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Reality is just an illusion
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By CAROLYN WILSON
For children of the sixties family sitcoms reigned supreme in evening television. Kids
left the detective and hospital shows for the adults. Thursday night was the most
competitive night of the week in my household, more than one Zenith floor model
could handle.
It usually ended up as the war of the sexes- three sisters against our brother. We
wanted to watch “Bewitched” and the entire line up after that, he preferred “Daniel
Boone”. After too many shoving matches and unfair partisan voting (always 3-1) my
parents stepped in and instituted a rotation system; we were able to watch our
favorites every other week. My sisters and I made my brother pay with the silent
treatment when it was his Thurs-day because we never kept him company.
Somehow Fridays were much more civil because we all generally favored the same
programs. Ironically what I thought was so good back then keeps coming back to
haunt in breaking news stories about the childhood actors I envied. Who knew that so
many of them were fighting adult battles off screen? This begs the question: Is Opie
from Mayberry the only sane child actor?
We know that Ron Howard (Opie) grew up to be a very successful and highly
respected film director. However over the years we have heard sad revelations about
child actors who are not faring as well. Some didn’t make the adjustment from
growing up on a fantasy stage set to facing the world of reality. Eating disorders,
alcoholism, pornography, theft, shootings, lawsuits against parents and drugs are
noted downfalls of these former child stars that did not make a stable transition from
their youthful fifteen minutes of fame. Ironically we see a lot of them surface as adult
contestants on the current reality shows.
I complain about the number of reality shows that have taken over the basic channels
in lieu of traditional family sitcoms that seem to have dissipated. I consider it the loss
of the age of innocence but in reality truth is still stranger than fiction and lately twice
as sad.
For children of the sixties family sitcoms reigned supreme in evening television. Kids
left the detective and hospital shows for the adults. Thursday night was the most
competitive night of the week in my household, more than one Zenith floor model
could handle.
It usually ended up as the war of the sexes- three sisters against our brother. We
wanted to watch “Bewitched” and the entire line up after that, he preferred “Daniel
Boone”. After too many shoving matches and unfair partisan voting (always 3-1) my
parents stepped in and instituted a rotation system; we were able to watch our
favorites every other week. My sisters and I made my brother pay with the silent
treatment when it was his Thurs-day because we never kept him company.
Somehow Fridays were much more civil because we all generally favored the same
programs. Ironically what I thought was so good back then keeps coming back to
haunt in breaking news stories about the childhood actors I envied. Who knew that so
many of them were fighting adult battles off screen? This begs the question: Is Opie
from Mayberry the only sane child actor?
We know that Ron Howard (Opie) grew up to be a very successful and highly
respected film director. However over the years we have heard sad revelations about
child actors who are not faring as well. Some didn’t make the adjustment from
growing up on a fantasy stage set to facing the world of reality. Eating disorders,
alcoholism, pornography, theft, shootings, lawsuits against parents and drugs are
noted downfalls of these former child stars that did not make a stable transition from
their youthful fifteen minutes of fame. Ironically we see a lot of them surface as adult
contestants on the current reality shows.
I complain about the number of reality shows that have taken over the basic channels
in lieu of traditional family sitcoms that seem to have dissipated. I consider it the loss
of the age of innocence but in reality truth is still stranger than fiction and lately twice
as sad.