The Honeymooners

One episode of the television sitcom "The Honeymooners", followed by a highlights montage. The episode centers on Ralph's [Jackie Gleason] refusal to buy a TV set for his wife. He eventually agrees to co-purchase a TV with his neighbor and share the set between them. This, predictably, causes problems.

I had never seen this show before and also have seen very little television from this era. From my vantage point as an outsider, these were my impressions of the show. It does have alot of good jokes. However, the underlying impression it gave me of gender relationships and family structure in the 1950s was a little nauseating. I can’t say whether this show represents the typical American way of life at the time (and therefore whether I should be offended by the show or not). However, if one just tries to ignore these types of implications, it is relatively funny, although way too much humor seems to center on how amusing a fat man looks when angry. This became especially apparent when watching the “Honeymooners Highlights” following the episode. It showed brief clips of all the episodes released on this VHS series, so naturally, you see alot of similar clips of Gleason yelling with his eyes bul ging out. This could get extremely tiresome. But all in all, it seems like a relatively funny show.