memories from our favorite TV shows. We’ve confused our own childhoods with episodes of “Ozzie and Harriet,” “Father Knows Best,” and “The Brady Bunch.” In real life, Ozzie had a very visible mistress for years, Bud and Kitten on “Father Knows Best” grew up to become major druggies, and Mom on “The Brady Bunch” dated her fifteen-year-old fictional son.” – Cynthia Heimel (2004). “Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I’m Kissing You Good-bye”

You’re not alone.

It’s not surprising we go after unhealthy people. Considering the dichotomy between what we lived with and what we saw on TV, it’s probably more surprising when we don’t.

That is a great analogy, Reader.

Trying to rescue a chaotic LO is… inviting chaos into your life.

The dynamic for comments has definitely changed as the site has matured. It’s trying to do a lot of things at once nowadays, with newcomers and old hands having different needs.

Time for a reorganisation, I agree.

“Lost In Space” was a campy TV series in the mid-60s. Where the original “Star Trek” was a serious, LIS was as campy as they come.”

@Limerent Emeritus.

I wasn’t around in the mid-60s. However, my sisters and I grew up on LIS, thanks to the show coming out on video in the 90s and my mother not letting us watch a lot of actual TV…

Funnily enough, I never thought of LIS as “campy” while I was actually watching it. Although so much culture from that period does seem campy e.g. Bewitched, I Dream of Genie, The Brady Bunch. Even the movie “The Sound of Music” seems dreadfully campy to me as an adult. Although, as a child, I lapped it up as some marvellous insight in the real world of adult emotional relationships. (I think even some of the actors on TSOM thought the storyline was too syrupy-sweet).

Is it any wonder my “emotional barometer” is way off, when I spent my entire childhood consuming media that was either campy or sentimental, and mistaking both for real life? Oh yes, I took my television very seriously as a boy. No one explained to me that these idealised depictions of romantic love/suburban family life/family life on a hostile planet with a talking robot in tow weren’t real. 😜

Link to Fractured Fairy Tales:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT2QpCoUWzA&list=PLLhOnau-tupR5l-OSXT1BHzAy_qV8ww-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0ochx16Dg

Going tangential…

There was a lot of subtlety in 60s TV.

“Lost In Space” was a campy TV series in the mid-60s. Where the original “Star Trek” was a serious, LIS was as campy as they come. Kind of like the “Batman” TV (1966-1968). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qddas1Gwmys

“Rocky an Bullwinkle” (1959) had an undercurrent of adult themes, one of which was the Cold War. Each show consisted of 4 cartoons, 2 R&B, 1 Fractured Fairy Tales, and 1 Peabody and Sherman. FF was my favorite, which helps explain my distorted recollection of many classic fairy tales. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=LT2QpCoUWzA&list=PLJhawgENOx2x5HHGS2L_O7b4SBq2xKKyp was chosen for obvious reasons.

True story:

One time, my parents left me with a friend of the family. Along with my parents, they were one of the “It” couples of the neighborhood. I loved going to their house because they had a pool with a pirate chest in the deep end and the only color TV in the neighborhood.

I don’t remember where his wife and my parents were. They didn’t have kids so he asked what I normally did in the early evening. I told him that I watched cartoons. He said then we’d watch cartoons. Fridays were R&B night so that’s what we watched.

After it was over, he said, “That show is not for children.” I told yes it was and he said, “No, it’s not.”