SO I WAS BINGE WATCHING "THIRTYSOMETHING" AND THEN THIS HAPPENED.....

   

As you may have gathered from an earlier post of mine, I am admittedly not much of fan of the art of 'binge-watching' TV programs where you take a show and watch the entire series in a short period of time.  Try doing that "Gunsmoke" or "ER."  I'm pretty sure the term is meant to applied to 'so-called series' from streaming services that at the most, seem to crank out 10 episodes a season and then usually get cancelled or end after three or four seasons.  Most of these actors doing these kinds of programs are movie stars the wouldn't be caught dead on a TV series ten or fifteen years ago. That's probably because they didn't want to be tied down to a network season commitment of 22 episodes which means they would have to squeeze in one or maybe two movie during their hiatus period.  But six or ten episodes?  No problem!  And I notice these major stars don't seem to be too bummed out when their show ends either.  You don't hear these people saying things like 'I'll never forget this experience' or 'We became just like a family.'  That's because these little ditties are something they just cram in between movies now.
     There was a recent New York Times article about trying binge-watch older yet classic and revered shows from the pre-streaming days during the COVID lockdown.  The program I decided to dive headlong into was "Thirtysomething", a critical and raitngs success about a group of friends from high school in the late 1960s now having to deal with real life in the 'looking out for number one' late 1980s.  Could they really make a living without having to sell out their Woodstock era progressive beliefs?  Could they actually they still all be friends?  Could they make good parents?  That's about it.
      I have watched the first 8 episodes of the first season the last two days and what I've noticed is how downplayed the political ideology is compared to almost every newer drama or comedy that has recently come along lately.  Hell,  "Family Guy" is ten times more political than this show has been (so far).  I personally think the producers took a much more personal 'touchy feely' approach to make it seem less of a TV copy of movies like "The Return Of The Secaucus Seven" or "The Big Chill,"
     Okay, now for my big "WTF" moment.  It happens in the beginning of the 7th episode called "Nice Work If You Can Get It" the characters of Michael and Elliott get a big break for their struggling ad agency by getting hired by the city to come up with a new campaign for local municipal art museum.  In the first few minutes of the episode I noticed the character of Melissa is in the kitchen cooking a meal and over a nice ladies shirt, she is wearing a Big Sky State Games sweatshirt.  Suddenly, I was 14 and it was really 1987 again.  I'm from a city in Montana that started this athletic event in 1986.  It's still a huge deal in this area even though it is still unknown if they will occur or not this Summer.  However, the show takes place in Philadelphia and was mostly shot in Southern California.  So what's the deal?  If anyone knows, please leave a reply.
     By the way, there are 86 episodes (there could have been more if it were not for a writer's strike in 1988) so I think I should be done by about Christmas?  Will we all still be in Zoom meetings then?