We've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Last night we were pleased and surprised to see a few old favorite TV shows on a local TV station that we haven't seen in years. "Green Acres" was one, I caught the last few minutes of it as I had been gone. The other one I found to be "entertaining," was "Charlie's Angels." As I recall, the show originally aired in the late '70's, I think. Certainly no earlier than early '80's. It starred Farrah Faucett-Majors (who isn't using Majors anymore after a divorce from Lee Majors, subsequent marriage and divorce from Ryan O'Neal); Jaclyn Smith (now best known for K-Mart line of clothing); and Kate Jackson (who went on to star in "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," I have no idea what she's doing now). The premise of the show was that "Charlie" (who was never seen onscreen, other than an arm or hand or maybe the back of his head, but very aptly played -er- voiced by John Forsyth) recruited these three beautiful women to be undercover crime solvers for him. The show usually started out with Charlie calling the Angels to give them their next assignment. The assistant's name was Bosley, he was sort of the go between between Charlie and the Angels. You are probably more familiar with the movie of the same name, taken from the TV series.

However, I digress! My point in this post is that as Charlie talks to the Angels via speakerphone (wow, did we have those in the '70's?), while Bosley showed them slides on a slide projector. My daughters, in their early 20's, found that to be very amusing. Of course, they cannot remember life without at least a VCR, let alone a DVD player, but for those of us who can recall a simpler time--technology has certainly come a long way in the 25 or so years between the airing of this show and today!

Does anyone even have an old-style slide projector, movie projector, or even a record player, for that matter? These items represent an era when life was simpler, when the family sat around the dinner table almost every evening for dinner, and when the family sat in the livingroom together and watched TV. When there was something decent on TV to watch, shows not full of unsuitable subject matter or blood and gore. The times were simpler, but I liked those times.

We may have come a long way (and for anyone too young to remember--this was a catch-phrase for a cigarette back in the '70's), but I'm not so sure I'm thrilled with everything in this new phase. While I wouldn't trade my computer, DVD player, CD player, washer & dryer, hair dryer and some other wonderful conveniences, wouldn't it be nice to go back to a time when life was simpler, slower, and less stressful?

Only if my computer came with me!