Live HistoricSee what matters.

Series · ABC · 1974

Pass it on

Happy Days

41Leave it.

The parents are kind, and the fifties they are living in are a costume.

Take controlThis scores 41. Happy Days cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

The Cunninghams are a kind house in a Milwaukee that claims to be the fifties. Richie is decent, which is not nothing in a half hour. Then Fonzie, a dropout in a leather jacket, becomes the reason to stay, and the parents start to feel like the doorway he walks through. The pleasantness is deliberate.

The decade has been sanded until it fits inside a diner. Work is light, trouble is light, and almost nothing the family wants will still be sitting there on Friday. Kind parents are worth having on a screen. A made-up history is not. Kids who watch this need to hear that it is a memory invented later, not the week their grandparents actually lived.

Journal

Keep Happy Days in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 41. Yours can differ.

The glance

Industry and Piety and Courage and Republic and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Does anyone here do a real job, and does that job matter?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Wonder Years

55 instead of 41

The Wonder Years is still a comedy show, and it scores 55 instead of 41. What you gain is truth: The narration admits memory is a choice.

The eight

4
Industry
A father's work sits in the background while a dropout in a jacket takes the show.
7
Household
The Cunninghams are a kind house, with Richie decent and the parents still home.
4
Piety
Richie is decent, and that decency is never asked to cost him much.
3
Courage
The jacket plays at nerve, and the family risks almost nothing they would miss.
3
Republic
Milwaukee is a diner set, not a town anyone has to answer for.
5
Temperance
The wants are mild and pleasant, a soft limit that never gets tested.
3
Truth
The fifties are sanded until they fit a diner, so the memory is a costume.
4
Stewardship
A kind house is left on screen, and a false decade is left beside it.

Where to watch

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Live Historic · Happy Days · 41IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Series · A&E · 2012

Pass it on

Duck Dynasty

41Leave it.

A table can be real. A beard can be a costume. Do not confuse the show with the house.

Take controlThis scores 41. Duck Dynasty cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

For a year or two this was one of the most-watched cable hours in the country, and the reason was not complicated. People wanted a family that worked with its hands, teased each other, and still sat down. Some of that was filmed because it was already there.

A camera that pays the table will eventually direct the table. Enjoy a supper if you put an early episode on. Do not take the beard, the speech, or the arranged squabble as evidence that you have met them. If your own table is empty, set it. That is the part worth copying.

Journal

Keep Duck Dynasty in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 41. Yours can differ.

The glance

Piety and Courage and Republic and Temperance and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Can conscience actually stop someone, or is reverence only in the shot so it can be mocked?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Incredible Dr. Pol

63 instead of 41

The Incredible Dr. Pol is still a reality show, and it scores 63 instead of 41. What you gain is truth: The diagnosis is the truth that matters.