Imagine this being on regular TV nowadays

[KevShmev]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSrKLTx_ao&feature=related

It would, and could, never happen. 

[Adami]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dc0W3JilDg

[black_biff_stadler]

Holy shit Kev, I'm dyin here

Thought it was gonna be this though.

[KevShmev]

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Lji3kw7dLOQ#t=172s

[ReaPsTA]

Clips like this have nothing to do with why Television was such a popular/edgy/important medium back in the day and now it's becoming harder and harder to come up with new hit shows.

Nothing whatsoever.

[El Barto]

Archie Bunker was the best of the racists, and he was actually pretty damned funny, as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjhzhK2zryg&feature=related

[Orbert]

Amazing what we actually saw on network TV back then.  Of course, it had to be network TV, as that's all there was.  I've never been impressed by South Park; they clearly know that they're on cable and what the rules are there, and seem to take a delight in exploiting it.  "See how edgy we are?  We can do this because we're on cable."

[PetFish]

Gay jokes and promiscuity (aka slut) jokes have replaced racism in today's society.  It's all about context and I'm fine with anything as long as it "makes sense".

[KevShmev]

Archie Bunker was the best of the racists, and he was actually pretty damned funny, as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjhzhK2zryg&feature=related

Yes!  One of my favorite All in the Family episodes ever.  I love how the live crowd roars with laughter when Archie says to George, "I think that was very white of ya."

Amazing what we actually saw on network TV back then.  Of course, it had to be network TV, as that's all there was.  I've never been impressed by South Park; they clearly know that they're on cable and what the rules are there, and seem to take a delight in exploiting it.  "See how edgy we are?  We can do this because we're on cable."

Agreed.  With South Park, it is all about shock value.  With shows like All in the Family, it was not.

[Orbert]

Well, sometimes All in the Family (and The Jeffersons) were going for shock, but not to get cheap laughs.  They were making a point.  Why can a black man call a white man "honky" but a white man can't call a black man "nigger"?  Answer: Both of them can, as long as they understand the potential consequences.  As with anything else, it's not just what you say, but the circumstances in which you say it.  Black people call each other "nigger" all the time, and now white people call each other variations of it ("niggah" etc.) and you even have instances where a white person calls a black person "nigger" and doesn't get shot, so maybe it's progress, after all.  I can't even tell anymore.

[ReaPsTA]

Agreed.  With South Park, it is all about shock value.  With shows like All in the Family, it was not.

Interesting.  I think it's the opposite.

Gay jokes and promiscuity (aka slut) jokes have replaced racism in today's society.  It's all about context and I'm fine with anything as long as it "makes sense".

Eh, not really.  I'm not aware of a network TV show right now that's trying to honestly explore the lives of gay characters.  I think Will and Grace tried to do this.  But that ended years ago.

[theseoafs]

Amazing what we actually saw on network TV back then.  Of course, it had to be network TV, as that's all there was.  I've never been impressed by South Park; they clearly know that they're on cable and what the rules are there, and seem to take a delight in exploiting it.  "See how edgy we are?  We can do this because we're on cable."

As a South Park fan, I can't say I agree with that.

[El Barto]

Archie Bunker was the best of the racists, and he was actually pretty damned funny, as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjhzhK2zryg&feature=related

Yes!  One of my favorite All in the Family episodes ever.  I love how the live crowd roars with laughter when Archie says to George, "I think that was very white of ya."

I certainly laughed my ass off.     In the end, what made it great was that Archie was in the rare position of not being the most racially insensitive guy in the room, which uncharacteristically made him the outside observer. 

[black_biff_stadler]

Amazing what we actually saw on network TV back then.  Of course, it had to be network TV, as that's all there was.  I've never been impressed by South Park; they clearly know that they're on cable and what the rules are there, and seem to take a delight in exploiting it.  "See how edgy we are?  We can do this because we're on cable."

As a South Park fan, I can't say I agree with that.

+1

Their over the top delivery makes it easy to miss the point if you're described by any of the following:

1. You aren't familiar with their style

2. You go in not liking it anyway and just plan on watching one episode so you can say you gave it a "fair chance" when others accuse you of never having watched it anyway.


Overall, Parker and Stone are VERY skilled at weaving storylines together in ways that amusingly satirize society/trends/etc. and they usually tie up the loose ends at the end of episodes in very amusing ways that make sense.

[hefdaddy42]

I think you're giving them a little too much credit.  I watched the show for its first 4 or 5 seasons, and they occasionally wove in satire or social commentary, but I really felt they did it so that they could get away with putting shocking things in their cartoon and getting away with it.

[black_biff_stadler]

After the first season's new car smell wore off they declined to an extent bordering on abysmal at times. They had run completely dry creatively speaking and were milking a very tired concept. Then out of nowhere in 2001, the episode Scott Tenorman Must Die happened. Casual fans like myself remember it simply as the episode where Cartman got ripped off by a 9th grader who'd sold him pubes because Cartman was dumb enough to not realize they grow naturally on your body eventually.

I won't go into spoiler details but that was a watershed moment in developing Cartman as a hilarious antagonist and was pivotal in shifting toward a more edgy style that incorporated more involved storyline development and stopped trying to rest on its laurels.

[hefdaddy42]

Well, whatever you say.  I don't watch it anymore, so I guess I wouldn't know about anything more recent.  But I know that their other output (Baseketball, Orgazmo) doesn't do wonders for their credibility in my eyes.

But I don't really care that much either way.

[kirksnosehair]

I think television has improved greatly since I was a kid with 3 network stations and a few UHF stations to watch.  Networks have become more regulated in some areas like language, but they've also been allowed a lot more room in other areas such as sexual content and violence.


Besides, now you can watch any R rated or even X rated movie you want on TV anytime you like.


The trend that I have grown weary of is remakes.  Everyone's remaking stuff.    I prefer original things.

[El Barto]

I think television has improved greatly since I was a kid with 3 network stations and a few UHF stations to watch.  Networks have become more regulated in some areas like language, but they've also been allowed a lot more room in other areas such as sexual content and violence.

In some areas this is true.  In others, not so much.  You compare Breaking Bad to the "gritty crime dramas" we had back in the day, and it's no comparison.  Comedy is a completely different story, though.  Every September I hook up an antenna to watch football, and I start seeing commercials for upcoming sitcoms, and all the jokes are painfully bad and the premises are stale and contrived.  Not only do they not make me laugh, they make me think watching 30 minutes of that shit would be a terrible experience.  That 8 minute clip from All in the Family was hysterical.  And it wasn't because of shock value, which is one of the things modern comedy tends to rely on.  It's a simple premise with good writing and acting. 

[BlobVanDam]

I think television has improved greatly since I was a kid with 3 network stations and a few UHF stations to watch.  Networks have become more regulated in some areas like language, but they've also been allowed a lot more room in other areas such as sexual content and violence.

In some areas this is true.  In others, not so much.  You compare Breaking Bad to the "gritty crime dramas" we had back in the day, and it's no comparison.  Comedy is a completely different story, though.  Every September I hook up an antenna to watch football, and I start seeing commercials for upcoming sitcoms, and all the jokes are painfully bad and the premises are stale and contrived.  Not only do they not make me laugh, they make me think watching 30 minutes of that shit would be a terrible experience.  That 8 minute clip from All in the Family was hysterical.  And it wasn't because of shock value, which is one of the things modern comedy tends to rely on.  It's a simple premise with good writing and acting. 

While I mostly agree with that, also keep in mind you're comparing one of the better shows that is still remembered vs the crapload of new generic shows pumped out every year that won't survive anyway.
With more channels to fill, there is probably a higher percentage of crap, but I'd say the best comedies of today are as good as anything in the past (I'd say overall much better if we're looking beyond the standard style sitcom and including the newer style of comedies, and animated shows), and to be honest, I find 99% of sitcoms painfully unfunny and stale from any era, old or new. I even find a lot of the popular classic comedies to be terrible.

I've never seen any of All In The Family until this thread, but from the clips I just saw, I found quite funny, and definitely worlds better than the general sitcom you're talking about.