Were the 1980s as uptight and prudish as movies and TV shows make them out to be? When I think of 80s culture, I think about a very "icky" judgmental yuppie status quo time period.

The problem is that the network was trying to cater to two very different view points and wound up losing everyone. If you’re going to be controversial, then go there. Top shows like All in the Family and Mash were listed as comedies but dealt with adult themes like rape, abortion, violence. If they thought kids weren’t watching brother they sure were dumb. It was shows like this that brought dare into television into the later 80s, like Married with Children. That started in the late 1980s and that wasn’t prudish at all. It started out making fun of the massive family comedy shows out there. Then an episode where a girl appeared in underwear was on the show. A woman started a campaign to get the show cancelled but it got more people tuning in to see what would be next. And there was plenty to be seen on the show. But that was in the 90s and things were changing. They had to change because audiences were changing and one had to keep up.

I think the 80s continued the transition that the late 70s were starting. There was fear of such transitions so nice safe family comedies glutted the market. Eventually the more you push, the more gets pushed back. I confess I didn’t watch that much TV in the early 80s because I was in college and busting my backside to get good grades. My father did watch a lot of these shows, and he lamented why weren’t kids like those in TV. Dad didn’t understand a lot of English. But it makes me wonder what other parents thought then.

In the 1980s, television began a push to cast teenagers as teenagers. In the 70s, actors in their 20s were cast as teenagers-shows like Happy Days and Welcome Back Kotter. When the shows first started in the early to mid 70s it was acceptable. As the shows rolled on and these actors got near 30, it was a bit absurd. So networks started to create shows about teens by teens.

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One early show was James at 15. The title says it-it was about a boy named James and his life at 15. The show didn’t interest me but I knew a few friends who liked it. The show was picked up for another season and it was James at 16. James met a foreign exchange student and decided he wanted to lose his virginity. I read the controversy behind it. Wikipedia reported that the head writer quit because the network demanded the scene where he goes to buy birth control dropped and the writer said the network is saying it’s better to have unprotected sex and risk getting her pregnant. I remember weeks of protests on both sides-kids were having sex whether their parents knew it or not, so it was better to handle it with maturity and teach about birth control. This was especially true when teen pregnancy was on the rise back then. The flip side screamed that children were having sex because they were watching so much of it being suggested in TV so they couldn’t help it-giving them birth control will only invite more kids to try it. The fear of pregnancy should be a deterrent to having sex. The show itself was cancelled because of the drop in ratings. After looking it up in Wikipedia the show was on in the late 70s, but the point is made.