Montalban, who had a side gig as a pitchman, put “rich, Corinthian leather” into pop culture. As he and I sat in silence, making our way toward the Amagansett train station, the thought occurred that the endless TikTok he watches was no dumber than 1970s TV. There is no obvious way to measure the dumbness factor of late-’70s television against social media of the 2020s. One difference is reruns; a certain sibling of mine watched a lot of TV during those days, surely seeing the same “Fantasy Island” or “Six Million Dollar Man” uncountable times. It’s no wonder that 40-some years later, we Boomers are still chuckling about Corinthian leather.
