The Life of Riley

The situation comedies of the 50's had a common theme. The father would have to resolve some family commotion within 30 minutes, but back then 30 minutes was longer, there were many less commercials. Diversity was limited to social-economic circumstances. Ozzie Nelson lived in an idealized suburban house and had all day to find the solution. Riley worked in factory, lived in a duplex, and had to do his conflict resolution after work.

Conflict is no stranger to this blog, often only lubricated by turmoil. Though usually dissecting Democrats, I have also bickered with the remnants of the local Republican party. Seems the remnants resented it when I revealed that the majority of homeowners in the West Park area were opposed to the Historic District, imposed upon them a decade ago. They can't understand why the opposers didn't attend their coffee clutches at the time; They say that they would have dropped the plan if only they knew. They didn't offer that option back then, to the standing room only protesters, at the City Council Meetings.

William Bendix, as Riley, would end every episode by saying "What a revolting development this turned out to be!", pretty much like Allentown.

UPDATE: This post is adapted from April 2009. In retrospect, they were the good old days. An outrage at that time was having an historic district imposed on a neighborhood. Now, we have a mayor who takes an entire square block, tears it down, and burdens the community with $200 million in debt, with no public input what-so-ever. What a revolting development this turned out to be.