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A couple of things that are on my mind this week. To begin with, I'd like to know the location of the secret room where the elites gather to decide what new names they will assign to things that already have perfectly fine names. I know there's a meeting held somewhere to decide this stuff and then a memo goes out to all the media people letting them know the new name of the thing that already had a name. The media then, obligingly, uses the new name from then on.
What am I talking about? How about the term, "affordability?" Until very recently I don't remember hearing that word said very much. Everyone is saying affordability now. What once used to be called "the cost of living" is now called "affordability." So what was wrong with the term "the cost of living?" Answer: nothing. But the mysterious cabal in some secret place has determined that affordability should be the new word to use.
Another word change happened a few years ago when the perfectly acceptable word, "contact" was switched to "reach out." Now you no longer contact someone, you reach out to them. I think "reach out" might have started in psychology speak before it seeped into our general language. In any case, if I need a plumber I still contact him. I don't reach out to him.
The old fashioned word, "aggravation" has been replaced by the word "stress." You are no longer schizophrenic, you are bipolar. But before you were bipolar you were manic depressive. Drug addicts are now substance abusers. Wellness is used instead of health. I remember when we had doctors, not anymore, we have healthcare professionals. And illegal aliens are now undocumented immigrants or as some say, persons without borders.
Tramps, bums and hoboes became the homeless, and lately they are just called the unhoused. But wait! Now I understand that "unhoused" is considered a derogatory term because it implies that if you do not have a house you are less of a person. Maybe they should be called persons without dwellings. Or maybe shelter-free people.
Moving right along to another topic, I watched the 30th Anniversary Reunion of "Everybody Loves Raymond" a couple of nights ago. That was one of the funniest comedy shows on television and it was a delight to see the cast and crew reunited. In my opinion it was the last really good comedy show on the air. Even though there are and were probably a hundred or more TV comedy shows over the decades, you can count the really good ones on two hands.
Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows," Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners," "I Love Lucy," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Barney Miller," "Seinfeld," and "Everybody Loves Raymond." Those are the best. You might throw in The Jack Benny Show, but although I loved Benny, the show itself could be hit and miss.
What made these shows so good was the fact that the characters had believability. The excellent writing and acting melded together so that no matter what the situation was, the audience could go along with it. The actors were so good they absolutely became the characters they portrayed. Sometimes they didn't even need lines, their expressions and reactions were enough. Lucy and Ricky were real people, you felt for them. When Ralph Kramden blew his stack at Norton, it was 100% real and you could understand it. In every sketch Sid Caesar did, he made his character totally believable.
All the principles (Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Brad Garret, Doris Roberts, and Peter Boyle) in Everybody Loves Raymond were completely believable and we, as an audience, understood them and loved them. That's great acting and writing at work. That show may have been the best of them all. Once again, thank goodness we have it preserved on video.
One other thing these wonderful shows all had in common, they didn't do political humor. They kept ideology out of their characters and out of their story plots. This is why they will never be out of date and always be funny.
Is there a new term for "funny?" As far as television comedy shows are concerned in the last 20 years, I would say if anything the new funny is not very funny at all.
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