I just finished critic David Bianculli's enjoyable The Platinum Age of Television, and many of the TV creators and performers interviewed for the book demonstrate their good taste by praising The Honeymooners. For example, David Simon proves his bona fides as not just a grade-A rabble rouser, but a judge of quality reruns:
I fell in love with The Honeymooners and stayed in love with The Honeymooners. To this day, I can't walk out on a Honeymooners episode.If I walk through the room, and I'm going somewhere and The Honeymooners is on, I've got to sit down.
Other people who cite the show: James L. Brooks, Vince Gilligan, David Milch, Louis C.K., and David Chase.
We don't need big-shot showrunners to tell us The Honeymooners is great. It's nice to read it, though!
Bianculli doesn't give the series its own little subheading as he does so many other programs he highlights as key points in the evolution of good TV, but he writes about it at the beginning of his "Family Sitcoms" chapter, and his appreciation is clear:
...the development of The Honeymooners, from brief sketch to season-long domestic sitcom, is a perfect illustration of the evolution of quality TV at its best.
He goes on to talk about its expansion from recurring sketch to dedicated half-hour program. However, he then turns to praising I Love Lucy, which has its adherents but is no Honeymooners. And this is not I Love Luc-day, so that's all I got for this week.
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