On 8/6/15 10:55 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 8/6/2015 7:52 PM, J Burns wrote:

I remember now.... Lionel!

He and Edith were alike in that they tried to be agreeable instead of
imposing their opinions. The difference was that Edith tried to be
supportive of the opinions of others, which caused dilemmas, while
Lionel avoided confirming or denying the homemade opinions of Archie or
the ivory tower opinions of Meathead.

That way, Lionel was free to enjoy Archie's opinions. Sometimes, like a
clever lawyer, he'd lead Archie to change his mind without ever claiming
to impose a superior opinion.

I would have loved to see those two star as the Lone Ranger and Tonto!

I think I like you. I know I like how you see things. Lionel ... I'd
forgotten about him and had to take a quick refresher on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDqvgg0Bv8


Excellent!

I was never a faithful viewer. It was supposed to be exciting and
worthwhile because it presented controversial issues, but those issues
bored me. The rest was a sort of verbal slapstick with a studio audience
to tell the viewer when to laugh with the herd. The big thing I enjoyed
was Archie, with his personal ideas, mispronunciations, and facial
expressions.

The intermarriage episode would have bored me in 1974. I enjoyed it on
youtube because of something I'd experienced since. In 1980, I learned
that the husband of the sister of my brother's wife, was black.
Intellectually, I thought it was fine. I was surprised that I found it
a little unsettling.

I realized it was unsettling because I didn't even know an interracial
couple. Therefore, it was a violation of the social norms in my world,
and violating social norms is immoral.

I figured I'd just have to be like Archie and get used to the idea. So
you see, he was my TV mentor.