From the Bradys to the Bundys, television has shown its ability to portray society in many different areas. One ever-present theme, whether obvious to the viewer or not, has always been marriage.
Matrimony used to be treated as a blessed union between two partners, but recent shows have given audiences something different.
From the early 1950s to the 1960s and 1970s, television treated marriage with respect.
Shows such as “Leave It to Beaver” and “The Brady Bunch,” treated it as a sacred bond. If there was ever a fight between the two partners on the show, it was surprising news. Characters acted as though marriage was not a thing to be taken lightly.
The story is much different today.
One pioneering show that centered on marital negativity was “Married With Children.” Viewers remember Al Bundy for his infamous wife defamation.
In one episode, Al said, “Everybody but me is looking at good times. But for me, it’s been one long continuous year since I got married. Actually one long month.”
Show after show, the writers topped themselves in ways of showing Al Bundy’s contempt for his wife.
This show is an example of sensationalistic television that profits from tapping into America’s need to see dysfunction. The writers knew that audience members wanted Al and Peg Bundy to fight every week, and that is exactly what they gave them.
Though none of the characters on “Seinfeld” were married, they played off that same punch show after show. Though matrimony was not a main point of the show, its characters still took jabs at marriage whenever possible.
Cosmo Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld’s wacky next-door neighbor, once informed Jerry what married life really was like.
“What are you thinking about Jerry, marriage? They’re prisons. Man-made prisons. You’re doing time,” he said.
The irony of this message is that Kramer was never once mentioned to have been married throughout any of the shows. How could he have an opinion on something that he had never experienced?
But television doesn’t stop with situation comedies to make marriage look bad.
Arguably, one of the biggest debacles in TV history involved a marriage. “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” crossed the line of what should be seen on television and what should not.
Fifty women attempted to become the bride of Rick Rockwell, and lucky or not, Darva Conger was the new bride.
Within weeks, the marriage was annulled when the fact that Rockwell had a restraining order from a former girlfriend was unearthed. To make matters worse, Conger later informed the nation that she never really intended to be married.
“Never in a million years did I think of it as an actual marriage in my heart and before God, and I still don’t. I was not looking to marry anyone,” Conger said in her appearance on “Good Morning America.”
FOX made a grievous mistake with this show. Not only did it not research its candidates for bride and groom, but producing a live marriage on national television announces that marriage is a joke. FOX made the same mistake that comedies have made in the past, and this was not even intended to be a comedy.
The show only sums up what television has shown in the past: Marriage is not taken all that seriously. That plays well to the TV audience, and that is what the writers are paid to do. Despite what is shown, matrimony is not something to be taken lightly.
Even with all the negativity, television still has room for the occasional tender moment.
“Marge, you’re my wife, and I love you very much,” Homer said in one episode of the “The Simpsons.”