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Seinfeld says that far left woke mobs have killed comedy. He also dated a 17-year-old.
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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He also picked shows that were "extreme left" for their time. M*A*S*H was full of left-wing morals and speeches from the pens of both Larry Gelbart and Alan Alda and was savagely critical of an American war against communists while America was still in Vietnam.
Mary Tyler Moore was about an independent career woman in the 1960s, when women weren't allowed to have their own credit cards.
All in the Family was about a conservative racist constantly being shown that the world had moved on from his archaic ideas about the way things should be.
So what is his issue with the "extreme left" exactly if those were the shows he picked?
Seriously. MASH had episodes around racism, and every time denigrating the racism and the fool perpetuating it. It never pushed a racist message.. at least from what my memory can recall all these decades afterwards.
I think the two that come immediately to mind are racist general who is clearly looney toons asking a black soldier to dance cause its in his blood, properly being demonstrated as off his rocker and crazy to believe such racist bullshit and just a downright mockery of those who think like that.
and there was the one where the guy didnt want blood from any black person, and they spend the episode fucking with him with makeup and claiming he got the wrong color blood... and the episode ends with him thanking them for giving him something to think about, then salutes a black woman before leaving.
Weirdly enough, that role was played by the actor who portrayed Colonel Potter in later seasons.
Back when TV was like, "sure, we'll cast you in the same show in a different role three times."
Columbo practically thrived on it. "William Shatner is the murderer again?"
MASH also had a Black character in the first season whose nickname was "Spearchucker Jones," which is supposedly justified by him being a former javelin athlete (which strikes me as coming from the "Quiet has to be dressed in clubwear while doing Serious Military Stuff because she breathes through her skin!" school of poorly-justified writing choices). It also suffers from the conceit of Hawkeye being simultaneously the moral center of the show, and a shameless womanizer whose conquests only exist in the context of the show for as long as it takes him to bed them.
I love MASH for what it is, but there are aspects of it that are clearly of its era, which we wouldn't repeat in modern television. I think you can either accept that society has moved on from where it was in the 70s and 80s, or you can be like Seinfeld and be mad that you're no longer allowed to play sexism and racism for laughs with the perpetrator framed as the good guy.
MAS*H had an episode in 1974 about the injustice of a decorated soldier having to fear being dishonorably discharged for being a homosexual. That was way, way ahead of its time.
And guess what... they went woke and haven't aired a new episode in DECADES.
Checkmate libs.
That is utter nonsense. I remember watching it in re-runs more than once.
Why do people lie about shit like this?
that comment was a joke
Very, very obviously. It's like some people were born in a weekday comic strip without nuance!
Man, that reminds me of that idiot Shatner claiming that Star Trek wasn't political back in the day...
You could legit just read the screenshot and answer your own question.
Looks like Jerry is a pretty mainstream liberal who is okay with shows tackling issues of their own volition, but doesn't appreciate the current production model of everything having to pass through focus groups, committees, and wanker consultants, coming out the other side so impotent and safe that it doesn't arouse the intellect enough to really make a point or stand for anything specific.
Like if you watch Disney stuff and think that's normal, you're part of the problem.
Sorry... you think that's current? It's always been that way.
A person heavily involved in TV production since 1989 doesn't seem to agree
By "a person," do you mean Jerry Seinfeld?
That couldn't have been subtle enough to ask.
American television was always known for production interference, but it was mostly from advertisers, bored executives, and censors. Not even close to the same thing, widespread use of focus testing and demographic committees and having 12 different sensitivity consultants is all relatively modern, and that's on top of most of the traditional interference.
And you in all likelihood knew all this, but chose to waste our time anyway.
That is absolute nonsense. And I do know this because I worked in the entertainment industry for over 10 years. Did you?
Did Seinfeld?
Ignoring the my-uncle-works-for-microsoft flex for a moment, are you trying to pretend we're talking about changes that occurred in the last 10 years? Jerry was working in television 35 years ago, and is talking about programmes even prior to that. You probably weren't even born then.
It didn't take long for Lemmy to turn into a carbon copy of reddit, I barely post here and you're like the third dude in the last day to pull the same sleight of hand by trying to change the argument.
First of all, I'm almost 47. I watched Seinfeld episodes the day they aired.
Secondly, focus groups have been a thing for many, many decades. Long before Seinfeld existed. In fact, before television existed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_group