Do 20-Somethings Know Who Alan Alda Is?

I'm in my 30s and I watched a few first-run episodes of MASH in the early 80s. I didn't like the series, but Alan Alda was okay as an actor.

Because I'm part of a "transition" generation, I know things both 20 & 40/50-somethings don't know. If you think about it, every generation is a transition generation, but with my generation (Gen X), we seem to bridge the gap between the 20th & 21st centuries in tech & cultural knowledge.

I do remember who Alan Alda is ! Never liked M.A.S.H but hell he did movies like "What Women Want" .

I grew up with no telephone or radio and a world

war 2 just outside my door.

I am still in shock at today's young people having

to stay so much in touch all of the timeand consumed

by electronics.

But that being said I am sure some of todays 20 year olds might wish for the day when a world did not need cctv's everywhere or instant communication ,and a return to a normal society that allowed one to NOT be known who and where they are.

I can't even think what these present 20 somethings will lament when they(if they are so lucky) get old about today?

What is amazing to me also is that a baby born today in

this modern world can expect to live to 100 years.

Wonder how long then as we live longer and won't possibly

die from disease anymore it will be to get tech support

from apple? or find a dentist or ?

what

He was the philanderer in Same Time Next Year. He should be ashamed of himself.

I

i LOVE alan alda ^

Wait a minute, so a young person had no idea who an actor arguably passed his prime is...and this is news?

Seriously, if Apple store toddlers and a few anonymous blog commenters don't recognize you, why do you exist?

Suicide is painless...

Sure I know him. He tried to kill the President in Murder at 1600

Nobody knows who he is because he's OLD.

Let's just hope he has better logic skills that you.

Maybe we don't know him in MASH but we do know him in Canadian Bacon and What Women Want. I just don't know his name, but I know that face and the voice.

So one "twenty-something" working at an Apple Store doesn't know who Alan Alda is, therefore ALL "twenty-somethings" don't know who he is? Is it even possible to have lived 20 years without seeing a MASH rerun?

Sure, it's possible. Not everybody likes war comedies. I've watched maybe a handful of episodes in my life, but then again I'm an uncultured philistine who chose not to watch the legendary CBS Saturday evening lineup that included MTM, Newhart and All in the Family alongside MASH, and I still haven't watched a Bob Newhart rerun to this very day.

Do 20-Somethings Know Who Alan Alda Is?

I do, but that's because of Scientific American and re-runs of M*A*S*H.

You know who 20-somethings don't know? Chevy Chase. He made an appearance at an improv show as the special guest a summer ago, and when they announced him, all the young people were like, "Who?" And none of them thought he was funny. Cause he wasn't, for one thing.

Who cares about old stars? Just give me some good new ones.

Chevy Chase has to be far better known as his Vacation films are always on basic cable.

Oh come on, noone watches Caddyshack in college any more? I call BS.

When I was going, it was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure...

And by the way Rocknrope, you must have been somethin' before electricity.

Don't bet on it. Besides Chevy, Rodney Dangerfield made it a classic.

I was at the Comedy Cellar one night a few years ago, and the host announced a special guest, a 'Gabe Kaplan'. His opening joke, "I love looking around and watching half the audience explain to the other half who I am."

I an still remember when he beat Robert Conrad in a 100-yard dash on 'Battle of the Network Stars'.

That is funny. That is the right attitude.

Larry -- I thought it was clear -- but just to be sure: Alda was nothing but a gentleman about providing his ID. I was the one who was surprised the formality was necessary.

Hotstepper -- it's not meant to be a newsy story. It was just a little slice of NY life and a funny illustration of the generation gap. It was amusing and I wanted to share.

Pat rules. And I miss the VH-1 World Series of Pop Culture.

I love you, Pat Kiernan! Also, feel free to do the news with your shirt unbuttoned again anytime. :)

Well, I'm sure he's been on a couple of Woody Allen films. Aside from that... no idea!

Genius Bar my ass.

I would have made him show his I.D. just for the way he treated Radar that one time.

He should have to show his ID just like anyone else. Besides, he might like that, to know that his computer was secure and not to be given to some other old guy who happens to look like him.

Celebrities are not royalty, they are just people like anyone else and shouldn't get special treatment just because their job involves appearing on TV>

I doubt very much any Alda impersonator out there would know that he had taken his computer in for service.

this is one of the worst non-stories i've ever seen on gothamist. complete garbage.

Want to feel old? This list has been floating around since 1997, when it described that year's college freshmen (my personal changes and additions in bold):

They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era, and did not know he had ever been shot.

They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.

Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.

There has only been one Pope.

They can only really remember one president.

They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.

They have never feared a nuclear war.

"The Day After" is a pill to them, not a movie.

CCCP is just a bunch of letters. So is USSR.

They have only known one Germany.

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up. (The first time. Don't even talk about men walking on the moon.)

Tiananmin Square means nothing to them.

They do not know who Mohamar Qadafi is.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

They never had a polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.

Bottle caps have not only always been screw off, but have always been plastic.

They have no idea what a pull top can looks like.

They've never heard of New Coke.

Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.

The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.

They have never owned a record player.

They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of Pong.

Star Wars looks very fake and the special effects are pathetic. And George Lucas listened.

There have always been Red M&M's, and Blue ones are not new, and what do you mean there used to be beige ones?

They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably have never seen one or heard it played. From another list: they know what "cha-ching!" means, but have never seen a cash register than actually made that sound.

The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.

They were born the year that the Walkman was introduced by Sony. mp3 files have been around almost as long as today's college freshmen!

As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.

Zip codes have always had a dash in them.

They have always had an answering machine. (More likely voicemail.)

Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels nor have they seen a black and white TV.

They have always had cable. (or satellite TV)

There have always been VCR's, but they have no idea what Beta is. There have always been DVDs, but they have no idea what laserdiscs are.

They can't fathom not having a remote control.

Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.

They have never heard of King Cola, Burger Chef or The Globe Democrat.

They have never flown on Pan Am or Ozark Airlines and never knew they existed. Or PeopleExpress and probably never of TWA, either.

The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.

They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.

Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.

They have never seen and remember a game that included the St. Louis Football Cardinals, the Baltimore Colts, the Minnesota North Stars, the Kansas City Kings, the New Orleans Jazz, The Minnesota Lakers, The Atlanta Flames, or the Denver Rockies (NHL hockey, that is)

They do not consider the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins, The Florida Panthers, The Ottawa Senators, the San Jose Sharks, or the Tampa Bay Lightning as "expansion teams"

They have never seen Larry Bird play basketball and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player?

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII or even the Civil War.

They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.

They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They've never heard the terms "Where's the beef?", "I'd Walk a mile for Camel", or "de plane, de plane!"

They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.

The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoon, The Love Boat, Miami Vice, WKRP in Cincinnati, and Taxi are shows they have likely never seen.

The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was.

They cannot remember the Cardinals ever winning a World Series, or even being in one.

Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not bands.

McDonalds never came in Styrofoam containers. There have always been Egg McMuffins and McNuggets. What's a McDLT?

Michael Jackson had always been white.

you'll need to add another change - only kids born in 2005 and later have only been alive for one pope.

My dad sent this list to me when I went to college - and the historical events stuff always makes me cringe (I was born in 1983, but when Al Haig died a few weeks ago, I was the one who explained who he was to my older sister).

I just threw in a few quick changes. There are plenty more that others can contribute, mainly about the 1990s, which is now relevant to the list. For instance,

Y2k? Is that some kind of clothing brand?

48 Hours has always been about murders and crimes.

They've never heard of Unsolved Mysteries or Rescue 911.

They think Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli are flavors of chewing gum.

They do not know who Manuel Noriega, Ferdinand Marcos and Slobodan Milosevich are.

They have never seen Murphy Brown and think Frasier Crane always lived in Seattle.

and kids going to college now were born after the soviet union fell apart

The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoon, The Love Boat, Miami Vice, WKRP in Cincinnati, and Taxi are shows I could have definitely lived without seeing. Well, maybe a few of the Taxi shows were worth seeing because of Andy Kaufman breaking a little ground, but otherwise, why place such high value on sitcoms? They're junk TV. Just because they're vintage doesn't mean they're worth something.

WKRP was an excellent show. Still funny.

What shows you personally found interesting is completely irrelevant. I think the point on the list was that these were once popular or even wildly popular shows and likely still have sizeable fanbases among people of a certain age, but young 'uns haven't even heard of them. I didn't watch most of these myself, but I knew that a lot of other people did.

Note the mention of "Who shot J.R.?" That was the highest rated episode in television history at the time. Not even the Seinfeld or Cheers series finales matched its ratings, and most kids today won't remember either of those, either. (Although the MASH finale remains #1 in the number of viewers, a feat that will probably never be surpassed in the ever more fragmented TV and entertainment world.) They could just as easily have named some of the shows you loved when you were young and I'm sure we can easily find somebody who would be dismissive about those.

also, if you've heard and/or drank Crystal Pepsi, you're old.

god, i miss crystal pepsi...

...not really.

How about Tab Clear? That stuff was HORRIBLE!

Or Tab (at all)?! My sis used to drink that crap all the time during her med school residency...

"If it bends, it's funny, if it breaks it's not funny"

He went to Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.

I loved him in in Little Miss Sunshine.

His father was the actor Robert Alda. He was the original Sky Masterson in "Guys And Dolls". He also starred in the biographical Movie "Rhapsody In Blue" playing the part of George Gershwin.

"You'd think nobody was ever compared to Mussolini before."

He's the dude from the A-Team! He kicked butt with Mr. T.

Do 20-Somethings Know Who Alan Alda Is?

Why should they?

I do... from The West Wing!

Alan Alda served as a surgeon in MASH unit during the Korean War, which was the most watched TV event until this year's superbowl. He then slept with Alec Baldwin's mom, became a senator, secretary of state and wrote From Peanut to President, a biography about Jimmy Carter.