66: GEE TV
Here’s a little art project that you might enjoy if you’re spending your Saturday nights in. (And you should be, BTW.)
Back when I was a kid and I lived in the country and lacked any kind of social life, every single Saturday night meant watching NBC’s sitcom line-up, which year-to-year included The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and various other shows. It was unthinkable that a Saturday night might consist of anything else. That might seem constraining, but in practice it was nice. I didn’t have to think about how I’d spend the night.
A lot of my Saturday nights in 2020 have been spent in, and though it’s theoretically better to have almost every TV show and movie at my command, it’s sometimes daunting to pick any one thing over anything else, and I often miss the easiness of a live broadcast, where someone else is picking the programming and I have no choice but to watch what they pick.
This thing I’m calling GEE TV is a three-hour block of 80s-era NBC sitcoms — Silver Spoons, The Facts of Life, Gimme a Break, 227, Empty Nest and Night Court — that I strung together along with actual, of-the-era commercials. It’s a whole nostalgic experience that I feel like you could spend the night with or just have on in the background while you do something else. I hope you enjoy it.
In case you’re wondering, yes, it plays a little weird. I fucked with certain aspects of the shows and the commercials so they play wrong, on purpose, both because you don’t remember this stuff accurately and I wanted you to think about that but also because nostalgia is a false, constructed thing. It feels good, and you can wallow in this nostalgia if you want, but the weird little changes will maybe remind you that this isn’t a place you can actually go.
Episodes, in order:
Silver Spoons, “Me & Mr. T” (October 16, 1982)
The Facts of Life, “Cousin Geri Returns” (December 30, 1981)
Gimme a Break, “Nell’s Friend” (December 1, 1983)
227, “Toyland” (February 14, 1987)
Empty Nest, “Rambo of Neiman Marcus” (November 11, 1989)
Night Court, “Dad’s First Date” (October 17, 1985)
If you dig this, check out Drew’s other weird video art. There’s All the Colors of the Night, which is horror movies set to 80s music, and there’s VHSmas, which is all 80s Christmas magic. It’s all up at Phanto Films.