On the Decline of Culture Deux

Pursuant to our friend Bill Katz' lament about the culture ...

Back in the 80's we always took a sort of pride in the decline of culture, education and the like. Walk up to any Gen-Xr and say 'So-crates!' and see what happens. The national SAT scores were declining and we were proud of  it (850 combined!).

So society is less refined, less polite. Ok, it's rude.

OK, but was Bill Katz' mid-century culture really all that good? Was the culture that gave us Green Acres, The Beverly Hill Billies and Gilligan's Island all that cultured? In fact most mid-century television is utterly unwatchable today.

Could Mark VIII or Desilu productions crank out any of the dozens of bingable dramas that are on television today?