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

The show Steptoe and Son, on which Sanford and Son is based, fares better than most UK shows from the 70s. I quick look at On the Buses and you wonder how Reg Varney became a major celebrity in his day. Then you realise it was the 70s and people liked this tripe.

 

Unfortunately it was shown in Australia also.

 

I saw through the entirety of Hardcastle and McCormick at one time, and still have it all on DVD, but I haven't touched it all that much lately; I did, however, finish on DVD a 1984-86 NBC detective/action/adventure series called Riptide (that w/Perry King, Joe Penny, Thom Bray, et al.), and IMO, Riptide on NBC has held up far better than Hardcastle on ABC (being that both ran in that same 1983-86 span; Riptide, however, was a midseason replacement that premiered right on my 3rd birthday [Tuesday, Jan. 3, 1984]).

Here's a premiere promo from NBC for Riptide:

 

I know...

He was ok at first.
He just became more and more obnoxious.
The other kids were likeable.

I really liked the parents. Florida and James .
They were good.
They seemed to have kept everything together.
Things started changing when John Amos left, but still watchable.
Willona was just too much with the quips. Even when the parents were still there.
Someone would mention Kareem Abdul Jaabar and she would be
"Honey, I take some Kareem in my coffee anytime" ha ha ha ...

When I said Janet Jackson was odd rather than cute, I didn't mean her appearance. She was cute.
I meant her acting and her character.

 

"Successful" and "classic" aren't the same thing!

 

One person I know calls that a violent agreement.

 

I know what you mean. Like Michael Jackson they both had that "Golden child" ethereal quality that never seemed right to me.

I've chimed in here a bunch. I question the value of those old Quinn Martin shows... though in my insomniac periods I watch Mannix, Cannon, and Barnaby Jones Ina row and the cliches like up one on one but the test stars are fun. I saw one with Vera Miles AND her daughter! I confess my bad deeds but I have to admit...if I had a dinner tray and a stack of frozen tv dinners I'd be in Seventh Heaven! Can't sit still for the 80s stuff though!

 

I dunno, there are some things in Dukes of Hazzard that are pretty enjoyable as an adult... Daisy Duke, for instance....

I also find it kinda funny that there is a main character named "Cooter"...

 

Which translates as........?

 

House
Never used to miss an episode when it first was on. I thought it was a great premise- a medical mystery- and the main characters seened
engaging. Now, the lead's childish, self destructive and insulting behavior make the show unwatchable for me.

On the other hand, I still enjoy re- watching Monk - in fact, I get more of a kick watching Monk now than I did when it first ran. The lead is exasperating but still somehow likable, and I enjoy the ' company ' of the rest of the cast' too. Seems to have held up well.

 

Back when the show was originally airing, it referred to a species of freshwater turtle. But these days it's used as a slang term for a particular female body part.

 

Figured as much, still there is a guy at a local music store in Indooroopilly that actually goes by the name of Beaver.

 

I'm not much for revisiting shows I've seen in the past, but I do enjoy watching old shows I haven't seen or don't remember. I recently watched all of Man About the House and Robin's Nest and thoroughly enjoyed them. Three's Company was an American version of Man About the House and I loved it when I was 8, but can't go back to it now.

 

Ditto here!

 

“Robin’s Nest” was also Americanized (“Three’s a Crowd”). And the landlords from “Man About the House” got their own spinoff, “George and Mildred”, which was later adapted as “The Ropers”. But in the UK, they waited until the original series had ended to do that spinoff.

 

Nearly all of them but because there's no time to watch them.

 

There is this station KMYA (MeTV) that plays all the old 60s through 80s television shows. Like someone posted on the first page, most of those old shows don't hold up well. I loved Hogan's Heroes when I was 10 years old, but it is unwatchable now. On the other hand, I discovered Time Tunnel, from 1967, that I don't recall ever hearing about when I was young. I've been watching it and it is dated, but mildly entertaining.

 

Davey and Goliath

 

Haven't seen all the episodes but the ones I did watch were all enjoyable.
Had a good laugh at the one where Monk is at his assistant's house for dinner and she and her son and Monk are about to play ' Clue'.
The son sets up the game , deals out the cards and Monk immediately guesses the murder weapon , the suspect and the room the murder took place in because he remembered the order of the cards when they played the game a year earlier when the son put the game away.

 

my six-year-old boy, unsurprisingly, is a huge Star Wars fan... but since we've exhausted the movies, Rebels and Clone Wars he's been hankering for more sci-fi tv & movies... went to the OS Star Trek, which he's digging... also bought the box set of Battlestar Galactica, which I haven't watched since 1978... mostly it's been a fun nostalgia trip esp. The Living Legend, which I recalled with perfect clarity despite not having seen it in 42 years... however, once the Cylons are outta the show, it really runs outta gas... and I don't remember those episodes at all! Wonder if I lost interest in '78 because of lack of Cylons... I remember being disappointed they cancelled the show and barely watched the Galactica 1980 series... but it's obvi0us why there was such a ratings dip... these non-Cylon shows are awful... and my heart goes out to Randolph Mantooth for that one he guest starred in... wondering how he was able to deliver those lines with a straight face!

 

Bought the complete series of it recently. My favourite TV of all time.

 

I hear you Gov!

 

I'm agreeing on SNL. I watched it from its initial run until about 5 years ago. I have caught a few episodes recently and the skits I saw were just unpleasant.

 

Almost any sitcom pre-1980, including all the ones I loved.

Having no TV in college broke me of the habit.

 

I don't dislike TZ , but many of the episodes don't hold my attention the way that they did when I was younger. The dialogue and acting also could be very stilted and declamatory at times.