At my regular job, all my co-workers are all older than me by fifteen years or more. Normally, this is no big deal, it’s made me the computer and graphic novel expert, and that makes me flameproof. (They can’t fire me, but unfirable is not a word I can find in the dictionary.) However, being the youngest means that I also have to endure the constant taunt of, “you’re probably too young to remember this” that prefaces any discussion of things that happened before 1980.
At my weekend job in the bookstore, there are two high school employees who in every way seem normal except for the fact that they’re ten years younger than me. On Saturday afternoon I was having a discussion with them about television shows that we watched as kids. My take was that as much as I loved the PBS fare of Sesame Street and 321 Contact, I just couldn’t get enough of Nickelodeon’s “You Can’t Do That on Television.” In response, I got blank stares. No flicker of any kind of recognition of those six English words being put in that configuration. The one guy I forgave because his parents don’t let him have a TV, and that created some craters in his pop culture knowledge. But the girl, the girl who grew up watching TV and was well aware of Nickelodeon had no inkling that an actual television show was the genesis of Nickelodeon’s slime obsession.
“You have seen the network slime people, yes?” I asked her. Then, I told her all about those poor Canadian kid actors who got slimed every time they said “I don’t know” and that it was awesome. I might as well have had told her that there was a time, a time before cell phones where “tweens” were called “young adults” and people would dial 1-800-COLLECT to place a call to their parents from “MomI’mAtSchoolBandLetOutEarlyPleasePickMeUp” and then hang up the phone before incurring any charges. It was that foreign to her.
Then, yesterday, I read an article in the New York Times about the current crop of child actors over at Nickelodeon, and there was no mention of how important it is to teach these kids history. As I’m trying to wrap up this post, I’m not completely sure what my point here is. Reading it over, I think I’m just making a “kids these days” kind of complaint, because I spent a lot of time watching Brady Bunch and Monkees reruns when I was a kid so I could relate to the people a generation older than me, knowing that someday I’d date an old man like Birmingham and work with people who were there for the original air date. But kids these days, they just don’t care about learning.
12 responses so far ↓
NancyPearlWannabe // April 9, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I was just watching an episode of You Can’t Do That on Television the other day! It was as awesomely bizarre as I remembered it.
stefanie // April 9, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I grew up in a world (or at least a house) without cable, and I still know about You Can’t Do that on Television. I agree… Kids today.
Dan // April 9, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I for one feel lucky that I was from the time of “You can’t do that on television” and Monkees reruns…sigh…life was so simple then :).
*looks on amazon.com for YCdToT DVDs*
lizgwiz // April 9, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Now, I feel really old, knowing that I was actually alive when the Monkees ORIGINALLY aired. I was but a wee lass, though.
But you’re right, how is it that people grow up without any knowledge of the pop culture that came before them? How is that even possible? This is America–pop culture references are everywhere!
Jennifer M. // April 9, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I had a coworker at my old job who was only 3 or 4 years younger than I and she did not know who the Fonz was. And then I got laid off and went to a job where most of the people in my department are 10-15 years older and/or from completely different demographic backgrounds. Sigh . . .
BTW, YCDTOT was the one show in my life that I was specifically not allowed to watch so I used to have to sneak over to a friend’s house to see it.
rdl // April 9, 2007 at 10:39 pm
My son who is 13 watched both Nick and Cartoon Network. I liked Dexter boy genius and Arnold. He prob. would say The simpsons are his fav. but he loves Full House too.
rdl // April 10, 2007 at 11:26 am
Oh I forgot to say I am not even going to tell you what I watched since I’m a dinosaur. Ok, well Lassie was one.
Noelle // April 10, 2007 at 12:19 pm
NPW - Where did you see this show? I thought it was lost to the annals of history!
stefanie - you’re probably a better person for not having the cable, and obviously smart as well.
dan - life was simple before amazon.com, and better, actually. (says the girl who passionately hates companies that put independent bookstores out of business.)
lizgwiz - I was always so sad that I wasn’t watching the original Monkees, I’m quite jealous that you got them first run.
Jennifer M - Welcome to the comments! (hi!) I’m glad you were able to find an outlet for YCDTOT. I’m sure it made growing up more tolerable!
rdl - now, I’m seeing a flaw in my logic, because I don’t know much about Dexter or Arnold. My guilty secret here is that I don’t know much about Nickelodeon programming of the past 15 years, I’ve been far removed from kids since then.
But you see, I watched Lassie as weel! I loved it. That, and Denis the Menace, in the original black & white. They showed them on Nickelodeon all the time. Maybe the problem now is that they have too much money for new development and don’t need to resort to rerunning old shows.
NancyPearlWannabe // April 10, 2007 at 1:15 pm
It’s on their fan club website… hold up…
http://www.ycdtotv.com/
click on full episodes under media on the left. They’re kinda grainy but still hilarious.
Mermu // April 10, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Not to mention a general lack of history in general…not just the pop culture kind.
This inability or unwillingness to learn history is the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it.
Well, that and litter.
I really hate litter.
Anonymous // April 10, 2007 at 4:33 pm
and when they said “water” - water was dumped over their heads. i love you allyster.
- kir
Noelle // April 11, 2007 at 12:49 pm
NPW - thanks! Now I never have to do work at work again!
Mermu - If you’re talking about kitty litter, I’m right there with you, it’s the worstest. If you mean trash that people throw out on the street, then you should move out of the city! Really, it is nice up here…
Kir - I loved Allister. I wonder what he’s doing right now…
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