A Geek History of Time - Episode 140 - Cleansing TV By Banning Soap Part I

Episode Date: January 8, 2022

I said good day sir. You don't ever plan anything around the Eagles because the Eagles represent the grace of God. You heathen bastards. One of vanilla nabish name. Well you know works are people too. I'm thinking of that one called they got taken out with one punch. So he's got a wall, a gall, a gall, and a wall. Every time you mention the Eagles, I think done Henley.

Ha ha ha ha! 1.0-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1-1.5-1.5-1-1.5-1.5-1-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1-1.5-1-1.5-1-1.5-1.5-1.5- This is a geek history of time. We bring a nerdery to the real world. I am not Ed Hlaelach because I would have said that unparalleled. I am instead the inarmydid because Ed is on assignment. He is currently putting in flooring or painting over panels or stripping out a ceiling. He bought a house from the 1950s and he's trying to bring it up to the 2010s because that's a budget for this podcast. I'm a little loud. So instead I brought with us a guest. It's one of

the few times that we've had a guest, but I'm very, very pleased. This is, in fact, our most educated guest we've ever had on this show. With me, right here in front of me, is Ms. Almost Doctor Amanda Lanham. Almost Doctor. Let's see. AD.

Amanda Lanham. AD. AD. Hi, thanks for having me. Oh, glad to have you. So we normally start by a little bit of witty banter. I've clearly blown that. But why don't you tell us what you got going on this week

so people at least have some ideas to who this first one I'm talking to is? Well, first, I think I've known Damien since I was 14 or something like that when we went to high school together. So, um, and I am, he alluded to some education. So I did my, uh, most of a PhD at Harvard is specializing in ancient art and archaeology. Um, and now I do something completely different. I'm a yoga teacher. So I teach at Core Power Yoga here in the East Bay, San Francisco area.

And this week all I have going on is teaching my yoga students and getting ready for Christmas because that's happening. Nice. Do you find that when you do the yoga teaching that you're able to incorporate any of the art history stuff? Like, downward thing that looks like a horse, but also a curtain. do the yoga teaching that you're able to incorporate any of the art history stuff, like downward thing that looks like a horse, but also a grip and or like you know stretching toward Tiamat or anything like that. Nothing quite that specific, but sometimes we'll often incorporate

a theme to our yoga classes and it gives us an opportunity to kind of pull through some of the theme to our yoga classes and it gives us an opportunity to kind of pull through some of the philosophical ideas of yoga, something beyond just the physical postures, and I'll often frame things around this idea of being paying attention to your foundation because when you look at things from like the archaeological record, walls and ceilings and balconies, those things don't survive, but what's left at the end of the day is the footprint, the foundation. That's the thing that lasts. So that's probably about as much as I pull through

in my actual yoga teaching. I also get the opportunity to lead a lot of rounds of teacher training. And so then I get a little bit geeky around the history because I can talk about the Vedic period and that it's Indo-European language that Sanskrit comes from and how it's related to Mesopotamia and Indus Valley seal impressions and things like that.

But my students will pretend like they care, mostly because they'll affect a humor me. Sure. So I did tell someone once in our round of teacher training, I was leading in an anatomy lecture and I gave some kind of really weird fact about the pubic symphysis, which is a way that archaeologists can date skeletons

by the amount of wear on the pubic symphysis cartilage. And, but the way that I framed it was like, yeah, in a past life, in my past life, I was an archaeologist. And then I had a student come up to me afterwards and like, really, so do you remember your past lives? No. Yeah.

I just felt like in the past life before I managed this yoga studio. I like it. So yeah, I guess we're bringing your greatest hits west of the Euphrates now. Yes. It's really what's going on. Well, I'm Damien Harmony. I am nowhere near as interesting. I'm merely a Latin teacher watching Latin die yet again. And the drama teacher watching drama die yet again.

And I'm a high school teacher watching my soul die yet again. So I'm up here in Northern California dealing with a lot of that. So but the most interesting thing that happened to me this week So I'm up here in Northern California dealing with a lot of that. So, but the most interesting thing that happened to me this week actually is that tomorrow, now as of this listening, is several weeks in the future. The future is pretty cool. There's nice coffee. But several weeks ago, per your listening right now. I turned 44 and I was invited to my outlaws house no longer my inlaws, but they're my outlaws and my mother outlaw still treats me as her son. It's really nice. Oh, that is nice. Yeah, they surprised me with a cake, which was, which was neat, did not expect it

because we went up there to, for my daughter, to be able to make her present for her mom. I'm very, very encouraging of that. She's always their mom, regardless of our relationship, that is important for them to honor. So my daughter made the rice bag for her mom. It's really nice. And my girlfriend texted me while I was up there. She's like, hey, I know you're having a good time

and I sent her a picture of the cake. And she's like, oh, wow, I forgot, you're turning 44. And she said, now she lived a significant chunk of her life in China, where she learned Chinese. And she texted me, she's like, oh, you know your birthday is like one of the most unlucky birthdays there is, because it means death death. And so, like, all right. So as of this listening, she may have predicted my untimely future. Or, you know, this, this might be like a post-chemist. Yeah. Yeah. So is your birth your birth is tomorrow? Yes, the darkest day of the year

That's the same as my mom's birthday. No kidding. Yeah, or Good. Oh, and today is my outlaws It's today's my outlaws Birthday as well. So I just texted her a little while ago to wish her happy birthday nice Some good good Jews you right around this time. Yeah, you know, so it gets kind of fun. So you knew me when we were we we lads and lasses. I was never we. No, I was a little more bean pulley, but not even then like let's be honest. It's just the job was in different places.

You get legs for days. That did. I was a thoroughbred. Let me tell you. But when we were that young, there was a gal that I knew that I had got to be very good friends with that I fell for head over heels for years, carried quite the torch. She and I have the exact same birthday. My cousin, whom I just spoke to.

I was so badly to ask you who this is. Oh, yeah, yeah, I will tell you off air. But my cousin and she knows, I mean, I told her and then, you know, there's a whole sad tragic late 1990s vibe that happened with it. But my cousin who is two years, yeah, proto-emo. But my cousin who's two years younger than me is two years younger than me to the day. My slightly older cousin is one day older than I am. This gal's sister is two or three years older than she is plus a day because her birthday was also on the 20th. Both of us had grandmothers

born on the 19th. It just got had grandmothers born on the 19th. It just got really weird, like the connections between the two of us were odd and multi. So yeah, there's a lot of spring fever. I think that's really the real lesson here, is that there's a lot of people boeing in March. I think that's... Well, you know, it's cold still in March.

It is, but... I do something to stay warm. Things are opening a little bit, you know, the flowers, the legs. It's no longer so cold that you refuse to take your clothes off. Right, where you're not just like bundled and shivering. Now it's like, okay, well, we could try friction. That's fine.

Yeah, yeah, so. And thus I came into the world nine months later. So fun stuff. My son actually is also a December baby. So there's a lot of March manufacturing going on. And I'm a November baby. So, you know, I was just like, you're a Valentine's present. Apparently. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say you're a Valentine's present, but clearly past the point where they had to impress each other, because that would be a different kind of Valentine's present. Well, I was the fourth child.

So like I can way past the point where they had to impress each other. I have only ever known you as the only person from your family. Like I just thought that you were like some Roman miracle. You just popped up from the earth. I just came out to be informed. You kind of always seemed that way. Like you're just like your own person, like there was no exploration,

you're already on your path. I'm so glad that you thought that about me at that age. That was as lost as everyone else, but. Huh, okay. But if you ever get the opportunity to meet my sisters, I will make so much more sense to you. Okay, now I want to just just for that reason. Yeah, yeah.

Wow. So by how many are you the youngest? I am my sister, Deborah, is nine years older than me. And my sister, Julie, is 16 years older than me. And my oldest sister, actually, she passed away when I was an infant, but she would have been one year older than me. And my oldest sister, actually, she passed away when I was an infant, but she would have been one year older than Julie. So we were very families, very Catholic.

So we all have a different form of birth control associated with our conception, because Catholics, not terrible. I mean, the in all fairness, the first form of birth control was the I'm a virgin, and I didn't know I could get pregnant the first time. And then the second child was the rhythm method. So it like they weren't trying real hard. Right. Fun fact. Did you know? So the original doctors that came up with the rhythm method in the United States at least or brought it to us. They had it right, but they had it completely wrong. And it was their classism that didn't inform them

how wrong they were. So they had the idea right, but they literally switched black for white. They literally switched the most with the least days. And their response to the fact that all these people were getting pregnant, they're like, well, they're the stupid poor people. Of course, they're getting pregnant.

They're just doing it wrong. They just got it backwards. And it's like, well, they're the stupid poor people. Of course, they're getting pregnant. They're just doing it wrong. They just got it backwards. They're doing it right. Yeah. Exactly. I'm just like, oh, dear me. So yeah, fun stuff. I do miss it. It's really the rhythm method in a lot of ways is like the same kind of thought process that people use to get pregnant now. So, you know, it really is. I mean, you aim for you either aim for or you avoid a certain number of days. Yeah, when you're fertile, you're either going for it or you're not. Exactly, exactly. So, hey, what do you know about soap?

Oh my gosh, I used to watch that show when I was a kid. Me too. Which is probably, like, I was trying to actually remember what channel that would have been on reruns on because when I looked up, I wasn't sure what years those were. And it was clearly like it started aired in 77 when at which point I was not born yet. So clearly like a little outside of my time. And I was trying to remember like what TV network

we must have watched that on because we watched it religiously. But my mom had this tendency to let me watch just whatever she wanted to watch because again, I was the fourth child. You stopped trying with that one. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna fuck the kid up no matter what. Yeah, just don't use the good silver for heroin. Yeah, exactly. So she had a history of letting me watch things that were totally inappropriate. So as much as I watched soap, I also watched a lot of soap operas. So we were big days of our lives fans in Santa Barbara in my house.

I remember Santa Barbara. So it was kind of fun to have both the actual soap, but also the parody of the soap, because then when they do something like demonic possession on the parody, you're like, oh yeah, I've actually seen that up in real days of our lives. Yeah, yeah, I also had a similar experience. I actually, because I grew up in San Francisco and you're an East Bay brat, it's entirely likely that we were watching the same channels because back then broadcast TV. So I don't know if you all got coffee TV 20. I was going to ask you about K.O.F.Y. TV 20. That's how I used to watch Twilight Zone. Yes.

At a totally inappropriate age. K.O.F.Y. is why I started watching pro wrestling. Like it was the AWA came through on K.O.F KOFY TV 20 stereo Sacramento San Francisco. Yes! It's because of that network that talking Tina still haunts my nightmares. And Kojak is your savior. It's this weird fetish thing. So I don't think it was on coffee. I really don't because coffee seemed to be the second tier syndication.

Yeah, that's me right. So I think Channel 44 might have been your jam for that. Maybe. Channel 44 was like the first real syndication. One, but I remember watching soap. And again, I'm only a year older than you, I think. Yeah. And I lived in San Francisco from the ages of four till about 10. And I can pinpoint it even more the ages of four till about 10.

And I can pinpoint it even more because I watched it when my dad was in my life. Now, I didn't meet my dad until I was, and for your information, my dad is not the same person as my father. My father made me, my dad is the one who raised me. He adopted me after my brother was born, after he and my mom got married

when I was about eight. That's when I went from Smith to sessions. So anybody trying to steal my identity, here's some hints. You really like thrown people off the scent. Boy, howdy. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually kind of fun. My little brother's last name is Smith, because he was fathered by the same sire. He kept it. And then my sister, I have a whole lot of family members. I'm not consequennial with, but my sister, she is with a man whose name is Martell Smith. My ex-wife, her twin sister, Mary Day Dan Smith. Their cousin, Mary Day Zach Smith.

Theoretically, both of these two twin gals, my ex-wife and her sister, married in many ways, a D-Smith, if you're an essentialist, because I'm a Damien, you know, but I just evolved since then, I don't know. It's like Pokemon. But what I really love is that every single one of my siblings has married someone darker than they were, including myself. Like it doesn't take much. Yeah, you're not translucent. Yeah, yeah. So

like even my background is darker than I am. Yeah. So now this is not a visual medium. It's just a audio medium, but behind me is very pale. Yes, yes, quite so. Weathered and still pale. It's just a audio medium, but behind me is very pale. Yes, yes, quite so. Whethered and still pale, it's a weird combo. But my favorite part though is that my sister, who's from Yemen, she's the darkest of all my sips. One of my brothers, Mary, a gal who's a Filipina, my brother, Boi, Mary, a gal who is clearly several shades darker than he is, Mary to Gal who is clearly several shades darker than he is of Polish extraction. But my sister who's from Yemen, well, she's not from Yemen, but her family is from Yemen. She married Martel and Martel is very black. But I get a kick out of the fact that he is a black Smith

Because her last name was fairier But okay, so so it was on TV I think it was on syndication by the time I was watching it because I can pinpoint it as I had to have been four or five Which means we're talking 1982, 1983. So it might have been, because I remember the episode with El Puercal. No one kills El Puercal the dog. So I think that was a very last season. So I think I was still conscious of the very last season as we watched it. And so I remember my dad just howling with laughter about soap. So it left an impression on me. And unfortunately I've not been able to see

it anywhere, but you found it actually recently on an app. It did. It's an app called Toobie. Toobie. Which I've never really heard of before, but I did a quick little Google search for it. And I was watching season one earlier today. So yeah, maybe I'll come up with a date night soon. Yeah, I appreciate that.

So this episode is called The Cleansing of American TV through Bannings soap. Yes. So as they didn't quite ban it, but it wasn't as though they didn't try. And as we have found that many things that are made in the 80s are ruined by the fact that they were made in the 80s.

So, you know, this is yet another episode where I beat up on Ronald Reagan, which Ed is gonna be kicking himself for not having been a part of, but to damn it. Maybe someday in the far-flung future, I'll redo these episodes for him as well. So, so-help to congeal and to train groups that push Reaganism into the 1980s

and shifted the conversation to the point where they were in power and anything that came after them would have to contend with the resetting of those norms. Confused? You won't be after this podcast. All right, so let's talk about Susan Harris. Susan Harris was born Susan Speevak in October of 1940 in Mount Vernon, New York. Her parents, Benjamin and Bertha Speevak, who was an accountant and a housewife, whom Susan stated were quote,

not weird at all, in a 1978 interview. The lady doth protest too much. Right. Uh, or, or she really values weird and, and she's like my parents weren't it, you know. Um, her life was a standard middle class child or grandchild. I couldn't actually find far back enough of Jewish immigrants. So either her parents were immigrants and, and got professional very quickly. Or they were the children of immigrants. So either her parents were immigrants and got professional very quickly or they were the children of immigrants. And I just I couldn't find the record back far enough. Perhaps if we had sponsors, I could have afforded memberships to things like that. But

in the 1890s, there was a huge influx of Jewish Italian and black Americans who moved into and settled in Mount Vernon. Now this is Mount Vernon, New York, not the place where Washington. Yeah. Because there were a lot of black people who were brought to Mount Vernon there, but that was a very different story. Different, different reasons. Yeah. Yeah. But shortly after that, Northbound trains from Ellis Island swelled the population of Westchester County from 184,000 up to 520,000 by 1930. Now, I say 1930 because in 1924, the United States government passed the Immigration Act. Now, I know that your history, your knowledge of history goes back very, very far. I don't know how up on the last hundred years in the United States you are. I don't know how up on the last 100 years in the United States, you are. Ancient historians don't say that the last 100 years is history. And I use scarequits around history for the missing events.

All right. Well, in that case, in 1924, the United States had a government that actually did things. They didn't do the right thing, but they did things. And they passed the Immigration Act, which essentially limited severely, very, very specific types of immigration that the United States would accept. It set quotas based in part on who was already here, but mostly it was a way to encode white supremacy

into the immigration policies in general. Specifically, it set very strict quotas on Italy, Greece, most of Eastern Europe, and set a ban on almost all Asian immigration based on the 1890 census. So it was passed in 24, but it's like based on these numbers from 34 years ago, yeah, which is really some good old days kind of bullshit there. Oh yeah. But it's at the quote, is that 3% of the total population, which at that time was about 350,000 people a year. Now, Northwestern Europeans were the right kind of white people,

so there were no real restrictions on them. And interestingly, it also left Latin America alone, presumably because there were other policies that could be used to enact many ethnic cleansing as needed. Right. We had like some racist guardrails at. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was one of those, well, we need them for work, but we want to be able to kick them out later. Oh, that's no problem. We'll figure that out. Like we've, we've got the, the LAPD, we've got the CHP. We're good. Like those both got, you know, like those those were both like on the border of California telling Oki's not to come.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's bad. But in the 1930s, there was a woman named Lillia, Cassandorf Cavie. You may or may not have heard of her. You are vibrantly a member of the East Coast for quite some time. I think that's how we call living out there as you were a member of that coast. Is that correct? Yes, they let me become a member after a certain amount of time. I'm not going to prove myself. Right. Like, can you get into a fist fight at a stoplight? You're in. Nice. Nice. I like a Boston fire drill. It's far less racist. Yeah. So she was the first woman that was granted a banking license in New York.

And she busted her ass afterwards to help 125 Jewish families from Baltic nations and Southern Europe to be able to immigrate to the U.S. because she was reading the papers and saw what fascism was doing in the 1930s all over New York. So she's a badass. In 1955, skipping ahead, don't worry we're gonna get back to Susan Harris who is, you know, what we'll get to what she did. Some of them between there.

Yeah, yeah. But in 1955, Jordanian immigrants moved into nearby Yonkers, mostly for factory work, and they began the basis for the city's Arab-American community. And in 1965, the Immigration Act of 24 was actually softened, finally. It specifically eased immigration quotas against Asians and Eastern Europeans. But then it went and began restricting immigration from Latin America for the first time.

So it's... Well, it was a matter of time. Yeah, but it's also like, oh hey, we stopped being shitty, but not everyone. Now it's matter of time. Yeah, but it's also like, oh, hey, we stopped being shitty, but not everyone. Like now it's your turn. We just shifted focus really. Really? Yeah.

Yeah. It's the weirdest thing. So this changing landscape, this entrenchment of older communities, immigrant communities, the fluidity of newer communities stop starting up. And the activism of Jewish women who were business women. This was the soup in which Susan Harris would come of age. Remember she was born in 1940, which means she turns 18 in 1958.

She goes to college at Cornell and New York University. She studied English literature. She never actually finished her degree, but this would have taken yeah, it's shock of shocks back then. This would have taken her degree. But this would have taken, yeah, it's shock of shocks back then. This would have taken her up to at the latest 72. And she went from being a very standard cheerleader and a traditional middle class family to being as she put it, quote, very tortured, but that she, quote, loved every minute of it. So she's a sadist. Yeah, bit, bit. Um, so this tension that was in place in Westchester County, I can't even call it animosity really, but the tension had this constant influx of immigrants, right? You have these new communities being formed, old communities holding on to what they

had, uh, they definitely fed into her creative process, Susan Harris is the creator and the writer of soap. And if you look at soap, isn't it? One family is middle class and the other family married into wealth. And she finds that hilarious. And she's seeing old money, new money. She's seeing old and new experience. And if you look at the character, she starts filling in these families with. You get a lot of the same. Now, especially as urban blight was really taking hold in the public consciousness in the 1970s,

Carter later observed in his general malaise speech, Carter being the president of the United States at the time. The general malaay speech is kind of a fun one because he actually never said those words. But it's been titled the the General Malay speech ever since then. He said so Jimmy Carter said quote, the threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and loss of you of a unity of purpose for our nation. Now, he didn't just mean petroleum and consumer confidence.

Either he was referring to what had happened throughout the 1970s vis-a-vis the failure of our institutions to answer the needs of its people. So quick question. Yeah. Is it just called the General Malay speech because someone was like, yeah, he's just telling our sad story. Yeah, you know, and so there's this tradition that's not really a tradition. It's kind of like having a god we trust on our money or under god and our pledge. Like it's a relative or having people sing the Star

Spangled Banner at football games, these are all relatively new traditions. The Star Spangled Banner one being since 2009. I think it's the younger than me. Yeah, yeah. The United States government gave a crap ton of money to the NFL to spruce up the patriotism pregame. Prior to that, teams used to hang out in the locker room while that shit was going on. Because, you know, I did actually sting the National Anthem at a 49ers game when I was a kid. Did you really?

I did. How old were you? I mean, I was in, I wasn't doing it by myself. It was with my choir, but. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. It wasn't just hand- the microphone and like because I had a friend who actually she and a buddy sang the national anthem at the beginning of a giant's game.

Now there's a lot more of those so you know, but still like 13 Yeah, football games of season so yeah, I think 16 by the time you would have sung it. Yeah, so it means eight home. Yeah, it's, that's quite a thing. That's pretty rad. Yeah. I've got some really weird facts that I like to bring into the drinking game two truths of the life. Two truths of the life, yeah. I did that just recently with some union folk.

And I was like, yeah, you know, that reminds me of the time I stabbed a man to death with a swizzle stick while wearing a camisole. And I said, which also reminds me of the time that my boss's mom pinched my nipple on the way up to the kitchen and that also reminds me of the time that I accidentally dressed in black face and we just played two truths in a lie and they're just like I really hope that the murder the black face I'm hoping yeah I know I was a kid I wanted to be a ninja.

I described a ninja's mask and that guy was clearly working just for tips. So my two truths are that I sang the National Anthem at a Forteniner's game and that I found a 3000 year old temple because that actually did happen. And I fall apart when I try to bring in a lie. I'm like, what lie goes with those things? Were there the guys choose that one? I always say that my father was the bassist for the doors. Oh, that's a good one. Because historically, the doors never had a bassist. Oh, it's true. Yeah. Tricky. And then you just totally judged their musical knowledge too. Yeah, and one exactly. See it all works. It all works. So so I completely lost. Oh, yeah. Yes. So the general malaise speech. Um, his speech was actually the first time. So the the state of the Union address

used to have to be delivered to Congress, and it was literally just sent as a letter until Woodrow Wilson did it. Like there was a long period of time where nobody gave a speech to Congress, who was president, and then Woodrow Wilson went and spoke to Congress, and then when we got to the age of television, it was a much more regular thing, and it became the spectacle. Carter was the only one that I could find, and Ge geek timers feel free to find me links and send them to our Twitter. But Carter was the only one I could find who actually said the state of our union is weak. Everybody else, you know, tries to jerk us off. You know, but Carter was like, no, it's clearly flaxid. We don't need to try. You're just going to be trying to cram it in there. It's it's an oyster in a slum. That's what she said. Exactly. Exactly. So, but so and what he's doing is he's pointing out, look, the 70s have been a huge failure and that failure was largely the result of the choices

that society made in 1968 following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Basically, America turned around and chose Richard Nixon and as conservatism bolstered even more by the imagination grabbing hardhat riots of the 1970s in New York, 1970s, specifically in New York. Nixon absolutely co-opted that by the way, which included like they sent him a hardhat, which led to, and it was essentially a bunch of construction workers who, how to put this, went and beat the shit out of some anti-war protesters. That's all it was.

And it was this one small local, but Democrats, because they love to step on their own tail all the time, were like, oh, we've lost unions completely. And it's like, bra, that was, so McGovern did nothing to court unions, even though that was a bullwork of Democrat votes. And as a result, McGovern got really trounced in the 1972 election, losing all but his own state.

And so I always like to say that when America needed to go left, McGovern went liberal instead. So anyway, in 1970, Susan Harris, back to Susan Harris, she successfully wrote and sold in... So the TV show. Yeah, so... She successfully wrote and sold an episode script for the TV show, then came Bronson, which was a Star Trek meets easy writer type of show where the reporter

gets disillusioned, quits his job, and heads out on the road wandering around on his Harley. And he helps and teaches people on the way. It seems to have inspired the movie or the TV series Kung Fu and the incredible Hulk. Out on the road helping people every episode, that kind of thing. Harris said about how much she was paid. She said, quote, there's something really obscene about that much money when people are going hungry. So she did, she did well with that episode. Yeah, yeah, and the thing was she she had gotten divorced I want to say in 75 or 73 it's an odd number and she basically She was like I need to find a way to make money to feed me and my kid and and she divorced she was divorced from a

A TV writer. And so she's like, well, I can do that too. And so she started to and she just started making money hand over this. So did she didn't do any TV writing before that? It wasn't until. Yeah, it's really, well, no, so she did some writing. She'd been a writer. Right.

I think that's how she met her first. Right. Yeah. But in terms of her making some real money and selling her own scripts, not just doctoring things, not just sprucing scripts up or punching up things, yeah, it really was, then came Bronson. So the script for that film. Like anything you can do, I can do better.

Yeah, yeah. So which is kind of, you know, that's cool, you know, especially in the 1970s, like to be able to do that. Now she then went on to write for an over TV shows with her real recognition coming from an episode of Maud. It was specifically the abortion episode of Maud, which she wrote, which came out two months before the Roe v. Wade decision.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, quite so. Pressure, even. CBS ran it a second time in August of 73 after the decision. And it was really her first taste of the clergy objecting to her writing. But it wouldn't be her last either. Yeah, I was going to say, buckle it, baby. Yeah. You're like, oh, this is my brand. In 1977, Harris saw networks launching two shows

that she created. One was, loves me, loves me not, starring Susan Day of Perturge Family fam. It was formulaic, it was short-lived. The second was soap. Now, ABC had passed on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which was a Norman Lear joint, which startled me because frankly, Norman Lear has this reputation of just having an enormous track record of success. And even back then. Why don't you Norman Lear is? Oh, he was the guy behind all in the Family, behind Good Times, behind The Jefferson's. I mean, just like every successful family,

you know, like family, but also commentary-based comedy, that was Norman Lerius. And a lot of, it sounds like from those shows too, a lot of like social stratification. Yes. It was a big focus. Yeah, I mean, it's even in the song. We're moving on up.

Exactly. It's like, well, then like all in the family, you get like the entirely whole other side of. Yeah. And you also have the the the the the generation gap too, right? You have the working class racist, his enabling wife. Yeah. But then you have their daughter who

like grew up without those struggles. And so she grew up with the material wealth and security to actually go off and learn and and and not be so crystallized or thinking. And of course, she marries Meadhead and and on and on and on. And we have to be very improbable them. Like now that family dynamic makes a lot of sense. Like they can't afford to leave. But back then you absolutely could have,

like any, you could have bought a house for like, you know, $25 back then. Like it's, it's, I'm exaggerating a little. But. Well, I mean, my grandmother bought her house in like 1943 for $10,000 in San Francisco. Wow. And she, we sold it after she passed away and like 1943 for $10,000 in San Francisco. Wow.

And we sold it after she passed away for like $1 million. So you know, that's. Good return on investment. Oh yeah. We sold our house in San Francisco in 1988, 89, for $250,000 I think. I looked it up on Zillow. It has not sold since and it's about 1.3 million.

It's nice that it hasn't sold since, though. Yeah. That whoever purchased it, like get home there. Yeah, yeah. And why wouldn't you? The outer sunset is lovely. So.

But hey, we went to start a rabbit farm in Florida. So that was, you know, it was the experience. It was funny. Yeah, it is the rabbits long the way that we saw made. That was the real reward. So, but anyway. So normally, his hit show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, got passed on.

But then ABC was like, oh, we fucked up. So the next show that comes around, that's kind of like parodying a soap opera is soap. And they're like, yes, yes, we want that please. So they immediately jumped on it immediately. So from the outset, ABC was very, very high on Susan Harris' work, partly because they'd passed a Norman Lears work. Also from the outset, it was a send-up of soap operas. It was never meant to play straight. It was never meant to be anything but a parody. It was a sex farce. was a sex force, which in the 70s, it's really kind of funny because a lot of people were making fun of it for that. And she has a response that at the end of this quote that I like. But she says, quote, I wanted to do a series where you weren't confined to a beginning middle and end in 23 minutes.

And that really was the appeal. We would change the storyboard around. We could shift things, kill people, bring them back. If it didn't work out or if we had only scheduled this person for two episodes, they could become regulars. There was a lot to play around with, and that was my favorite show. And I just love like,

there's this like insane pragmatism to having parody. It was just a really convenient plot device for me to be able to move the story forward. And you're like, oh my God, there's such brilliance and layers to this. Nope, that's entirely incidental. was that just a really convenient plot device for me to be able to move the story forward. And you're like, oh my God, there's such brilliance in layers to this. Nope. That's entirely incidental. You know, it just like because we, we, we really liked having this guy. So we wanted to keep him, but then he was a dick. So we killed him off. It's just like the

perfect setup for someone that's commitment, phobic, you're like, yeah, it's kind of like asking someone out. We're going to kill him. Right. Tomorrow, we'll bring it back to life. Whatever. It'll be his evil twin. Yeah. You know, yeah, it's it's now that you say that it's kind of like asking someone out on on April fools.

Yeah. You know, just kidding. Yeah. Oh, no, I was I was just kidding. No, those aren't my feelings true and all over. Why is my voice getting higher? I got to go. You know, that kind of. I don't know why he turned Irish just kidding. No, those aren't my feelings true and all over. Why is my voice getting higher? I gotta go. You know, that kind of, I don't know why he turned

to Irish just now, but it's fine. Or like putting LOL at the end of a criticism, you know, on a test. I have, have you ever, I have, I have, I have, I have, I have, I have, I have, I have, so have you ever done the dating apps? Oh God a little bit. Okay a little bit. I don't know what it's like I okay, it is horrifying for me to okay. I am very I'm very new to the experience But I can just tell you it feels like shopping for people yes, and that doesn't feel good

There's a weird urgency to it too. It's so you said you watched Twilight Zone when you were a kid. Did you watch the colorized version? I mean, I watched it for a really long time. So probably I don't recall it as much as well. Okay. So there was a color version that came out in the mid 80s. Oh, oh, yeah, I didn't watch that one too much, but I saw a few episodes. Okay, so there was one called the children's zoo. And the children's zoo was, it sounds bad. Awesome. The kids bring the parents and the parents get put on display and the kids go and shop around for a new family.

That's like every child's dream. Yes. And you know, it's kids of abusive parents, you know, who are just arguing the whole time and it's a really uncomfortable watch at first and then you're like, I fuck them. But, but like the parents that are in that the zoo are urgent, I wouldn't even say desperate, but urgent to get out.

And that's what those apps feel like. There's an urgency for people to connect. It's, it's, yeah, good luck. Have fun. There's going to be a lot of mid-air collisions, essentially, as well. I mean, I didn't renew my subscription, so. All right.

Yeah. So if I'm going to meet someone, it's going to be someone I know or it's going to be a friend of a friend, that's just like in my life. There you go. Yeah. Uh, uh, uh, probably not bad. It's a great for me, y'all. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. Uh, Geek

Timers, your mission is clear. Uh, uh, RIP, your mansion. Um, but, but the reason I bring it up is because there were very often people who were trying to neg me when I was in the digital dating world, but they would neg me with an LOL afterwards. What are you fucking doing? Like, that's, that's what it feels like. Like you can, yeah, you know, it's a, you know, I don't really like that sweater on you. LOL. I'm like, why are you laughing out loud at that? Like, that's not even a funny joke.

Like, that doesn't make it less uncomfortable. Right. You know, I think I'll stick to the sweater. Thank you. Um, it has uncomfortable. Right. You know, I think I'll stick to the sweater thank you. It has that same feel. Like, you know, we just, you know, we could put things wherever we want. You know, it's just like you said, for commitment, phobic writer. People came down on her pretty quickly about, oh, this is a sex comma. We're too much smut on TV and blah, blah, blah, because it was a 70s. And it's, I think, very much a woman writer.

And she responded and she says that it was actually Charlie's angels, not soap that stress sex to begin with. She said, Charlie's angels was, quote, the first of the jiggly shows. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Uh, which I've, I don't know if you ever watched Charlie's angels.

A little bit, yeah. Correct me if I'm wrong. And it could just be that, you know, I'm so very skewed by what I came to appreciate later with Mrs. Garrett. They weren't particularly large-chested on Charlie's Angels. No, they didn't wear bras either.

But that's not jiggly so much as like slime. I mean, it is when they run. Even then, it's floppy, you know? Like it's not jiggly so much as like slam. I mean, it is when they run. Even then it's floppy, you know, like it's not jiggly. You got to have volume. Like Mrs. Garrett running across the screen, that shit was jiggly. Yes, you're right. Mrs. Garrett did have a bigger rack than Farrah Fossett. Boy, did she. And so, you know, again, no shade to Farrah Fossett, but just she, you know, I'm sure her breasts were beautiful. I'm sure they were, but they weren't jiggly. Let's let's be real. But the 70s, you know, stands were different.

You know, not everybody was was hip to room, a clanahan yet. Well, there was also there was a lot of Cookean the 70s. So good point. Yeah, yeah. It's just the zeitgeist, I guess. Yeah, good point. So she sold the show to the network based on this Bible that she wrote. It was the show Bible, which is a common term actually. And she basically, it had all of the characters, all of their backstories, all of their intersecting arcs. It had everything. And she sold the show based on that.

They read it and they loved it. They're like, yes. So before it even aired in the fall season of 77, however, it was gaining critics because of this self-same Bible. Because ABC in March had screened two episodes for its executives in almost 200 of its affiliate stations. Okay, so it's just the executives that are seeing it.

And of course, that gets leaked to Newsweek. Now I have a special history with Newsweek based on what I did last spring, right? But I found if you got a problem with the writing, you go to the editor, because you'll get apologies, you'll get things printed out for you. But in June, attraction section. Yes.

And they are several several affiliates needed to retract several. But in June, Newsweek put out a preview of the show and they incorrectly stated that because it's fucking Newsweek They incorrectly stated that so paddy Catholic priest getting seduced in a confessional That's sure. I just watched that episode right before this conversation. There you go. So does he get seduced in a confessional. That's sure. I just watched that episode right before this conversation. There you go. So does he get seduced in a confessional? Well, he's definitely an a confessional, but the degree to which she's actually trying to seduce him. I mean, she's very forward for this period of time and for a confessional. Like, I've never taken that approach with my priests, but, you know,

I can't say I haven't taken that approach in life of just being like I want you Right do this thing right, but time and place and all of that and The fact that it probably was I'm very curious as to how much the fact that she was a female writer and showrunner Played a role just because, you know, hypocrisy and all of the, you know, be sexy. Don't be too forward. Be forward. Don't be too sexy. Yeah, just, but, but so would you say having just watched this episode that, in fact, she was seducing him instead of confessional? No, I think she was laying out a convincing argument as to why they should be together. Right.

Right. And like her boobs were a little forward maybe, but that's sure they weren't jiggly. Weed with your assets. Exactly. Well, that would be. What are you? Yeah. Yeah, complicated.

Confessionals aren't that big as I recall. No, but and like she does like fully like pull the screen away and like. Sure. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, the misogyny of the 70s is very present. Yes, yes. So, so yeah, they said that she was seducing him. She wasn't. The reporter who went after them so hard was reporter Henry F. Waters, who I found several of his things. And it's like, if men could clutch their pearls, they would be Henry F. Waters.

He is like the 1970s version of, yeah, of Anthony Comstock, you know, the guy who was going after smut in the 1870s, which was actually just birth control. But he wrote in his preview, which was cleverly titled. It was called 99 and 44% impure. That's pretty good. Right? You remember a clean 99.44? Yeah. I believe it was zestfully clean, correct? Yeah. I think so. It was either that or ivory. I want to clean as real as Ivery. Oh, no, it was ivory. I want to clean as real as ivory and clean 99.44. That was the title clever. And he said that it would replace violence as parents' chief objection to TV. So, that is pretty pearl clutching. Yeah.

So, so brought us in its short run of devilish impurity, all of the greatest hits from the 1970s. There were communist revolutions in South America. There were cults, there were UFOs, there was organized crime, there was gay visibility. Oh, yeah. I guess I've got things to say about that. As do I, yeah.

And just like Anita Bryant, I'm gonna be pretty focused on that. The dwindling importance of the middle class is the shadow of the upper class. Phil Donahue. I haven't gotten to Phil Donahue yet. Yeah, mental illness and the ignoring of it. Yeah.

Yeah. All of these things. Now, shortly thereafter, site unseen and based only on Newsweek's article, which the history of people doing that, um, Newsweek's article, which the history of people doing that, their article that misrepresented the actual facts. The National Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ, the National Council of Catholic Bishops, which they could only move diagonally, apparently. The Southern Baptist Convention, so you know

there's no dancing. The Roman Catholic Church's LA archdiocese and the United Methodist Church all started to move to get soap censored. Oh my goodness. Now with that list, I think of blazing saddles, where he's going, I want muggers, buggerers, murderers, thieves, and Methodists. the murderers, thieves, and Methodists. I was thinking of the, so when the movie Dogma came out, my very, very Catholic grandmother who, she had a subscription to the Catholic voice. Like, and the Catholic voice didn't article about how that movie was like a total

travesty and an abomination and all the things and she went on like and so then she like went six degrees of separation and started boycotting Ben Affleck as a result because he was in the movie and like it was all all his faults and the funny thing is like I feel like if she had watched the movie, there's a lot of things that she wouldn't have approved of, but the depiction of the Catholic church wasn't all that bad. It was clear that they were an aging grifter. Yeah.

And it was a critique of the church, but I would think that some Catholics would be like, yeah, it has gotten that way. They have lost the faith, you know? The Catholic Church doesn't have the most stellar track record historically. That's a lot. Real estate, yes, track record, you know. Real estate antiquities, they have a big portfolio of those things. Yeah, the first of the NFT holders, really.

those things. Yeah, yeah. The first of the NFT holders, really. Yeah. So the weapon of choice for all of these groups is financial pressure, as well as public and moral pressure. The Southern Baptist Convention sold off its 2500 shares in ABC, which itself was a problematic connection to even have, I would imagine, a church having stock shares in an entertainment. It's best if you don't look too closely at those things. Yeah. And none of the people putting money on the plate do. But they did so publicly too, um, stating that they quote, did not approve of programming related to the abuse of human

sexuality, violence and perversion. They didn't do it for all the other shows that were on ABC. Shall we get into the cop dramas, the, the private eye, the rockford files, you know, shit like that. No, it was soap. The archdiocese of LA encouraged all American families to boycott soap because quote, ABC should be told that American Catholics and all Americans are not going to sit by and watch the networks have open season on Catholicism and morality. Soap is probably one of the most effective arguments for government censorship that has yet come along. Oh, that comment's not going to age well. I can't imagine that comment like with all their money, you wouldn't have a

PR guy who is younger, you know, I mean, you could have been a cabin boy for years first. It's fine, you can indoctrinate them and you're in. But, but like after is he like, you got a direct line through the ultra boys. I mean, right. Like, like just, hey, young kid. Does this look like something we should admit? Yeah.

Does, does this strike you as a bachelor? Yeah. Does this, does this make my ass look fashion? Ah. So. Yeah. Does this, does this make my ass look fashy? So in August, the board of rabbis of Southern California joined in. And in December of 2021, I learned that in the 1970s, there was a board of rabbis of Southern California. Cool. Like, you know, organize how you want, but they jumped in the United Church of Christ objected to, to the fact that soap was going to follow

happy days in the Vernon Shirley. Yeah. Okay. This was not without cause. However, in 1975, the FCC had mandated that there be a safe haven time and time slot for families. But by 75, or I'm sorry, by 77, it was going away. Soap would be directly following the safe haven time. But again, in 77, the networks were like, man, fuck this.

Like, that's costing us money. So no. So to the proclutures of all the money is always God in the yes, yes, in money we trust. And so they and they were they're like, this is stupid. This is performative. We don't we don't want to do this. Also, you know, we could make more money if we don't. But soap did show up after the safe haven time, but you know, you could make the argument like, well, it's right after safe haven time.

It's like, you get this time. Everyone knows. In England, they called it the threshold hour. Like after that hour, you could say shit. You could have tits. You could do all you wanted on TV. I don't know about that. I know you could do Benny Hill.

But so by 77, it's already phasing out. Proclutches of all denominations, this could have seemed like merely the beginning of our descent to a Bacchanelian television experience. After all, three's company was in its second season. Now, the thing about three's company that I get a kick out of is the fact that yes, you had the guy pretending to be gay. That's that's interesting right there. Um, you had the guy from the Apple dumpling gang, uh, wearing a necker chief. That's also fascinating to me, but the fact that they're rent was $75 a month. Even as a kid watching that, I was like, what the fuck? I even know, no, the age of 75 even Did they each pay $75?

No, they each pay $75. And they live right around the corner from the regal beagle, so you know it's prime real estate. Well, anytime you have a bar downstairs, I mean. Right. But like, 75 a month. Yeah. Yeah.

Good times. Thanks. But all of this got them to moving up forward for a letter writing campaign. This included assignments by kids in prokiel school prior to it even airing. So like kids there. Yes. Yes. Yes. 32,000 letters went to ABC this morning. 32,000 before the show even got aired. Members don't give a shit about what they're writing. No, no, they just don't want to get hit. No. Yeah.

Yes, teacher. I'll do whatever you say. Right. Now, ABC reacted in two ways. First, it lowered its fee for advertisements during soap. That's right. Okay, okay, we get through your series. We're gonna knock it from 75,000 per slot to 40,000 per slot. That's the actual numbers.

Secondly, there was an internal memo that went out through ABC to specifically to the show owners of soap and the producers. And it ended up in the LA Times in its entirety in June of 77. This is still before the show airs. All this, and it hasn't even hit the airwaves. So this is just all because they showed some executives and it got leaked? Yes.

Like that's a lot of, that's just so much effort. Like I think about my own laziness and I'm like, I don't care that much about anything. Right. Like I remember when I spoke to a quiet sleepy 7,500 student school districts school board on a Sunday morning for two minutes. I still get death threats. Like, I'm like, where do you find the energy? Yeah.

My favorite was the letter that said, your parents obviously had sex with Bolshevik farm animals before they made you. Because I'm like the amount of like... That's so specific. Right. So number one, I'm shocked that there are like that's so specific. Right. So number one, I'm shocked that there are, you know, their knowledge of farm animal ideology is so clear. Like how do they know that my parents didn't just, you know, fuck the hell out of fascist farm animals,

but the other thing is so you have to assume there's an ideology. The second part is that the fluid transfer carries that ideology and then mixes with the fluids to make me. Like, you know, like, and then that has to have fermented in me that whole time. Like, like, if that's the case, then it's not really my fault because it's clearly nature not nurture.

That's just innate to you at the point. Yeah, this is, I was born this way. So. No, they'd never like that excuse. No, they really don't. It really seems to be like the most damning thing you could do is get born some way. Yeah.

But so I found the soap memo. Well, I never found the soap memo, actually. I hunted foreign wide for a print version of it, but they all cost me money. And since we have even fewer sponsors than the show did by the end, I'm looking at you, Vlossek Pickles, for pulling your advertising before the show ended because of the scene with the firing squad at the end of the season four, which did actually end up being the final season, but it wasn't designed that way. So we have to make do with that. Yeah. So here's a summary of what I found because I didn't want to pay. It included the following

admonitions, please, quote, please delete the slut that Polish girl gets your clothes off. It doesn't grow back. Frans sexual. Oh my god, and did it hurt. Now I'm hoping it's all one line, but I'm doubtful that it's all one line. Substitute the word fruit, slut, and tinkerbell. Quote, the CAA or any other government organization is not to be involved in general news smuggling operation. Now this character and storyline which dealt with the Vietnamese opium smuggler who becomes involved in the Tate family through Jessica's long lost son was eventually removed from the show Bible. So a lot of this is just based on the show Bible as well, what gets leaked in responses and stuff like that. I still want to see what like that show Bible as well, what gets leaked in responses and stuff like that.

I still want to see what like that show Bible looks like. I know. Oh my God. Did you just have the characters so developed before you even had like a plot? I know. I'm fascinated by the creative process, I think. I'm hoping there's a plot graph. Yeah. you know, like just a bar graph and a pygrap and I want intersecting lines like when we're It's like diagram of yes, oh just it'd be it'd be wonderful. Yeah Quote in order to treat Jodi as a gay character his portrayal must at all times be handled without limpristed actions Which That's kind of interesting because they are afraid of getting fire from two sides here. If you show them being limped-rested,

it's what's the word, you can't not be confronted with the fact that he's a gay character. You can't lie to your kids. So he dresses like a woman in the first episode, which I think conflates a lot of different sexual identities in a problematic way, but yeah. Indeed, indeed.

But back then, the understanding of homosexuality, trans-exuality, trans-vestitism. It was just different over here. Yeah, those are others. And they're all tied to cocaine and disco. Right. Which is brown people music. So why, you know, why not blow it up in the Wrigley field? Um, Kovinsky Park actually. Did you, did you know about that? The, okay, so there's, there's been a lot of scholarship lately on disco and I'm actually quite fascinating by it,

fascinated by it. That disco essentially was really fun music and is really fun music, popularized by black and brown people and homosexuals. And the results, it resulted in a huge backlash against it to the point where there were stations that claimed, you know, we refuse to play disco. Do you remember the movie Airplane when they're flying over Chicago and they hit the tower? It's like, this is disco hits, you know, K95. And it hits it and the whole audience apparently cheered. Like, disco was the nickel back at the time

because it was so like vibrant and fun. And so in 1977, they had a blow up disco event at Komisky Park, where they got a whole bunch of disco albums, and all the people in Komisky Park were cheering it on as they blew up disco albums out on center field. But if you think about Chicago, Chicago is in the Midwest.

You're getting this Midwestern sensibility. And it's wild. But anyway, but I do think it's interesting because you have him as a limperasted character then he is incontrovertibly gay. He's too overt. Exactly. But also there are a couple of anti-defamation league type groups

that have started up and they are also making noise and being like, hey, yo, where where people treat us like people? Don't stereotype us like yeah, so it's like you get it coming and going there. A weird a weird time where they actually are on the same page with the Catholic Church. We just all agree you shouldn't do this. Yeah, this is just a bad idea. We just all agree you shouldn't do this. Yeah, this is just a bad idea. Quote, the colloquy between Peter and Jessica, which relates to Conolingus and Felatio, is obviously unacceptable.

I just love that there's a colloquy as relates to Conolingus and Felatio, obviously unacceptable. There's like so many Latin root words in there. Holy shit. Yeah. And combo night on what are you called those compound words too. Yeah. The quote, the relationship between Jody and the football player should be handled in such a manner that explicit or intimate aspects of homosexuality are avoided entirely. It's the 70s, but it's interesting that this is all before the show fucking airs. aspects of homosexuality are avoided entirely. It's the 70s, but it's interesting that this is all before the show fucking airs. Yeah.

Quote, father Flotsky stand on liberalizing the mass will have to be treated in a balanced, inoffensive manner. By way of example, the substitution of Oreos for traditional wafer is unacceptable. Hahaha. Hahaha. It sounds delicious though though. Yeah, it does. I'd go to communion a lot more often. Right. They served Oreos. The soap memo also contains notes that were subsequently

disregarded by the production staff and the producers, including the following, quote, please change Burke Campbell's last name to avoid association with the Campbell soup company. Well, Koreans affair with a Jesuit priest, her subsequent pregnancy as a result and later exorcism are all unacceptable. And then my favorite quote, please direct Claire to dump the hot coffee in some part of Chester's anatomy other than his crotch. Some part of it. So I guess you could throw it across his chest or whatnot. Yeah. Yeah.

That just wouldn't be fun though. I'm just. I mean, I'm not saying there's not pages that I've got the narrative bookmarked on certain websites. But yeah, I buy in large. It loses a lot of the humor at least. Susan Harris later responded to this note with quote, so we didn't. We poured it in his lap. Now a year later, she gets interviewed by the New York Times, where it's where I pull a

lot of her quotes actually, because she's there's surprisingly little in her own words that's not from this article or a few that cribbed it. And she said, quote, I'm not bitter, but I am somewhat disappointed. I'm disappointed in the press. Something that could have been very dangerous started happening last summer, pre-censorship. I would have expected more people to speak out about it, but they didn't.

That's fair. Yeah, and it becomes a bit of a rally point against censorship on studio sets and the like. But really, censorship didn't leave. It just became more polite and more remote. Now, that gets us to the premiere of soap, but honestly, looking at the time, I think this is a perfect time to cut off. And start up episode two with the premiere of soap. So, what I normally like to do is I ask Ed what he has gleaned, specifically that phrase because it used to

irritate him so he just kind of come to accept it. So Amanda, so far, going through this history of the production of soap, what have you gleaned? Well, I've gleaned a lot about the creator as a person and kind of giving her her own narrative, but also placing just the context of this show within the social history that was happening at the time. It definitely gives the show a different backdrop kind of when you view it that way. Yeah, I found that a show that I watched as a five year old, I missed a lot apparently. I can't imagine why.

Right, you know, because I was fully formed the entire time. Like you said, I was never a wheelad. So I should Jesus when I was five, my parents were like, God, you're depressed a lot. But that wasn't a red flag. No. So, instead of soul, you feel all the things deeply. Sure, sure.

Or the other one is like when I was four, I was accused of being too sarcastic. As a four year old, it's like, oh damn. But I feel like you would have had to have learned the sarcasm someplace. Like someone taught you that shit. When I was teaching, oh god, this would have been, let's see, these kids just graduated. So it's been their sophomore year. So we're talking three years ago.

One of my students said, Mr. How many? How come you're so good at sarcasm? And I said, I try really hard not to be. Like why? I said, because sarcasm is what you do when you're afraid to speak the truth. And they're all like, and they all just sat there like, oh shit, that hit deep.

And I was like, think of all the times you're sarcastic. You literally say the opposite of what you need because being vulnerable enough to say what you need can't be done. It's like the LOL at the end of digging someone, you know. So I have these boundaries, LOL, you know. So yeah, you know, I used to teach Latin as beautiful. But yeah, at five, I didn't get nearly as much out of the show as I hope to on tubby, tubby, tubby, tubby. Is it free? T-U-U-B-I, yeah. Yeah, download it at free. No shit. They probably have some paid content, but I should get at least this is on there with their free side. So cool. Check it out, y'all. Awesome. So, okay, so next episode, we're

going to talk a lot more about and you cannot divorce soap and its characters from what's happening at that time. So there's going to be a lot more social history of it at the time. But now is normally the time where I ask Ed what he's reading and what he could recommend to us. Given your bookcase that I saw last week, I've, there were some cool shit in there. But what are you reading? Or what do you recommend to us to read? It could be related to this. It doesn't have to be.

I am reading two books right now. I'm reading one of them is, so if you've heard of the show you on Netflix, it's... I think that's the free quote to this is us. No, no, um, it's, uh, very different in tone. He was about like this guy that basically stalks women, but somehow, like, he, so it's a pretty cool to us. He's an anti hero kind of thing where like everything is told from his narrative.

And he's handsome and he's charming. thing where like everything is told from his narrative and his handsome and he's charming and he finds ways to kind of justify his obsessive behavior in his head. So he's kind of a sympathetic villain in a way. So I'm reading the book that that that show is based off of. Okay. That's one thing that I'm reading. And then the other book that I'm reading right now is by a Selik Gujuaad called Between Two Kingdoms. So it's a memoir of a woman who she actually, she's the partner of John Batiste who is the band leader on Stephen Colbert's show. And he won a bunch of awards for writing the music for the Disney film soul the Pixar film. Anyway so so like a juaad this is her memoir and she when she was 22 years old she was diagnosed with leukemia so a lot of this book and she herself is like her father I think is from some place in like

North Africa and her mother is American I think and so anyway it's like between two worlds kind of her growing up in this multi-family or multi-ethnic household and her battle with cancer. But part of the reason why I started reading it is she also has been hosting some workshops on basically how she took her journal and turned it into a memoir. So I find that particularly interesting. Neat. Well, I'm going to let those be the recommendations, because nothing I have. Like, is anywhere near as compelling right now.

So I read a lot. Good. Good. That's, you know, hopefully that's our audience. So cool. Well, can you tell us where to find you on the social medias? Yeah. If you're looking for me, I'm an Amanda Lannam yoga

on Instagram, Amanda L-A-N-H-A-M, like a Lannam Maryland. And I post there sometimes you'll, I also have a YouTube channel, which you can link to off of my Instagram. But I also do some singing. Nice. Nice. There's some things there.

Cool. Well, as always, you can find me at Duh Harmony on Twitter and Instagram, two H's in the middle. And then you can also find me on January 14th, which as of this recording's release will probably be next week. Just so January 14th at Luna's downtown in Sacramento with capital punishment, capital with an, oh, you need to bring proof of vaccination, you need to bring $10 to get in.

And you gotta have that proof of vaccination, we will not let people in without that. We're gonna keep everyone safe, but it is our first live show. So come and check that out. If for some reason this releases after that, you missed a hell of a show, but don't worry, provided Omicron doesn't wipe us all off the face of the planet, or provided we don't do the right thing as a civilization, we are actually coming back on February 4th as well. For the same same place, same bat time, same bat channel, 8 o'clock,

Sacramento time. So that's where you can find me. And collectively, you can find myself and Ed Blalock, who is at EH Blalock on the Twitter, or Mr. Blalock on TikTok, although I think he only has like two videos where he's talking about a district he used to work for. But you can find him there. You can also find him at Geek History Time. Find the both of us at Geek History Time on the Twitter. So feel free to hit me with information about the Great Malays speech as you see fit. Or your praise for Anita Bryant, if you really want me to fight you. geekhistorytime.com where you can find all of our previous episodes just in case you can't find us on Stitcher, Spotify or the Apple podcast app. So that's pretty much where we are. So Amanda, thank you for joining us. I can't wait to have you back to the next episode. Yeah. And for the Urswile at Blalock, myself, Damien Harmony for Amanda Lanham.

I'm Damien Harmony and this was a geek history of time. So until next time, keep rolling 20s.