This and That

 Bye Bye, Betty 

Television broadcast networks began the full-scale upgrade from black-and-white to color transmission in 1960. It was the 70’s when color TV’s outsold black-and-white or units. So, when you do the math my birth year of 1960 combined with my formative years, and 10 years an only child make the television, and the 3 major networks and 2 UHF stations my siblings. And wow did I love them. My TV cravings remain powerful to this day. Social media, On-Demand, streaming, et al will never overtake my fixation for episodic, talk, game, cartoon, and variety shows which filled my days and nights with emotion, color, and wit. Perhaps that is why the death of Betty White, and we knew it was coming, has delivered such a gut punch, I am certain I am not alone here. Upon reflection, her passing on New Year’s Eve was a perfect closing scene to a career dedicated to humor, activism, and self-effacing style. 

I was the kid who ran home from the bus stop, as not to miss but a few minutes of Merv Griffin. I ran particularly fast if Totie Fields or Joan Rivers were booked. I was the kid who learned snark from the Hollywood Squares. I was the kid for whom they invented Saturday cartoons. I was the kid who would charm my parents to please stay up to watch Johnny Carson and later insisted my sister, 10 years my junior did the same. She did not succumb to the dependency on television as deeply as me, I do recall however her Sesame Street and Saturday cartoon hankering as pretty strong. But nothing like my desire to be in front of that tube taking in every show of every type I could.  

Woven into those shows, Betty White was omnipresent; a clever game show player, a perennial guest on the myriad of talk shows, guest spots on the plethora sitcoms of the day that filled our screens. So, her passing has allowed me to reminisce, and she’d be fine with that.  

Hey 55+ somethings, yeah you. Close your eyes and remember, the time with family watching Bonanza, Flipper, I spy, The Fugitive, Bewitched, Deam Martin’s Roast, Jackie Gleason, The Honeymooners, Mary Tyler Moore, Alice, Merv, Johnny, Dinah Shore, The Carol Burnett Show, Good Times, All in the Family, Hill Street Blues, just to name a few.  

Gone are the days of the busy signal, lying about homework assignments to increase TV time, not knowing who was calling and answering the phone anyway, two-hour phone conversations with classmates, family dinners, repeat TV season (Google it), playing outside completely unsupervised until dusk or when your mother would yell for you from the front door, or the fire horn sounded. These precious memories are wrapped by that awesome sibling, the TV and our favorite shows, personalities, and a place to learn good things and inappropriate things for kids our age. We loved it, we survived, and we have the skills to prove it, the art of conversation, argument, confession, forgiveness, sarcasm, comedic timing, and being present for all of it.  

Betty White’s passing has given so many of us the chance to remember, reminisce and rejoice in the fact we shared time on the planet together. We boomers need to hang together, as the culture of our collective spaces changes so rapidly. We cannot live in the past, but we can certainly acknowledge how lucky we were to have TV as a dear friend, and Betty White reminded us how special it was. So long, Sue Ann, Rose, Elka and Betty, and thanks for the memories.  

p.s. Say Hi to Allen for us!