Gong Show

Saturday night the Game Show Network ran at least two episodes of "The Gong Show" from the 1970s. I was a fan back then, so I had to watch them.

My 14-year-old daughter thinks I wasted a lot of time in the 1970s by watching that stuff. I can't say that I can argue with her. The stuff I thought was so funny then is so dated now, although I still wonder why Jaye P. Morgan ever got a job in entertainment.

But it was nice to see something from those years again. Sometimes I'll try to catch an episode of "Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza" on TVLand just to see how much television has grown. I tell the kids that the violence on those shows was unrealistic, just as I tell them there are some things on "CSI" or "Battlestar Galactica" that are unfit for their eyes today.

Looking ahead, I wonder what will happen when Speilberg or Tarrantino or Eastwood or another big-name Hollywood type makes a compelling movie that cannot be ignored and then decides to name it with one of the seven dirty words. How will newspapers and TV handle that one? The Internet will be no problem, but we here at The Herald-Dispatch will have a few discussions.

And I will think back to the Unknown Comic and how "edgy" his jokes were back on "The Gong Show."