I think I'm a couple of years older than you? To me, David Kane's character had some control-y vibes to him, in a passive-aggressive way. He seemed to want to be seen as liberated, but he resented Ann's independence, so he'd undercut her and make her doubt herself. So I was happy to see him go. Initially though, I too like his nebbishy presentation.
I was born in 1964, so I would have been about 10/11 when the show when on the air. I haven't seen any clips or episodes since I stopped watching, so I'm working on pure memory and you maybe right. In a way it says a lot for the show that they did (for the time and genre) characters with that level of complexity, along with pure "clown" characters like Schneider.
I know it was kind of weird when Valerie got together with Eddie Van Halen for me to think of that character being old enough to get married, much less to someone like Eddie.
I was about 12/13 - enough into teenhood to be a bit more "ohhhh, I get it!" I guess? And yes, the characters AND the issues they addressed were pretty advanced. More than we are today in many ways. Today's sitcoms are so full of 2nd hand embarrassment to me, much more than funny and thought-provoking.
Oh, I forgot something. I was always jealous that Ann could get by with NOT wearing a bra, which was occasionally mentioned as a way of highlighting her feminism. I was already a D by then, so that was never an option for me. *sigh*
eta - HAH yes, re Eddie. Valerie always had the baby face. But I loved seeing an Italian-American on tv. And she was supposed to be Italian-Irish.
Clearly I was not a bazoom conscious then as I was by the time I was watching Ground Force, for instance, cause I really have no memory of Ann's bralessness being an issue, but aside from the David stuff, a lot of the details are pretty much gone. Of the two 70's sit-coms I've discussed so far, I'd say I have more concrete memories of Barney Miller, but a stronger emotional attachment to the specific pairing/character when it comes to the Ann/David thing.
I wish I could actually remember the show. The most I recall are some lines from the Charlotte Rae character about her (never-seen) son, Moose. Something about him trying to butter himself?
I remember seeing Bonnie Franklin on the tonight. She was doing a number about a woman throwing her boyfriend (husband?) out and it felt very Bette Midler-ish so I think she was being marketed as a performing in that vein.
I remember there being a line about Moose standing in the hallway naked with a piece of chocolate stuck to his butt and he said he was a chocolate chip cookie.
YES! I remember the chocolate chip cookie. I do have a fondness for unseen characters. It's a hard running gag to keep up, but when done well it can be awesome. Not sure how long they could have kept Moose going, but for the 13 they got, I imagine they did it fairly well.
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I wanted to be Barbara.
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I know it was kind of weird when Valerie got together with Eddie Van Halen for me to think of that character being old enough to get married, much less to someone like Eddie.
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Oh, I forgot something. I was always jealous that Ann could get by with NOT wearing a bra, which was occasionally mentioned as a way of highlighting her feminism. I was already a D by then, so that was never an option for me. *sigh*
eta - HAH yes, re Eddie. Valerie always had the baby face. But I loved seeing an Italian-American on tv. And she was supposed to be Italian-Irish.
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I remember seeing Bonnie Franklin on the tonight. She was doing a number about a woman throwing her boyfriend (husband?) out and it felt very Bette Midler-ish so I think she was being marketed as a performing in that vein.
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