Better Living Through TV

{{Infobox television episode

| series = The Honeymooners

| image =

| image_alt =

| caption =

| episode = 7

| director = Frank Satenstein

| writer = * Marvin Marx

| music = David Rose

| photographer = Doug Downs

| editor = Leonard Anderson

| airdate = {{Start date|1955|11|12}}

| length = 30 minutes

| guests =

}}

Better Living Through TV is the seventh episode of the TV series The Honeymooners that aired November 12, 1955.

The 1950s were considered the golden age of advertising, with many brands sponsoring entire shows. Occasionally, the commercials became plotlines, as is the case in "Better Living Through TV", as Ralph and Norton do a commercial for a kitchen gadget Ralph wants to promote.{{Cite book |last=Glenn |first=Jane K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBlJEAAAQBAJ |title=The Joy of Eating: A Guide to Food in Modern Pop Culture |date=2021-11-05 |publisher=ABC-Clio |isbn=978-1-4408-6210-6 |pages=152 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Austerlitz |first=Saul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ydDFAgAAQBAJ |title=Sitcom: A History in 24 Episodes from I Love Lucy to Community |date=2014-03-01 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-61374-387-4 |pages=32 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9eqBgAAQBAJ |title=American Culture in the 1950s |date=2007-03-13 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2890-2 |pages=148 |language=en}}

The episode was ranked #7 in TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes of All Time 2009 list.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/feature/tvs-top-100-episodes-of-all-time-80-61-1415.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314073504/http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/feature/tvs-top-100-episodes-of-all-time-80-61-1415.html|archive-date=March 14, 2010|title=TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time: #80-61|publisher=TV Guide|access-date=October 29, 2021}}

Synopsis

Ralph presents Norton with a money-making idea to get rich. There’s a box of labor saving devices - "Handy Housewife Helpers" - available from a warehouse. The device opens cans, takes corks out of bottles, cores apples, and many other things. Ralph's plan is to borrow money from their wives to buy the box and pay for a live TV commercial. It's a "sure thing".{{Cite web |last=Murray |first=Noel |date=2010-03-11 |title=The Honeymooners, "Better Living Through Television" |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-honeymooners-better-living-through-television-1798219335 |access-date=2023-02-15 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en}}

Alice refuses to loan Ralph the money, so he borrows it elsewhere.

Ralph and Norton work out a commercial in which the "chef of the future" shares the wonders of the kitchen gadget that does everything and makes housewives happy. During the rehearsal, everything goes well, but as the show goes live, Ralph develops stage fright and freezes up, while Norton tries to save the commercial.

Cast

Reception

The episode was ranked #7 in TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes of All Time 2009 list.

The A.V. Club considers it one of the best episodes of The Honeymooners to watch.{{Cite web |last=Dyes-Nugent |first=Phil |date=2012-08-10 |title=How The Honeymooners invented the domestic sitcom |url=https://www.avclub.com/how-the-honeymooners-invented-the-domestic-sitcom-1798232759 |access-date=2023-02-15 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en}}

References

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