There’s not a whole lot my dad loves more than “The Andy Griffith Show.”
He has a framed picture of Sheriff Taylor sitting in our basement like a family portrait. He quotes all of the reruns with an air of confidence. Hell, I think he may have been one glass of bad scotch away from naming me “Opie” and buying me a fishing pole.
To my father, and countless relatives, this black-and-white sitcom seems to symbolize a golden age of television. It represents that age before Honey Boo Boo and The Real Housewives. It represents a time when watching the news actually made you smarter.
And while I do enjoy the understated simplicity of old television and its lack of 21st century shenanigans, I disagree with those TV Land enthusiasts in my family – the golden age is now.
Yes, I understand that for every great show, there’s one about child beauty pageants and/or psychic suburban mothers. However, despite its few hiccups, programming has never been as groundbreaking, resonant and inventive as it is today. The medium has had a bit of a transformative period over the past couple of decades – conventional TV dramas and comedies have undoubtedly evolved – and it’s never looked better than it does right now.
Take a look at 2012. It was a year for the boob tube filled with highs, lows, cringes, guffaws and, of course, Mitt Romney’s renegade mouth. But above all else, the year was full of programming that dared to hurdle over traditional TV barriers with a running start. It was a year that continued a trend of long-form narratives with considerable depth.
I couldn’t leave my dorm room. I fell into a TV-induced coma in front of my dimly lit laptop. “Breaking Bad” continued its dark, despairing tale of drug kingpin Heisenberg. “Downton Abbey” kicked ass while making scones cool again. “The Walking Dead” told a compelling story while splattering sufficient amounts of zombie guts.
It’s no surprise that drama has been taking chances – after all, the culture of dramatic television has been changing ever since “The Sopranos” hit airwaves – but comedies are right there with them. The first season of “Girls” was a prolific, raunchy tale of young women trying to make it in our generation. “Parks and Recreation” continued to use the faux-documentary style for good, not evil. “Louie” once again defied what a TV comedy can be.
But what really separates this year and this decade from every other is its daring, unflinching vision. TV always used to be like a JV version of wide-released movies – using second-tier actors and taking less chances. Laugh tracks always masked any emotion and 30-minute run times limited content. But today, networks like AMC and HBO skillfully use longer narratives to create more engaging stories. Dare I say, TV has trumped the movies in every way.
I just hope that everyone will be like my father when they grow up. I hope they sit their children around the dining room table and tell them what the golden age of TV looked like. I don’t want them to recount the 12th season of “Real World” or Kim Kardashian’s buttocks — I want them to tell their kids about the shows they watched growing up. I want them to boast that they watched the best TV ever made. I know I will.
I’ll tell my son that there was this program called “Breaking Bad” and it was the best show in TV’s golden age. I’ll fight the temptation to name him Heisenberg and buy him a nifty black fedora to wear to pre-K. When I’m putting him to bed, I’ll hum the theme song like a grim lullaby. My dad always told me about Mayberry and Aunt Bee’s pies when I was growing up. I’m going to tell my son about Walter White and his crystal blue meth.
On second thought, I better wait until he’s older. Then I’ll tell him all about it.
