The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?

Dear Shirley and readers, greetings! If any of you happen to be here and find this simple text, I can only answer a few of the questions raised by this special broadcast on TV, nearly 50 years ago, as to where did we go ever since 1977; sadly I can't account for the next 150 years in the challenging question (if mankind will ever get there too).

But first I'm compelled to write about the experience of watching an old TV broadcast filled with humor, great musical numbers and choreographies, and a few existential thoughts about life, technology, the existing accomplishments of the period and how the 20th century made a giant leap in bringing people closer thanks to such technology and its improvements. Yet there were many big problems to be solved, and that still remain unsolved or became more complicated. It was fun seeing many Hollywood legends showing their humored and chaotic perspectives about the future, but also sad since most of them are no longer with us. Don't recall much of what was said, Jimmy Stewart was there just repeating the question as he couldn't hear a thing (true story) but Dean Martin was quite right about people's main interest: sex. It moves the world around, and gladly the conversation is more open than ever before, and it's in everybody's mouths, phones and computers.

Speaking of computers and technology, the world has seen a revolution through the way we communicate, interact and make business in a velocity closer than the speed of the light. That's how I got the chance to see this material (I wasn't here in the 1970's). But as for the laser bean imagined in Buck Rogers and described by you, Shirley, it has not become a weapon of mass destruction to be used by military on wars, but it's used for other things like cosmetic procedures, tattoos removal, etc.

The 4 billion of people in 1977 is (as of now) a total of 8.2 billion, going under many social/political/cultural/educational changes for better and worse, and dealing with many topics that weren't thought about then are a common thing now, so that's why I try not to be too harsh on the idealistic view of the future as imagined in the special, neither the lack of a wider and serious scope of things to come. But it was okay. The idea was to entertain people, not depress them.

To make them talk about it, question themselves about their expectations, if hopeful or not, and I guess the show invites such notions.

Cynical or simply realist, but one needs to be honest about some hopes and wishes for the future that we're still struggling. A world of love, fairness, equality, justice, peace and a humanistic development over hatred, contempt, jealousy, injustices, wars and conflicts hasn't come around in those first 25 years of the 2000's. Maybe we had glimpses of it, maybe a few felt those good things and shared with another few, but as a whole there's a lot to be fixed, changed and fought over. The fears of '77 were mostly related with the Cold War, the atomic bomb, the oil crisis, hunger and poverty; today we can multiply the paranoia and reality by a million of other things - but it exists and remains. However, it's great to look back at a different time and see that some hopes and ideas will always be timeless, especially imagining future times.

Besides the thoughts and jokes shared, it was truly enjoyable to see a hard-working talent giving her all through many dances, songs and acting moments.

Seeing your rendition of Peter Allen's "Everything Old is New Again" was very memorable. The whole show made me wonder why the Academy Awards folks never invited you to command their shows as a solo performer.

To the ones who happen to stumble here, enjoy the show and try to figure out where do go from whatever the year you'll be seeing this TV special. 6/10.