I’m a Little Bit Country; I’m a Little Bit Rock and Roll…
In today’s age of Reality TV, I’m afraid of what our youth are learning from pop culture.

Are they learning that its ok to sing your heart out in front of an audience only to have someone be cruel and scream horrible insults and criticisms at you for entertainment value? Are they learning that its entertainment for 30 women to compete for the affection of one man? Are following the lives of the Rich and spoiled hotel heirs lessons in real life? Is weighing in on a weekly scale in hopes of being the biggest Loser what its all about?

I’d rather watch a Martha Stewart marathon and learn how to bake cookies.

I don’t watch Reality TV. I don’t find the entertainment value in it. I’ve never seen a single episode of American Idol even though the American public is obsessed with it. Sure I may feel left out in discussions with co-workers or friends about last night’s episode of the Bachelor or Dancing with the Stars, but I don’t feel like I’m missing anything important.

What I do miss are genuine smart funny sitcoms like Seinfeld, Mad About You, Cheers and Frasier. Doesn’t TV make sitcoms anymore?

When I was growing up Variety shows were popular on television. Good music and comedy sketches, that was the Variety show.

Variety shows wouldn’t make it on TV today the viewing audience is a lot tougher. But in the 70’s when I was a kid, things were more innocent; profanity, extreme violence, nudity and sex were not allowed on TV. I grew up watching Sonny & Cher, Donny & Marie Osmond, Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters, Hee Haw and the Partridge Family. (Although the Partridge Family was fictional and more sitcom like, it was still music and comedy and propelled David Cassidy into teen idol history).

I learned about music through Variety shows...

Buck Owens and other country music legends on Hee Haw gave me a country music foundation that I still carry with me today. Every time I go to the Crystal Palace my closet country music side rears its head as I sing along with every song. If it hadn’t been for Hee Haw, I might not have known Bakersfield’s country music legend Buck Owens and all that he had accomplished. I might not have appreciated him putting Bakersfield on the country music map. Buck Owens might have only been a name on a neon sign above a Bakersfield restaurant/club if I had been of the Reality TV generation, what a shame that would have been.

With the Donny & Marie Osmond show I got the best of both worlds. Country and rock and roll, along with a pre-teen crush on Donny Osmond. My love for falsetto voices and pop music was born the first time I heard Donny Osmond sing Puppy Love. Marie Osmond’s Paper Roses played in my head the first time my ex husband gave me a paper rose he made out of a cocktail napkin. And I defined myself musically with Donny and Marie’s signature song: I’m a Little Bit Country; I’m a Little Bit Rock and Roll. I lost my Donny Osmond CDs somehow in my divorce. I think my ex husband took them to spite me because he certainly didn't like his music.

Watching Sonny and Cher joke with each other in between songs, I learned that married couples could laugh with each other and at each other and still love each other. In marriage the words I’ve Got You Babe became more than just lyrics. And in divorce I learned that The Beat Goes On… I had the privilege of seeing Cher in concert a couple years ago and her tribute to her time and songs with Sonny was beautifully done. I watched as video clips and photographs flashed on a screen behind Cher while she sang classic hits of my childhood to her deceased ex husband and friend.

Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters continued the Variety show craze in 1980 and was a huge hit. I didn’t know it at the time, but Barbara Mandrell’s hit song Sleeping Single in a Double Bed epitomized single life after divorce.

Like every other teenage girl of the time I was in love with David Cassidy who played Keith Partridge in the Partridge Family. How many of you have spoken these words while falling in love with someone: I Think I Love You… Hugh Grant immortalized these lyrics when he said in Four Weddings and a Funeral: “In the words of David Cassidy while he was still with the Partridge Family, I think I love you.” I wonder if today's young people even get that music/pop culture reference when they watch that movie.

Variety shows didn’t just give me great music. They gave me moments to live in my life, they helped shape my life. Something I’m afraid Reality TV can’t possibly do for today’s youth.

The other night I was standing in line for tickets at the movie theatre and I overheard a young woman say:

“What’s Miami Vice?”

Oh my God! There are actually young people who don’t know that Miami Vice was a TV show in the 80’s. What is this world coming to? I thought.

“She probably doesn’t know who Magnum P.I. is either, or that when things get tough you call in the A Team, or how to MacGyver her way out of a situation.” I told my friend.

We both laughed.

If she doesn’t know what Miami Vice is, she probably has no clue who Donny Osmond is and that’s a real shame.

*Yes I know I’m dating myself with this post.  posted by Matildakay at 11:42 PM