I Grew Up in the Dark Ages

It seems as though I'm a little late to this party, but in this case a few years doesn't matter much. The US version of Life on Mars aired on ABC during the fall of 2008 through the following spring. I'm only up to the fifth episode out of 17. I am thankful to Netflix for letting me catch up on things I may have missed the first time around.

Earlier, I got involved in Mad Men just because the early 1960's seemed so well portrayed in that TV series. That decade is of interest to me historically but not really personally. I was too young to actually remember much about that period of time. The show I'm presently watching, although a cop show genre, really is about life in the NYC of 1973. That seems so much more relevant to me even though I was only in junior high school at the time.

Life on Mars really does make it seem like a different world. It's not all about the changes in technology. Yet, I do have to admit it's fun seeing old radios and an absence of computers. Every episode so far has dealt with changes in societal standards. Woman, gays, and blacks were treated differently nearly four decades ago. It's not completely foreign or strange but mildly irksome. Then, there are also little comments the characters make which slide right by quickly, but leave one pondering how archaic the times were. The main character asked an obviously pregnant woman if she knew what sex the baby would be. His colleague spoke first on the woman's behalf by saying, "No one can tell whether a baby will a boy or a girl before the birth."

Wow, dark ages, eh?