Friday, January 18, 2019

When comedy becomes reality


The other day, I watched an episode of Not Necessarily the News, an HBO comedy that poked fun at the government during the 1980s.  I enjoyed this series because of its satire, snarky attitude and political commentary disguised as comedy.  (Also Mitch Laurence was gorgeous!). This episode aired in April 1983 and I was expecting that although still funny, that it had not aged well either.

To my utter surprise, I realized how many things HAVE NOT changed.  Among the skits in this episode:
  1. A celebrity for president, who has trouble pronouncing words and reading teleprompters
  2. A vacuous first lady who though pretty, doesn't have much going on upstairs.
  3. Dioxin Dolly, a character formulated after then EPA Administrator Anne Gorusch who gutted the program in favor of corporate interests
  4. A news flash about Russian missiles heading to the US that turns out to be a false alarm.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.  And it's scary


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