Silver Spoons: A Sitcom Lover

Silver Spoons was a family sitcom based on the expression that rich children are born with a "silver spoon” in their mouth, implying that they are given only the very best and want for nothing. This book was published in 2003 and was perhaps the worst book to come out through the JM Media Group. Which is a shame because this series was a notch above most situation comedies.

The series centers on Ricky Stratton and his single father Edward. As an overgrown kid who owns a multinational toy company empire, Edward lives in a mansion that is stocked with arcade games and has a scale model freight train that runs throughout the house. Edward exhibits his childishness and playfulness in many behaviors; for example, he performs a little dance before playing Pac-Man when the video game plays its theme song. Stratton's personal assistant, Kate Summers (played by the beautiful Erin Gray), was often the voice of reason. Kate's role added tension to the show and provided incentive for Edward to act more mature (at least sometimes). Edward and Kate had a will-they-or-won't-they relationship which led to the two dating and later becoming married in the third season.

The television series gave us a number of “social commentaries” such as the first season episode “Mr. T and Me,” concerning school bullies. For the holiday offering, “The Best Christmas Ever,” Ricky discovers a family living in a cave on his father’s estate, and addresses the issue of homeless families during a season of caring. In Season Two and Three, the subject of child abuse and dyslexia are exemplified in “Spare the Rod” and “Trouble with Words,” respectfully. Season Four was perhaps the most impressive. “One for the Road” concerned alcohol abuse and “Daddy Rick” centered on the subject of teen pregnancy.

This book was obviously written from a fan perspective, with no knowledge of how to construct a book. A chapter about bloopers, reprints of scripts and theme song music sheets, TV Guide advertisements, biographies of the actors and an episode guide is included. The episode guide, it should be noted, contains nothing but the episode title and a lengthy plot description. No cast list, no episode number, no broadcast date. This is the first time I’ve seen an episode guide in a book, without this kind of information. Worse, if the purpose of buying this book is the episode guide, you’ll find more on tv.com (and that’s a shocker)!

Judith A. Moose has a superb list of credits including degrees in Broadcast Communications, Advertising and Marketing. Her book is great if you are looking for a publication put together from a fan perspective. From the scholarly approach, it’s not worth buying. I’ve seen books like these, with poor photo resolution. But many of them have hidden treasures and usually more information than the kind of books published through a University Press, so books like these are hit and miss. But since there is no other book about the television series, it’s a must-have for fans of the television series.

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