Since the school was paid for each student in attendance, there was a clear message to never miss a day of class. Only when very ill did one get to stay home.Staying home from school meant watching reruns from the 1950's and 1960's. Back in the good old days, before basic cable was considered a Constitutional right under the 14th Amendment (or was that the mysterious 10th?), there was the assumption that television was to be watched by the entire family, who would all watch the same shows. Yes, for those of you born after 1980, this seems to stretch the realm of credulity, but it is a fact.

From 6 PM until around 7:30 there was a glut of local news followed by the "international" news, which is to say national network news that covered serious news items outside of the era of Mayor Sam Yorty's Los Angeles.

In those days, it was expected that programming from 8PM until 10 was suitable for family viewing.  8PM was even called "The Family Hour" with programming such as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley dominating their time slots.

During the day, there were soaps (which were of no interest to anyone I ever knew. Ever.) and reruns. 

The reruns gave you an insight into the way the world worked before the fall of civilization. Black and white programming ran side by side with color.  Shows such as Rod Sterling's Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy showed a world of men with short haircuts (in the 1970's this was remarkable) and color programming such as Gomer Pyle, USMC (a spin-off from Andy Griffith's Mayberry , RFD, which featured Happy Days' Ron Howard as "Opie" Taylor, the sheriff's young son) and Hogan's Heroes.

Hogan's Heroes showed U.S. and Allied military men outwitting the Germans in the P.O.W camp of Colonel Klink.

There was no cartoon network. Cartoons were reserved for Saturday mornings and typically consisted of unexpurgated Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Popeye engaging in politically incorrect activities.

The show SOAP came out in the late 1970's and featured Billy Crystal as a campy homosexual. This was extremely controversial at the time and many boycotted the program as immoral.

Three's Company was based on the premise that the character Jack Tripper was forced to pretend to be a flamboyant homosexual in order to be allowed to share an apartment with two unmarried women.  It would have been unthinkable for a heterosexual man to be living together with them, even in a Platonic relationship. This was not in 1908.  This was 1978.

Have things improved or declined?

We now how hundreds of choices and the chances of shared cultural moments are greatly diminished as a result.

The once a year showing of the Wizard of Oz brought excitement to every child. Now, Mom just pops in the DVD. Twice a day.

But if we did all share it together what would we be sharing? The most puerile, dumbed down trash such as Friends and Will and Grace? That is what in syndication for boys and girls now. No more connection to the sweet past of America with a sense of herself and her culture.

What was once unthinkable is now commonplace. The most vile trash is pumped into children's rooms all day , every day.

It's enough to make you sick.