thanks, mom. better things is about a single mom raising her three daughters on her own. you re my mom, i want to know if i m going to get sex or if i can get high. no, hide things from me, please. better things is a fascinating example of the ways the family sitcom has adapted to the 21st century. mom, where is the broom? what are you being, a witch? no, i m going to be a useless housewife from the 50s. i love that. the boundaries have been pushed back and the walls have come down. if you look back to the 50s, there were a lot of confines on what the family looked like and what was acceptable and what wasn t. my three sons was the first show that deviated from the perfect pleasantville nuclear family. you re going to blow up the stove again, mr. douglas? no, ernie. i don t think i ll make that
you sit down in the cafe and there is the person that you grew up next door in your small town in south dakota. you could say, what is the likelihood or the odds of this? or you could go, doo-doo-doo-doo and that says everything. those theme songs transcended not only the shows that they were associated with. they transcended music itself. they became part of the language. my favorite martian, my three sons, curb your enthusiasm, they don t have any lyrics but they set up the tone of the show immediately. outer limits, mission impossible, hawaii five-oh, it s amazing how these songs influenced us. before i was writing scores, you would see a black show but you wouldn t really hear a black show.