美国国家公共电台 NPR Learning The Lessons Of TV Fatherhood

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

This Sunday is Father's Day, and NPR TV critic Eric Deggans has been thinking about how he learned to be a father from the dads he saw on TV.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE¹: My father isn't with us anymore, and I loved him a lot. But he and my mother split before I was born. So understanding what it meant to have a father close by required this lifelong TV nerd to turn here.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD TIMES THEME SONG")

UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR²: (Singing) Good times.

BLINKY WILLIAMS: (Singing) Any time you need a friend...

UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Good times...

DEGGANS: It's tough to overstate how rare and important it was for a young black kid from Gary, Ind., to see this show in 1974. Esther Rolle, whose character Florida Evans was spun³ off from the sitcom⁴ "Maude" to create "Good Times," insisted this pioneering sitcom about a poor black family in Chicago have a strong father figure. So it was like looking at a dream to see John Amos as powerful, hard-working dad James Evans. He was tough on his youngest son, Michael, after he joined a club that seemed to be turning into a gang.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD TIMES")

JOHN AMOS: (As James Evans) The only reason I let you join this club is because you said it stood for self-pride and awareness⁵. But if your club is talking about revenge, it ain't become nothing but a gang, and you just quit.

RALPH CARTER: (As Michael Evans) Hey, Daddy, you can't take my jacket for me.

AMOS: (As James Evans) Looks to me like I just did.

(LAUGHTER)

AMOS: (As James Evans) Now, you want to discuss it?

CARTER: (As Michael Evans) No.

DEGGANS: Michael was reacting to his dad reaching for his belt, a jarring sight today when TV parents never raise a hand to kids on camera. But back then, it felt authentic⁶ and real. Back then, I was clueless about life with a dad in the house. I actually thought married couples slept in two twin beds like on "The Dick Van Dyke⁷ Show." And as much as I love the smooth avuncularity of TV dads like Robert Reed's Mike Brady on "The Brady Bunch," the best example of the dads in my neighborhood could be found at the theater. In 1987, James Earl Jones played frustrated⁸ trash collector Troy Maxson in August Wilson's "Fences" on Broadway.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FENCES")

JAMES EARL JONES: (As Troy Maxson) You live in my house. You sleep your behind on my bedclothes. You put my food in your belly⁹ because you are my son. You are my flesh and blood - not because I like you.

DEGGANS: For me, what felt like a better fathering role model was Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, a funny, successful doctor who wasn't chafing¹⁰ under the weight of life. In one scene on "The Cosby Show," he used Monopoly money to show how Theo might struggle financially if he skipped college.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BILL COSBY SHOW")

BILL COSBY: (As Cliff Huxtable) Three hundred dollars a week, $1,200 a month - all right.

MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER: (As Theo Huxtable) Great, I'll take it.

COSBY: (As Cliff Huxtable) Yes, you will.

(LAUGHTER)

COSBY: (As Cliff Huxtable) And I will take $350 for taxes.

WARNER: (As Theo Huxtable) Whoa.

(LAUGHTER)

COSBY: (As Cliff Huxtable) Yeah, now - because, see; the government comes for the regular people first.

DEGGANS: Cosby's current trial for sexual assault shows actors can be very different from who they play on TV. It also ruins the memory of a TV dad who showed how patience and humor could decode¹¹ the toughest parenting problems. In raising my own kids - and while I'm mostly proud of what I've done - I sometimes can't help feeling like a clueless Homer Simpson...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")

DAN CASTELLANETA: (As Homer Simpson) Can't hurt the boy, can't hurt the boy.

DEGGANS: ...Or Ray Romano's well-meaning but over-his-head Ray Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND")

RAY ROMANO: (As Ray Barone) Look; you have to do what mommy says.

MADYLIN SWEETEN: (As Ally Barone) Why?

ROMANO: (As Ray Barone) Because I do...

DEGGANS: But few depictions of fatherhood have touched me like NBC's "This Is Us," which showed Ron Cephas Jones as William Hill on his deathbed, reconciling with the adult son he gave up at birth.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THIS IS US")

RON CEPHAS JONES: (As William Hill) I haven't had a happy life, a life of almosts and could-haves. Some would call it sad, but I don't because the two best things in my life are the person in the very beginning and the person at the very end.

DEGGANS: My dad and I didn't really get that kind of moment before he died, but "This Is Us" did help me accept that good men can make mistakes. And forgiveness is one of the most important skills any father or son can have. I'm Eric Deggans.

(SOUNDBITE OF BAHAMAS SONG, "CAUGHT ME THINKING")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

3 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

4 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

6 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

7 dyke   

n.堤，水坝，排水沟

参考例句：

• If one sheep leap over the dyke,all the rest will follow.一只羊跳过沟，其余的羊也跟着跳。
• One ant-hole may cause the collapse of a thousand-li dyke.千里长堤，溃于蚁穴。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

10 chafing   

n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒

参考例句：

• My shorts were chafing my thighs. 我的短裤把大腿磨得生疼。 来自辞典例句
• We made coffee in a chafing dish. 我们用暖锅烧咖啡。 来自辞典例句

11 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。