Shows you discovered via reruns

Same for me, it must've originally run nights I was busy as I only ever saw part of one while it was still being made (the parking garage one).

The Sopranos was more an 'almost', as the final season was partway through... a Canadian channel other than HBO was showing the entire thing in order from the start, up to the final season, which eventually I saw there a year later.

I think I saw most of Hill Street Blues as reruns. but can't swear. I never watched one or two when they originally aired, again, just always busy the nights it ran (and before I had a VCR I guess).

I did follow St. Elsewhere and Cagney & Lacey from the start to the finish (and reunions for C&L), China Beach, Cheers. Taxi was more of an in reruns deal though.

 

30 Rock.

I'm currently binging it on Amazon Prime. I don't know how or why I missed it during it's initial network run, but what a gift to my future 2020 COVID lockdown self this was.

 

I also didn't see Breaking Bad until after it had ended.

IMO, the best television series of all time.

I think what finally drew me in was knowing the series was conceived and completed with a story arc in mind.

I'm really not a fan of most television series, especially those that just limp on with no purpose until the decision to end it is made for them. I'm looking at you, Walking Dead

 

Friends. It was still in production but this was I guess when it started to go into daily runs. I was flat on my back for four weeks and caught up to all of it with 3 shows a day.

 

Saw Better Call Saul, but not Breaking Bad. Watching it now. I guess El Camino comes next.

 

30 Rock- Now a bit obsessed with it- some very clever stuff in that.

Mindy Project- for something a tad more easy going.

 

Seinfeld, for one. The only new season I watched when it was still on NBC was the last season. It didn't hit me until I started watching some reruns.

 

[QUOTE="Scooterpiety, post: 25730337, ]
I became a huge fan of the original Law & Order when I discovered the show when reruns were shown mornings on A&E in 1996; The show was then in its 6th season on NBC and I had never seen it there. Apparently, it gained a multitude of new fans who began watching it because of the A&E repeats.[/QUOTE]
You too, huh? A & E in the old days is how I discovered Law And Order myself. The Rockford Files as well.

 

Have Gun Will Travel
He's great! Some good guest stars and some Roddenberry scripts

 

Star Trek (The Original Series): I happened upon the series and liked it. I decided to purchase a few of the James Blish Star Trek paperback collections (each paperback would cover about ten episodes) and these added to my enjoyment of the series. Plus, since this was the time before home video it was the only way to enjoy an episode whenever I want.

 

The Office (US) because the wife puts it on. After loving the UK version I turned off the US one a couple of episodes in during its entire broadcast run.

It still bothers me that every outside work party/ wedding/ event is attended by every employee to the exclusion of almost everyone else. Don't these people have friends?

 

I haven’t had cable in about 20 years now. I’ve been streaming since about 2004 with Netflix but cancelled it about a year ago because their “originals” are too violent, spiritistic and full of foul language for family consumption. I’ll sign up again in a few more months just to catch Stranger Things and then I’ll discontinue it again.

We flip flop between CBS All Access, Disney + and we always have Prime Video.
So everything is reruns. Hustle, Longmire, Closer, Heat of the Night, Spenser For Hire, Cold Case, Polldark, Republic of Doyle, Endeavor, Sarah Connor Chronicles, midsummer mysteries, Leverage, New Tricks, Mandalorian, Columbo, Rockford Files, Doc Martin, Durrell’s in Corfu.... there are a bunch.

Shows I wanted to watch but we’re not suitable for family... Expanse, Picard,..... why list them, most of the Prime and Netflix originals uncomfortably force the “F” word into the dialogue as if it’s a quota. They push sexual boundaries and lifestyles like it’s an agenda, and they can get pretty gory with the over the top unnecessary violence.

 

M*A*S*H. Imagine not knowing what happened to Col. Blake until 2020! I always knew there was a Col. Potter but didn't know what happened. My wife and I have watched all of the episodes on MeTV.

 

Worth the money on DVD, too!

 

My wife had never seen M*A*S*H until we went through the series years back (hell, we weren't even married yet as I recall)- it was interesting to gauge her reactions as we were watching it (not unlike the first time we watched the Godfather movies) When we got to the "Abyssinia, Henry" episode I just kept my mouth shut...she was like, "Wow, I can't believe they did that!"

 

Your comment reminds me of a show that I think I discovered in reruns: My Three Sons. I only watched the color shows featuring Robbie, Chip, Ernie, and Uncle Charley. My local station never ran the black-and-white pre-Uncle Charley episodes so it was a long time before I found out that the original eldest son was Mike, Ernie was adopted, and that Uncle Charley replaced Uncle Bub.

 

I strongly agree that it is best that a series have an ending. Although it is only part of a long series (however, each time The Doctor regenerates I consider it a new series although there are usually remnants from the previous Doctor's time), in Doctor Who I think The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) stayed at least one year too long. His last year felt like it was a bit meandering.

Babylon 5 had a story arc with a planned beginning, middle, and end. I remember reading that the creator of the series, J. Michael Straczynski, had the story written out and stored on a password-protected computer so he was the only individual with access to the entire story. While he had the series planned for 5 years, he included various trap doors in the story to allow for the unforeseen (such as actors leaving). One thing that was unusual about Babylon 5 is that anything with the official Babylon 5 logo was part of the continuity regardless of the form (including movies, television series, novels, comic books, and video games). As an example, in order to find out how Sinclair and Garibaldi met you had to read the Babylon 5 comic book.

 

I've also started binging 3rd Rock from the Sun and Psych on Peacock, I'm entertained so far.

 

the west wing - on HBOmax - what a wonderful wonderful TV show. aaron sorkin is brilliant.

 

There was a documentary they did on the season 1&2 dvd set about the origins of the show and his Benson stint was mentioned on that.

 

99% of the shows I watch on TV are reruns.

 

I started watching Magnum, P.I. in syndication back in spring of 1990 on WOR Channel 9. I was a huge fan of Quantum Leap at the time and recognized the name Donald P. Bellisario (creator & producer) on the Magnum credits one day while channel surfing. By the time 1993 came along, I had every Magnum episode recorded on VHS.

 

Dark Shadows. Because flubbed lines and falling scenery sounded like fun.

 

Northern Exposure is another one.

 

In the ‘90s I got hooked watching ‘Colombo’ that I think was shown on the A & E Channel. Ended up eventually buying all the Seasons on DVD. I saw ‘Monk’ in real time, as that show reminded me of ‘Colombo’(showing the Murder first, then working backwards on how it was figured out, who did it).

I did not have access to HBO at the time, but having heard how great ‘The Wire’ was, soon after it ended, I used the HBO Sale at Best Buy to purchase all 5 Seasons. It was the Best TV Series I had seen, but that only lasted about a year, as I started watching’Breaking Bad’ from the beginning, as was a fan of Bryan Cranston from his role in ‘Malcolm in the Middle’(the First Episode of Breaking Bad with Walter White running out of the RV in his Tighty Whities, I was like, ‘Whoah, what happened to the Goofball Dad from Malcolm in the Middle?’). Although, hard to compare ‘The Wire’ to other TV Dramas, as I consider it a DocuDrama, as a lot of reality was written into that Series, with David Simon as the Show Creator, was a Police Reporter for The Baltimore Sun Newspaper. Actually, to me the City of Baltimore is the Main Character of that Series(with Bubbles being the Heart & Soul of that Series).

I saw The Sopranos soon after it ended, when a friend was able to borrow the DVDs from someone.

Around 10 years ago, I was watching ‘The Twilight Zone’ Series that was played on the SyFy Channel between Christmas and New Years Day. I ended up buying the Box Set on BluRay about 5-6 years ago.

My Dad knew I loved the James Bond Movies, and about 4-5 years ago gifted me the DVD Box Sets to an Old ‘60s TV Series, ‘The Wild Wild West’, that he said had similarities to the James Bond Movies, but was a Western Style Show. I actually just finally started watching the 1st Season in the past month. Some of the Episodes are good, some are just ok. I have about 12 more Episodes left to finish the 1st Season. Liked the last one I just watched where the Villain was a Man made of Steel Parts from Multiple Surgeries. I have not seen the Movie I think was based on this TV Series, that Will Smith starred in, so need to also watch it eventually.

I saw the First Season of ‘The Shield’, after it ended(I had bought a few Seasons of this Series on DVD that were on sale at the time), as love most FX Dramas, but still need to watch the rest of it, as heard it had one of the Best Series Final Episodes ever made.

I still need to watch ‘Ozark’, ‘24’, ‘House of Cards’, among a few other Series(not sure if ‘The West Wing’ would feel to dated to watch now, but recall it had Good Reviews), that are of interest to me. I need to see what TV Series are available on Amazon Prime(speaking of which, being a Billy Bob Thornton Fan, I want to watch ‘Goliath’, that was made for Amazon Prime).