daniel de vise: and norman lear, arrived to take their place with realistic shows about working class people, in the big city. edith: your father lost his job today. archie: oh, there goes the old ball game. rainn wilson: all in the family was able to deal with some stuff that was going on in contemporary society through the lens of comedy. archie: when the going gets tough, they say the tough gets going, and that s me, tough right? yeah, so what s the problem? gloria: so, what are you going to do daddy? archie: well, that s the problem. emily vanderwerff: norman lear is interested in class as a primary driver of storytelling in american life. florida: this is an eviction notice. kids: ain t nothing to worry about mamma. florida: what are you talking about? they said they are throwing us out today. diana depasquale: we have a recession at the beginning of the 70s. the working-class now more than ever before are facing, the crunch of economic anxiety.
tina fey: the andy griffith show. that was another whole camp. aunt bea: here you are. tina fey: the comfort food aspect of sitcoms. aunt bea: you do like pickles, don t you? barney: sure! who don t? drew carey: andy griffith was a small-town sheriff. he didn t have a lot of money. and they were kind of simple. aunt bea: i m going to enter the competition after all. yessir, i m going to enter these pickles. opie: these? barney: these? andy: these? aunt bea: these. emily vanderwerff: that was like a fantasy of a world and an america in which race and class just kind of didn t exist. andy: ms. jennifer, ms. clarivel. marsha: it was probably the whitest show on television. i mean, there are no black people in mayberry. if they are, they re passing through. and if you blinked, you missed them. opie: they re ok, pa, they all flew off ok. guess i did a good job huh, pa?
mark lb: jackie gleason was always hoping to, you know, have the get rich quick scheme. ralph: c mon orton, i only have two days to learn how to play golf. diana depasquale: when ralph kramden is learning how to golf, he s hoping to ascend his social class position. ed: plant your feet firmly on the ground and address the ball. diana depasquale: but as many of us know, golf is really reserved for another class of people in america. ralph: what do they mean by address the ball?. ed: hello, ball. bob saget: when people are struggling, and they see an underdog. you re rooting for that guy. host: who is our next guest please. announcer: mr. ralph kramden! emily vanderwerff: the name that tune episode is so potent. ralph: i intend to go straight on, forge ahead to the $99,000 answer. emily vanderwerff: oh, i ll go on a game show and i will have enough money to get some breathing room to finally achieve my dreams. host: who is the composer of swanee river? ralph: hum uhhum uhhum uhma
and take back what is theirs from these multibillionaires jack: my attack was a wakeup call, the rich need to defend themselves. daniel de vise: the tracy jordan character, is also kind of super rich. character who s made millions and millions of dollars off of movies. tracy: i need you to grab me some lunch. kenneth: absolutely, what can i get for you? tracy: i want nachos. kenneth: yes sir. tracy: from yankee stadium. kenneth: yes sir! daniel de vise: 30 rock, is about milking, the utter divide between, the super- rich and the rest of america. matt brennan: especially in an era of really intense economic inequality. class is the great invisible force in both american culture and in the american sitcom. chris: hey dad, how did you decide what you were going to do for a living? julius: i applied for a bunch of jobs and i took every one that hired me. chris: so ma, how d you decide what you were going to be? rochelle: well when your father decided that he wasn t going to be rich, i deci
aramide: because a lot of really wealthy people have gotten in their positions by stepping on working class people. lois: i m sorry, we can t afford to live lavishly anymore. drink your milk. dewey: it s lumpy. lois: then chew it. patrick: by the twenty first century, america s shaky economy begins to shrink the middle class. and we see that represented in sitcoms like fox s malcolm in the middle. hal: we ve had to economize before. remember last year when we were saving up for disneyland? dewey: we re going to disneyland? hal: no, it s like that. except this time, we re just trying to keep the house. emily vanderwerff: malcolm in the middle is a fascinating show in terms of class, because it is about trying to give your kids a good life even when you re not sure you can pay for it. jane kaczmarek: malcolm is this genius. and he does not want to be a genius. teacher: now malcolm may not look different than the rest of us, but he is. very different. in his brain. jane kaczmarek: despite