When I was growing up, Punky Brewster was only one of many TV shows I used to watch with the theme of "cute kid moves into the apartment and shakes things up". In this case, the kid wasn't short, black, and homeless, but she did have the short and homeless thing going for her. (Notice that the people who adopted kids on sit-coms always lived in hip apartments, not houses. Maybe that was because the adopters were always upper-class, urban, white people; i.e., clowns most ripe to have their values questioned by poor adopted kids.)
Inevitably, Punky's free-spirited perspective on life would, at first, cause quite a stir in the Warnimont residence. But the next thing I knew, Punky and her dog, Brandon, would somehow inspire the guest stars and everybody else in the cast to rethink and reexamine their life's course and change for the better. I remember my dad voicing the physical pain he felt while watching Diff'rent Strokes. I can only imagine what kind of physiological trauma was occurring in his nervous system during this show. I was only a kid, though, so don't blame me.
I thought of Punky when I heard one of the CSI: Miami characters use the word "spunk" tonight. Punky never would have said "spunk". I remember how shocked I was as a kid when Hawkeye said "son of a bitch" on MASH. Now they're talking about spunk.
I wonder how long it will take before we start hearing real language in the commercials, too. The Vagisil commercial still refers to vaginosis as "feminine itch and feminine odor". This almost sounds like something desirable. "Feminine odor" isn't that bad, is it? I've smelled women, and most smell pretty good. And I guess you wouldn't want to itch, but a "feminine itch" sounds like one of the better itches you could have.
"Aw, isn't that cute! She's got feminine itch!"
I noticed that "Stair Master" makes treadmills. They actually stamp "Stair Master" on the machine even though there are no stairs. Taking their lead, I wonder if it would be a good corporate branding decision for Lysol, or maybe some brand of car deodorizer, to start selling products that neutralize feminine itch and odor. It could be a totally different product, just like the Stair Master treadmill, but with the proven brand name stamped on the package.
The commercial could have a man sneaking into a woman's bedroom and sticking a round, plastic deodorant between her legs. Then he could smile at the camera and whisper, "This is a good place for a Stick-Up!"
