You like old TV shows? If you get a few minutes, you might like a piece I found, on a website called BitterSoutherner.com. (You don't have to bitter or Southern to read it)

I love watching re-runs of all those old shows: "The Andy Griffith Show", "Hee Haw", "Gomer Pyle", "The Beverly Hillbillies". You might be surprised how all those corny 60s TV shows came about (I had no idea that "The Andy Griffith Show" only came about because of Detroit's own Danny Thomas). And, in fact, if those sitcoms all have a common ancestor, it's "The Andy Griffith Show".

But even when they were hit TV shows, a lot of people (mostly critics in big cities) in America HATED those shows. In fact, the day after Hee Haw debuted, The New York Times said it was a show, "that Nashville should plow under before next Sunday.” And I didn't remember this, but Hee Haw was originally on the CBS-TV network, until it got cancelled in 1971 - and reappeared in syndication the next year, where it went on to live for another 22 years.

This article just proves America's been disagreeing about "what's funny" - forever. It just didn't have Facebook or Twitter to make it easier to disagree, until recently.

 

Banana Don and Stephanie McCoy amuse and thrill you every weekday morning from 5:30 – 10AM on the radio at 100.7 WITL.

Noted zythologist and all-around fun guy Banana Don can be reached via email at don.jefferson@townsquaremedia.com and on Twitter at @WITLBananaDon and @WITLFM. Also, Facebook friend Banana Don and Stephanie at Facebook.com/BananaStephanie and Facebook.com/WITLFM.
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