[Steveknj]

Last night's was a very good episode. Who knew Dean's grandfather would end up being cool?

But it took him a while and it was very funny the way he criticized everyone and everything.

A 1955 Oldsmobile wouldn't have seat belts but they were very lucky. It's always good to see cars that look like cars.

Yeah, if you are 85 years old and remember cars looking like that. Personally for all the "they don't make cars like that anymore" sentiment, today's cars look cooler, and are made MUCH better. Old things always look cool because they are foreign to our modern eyes and that makes them cool. There's a vintage car show every Sat night in the parking lot of our local supermarket and I look at those cars and think, yeah, they look much different, but also realize that they probably got 10 mpg, polluted the air something horrible, probably last no longer than today's cars and probably significantly less without a lot of work and TLC, and the tech we take for granted in a modern car just didn't exist back then.

I'm all for nostalgia, but sometimes, a lot of it is us just being old and us remembering when it was a simpler time for all of us.

 

[HarleyRandom]

Yeah, if you are 85 years old and remember cars looking like that. Personally for all the "they don't make cars like that anymore" sentiment, today's cars look cooler, and are made MUCH better.

Well made cars are boring.

I was looking up a car which has the same name as a misspelled word for a type of trumpet and those cars looked so great.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I was never good at science and never entered a science fair. The closest I got to anything like this was 8th grade history where we had to do some kind of history-related project.

I was also picked on but never had an experience quite like this with any of the people who did that.

When does Dean's mom work? We saw she had an important job but it must be part-time if she's always home when Dean gets through at school, and even able to pick him up.

 

[HarleyRandom]

It was wonderful to see Dean's brother and he's quite a likable character. I was so relieved because he made it home and didn't die. Now, that may not happen.

Still, he is very concerned about those he served with and their families. A secret visit with a duffel bag made me think he was dealing drugs. Not true.

I was very surprised he wore a jacket that said U.S. Army. I thought Vietnam vets avoided wearing anything that suggested what they had done.

I wasn't expecting the brother to get a job as a teller. Seems like that would involve training beyond high school. A guard, maybe. But it was a shame what actually happened. I wish he had gone to college because he dodged a bullet, literally.

It surprised m how good-nature the recruiting people were about Dean's protest.

And finally, at one point in the episode, Dean wore my school colors from a couple of years later.

 

[Steveknj]

It was wonderful to see Dean's brother and he's quite a likable character. I was so relieved because he made it home and didn't die. Now, that may not happen.

Still, he is very concerned about those he served with and their families. A secret visit with a duffel bag made me think he was dealing drugs. Not true.

I was very surprised he wore a jacket that said U.S. Army. I thought Vietnam vets avoided wearing anything that suggested what they had done.

I wasn't expecting the brother to get a job as a teller. Seems like that would involve training beyond high school. A guard, maybe. But it was a shame what actually happened. I wish he had gone to college because he dodged a bullet, literally.

It surprised m how good-nature the recruiting people were about Dean's protest.

And finally, at one point in the episode, Dean wore my school colors from a couple of years later.

I fully expect that, sadly he won't come back from Vietnam. That would be in lockstep with what happened in the original series where Winnie's brother got killed in the war.

I don't think you need any special training to be a cashier trainee, but the point they were trying to make is that as a young black man, they would hire him to do menial tasks, but a white man in a similar situation is given more responsibilities. This is 1960s Alabama and there's a lot of segregationist feeling at that time. Remember Wallace was still around.

Speaking of Alabama, but does anyone on this show speak like they are from Alabama? Nobody has any kind of accent. Not any of the black OR white characters. That makes little sense to me.

 

[HarleyRandom]

Ironic that Dean and his sister actually liked the exclusive organization but their mom is the one who wasn't being truly accepted.

And Dean's sister a debutante? Not happening.

 

[Steveknj]

Ironic that Dean and his sister actually liked the exclusive organization but their mom is the one who wasn't being truly accepted.

And Dean's sister a debutante? Not happening.

I think that was kind of predictable. Interestingly Blackish had a similar plot this week in which Bow and Dre go to a hoity toity fun raiser and Dre doesn't want to go, and Bow does, and they end up befriending Michelle Obama. Either way, it's a common sitcom trope in which a "common" family tries to join in a "socieity" function and hijinx ensues.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I think that was kind of predictable. Interestingly Blackish had a similar plot this week in which Bow and Dre go to a hoity toity fun raiser and Dre doesn't want to go, and Bow does, and they end up befriending Michelle Obama. Either way, it's a common sitcom trope in which a "common" family tries to join in a "socieity" function and hijinx ensues.

But the family on that show is borderline affluent.

Dre does seem to have never changed that much from when he lived in the 'Hood.

 

[HarleyRandom]

That was a really nice building where the Bar Mitzvah took place. I believe the narrator did call it a synagogue.

It surprises me that there would be such a large one in the South but I guess in a big city like Montgomery, it's possible. It might even be the only one.

I felt so bad for Dean. He had to give up his female best friend because of his girlfriend, and then his best friend started leaving him out of everything his friends did with her.

And what seemed like the obvious solution was not.

What did Kim do with her Afro?

 

[Steveknj]

That was a really nice building where the Bar Mitzvah took place. I believe the narrator did call it a synagogue.

It surprises me that there would be such a large one in the South but I guess in a big city like Montgomery, it's possible. It might even be the only one.

I felt so bad for Dean. He had to give up his female best friend because of his girlfriend, and then his best friend started leaving him out of everything his friends did with her.

And what seemed like the obvious solution was not.

What did Kim do with her Afro?

From what I know about Jewish congregations in larger cities with smaller Jewish populations there is generally only a small number of synagogues and they tend to be large as there are so few of them. In the 1970s when this show takes place (or maybe late 1960s) there was still a larger population of Jews who were less assimilated and thus more religious, and you also have to consider that for Jews who are vastly outnumbered in a community, the synagogue is a place to congregate with the community and becomes so much more than just a place for religious activities. This is much like an African American church, which is much the same thing.

 

[HarleyRandom]

Good music last night.

There's no way the average 12-year-old could play the way those 12-year-olds did. How they sounded when they were nervous is how a 12-year-old should sound. I had gym class (the band room was near where we did our exercises) during 7th grade band practice and there were few if any real talents. The 7th graders were not in the "real" band.

Even worse, I had gym class during 8th and 9th grade band in 8th AND 9th grades.They were somewhat better, being more experienced.

Dean's Dad should focus on this man job, though that did upset his band mates.

I was pleased Dean's Dad was willing to not insist his son continue practicing so hard. They just had a good time at the end.

 

[HarleyRandom]

Someone commented on Dean's afro. You call that an afro? His sister had an amazing one.

 

[Steveknj]

Good music last night.

There's no way the average 12-year-old could play the way those 12-year-olds did. How they sounded when they were nervous is how a 12-year-old should sound. I had gym class (the band room was near where we did our exercises) during 7th grade band practice and there were few if any real talents. The 7th graders were not in the "real" band.

Even worse, I had gym class during 8th and 9th grade band in 8th AND 9th grades.They were somewhat better, being more experienced.

Dean's Dad should focus on this man job, though that did upset his band mates.

I was pleased Dean's Dad was willing to not insist his son continue practicing so hard. They just had a good time at the end.

My daughter was in the school orchestra from 7th grade on, and there were definitely people who could play that well at that age. A LOT of kids, no, but there were a few.

 

[HarleyRandom]

Last night's episode was very good. Kim was so nice to the girl Dean wanted to date.

It's a shame Dean got blamed for what the girl did in the drug store.

I found the polite boy very convincing, but some interpreted his actions as if he were Eddie Haskell.

 

[cheesesteak]

I had around seven episodes of this show backed up on the tivo and finally watched them over the last couple of days. It's not great but it's a good enough, entertaining show. I don't really know why I stopped watching.

The one thing I can't figure out is why a black pre-teen in 1968 Alabama would have a poster of the crappy Philadelphia Phillies on his bedroom wall. Maybe Dean was a Richie Allen fan or something. Also, I think the logo on that Phillies poster didn't appear until around 1970.

 

[Steveknj]

I had around seven episodes of this show backed up on the tivo and finally watched them over the last couple of days. It's not great but it's a good enough, entertaining show. I don't really know why I stopped watching.

The one thing I can't figure out is why a black pre-teen in 1968 Alabama would have a poster of the crappy Philadelphia Phillies on his bedroom wall. Maybe Dean was a Richie Allen fan or something. Also, I think the logo on that Phillies poster didn't appear until around 1970.

There's a lot that doesn't make sense. For example, they live in the deep south, yet few of the characters have the accents to match, including Dean. I know they showed a few instances of bigotry and segregation remnants (the episode where Dean goes with him mom to work), but there just seems to me that life is too harmonious between the black and white characters, only a few years after the Civil Rights Act. This is the deep south after all and it took time for attitudes to change. I get that maybe they are trying to "whitewash" this for lack of a better term. for a more modern audience and for a comedy, but it just feels too milquetoast to me without really addressing it.

But overall, we find it entertaining. Not as good as the original, but still good.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I liked Kim's afro. Some women back then had great afros.

For someone who thought Dean's father played "the devil's music", the grandmother sure didn't seem all that moral on other issues.

That was a nicer house than I expected.

I've never seen the car the grandfather was working on before, or if I have, I don't remember it.

I have lived where many of my classmates even younger than Dean worked on farms and I lived next door to a farm, but I never worked on a farm myself. However, what they did with corn I did at my grandparents' house. My grandfather raised corn in a small garden. I own the land now and have only grown a persimmon tree, which is no longer producing, but anyone who wanted persimmons could come over and pick them up.

Dean's mind was changed about living in the country. I've never had a comparable experience to his. I've lived in towns and way out in the country. I moved a lot.

 

[cheesesteak]

There's a lot that doesn't make sense. For example, they live in the deep south, yet few of the characters have the accents to match, including Dean. I know they showed a few instances of bigotry and segregation remnants (the episode where Dean goes with him mom to work), but there just seems to me that life is too harmonious between the black and white characters, only a few years after the Civil Rights Act. This is the deep south after all and it took time for attitudes to change. I get that maybe they are trying to "whitewash" this for lack of a better term. for a more modern audience and for a comedy, but it just feels too milquetoast to me without really addressing it.

But overall, we find it entertaining. Not as good as the original, but still good.

If I remember correctly, they've made it a point to set the show in 1968. MLK was assassinated April 4, 1968. It hasn't been referenced yet and the kids are still in school so I assume it's still earlier in the year.

In all honesty, I never noticed the lack of Southern accents. I'd rather not hear bad, fake accents so I'm fine with them not forcing accents. The adults could probably fake passable accents but I doubt if the kids could.

 

[HarleyRandom]

If I remember correctly, they've made it a point to set the show in 1968. MLK was assassinated April 4, 1968. It hasn't been referenced yet and the kids are still in school so I assume it's still earlier in the year.

The first two episodes included the assassination.

 

[cheesesteak]

The first two episodes included the assassination.

Damn, I'm getting old.