here's the story ...

... of a lovely lady ...

The kid, thanks to the retroactive power of television, has recently discovered two kid shows from the past, The Brady Bunch and Full House. The Brady Bunch is right out of my childhood. Watching it with her is pretty wild, as I can remember the tiny kitchen table (it was a house with nine people, for crying out loud), the staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms, Mr. Brady's den/office, the patio, etc. Kids love watching kids. so the '70s fashions don't seem to intrigue her as much as the interactions between the siblings.

Full House was not a regular on my viewing schedule, but I have to admit that I remember more about it than I thought I would. A thinly-veiled  version of the film Three Men and A Baby, Full House has the right amount of kids and silly situations to keep the kid amused. I never got why so many of the '80s and '90s sitcoms added the "Awwww" track every time a shot of a cute kid like Baby Michelle (the now famous Olsen twins) filled the screen, but that's part of the experience too, I guess. But what must have sold the show originally (and still does, actually) was John Stamos as Uncle Jesse. Similar to The Brady Bunch, the three girls present the eternal sibling triangle — big sister, middle sister, and baby sister. But mostly the kid likes to watch the silly sitcom antics and how the kids get into and out of trouble.

Did Mr. Brady really design that stairwell?

The two (or three) reasons people tuned into Full House - John Stamos and the Olsen twins

There are plenty of shows on television these days that feature families and kids, but not a lot that interest me or strike the kid's fancy. Probably the closest thing to both the innocence of The Brady Bunch and the sassiness (without being too bratty) of the kids on Full House would be the Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie. I find most of the kids on Disney Channel shows uber-obnoxious and way too mouthy — not a template I want the kid to follow, but Good Luck Charlie is saved by the over-the-top cartoonish behavior of Leigh-Allyn Baker as the mom, Amy, and Bridgit Mendler as her equally goofy teenage daughter Teddy.

The funny ladies of Good Luck Charlie - Leigh-Allyn Baker and Bridgit Medler

Teddy and her brothers are helping their parents raise the new baby Charlie (another baby comes along later in the series). The other actors are fun, too, but these two ladies make the show. I'm not sure if the kid sees the similarities between all of these shows, but I guess there's  family sitcom for every generation. And the way we watch television these days, each generation can watch their shows pretty much all in the same day, some time even back-to-back.

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