fandomhigh | The Birth of TV Comedy, Monday

"We've been talking about a lot of genre characteristics up until now," Mitchell started. They were back in the classroom - he figured he'd gone through on his end of the bargain, so they could go somewhere more projector-friendly today. "But technically this class is supposed to be about comedy history, so we'll try and narrow it back down to that. The 1950s!" He jotted the number on the blackboard. "Famous for many things - aprons, the nuclear family, the Cold War and the onset of television programmes."

He gave that one a moment to sink in. "TV was a new medium," he continued, "Everyone thought it was a little terrifying, really. And the times were already very moderate-- boring, suburbian, whatever you want to call it. The last thing a succesful TV show wanted to do was rock the boat, especially in the States. So there were very strict guidelines for a TV comedy, if it wanted to go anywhere. It had to show this ideal of American society, where the parents were always kind and the children were usually well-behaved. Prime example? The Ways of Weasel. Some of you must've seen it before. Black and white, simple, every episode's the same: young lad gets in trouble, and suffers the consequences. Our audience is educated, and we move on to the next one."

He stretched. "Family values. Really, it wasn't an age any more innocent than our current one, but the telly sure knew how to hide it. We've already talked about I Heart Heather before - that's the same thing. Though Weasel was unique for focusing on the children, rather than the parents. More often, you'd see something like Folks on Honeymoon - two couples, some zany schemes, some threats of domestic violence--" A pause, as he tilted his head and spoke, lightly, "Maybe not so nice. Still, whatever you can say about what they were all about, even if they made Mary Tyler Moore seem dark and gritty, they did invent some of the great comic tricks of our time. Double-takes, comedic body language, all that stuff: it came to be in these shows."

"Anyway, so much for the 50s," Mitchell finished, grinning a little. "Now I want to see the sketches you came up with two weeks ago. I'm sure you'll dazzle me."

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Who is never, ever going to admit to the amount of time he spent watching Ways of Weasel back in the 50s. Or the circumstances of most viewings, for less embarrassing reasons.

"No more beachy classes? I'm sad."

No, she hadn't expected more than one. She hadn't even asked for more than one.

That wasn't going to stop her from pouting at him, anyway.

"You'll have to negotiate another deal if you want another one," he said, idly.

"Nah, too much effort," she replied, shrugging. Couldn't hold onto the pouting for too long, it seemed. "I only have to spend like two or three hours indoors every week, anyway. I can be at the beach as much as I like."

Mitchell sighed - long and exaggerated - and flopped back. "And here I thought I was going to have to keep reminding you about that."

"I won, and now I can move on," she informed him. "Anyways, I get to tan during Captain Sparrow's class. It's awesome."

"What, someone else is letting you lounge on the beach and calling it class?" Mitchell asked, mock-frowning. "It's a scandal."

"Well, the class is called 'Being Marooned: Not That Bad'," Kate said. "And guess what?" She smirked. "It is not that bad. I mean, he doesn't even pay all that much attention to us. Couple of weeks ago I spent pretty much the entire class just lounging around with Puck."

And now neither of them knew how to build shelter. Too bad.

"Very scandalous," Mitchell corrected himself, wiggling his eyebrows comically.

Kate snickered. "Yes. Very. I can barely take it. What oh what effects will all this have on my innocent, impressionable young mind?"

"You'll probably start doing LSD and running naked in the streets in no time," he decided. "Lost generation."

"Pfft, way too retro for me," Kate scoffed. "It'll be the latest designer drug and-- Okay, actually, running naked through the streets is kind of a timeless thing."

"It sort of is," Mitchell agreed, grinning, nodding, and--

Okay, that was a five second moment of zoning out on a flashback.

Behold the deadpan of the slightly TMI-ed.

"Yeah, I so needed this. Thank you."

"Kids these days," Mitchell said, snapping out of it. "Such puritans."

"Don't tempt your fate, old man." Ooh, idle threats. "Anyway, there's being a puritan, and then there's just plain not wanting to know."

The Birth of TV Comedy, Monday

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