Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Blast from the past

My girls gave me the first 2 seasons of Dallas on DVD for my birthday. I was one of many who was hooked on the series back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Folks used to plan their social life around it. One friend even scheduled her C-section so she wouldn't miss an episode. Of course, this was prior to the days of VCRs and Tivo.

It hasn't aged well at all. Camp to the extreme. The clothes! The acting! The dialogue! Especially the dialogue. Watched 2 seasons - the disco scene was the best (worst), and Lucy was certainly an evil little sex kitten in those early episodes. And, oh how has technology changed. J.R.'s Secretary (secretary, not Administrative Assistant) is typing on clunkly IBM Selectric. All the phones (in tasteful pastel colors) have cords, there is not a computer to be seen and nary a cell phone in evidence. The TVs all have dials, nobody wears a seat belt and everybody smokes.

My eldest is has discovered the media of the 1970s and I think she'll find Dallas fascinating. Right now she is reading her way through the novels of Jacqueline Susann. "I didn't know people wrote about stuff like that back then" she told me in utter amazement. She's happily recreating the 1970s and I'm feeling old. My life is now history and nostalgia. It doesn't seem all that long ago to me, but to her it's ancient history.

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