Classic TV shows you loved but simply can't watch anymore

Magnum, P.I.(original). I used to love the show but I tried watching it on one of those various nostalgic re-run channels. Just couldn't make it through a full episode.

 

Not sure if it's considered classic TV but I can't stand watching The Office (US) anymore. Found it funny when it originally aired but now all I see are a bunch of annoying meanspirited busybodies who aren't particularly funny. The Office (UK) is much more effective in skewering office culture....

 

Sounds a bit prudish.

 

Oh yeah. Enos.

 

You can add all the late night talk shows to the vicious club as well. Unwatchable dreck..........

 

By the way, Dukes is still on? I thought it wouldn't be ever again after what happened in 2015.

 

I've experienced both situations - shows that seem too simple/goofy/silly now that didn't endure the kid>adult transition, and thoughtful, well produced shows that you just don't want to watch again. I'll offer up The Six Million Dollar Man as an example of the former, and The X Files as an example of the latter.

 

It's funny because most of the shows I liked after about age 8, I still can watch now, occasionally at least. I stopped watching things like The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island by the time I was around that age, and never really liked Three's Company.

Maybe one example is Love American Style. I remember liking it as a youngster, but tried to revisit it a few times to mostly disappointing results.

 

Short answer: most of 'em

Longer answer:
The Dukes of Hazzard - I still like the Waylon Jennings theme song, but that's about all (aside from Daisy Duke driving that jeep )
M*A*S*H - I agree with most of the posts here regarding this TV show; in a nutshell, it hasn't aged nearly as well as the film
Three's Company - similarly, even the earlier, arguably better, seasons hold little interest for me now
The Brady Bunch - used to watch this almost everyday after school on syndication, now I could barely get through hardly any of it
I Love Lucy - still a landmark, but just too claustrophobic for my taste
Bewitched - ditto the above, though I can still watch that first season in B&W, and those episodes where Paul Lynde guested as Uncle Arthur
Scooby Doo - unsure whether we're counting cartoon shows, but this was a staple during the 70's, which I find too dumb to sit through today
The Munsters - not as well written as The Addams Family, which made my list of TV sitcoms I consider favorites:

Your 5 Favorite TV Sitcoms

 

I think of Lynde on that show almost every time I hear "my feet are killing me".

 

Most of Seinfeld before season 6 or 7.

 

I'm sure there are some very fine people on both sides of the satire.

 

Seinfeld. Just didn’t hold up. Jerry’s bad acting doesn’t help.

 

I had not watched M*A*S*H for quite a while, largely because I had pretty much watched it to death, both in its original run and then later on DVD. (I can almost anticipate every line in any episode.) Recently, the local TV station began airing the show in the early evenings and I manage to catch the odd episode.

In retrospect, some of the story lines may seem a bit quaint, or maybe some of the politicking can feel a little overhanded, but I've been enjoying watching these episodes again. I think that the wit and comedy are still smart, and the characters are still fun to watch. Still one of my all time favorite shows.

 

Green Acres
Dark Shadows
Happy Days
All In The Family


Some shows that sill hold up:
Rockford Files
Columbo
The Wild Wild West
The Virginian
I Spy

 

The Cosby Show
Family Ties
Full House

And - more recent - the following modern cartoons:

South Park
American Dad
The Cleveland Show
Ugly Americans
I can't believe I binged those shows only a few years ago...

 

MASH - I saw the movie in the theater on a second run and couldn't watch the TV show afterwards. Innocence lost.

 

Because it was an anthology show, the writing and directing varied wildly. The majority were crap, but occasionally they did a great one.

 

Who knew??

 

I can watch something like Charlie’s Angels, the first season of which I do own on DVD, out of general 70s nostalgia and because, as much today as then, Farrah, Kate, and Jaclyn are beautiful, but the plots and messages of the show (and of nearly every drama from that era, really) are so telegraphed and heavy-handed that they are impossible to take seriously.

 

Can't watch anymore.
Hart to Hart.
The Greatest American Hero.
Any of the Sid and Marty Krofft shows: Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Lidsville, Far Out Space Nuts, Land of the Lost, The Banana Splits.
Emergency 51.
Adam 12.
CHiP's.
Airwolf.
The A-Team.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Battlestar Galactica, 1978 series.
The Partridge Family.
8 is Enough.
Rhoda.
Good Times.
The Jeffersons.
Barney Miller.
The Love Boat.
Fantasy Island.
Different Strokes.
One Day at a Time.
The Facts of Life.
Bosom Buddies.
The Fall Guy.
Family Ties.

 

I just watched seasons 1 & 2 of Moonlighting. If I had it to do all over again, I think I would just watch the first episode and that would have been enough for me.

 

Comedian Adam Carolla occasionally talks about the Sid and Marty Krofft shows on his podcast. A recurring remark from Adam: There are two kinds of people in the world--those who think those Sid & Marty Krofft shows are the worst-ever load of crap* and those who never saw any of them.

* I'm paraphrasing. His comments are usually much harsher and include non-forum approved language.

 

So true. Once the Frank Burns character was eliminated it ceased being comedy and became an utter bore, and as you say, oh so sanctimonious.

 

This x 1000.