This series was great at capturing not just the highlights of the seventies but the spirit of the decade. Of course, it was not as depressing as the 1930's, but turning 12 in January of 1970 and thus turning 22 as the 1980s began, watching these episodes just brought back how depressing the whole time period was. There was a feeling we were on a downhill slide, and this documentary reflects that sentiment and the reasons behind it. An American president resigned for what so far is the only time in history, Vietnam fell to the communists after Americans lost so many thousands of soldiers there over the previous decade, the decade opened with "Jesus Christ Super Star" bringing the rise of the "Jesus people", cults began to rise, and near the close of the decade Jim Jones organizes a mass suicide/homicide of just under one thousand of his followers. Suddenly cults were not cool anymore. And then Jimmy Carter dons a sweater, and from an armchair tells us all of this is our fault. The Iranians agreed.
Of course, not all of it is newsy and depressing. The series goes into television and how much it changed over the decade, with "All in the Family" leading the charge. It also talks about the music of the decade which wasn't so bad, even though the decade started with the break up of the Beatles. However, I am STILL trying to get over having listened to "You Can Ring My Bell" ad infinitum on the radio back in 1979.
I think that is one thing younger people just won't get. We all shared a common culture back then. There were three network channels, no cable, maybe a couple of UHF TV channels if you were in a larger city. Music played on wax discs or on the radio. There was not a constant flood of information coming from different sources trying to compete with each other employing the flashiest "journalists" or carving out a niche and just telling you what you want to hear.
I highly recommend this series. It strikes just the right balance between informing and entertaining. Highly recommended.
