Car 54, We need you!

There's a hold up in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out in fights.

How many of you are singing, whistling, or humming the tune by now? The theme of Car 54, Where are you?

I've watched several episodes of the classic comedy over the weekend. They were part of this past weekend's Binge watch on the Decades channel. I saw many repeats of The Newhart Show on that channel recently; the promise that the entire next weekend will feature The Fugitive is such a tease. I look forward to more such binges with more such shows.

Cable and satellite TV affords us options we could not have imagined a few short years ago. Hundreds if not thousands of channels are within our grasp. With that come prime opportunities to view old TV shows. And that is a good thing.

Car 54, Where are you? is a great example. Jokes about my age from my dear friends aside (who may not continue to be such dear friends should the jokes not subside), old TV shows demonstrate what good TV is about. TV shows then were mass produced, studio controlled, and yet alarmingly clever. You don't think so? Look for the episode about kleptomania at Christmas. It's a hoot. So too is the one about indecency on stage. I laughed out loud several times during each show.

My point is, you simply do not have to be raw to be funny. Or clever. Fart jokes aren't the best jokes there are. Indeed, they represent the laziest type of humor imaginable.