If you've ever had nostalgia for something that you've never personally experienced, you know that it's a wonderful, inexplicable feeling.
TV Land, as a channel, banks on this feeling. It is the one television station you probably are not watching enough, but that deserves your full appreciation.
I realize it might be hard to market a network that presents half of its programs in black and white to college students who, when they do finally have some time to spare, justifiably enjoy vegging out to crime dramas and reality shows, the modern-day staples of TV programming.
I also, however, recall one lazy afternoon not too long ago that found a few friends and me sitting in Collis, watching "Leave It to Beaver" as a tour group slowly meandered past. When the parents and their little geniuses caught a glimpse of The Beave in his nave, all-American glory, they momentarily stopped walking, clearly astonished that we at Dartmouth have enough time between writing essays about Kant to soak up the boob tube. But they were also -- if their grins were any indication -- a little bit happier with life.
That's what TV Land is capable of. It's magic in monochrome.
The 12-year-old network boasts environments, families and situations that are united by a message of love and togetherness that, though inevitably saccharine, is surprisingly sincere.
For instance, there has been no show in existence more representative of homogenized suburban middle America than "Leave It to Beaver." June Cleaver makes ham sandwiches in pearls, and Ward communicates with the occasional ethnic character using a Spanish dictionary he quite handily keeps in his garage.
But for all its mind-numbing conformism, the show is charmingly unsophisticated and straightforward. "Leave It to Beaver" is impossible to watch without making wistful comparisons between the America we live in today and the America of yesteryear we never experienced.
Another TV Land gem is "Good Times," a product of the 1970s.
In this show, the Evans clan faces its fair share of problems while living in a gang-filled Chicago ghetto. But the family doesn't need much to get by -- just supportive friends, thick skin and perfectly coiffed Afros prove sufficient.
And who can forget "Three's Company"?
Knocking on our door from the 1980s, John Ritter's breakthrough comedic vehicle portrays a trio of very different Santa Monica roommates becoming as close as siblings through a shared, constant (but hilarious) fear of wrongful eviction.
So I must insist: Go ahead, feel warm and fuzzy over some old, but timeless shows.
Having lived through their respective decades is no prerequisite for feelings pangs of nostalgia -- sometimes it's comfort enough just watching a series in which the plots are already well-known and the characters have become cultural icons.
Tune in to channel 24 on DarTV for TV Land.
