How To Be A Gentleman

There are so many new TV shows coming on board that are utter garbage that I don't know where to start first.

One is an Odd Couple clone - "prude meets dude" or whatever their motto is, the title, How to be a Gentleman.

So we've got someone who looks like a Niles clone - he of course is the Felix Unger role, than we've got Kevin Dillon who plays the utter slob Oscar Madison role.

And of course the neatnik "prude" will be mocked, while the utterly gross slob will be the "normal" guy.

Which is too bad.

It's easy to be a slob - you don't have to do anything.

It's hard to be a gentleman - or lady, you have to work at it.

Too many people don't work at it.

Lots of people are slobs. And if you try to tell them to get their act together - get their hair cut, wear decent-fitting clothes, etc., you're the one who is labeled a prude or a snob.

I remember an episode of Barney Miller from 20 - 30 years ago. The fastidious Harris has to stay in the slob Dietrich's apartment. Does Harris' fastidiousness rub off on the slob Dietrich? No, not at all. By the end of the episode Harris has turned into just as much of a slob as Dietrich (albeit only for that one episode.) He's given up, he's been defeated.

That's what we're faced with today. Too many people have given up and let themselves and standards slide. Any attempt to live up to standards is mocked and laughed at.

Don't get me wrong - I remember enjoying the original Odd Couple...heck, I even enjoyed the remake in which Ron Glass played Felix Unger and the guy from Sanford and Son played Oscar Madison, twenty years ago, and unfortunately only lasted a handful of episodes.

But these days...these days I just don't see it as doing anything to improve the fabric of society.