DTF955
08-27-2007, 06:18 AM
"Full House" had more mentions of the late mother than almost every show *combined*, I think - and surely more than any show with a windoer combined before it. (Granted, I never saw My Three Sons, but have heard there was only one mention she ever existed on "Andy Griffith," when Opie asks Andy if he and mom felt the same way about each other as...maybe Aunt Bea and someone? And, I've heard there weren't on others. I don't recall any in the first 4-5 seasons of Diff'rent Strokes when I was watching, not too busy with school to watch shows.)
But, my question is, why? And, this may also serve as a good place to put examples where the late wife of a widower was mentioned.
Hmmmm, should I have people able to vote for more than one? Yeah, I guess, the reason may well have been different for TAGS, being almost 2 decades earlier, than for DS, for instance. Although...there's a difference, in TAGS's case, because you'd think that *some* mention would be made of her; to have none is just, well, odd. Almost like Andy was purposely hiding any talk about her to keep from grieving. (Hey, that's another choice I can put up there.)
#1 is pretty obvious, connects with traditional stories, fact of it itself leads to connection w/characters. #2 seems quite possible; most poeple have wider circle of friends than we see normally on a show, or even than we hear mentioned. #3 is where, as I say, Andy Griffith may have different reasons than Diff'rent Strokes; that seems to be a '50s/'60s reason. $4 is possible, and I sometimes thought that Andy's wife especially could have died in childbirth, becasue of the ruralness of the setting, small town where they might not have had the best facilities. (Was a hospital ever mentioned on Andy Griffith? I haven't seen a lot of that show. So, I could be wrong, maybe it was better than I think.) Plus, you wouldn't see as much mention if it was 7-8 years earlier versus even a couple.
The last three deal with writer abilities; the difference between the three is that #5 equals the writers not wanting anything sad to ever enter, and if something like the mom was mentioned, it had to be very vital to the plot or something. #6 is more that if it was recalled, that meant a peson had to be depressed, that the "acceptance" part of grief was acceptable :-) And &7 basically means that they might have tried, but they didn't know how, period - and when TV writers do, they think in terms of sentamentality, etc.
But, my question is, why? And, this may also serve as a good place to put examples where the late wife of a widower was mentioned.
Hmmmm, should I have people able to vote for more than one? Yeah, I guess, the reason may well have been different for TAGS, being almost 2 decades earlier, than for DS, for instance. Although...there's a difference, in TAGS's case, because you'd think that *some* mention would be made of her; to have none is just, well, odd. Almost like Andy was purposely hiding any talk about her to keep from grieving. (Hey, that's another choice I can put up there.)
#1 is pretty obvious, connects with traditional stories, fact of it itself leads to connection w/characters. #2 seems quite possible; most poeple have wider circle of friends than we see normally on a show, or even than we hear mentioned. #3 is where, as I say, Andy Griffith may have different reasons than Diff'rent Strokes; that seems to be a '50s/'60s reason. $4 is possible, and I sometimes thought that Andy's wife especially could have died in childbirth, becasue of the ruralness of the setting, small town where they might not have had the best facilities. (Was a hospital ever mentioned on Andy Griffith? I haven't seen a lot of that show. So, I could be wrong, maybe it was better than I think.) Plus, you wouldn't see as much mention if it was 7-8 years earlier versus even a couple.
The last three deal with writer abilities; the difference between the three is that #5 equals the writers not wanting anything sad to ever enter, and if something like the mom was mentioned, it had to be very vital to the plot or something. #6 is more that if it was recalled, that meant a peson had to be depressed, that the "acceptance" part of grief was acceptable :-) And &7 basically means that they might have tried, but they didn't know how, period - and when TV writers do, they think in terms of sentamentality, etc.