When Ozzie and Harriet are mentioned today, they are spoken of, sometimes in derision, at other times as a kind of family fantasy, a long ago sitcom from our grandparent’s day.
Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and their young sons, David and “Ricky,” first appeared on radio, then simultaneously on radio and television, from 1952 until 1966. Although it was never a top-ten hit, it remains today with reruns, the longest-running live-action sitcom in US television history. Millions through the years have enjoyed the Nelson 2-parent 2-child traditional home. Their Christmases depicted happy families with high values on unity and togetherness.
But that was then and this is now.
In the 1950s, television generally mirrored the concept of the American family. “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” presented the family as heterosexual, patriarchal, churchgoing, with chaste children. In the 1960s, these portrayals began to change. And so did America’s thinking.
Jonathan Merrritt, a senior columnist for Religion News Service, in a column, On Faith & Culture (Sept 10, 2013), points to 10 television shows that he believes (and I agree) have caused us to “re-imagine” the traditional American family:
The Addams Family (1964-1966) a kind of satirical inversion of the family.
Bewitched / The Munsters were families comprised of nontraditional characters.
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) depicted single-parent families, but still patriarchal and resulting from death, not divorce.
The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) rendered the then current narrow definition of family as no longer normal; that divorced or widowed people could take pieces of their traditional families, form a new family and be about as normal as any family could be.
The Jeffersons (1975-1985) brought African-American families to the television screen, challenging the poor black family stereotype, as well as featuring an interracial couple.
Who’s the Boss? (1984-1992) introduced a former star baseball player and single father as a live-in nanny and housekeeper for a single mother who was also a successful business executive; at the same time exploring sexual tensions between cohabiting people and challenging the notions of traditional gender roles.
Full House (1987-1995), an inoffensive story of three guys raising three girls, opened the door to the concept of same-gender parents.
Married . . . with Children (1987-1997) used humor to exploit the dysfunctional aspects of the traditional family.
Ellen first appeared on television in 1994; then in April of 1997, was one of the first main characters to publicly come out as gay in a highly rated, very controversial episode, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory on the succeeding episodes until it was cancelled in 1998.
Today, Merritt points out, “The controversy surrounding her sexual orientation is almost difficult to imagine.”
Will & Grace (1998-2006) explored a variety of sexuality issues, the series earning sixteen Emmys, showing it reached well beyond a niche audience of social progressives and influenced mainstream Americans.
Modern Family (2009-Present) takes all the non-traditional family elements of the last 60 years and stuffs them into a single sitcom. Divorcees, blended families, bi-racial, gay couples, dysfunctional traditional families are thrown into this one sitcom, all without appearing to grandstand on controversial issues.
Again, Merritt says, “The characters are highly relatable even to traditionalists. Modern Family is a sitcom about a non-traditional family that really values family.”
So how does the “NEW” American family see itself as we approach this Christmas season and the end of the year 2014? It is family in search of itself. The traditional 2-parent / 2-child family is still an ideal, but beyond the reach and reality of many modern American families. They should be protected and provided for, for such families don’t just happen, they are constantly a work in progress and decidedly in the minority. Is there hope for the American family today? The answer is yes, but we all need to be involved!
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1. See more at: http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2013/09/10/from-full-house-to-modern-family-ten-shows-that-forced-us-to-reimagine-the-american-family/#sthash.Bbho8EdQ.dpuf
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