Is it love or is it magic?

[Inner Stickler]

I'm dead in 2 of the three mafia games I'm playing, the third is moving at a pace that makes glaciers feel like speed demons and I can't access the dope today, it seems. So I'm watching Nanny and the professor episodes on Hulu. At one point I did go through and watch all of them that are up but time has rendered my memories hazy so I come to you asking for suggestions as to which episodes to watch next.

[Zuul]

Oh geez. I haven't seen any of that show in ages. I seem to recall an episode about a haunted house (and looking around to refresh my memory, I think it may have been called "The Haunted House") which I'd really enjoyed. This has an episode list.

"The Great Broadcast of 1936" was one of my favorites, too.

How is the show holding up? I just switched to Hulu Plus and canceled Netflix, since it seemed like the better choice all around. I haven't spent much time poking around at the older shows they have, though.

[Inner Stickler]

Well, a year or so ago, I was entranced enough to watch everything hulu had. (I don't have hulu plus so it's possible that they have more that I just don't have access to.) Overall, it strikes me as an idyllic Mayberry sort of show where nothing's the end of the world as we know it but important enough to matter.

[Zuul]

I'm assuming I must have watched it on Nick at Nite, or some other actual-TV-channel, because I watched it a long, long time ago. I know it was one I generally enjoyed at the time, though.

[What Exit?]

Is it sad I knew what the title referred to immediately?

I was re-watching them a few years ago and found I still enjoyed them and they had a charm that was rare.

[Inner Stickler]

I rather expected you would as your thread on the dope was what led me to watching them the first time. I just watched The Masculine-Feminine Mystique, though and I'm a little irked by nanny's advice to Francine Fowler.

[Zuul]

I don't remember that one. What happens?

[What Exit?]

I rather expected you would as your thread on the dope was what led me to watching them the first time. I just watched The Masculine-Feminine Mystique, though and I'm a little irked by nanny's advice to Francine Fowler.

I don't remember them that well. Which was that?

[Inner Stickler]

Roughly paraphrased, "It hurts men's egos when we do things better than them so we must figure out ways to do the things we do better so that we don't hurt their egos." Leaving me to wonder why, apart from a general sense of it's rude to hurt people's feelings, should they care? And then Francine struck out at baseball tryouts from sun in her eyes, a freak gust of wind blowing sand in her face and a sneeze so that no one had to lose face and she wouldn't hurt Hal's feelings for being better than him at baseball. I would have preferred Hal learning that it's ok to not be as good at something as a girl and for Francine to decide whether she wants to play ball or not on the basis of whether she wants to play ball or not and not whether Hal wants her to.

(I'm sure it's because of the era but I've noticed a couple of episodes put my teeth on edge with gender roles. There was one where Nanny was showing the kids part of a marraige downpayment an african chief had given her. Nanny: "In some parts of the world, men buy their wives. Isn't that an interesting cultural difference?" I think it's a little more than that, Nanny, dear.)

[Zuul]

Ouch. Yeah, that would be rather off-putting. I guess it's a minor accomplishment that they were willing to acknowledge that girls could succeed at those sorts of things, but making it all about Hal's ego sucks.

[What Exit?]

Yep, 1970 was still fairly primitive. Even Mary Tyler Moore show which was probably the most progressive was still mostly in the older mode of thought. They played up the fact the network would show her off as their "Female Exec". Meanwhile most of the other women on the show fell into the more traditional roles of the time. Don't get me started on "That Girl" the progress in that was barely noticeable to me. Though "Get Smart" rarely gets credit for Agent 99. She was not only very progressive in many ways but also by far the more competent agent.

[Zuul]

Though "Get Smart" rarely gets credit for Agent 99. She was not only very progressive in many ways but also by far the more competent agent.

Not only was she the more competent agent, but she kept working after getting married! She was apparently the first female character to do that on an American sitcom.

[What Exit?]

Though "Get Smart" rarely gets credit for Agent 99. She was not only very progressive in many ways but also by far the more competent agent.

Not only was she the more competent agent, but she kept working after getting married! She was apparently the first female character to do that on an American sitcom.

I didn't know, that is pretty cool. Sad and funny how low the standards were. The first interracial kiss on TV was on Star Trek. But the circumstances of the show were hardly wonderful. Kirk and Uhura were basically compelled. Star Trek was not allowed by NBC to have a woman as first officer and was lucky to have a Uhura as a bridge officer and Sulu being play without significant stereotype.

Pre-"All in the Family" was still pretty primitive, no way around it.

[Inner Stickler]

Just watched The Humanization of Herbert T. Peabody. I thought it was really good but then I'm a sucker for puppetry, especially Punch and Judy.