I decided to watch two of the more popular TV shows of all time. I first choose the program Leave It To Beaver, I chose the episode "The Club House". I felt this was a good episode because of the issues that were presented and how they defined the mindset of 1968. My second choice of the more modern television shows was The Simpson's. I chose the episode, "Summer Fun". Because of the ever so similar plots that both shows share and how situations are dealt with. I will argue that many of the shows of present day deal with the dysfunctional aspects of the family rather than the fun loving. I will also make notice to the absence of violence from older television shows to the almost needed attention of today's programming. Within the paper I will also argue that today's television programming is a more sexual based than previous generations, I will argue this with examples of both television shows.
In Mayfield, Ohio lives a "perfect" family, the Cleavers. Ward Cleaver is a successful businessman, the wife June is the perfect, always smiling mom, the oldest son Wally is a model teenager, and younger son Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver is, well, he tries to fit in with the rest of the perfection surrounding him. When he can't do that, he must cover his bases with a series of lies to try to please his parents. One of them includes joining the peewee football team to impress his dad so that he'll give Beaver a new bike that ends up being stolen, thus requiring another lie. Along the way he must deal with Wally and his friend Eddie Haskell as they enter the adventures of puberty and being attracted to the opposite sex. As Beaver tries to get his bike back, he does everything he can to keep his parents happy. After watching both televisions shows I noticed that the Leave It to Beaver family did in fact show traits of a dysfunctional family in certain aspects. The absence of order was always temporary, and an adult figure would place an end to it.