Heart and Mind

Catching Up to Adult Characters (Or, "Another Blog Post with Brady Bunch References")

One of the peculiar things about aging is becoming (and eventually surpassing) the age of "adult characters" that I've watched on TV for years. I can cite tons of examples to illustrate my point, but I'll limit this to a discussion using three of my classic favorites.

For example, in a previous blog entry about wearing sport jackets to your friends' houses, I discussed how I was basically the same age as Mr. Brady. Just about, anyway. Robert Reed was about 37 when the Brady Bunch started, and I'm 35. That's really messed up. I certainly identified with the Brady kids more when I first was watching them, because, much like they were, I was a dude in the back of the station wagon who had to put up with older authority figures. Now, obviously, I play the Mr. Brady role, sitting at the wheel. But that's messed up because I don't feel like Mr. Brady. He seems much more in control, more like the invincible adult-being that I (naively) saw my own parents to be when I was a kid. I don't feel like that. Does anyone?

Now, let's look at the Simpsons. I was a freshman in college when that became a series, so I never felt anything in common with 10-year-old Bart. But I certainly didn't feel like the Simpson parents, either. They were the picture of lame, middle-aged, square American suburbanites. Ages? Homer was 36, Marge 34! So I am right in the middle of those two, yet I totally don't feel like they represent my demographic at all.

When I became a Welcome Back, Kotter freak in college, I thought it was kind of cool that John Travolta in season 1 was twenty-one (although he was unconvincingly playing a high school sophomore), the same age I was at the time. But Gabe Kaplan (i.e., Mr. Kotter) was only thirty. Thirty! When I watch the shows now, I have to accept that I'm practically watching a kid! Some young upstart who is way younger than I am.

Before you know it, I'm going to be watching and wondering when I turned into Mr. Woodman.

posted by Steve @ 4:13 PM