WKRP in Cincinatti

[Michael]

Been forever since I saw Three's Company. If memory serves, the english was fairly standard. Might be worth a look.

[meeks]

another thing to appreciate is that since it's from the early early 80s the humor is very clean, as is the language. no swearing and no nudity. in fact apart from the fact Jack's always trying to get a date there's not even implied sex.

[bailewen]

Spoken like someone with experience teaching ESL to kids in a more or less public school.

I'm always vaguely annoyed about sex or foul language in big mainstream comedies. It doesn't offend me in the least but it kind of nixes it for use in my classes.

[Michael]

I think the actual language in Three's Company is probably fine. IIRC, they used clean language and a lot of double entendres. The problems with the show are 1) Chrissy as the dumb blonde. I don't remember if it was ha-ha funny, stupid funny, or funny because of Ritter's facial expressions. Girls get enough negative messages about their appearance never being "right"; they don't need this repetitive stereotype. 2) Jack pretending to be a homosexual. 3) The lecherous Mr. Roper. None of these are serious problems or prevent it from being good entertainment, but from what I remember, the show was focused on sex a lot of the time. I think that kind of thing gets old after a few episodes. But it definitely had its good moments.

I was just watching the WKRP Thanksgiving Day episode with the turkey give away. Laughing out loud funny! The actors who played Mr. Carlson, Nessman, and also Johnny Fever are awesome. That show had a spectacular cast. See, I like it better when the gorgeous blonde is also confident and smart like Jennifer Marlow. That was cool.

I've also been watching some Fawlty Towers. True entertainment. Not sure if the limey thing would make it unwatchable for my students. There's generally a strong anti British-English sentiment for the ESL folks over here. Private schools usually advertise "North American accents only". Sorry, Brits.

[Interloper]

"I swear to GOD!!!! I didn't know turkeys couldn't fly!!!!!"

Best tv sitcom line EVAR.

[Bär]

Golden Girls has it's funny moments for sure. I don't know if your kids really wanna watch a sitcom about old people though.

I know that in Spanish language instruction in the states they at one point were using Mexican telenovelas/soaps because they are written at a more basic language level. That way you could catch up on what's been going on with Luke & Laura and the rest of the General Hospital crew.

Also - mutherfucking Gilligan's Island.

[meeks]

happy days

[Steve James]

Well, all entertainment could be considered social planning, or at least reflect a particular view or someone's ideal. Just look at the first movies or radio shows or early television. But, that's what "stories" have always done. The shows most of us watched on Sunday were Bonanza, Star Trek and Dragnet. We could argue that the social programming in Star Trek (or Roddenberry's social idealism) was different (markedly) from those in Bonanza or Dragnet. Some might even consider it a bad thing (not saying that anybody does), but it was certainly not more in your face or deliberate as the programming on other shows. Anyway, when Star Trek aired, its social perspective was a fantasy and a romantic one at that. Yeah, frankly, I'd take the ST idealistic view of the universe over anything that came before.

Afa teaching American conversational English, I'd say that time-on-task is more important than the show. If I were trying to teach contemporary English, I would use contemporary stuff --regardless of the social or political slant. Actually, I think that kid or tween shows and game shows would be useful. In game shows, the same phrases are repeated by different people. If you can get www.hulu.com you could also just set them "free" to watch, and then ask them to write a response. Right now, I'm trying to get students to tell (outline) stories using pictures. I mean: they get a story, then must find pictures that show what the picture tells. That's really a comprehension exercise, but it might work for esl, too.

[Michael]

"I swear to GOD!!!! I didn't know turkeys couldn't fly!!!!!"

Best tv sitcom line EVAR.

A picture of Jan Smithers the actress who played Bailey Quarters, on the cover of Newsweek, March 1966.


I always thought of her as the show's Mary Ann to Loni Anderson's Ginger.

[Interloper]

A recurring joke was that Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) lusted ardently after Jennifer (I loved the scenes where, when Jennifer's back was turned, Fever - with his eyes bugged and tongue hanging out, would pretend he was about to creep up and grab her). But he dated Bailey. The timeless reference to the Unattainable Fantasy Woman vs. the Accessible Girl Next Door.

[Interloper]

Here's a fix for the "turkey" quote (I didn't quite get it right the first time):
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." -- Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump... also the Maytag Repair Man... RIP)

Here are more 'KRP quotes for a stroll down Memory Lane (or Re-Run Memory Lane for the young 'uns):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077097/quotes

[Michael]

I think they'd actually like 3s company. Jack Tripper is very much like a character Steven Chow would do with all the slapstick. And the English is very clear - you don't have to like it - they do...

I only re-suggest this because it just happens to be on TV right now (haven't seen it in 25 years) and my wife is loving it.

I have an American friend teaching in my department who has a Chinese wife who with excellent English. We were talking the other day and she told me she learned English from watching Three's Company and reading the King James Bible. So meeks, you were definitely right, the English is clear and the sexual innuendo didn't seem to hurt her too much (sarcasm), although she had a nice balance on her choice of reading material.

"Chrissy, thou art accompanying me to the theater this evening!"