As I have been spending a lot of time in the shop, I have had the TV on in the background as some of the best shows of the 80s, 90s and 2000s have been playing in the background. On the antennae, there is a network called Laff that plays blocks of sitcoms. Usually by the time I turn it on, “Home Improvement” is on. After an hour or so, “Night Court” plays for two hours and the “That 70s Show” comes on for two hours.

I can remember sitting around an old black and white portable with my brother and cousins watching “Night Court”. We would laugh and laugh. We were probably in grade school at the time. Seeing it now, there is some low brow humor, but it is PG compared to much of the dialog on more recent shows.

The thing that struck me is how strong the moral message is in the show “Night Court”. Every episode wraps up with some message about spending more time with your aging parent, working out marital problems when they are put into appropriate perspective or understanding mental illness.

“Home Improvement” always had some sort of lesson as well. It wasn’t quite as in your face or as wide ranging across issues, but a lots of good relationship moments. Moving on in scheduling and time, “That 70s Show” makes me laugh a lot. I like to watch it, but there is not the moral undertone of the other two shows.

The era of the sitcom has come and gone. Sure, there are some still but they don’t have the same soul. Shows like “Will and Grace” are risque but also pushing other values more along the lines of social engineering. We are dominated by reality TV programming with shows like “The Bachelor” which I don’t even understand why people would watch it. It is no wonder people are watching individual programming on mobile devices.

I can remember when “America’s Funniest Video’s” premiered and it seemed as though everyone at school was talking about it. We have lost some of our societal cohesiveness with all of the viewing options available. I think that has been some of the drive to push more extreme programming to try and get more attention. For me, I will keep watching Laff.