Could Blazing Saddles or All in the Family come out today?

Let's not forget, this happened recently, to positive reviews:



If you're funny, you get a long leash.

 

Yep. Watch the 60 Minutes piece with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They talk about having this exact discussion early in their relationship and the answer they came up with was "yeah, if you had an 8-year-old kid saying it." It does change with the times. Back then it was acceptable for a crotchety-but-still-kinda-lovable old white guy not to get that what he was saying was offensive. That was the concept of the show and it fit the times. Today if you had an old white man in New York with beliefs like that he wouldn't be lovable in any way. But a kid or a cartoon? Maybe so.

 

All in the Family couldn't be on TV today, because Archie's head would have exploded on November 4, 2008.

 

We also don't have good, wholesome sitcoms like ALF anymore, either. We need more ALF.

 

Archie Bunker's Place was more about Danielle Brisebois than it was about Carroll O'Connor. Good Times became a lot like M*A*S*H in tone once Jimmy Walker and John Amos left. Jeffersons was more about economics than about politics. I think the most politically acute version of Lear's vision was Maude, which frequently touched on hot-button topics like abortion. But even that was more about marital bickering all tidied up in 30 minutes.

I'm not sure there would be a big demand for Lear's shows to be made. I think the social commentary we want nowadays, spurred largely by Seinfeld, is about the impersonalness of society.

 

I've been watching "Adam-12" on Hulu lately to help kill time between turning in the pages and waiting to hear from the press if something went wrong with the .pdf. That's a show that couldn't be made today. It was only a half hour long and it wasn't particularly dark and gritty (There were a couple of episodes that were but that wasn't the overall feel of the series). Pete Malloy would have to be written more like Horatio Caine than Joe Friday. And how many shows focus on the cops on patrol these days? Gotta be a detective or a CSI.

"Emergency!" probably could be made today but there would have to be more fires and explosions. (Adam Savage as Paramedic John Gage?)

 

"All in the Family" could come out, today, but Edith's singing voice would have to be autotuned.

 

Yeah, in 2012, it wouldn't be credible for an American born, Caucasian to be so naive regarding race, where his views could somehow be excused, and still be seen as lovable, in some way.

The only way to make it work would be if the "Archie" character either:

- Came from a foreign country, where racial attitudes weren't as evolved (Maybe Archie is the Polack!)

- Was a Muslim, who was not comfortable with the role women, homosexuals, etc. play in American society

- Was African-American, and had racial issues with Caucasians, and homophobic. (Instead of his daughter marrying a Polack, maybe his gay son marries a Polack.)

 

I think Blazing Saddles could be made, but it would have to be an indie and probably would have to have backing of a major Hollywood player (Clooney?).

No way one of the big four networks touches All In The Family, but I could see one of the cable networks broadcasting it. Comedy Central, perhaps? I mean, if Ricky Gervais can make a living doing what he does, they could find somewhere for All In The Family.

In my mind, the PC environment doesn't prevent it from getting made, but the reactions would be much different.

 

In a wave of 80s nostalgia, The Hollywood Reporter says Sony Pictures is planning a live action/CGI movie of the TV Show ALF, much like 2011's remake of The Smurfs.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/19242366/alf-to-return-in-a-movie-to-terrorize-cats

 

I don't really think it's a matter of TV being more PC now. How PC or acceptable is stuff like Fear Factor and The Bachelor? Both are / were on network TV within the past year. I think it's more that the television audience continues to get more and more fragmented as more options (cable, satellite, not-TV like HBO) continues to expand. As time goes on, we're going more and more toward niche programming, and I don't see how you put that toothpaste back in the tube.

In the 1960s and 1970s, you had essentially three major network choices. Now, even without cable, you probably have at least seven (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, WB / CW, maybe PAX). Heck, even if you don't have any channels near you, there is still the Internet and things like DVDs to give you nearly limitless options for content.

Ultimately, it's a GOOD thing for the individual consumer, at least in my opinion. If you look back at the good ole days of TV, while there was good stuff like All In The Family, there was even more crap - Time just tends to make you forget about the Joanie Loves Chachis of the world. I think an argument could be made though that with so much niche programming, there is less opportunity for cultural watershed moments, like Sammy Davis Jr. and Archie Bunker interacting.

 

I watch All in the Family nearly every day. In 1973, it was a big deal. in 2012, it seems tame. Funny, but tame.