Old vs. New

It is interesting to see how over decades the media can change and the content it produces. For example, let’s compare All in the Family and Everybody Loves Raymond. In the episode of All in the Family that we watched in class I felt that they dealt with more challenging issues to try and break through societal standards, as opposed to Everybody Loves Raymond where their conflict was more so between family and work matters and weren’t as challenging and made for more fun instead of thought.
However, they were similar in format. Both shows were family based, comedy, and the setting was primarily the same focused in the home with a typical mom, dad, and children set up. Another important factor to note is that the main character in both shows was the father, but the mother in All in the Family was much more passive and didn’t have as dominant of a role as in Everybody Loves Raymond. The main difference was the role each family member played, in my opinion.
The specific issues that were addressed were also quite different. In All in the Family sexual orientation was the main issues and I am sure in many other of their episodes the topics are just as offensive but informative in a satirical way. However, I felt in Everybody Loves Raymond and in most contemporary family comedies that they focus their conflict on issues between family, school, or work, as in the episode I watched were the grandfather insulted the daughter of Raymond and the resolution was his apology. Another important attribute is that some of the issues targeted in both may seem a little harsher or prevalent in older sitcoms because it was not as much of a societal norm, such as gays and lesbians, whereas if you were to see gays or lesbians on TV today it would not be near as offensive or uncommon.