Many things have changed in America over the last five decades, but the quality of network sitcoms has remained constant. Like death and taxes, you can always count on TV networks’ contempt for their viewers; watch a sitcom that has been moldering at the bottom of history’s shitpile for 47 years and, as William S. Burroughs always says, “the bare lie shines through.”
Take it from me: when you’re jonesing for a bit of the old Verfremdungseffekt, there’s no trash like yesterday’s trash.
In 1968, the Seeds guest-starred on an episode of NBC’s The Mothers-in-Law, a Desi Arnaz produced series about two neighboring middle-aged couples whose children elope. In this episode, “How Not to Manage a Rock Group,” the kids convince their parents to invest $500 in studio time for the Warts (i.e. the Seeds). If you’re a Seeds fan and you’ve already seen the clip of the band miming “Pushin’ Too Hard” on this program, you’ll still want to watch the whole thing: Sky Saxon et al. suffer onscreen for a surprising amount of the episode, appearing intermittently from their first appearance at the six-minute mark until the end credits roll. I hope you have a high tolerance for punchlines about the “generation gap.”
Tell me, readers: are the Seeds wearing authentic hippie drag from the freak boutiques of the Sunset Strip, or does this bold gear come straight from the Desilu wardrobe?