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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 15, 2021 23:58:57 GMT -5
The kids in Wonder Years are almost exactly my age. The series starts with 12-year-old Kevin in 1968; I turned 12 in December 1968. I was always the youngest in my class. If Kevin has a slim, nerdy classmate with glasses, that could be me.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2021 0:22:11 GMT -5
As a kid I loved Brady Bunch in reruns. As an adult it's terrible. There are some 70s sitcoms that hold up for me, namely Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. I find that The Dick Van Dyke Show and the MTM produced shows (Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart Show and the later Newhart) hold up very well, through the strength of the writing. Family sitcoms are a different breed. My wife will rewatch things like Leave it to Beaver and the Donna Reed Show, The Patty Duke Show and the like and I can't take it for long. The Beverly Hillbillies and I Dream of Genie I can watch, Bewitched too (though I haven't seen it in years). Shows with that kind of fantasy element or that handled comedy outside of the family dynamic seemed to have a better batting average for longevity. Stuff like Get Smart and Hogan's Heroes are still fun to me, I Love Lucy still holds up, as do the first two or 3 seasons of The Lucy Show (as she still used a lot of the same writers). Some of the Norman Lear stuff I can watch, but not a steady diet of it. MASH is still brilliant. Munsters and Addams Family are still fun. Again, fantasy or just a really high level of writing and knowing when to get ot are good for longevity. Jack Benny still makes me laugh hysterically, even with the repeated gags. His timing was impeccable and he had great supporting people, like Mel Blanc and Frank Nelson. You can even catch a very young Harry Schearer, in the later years (he was a child actor and was part of a scout group that Jack mentors). The Monkees is one that I wanted to hold up, but found it's pretty hit and miss. I watched it again, in college, when MTV re-ran the series and enjoyed many episodes and endured others. Got cheap dvd copies later and it was hard to get through early episodes. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 16, 2021 12:25:42 GMT -5
I just heard the Meco Star Wars song. Awesome
There I said it.
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Post by junkmonkey on Jan 16, 2021 15:55:31 GMT -5
Living in Europe we get to see so much American entertainment but sometimes have trouble with references and quotes to shows that we never got the chance to see - or if we did for a limited time and then probably only once. Britain only had 3 TV channels when I was a kid. The concept of syndication and endless opportunities to catch up with old shows was inconceivable. So things like Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Honeymooners and all those other famous shows were just names. Didn't mean a lot and the jokes referencing them just went over our heads. The first time I read the Tales of the City Books I had NO idea what Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was and (apart from what I could glean from the internal evidence in the book) no way of finding out. These days I can buy (or download) the whole thing. (And I did. And I love it, waxy yellow build up and all.)
What I need is some sort of a crash course, 1001 things you need to see to understand American Pop Culture type list. One representative episode of all those shows to help fill in the gaps. For instance I have no idea who Vanna White is - though I know most of the the residents of Bloom County (or probably just Berkeley Breathed) had the hots for her in the 80s.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2021 19:38:00 GMT -5
Living in Europe we get to see so much American entertainment but sometimes have trouble with references and quotes to shows that we never got the chance to see - or if we did for a limited time and then probably only once. Britain only had 3 TV channels when I was a kid. The concept of syndication and endless opportunities to catch up with old shows was inconceivable. So things like Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Honeymooners and all those other famous shows were just names. Didn't mean a lot and the jokes referencing them just went over our heads. The first time I read the Tales of the City Books I had NO idea what Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was and (apart from what I could glean from the internal evidence in the book) no way of finding out. These days I can buy (or download) the whole thing. (And I did. And I love it, waxy yellow build up and all.) What I need is some sort of a crash course, 1001 things you need to see to understand American Pop Culture type list. One representative episode of all those shows to help fill in the gaps. For instance I have no idea who Vanna White is - though I know most of the the residents of Bloom County (or probably just Berkeley Breathed) had the hots for her in the 80s. Vanna White is someone who could only be famous in America. She is just a model who turns letters on the game show, Wheel of Fortune. Even Carol Vordeman did more in Countdown than Vanna does on Wheel. Basically, syndicated programming largely came from the last 5-10 years, for the newer stuff, and the last 20, for older. Baby Boomer watched a lot of 50s tv over and over, Gen X watched a lot of 60s, Millennials lots of 70s and 80s (things were syndicated faster, as time went on, after the cable tv explosion), etc. Baby Boomers grew up with tv and Gen X got a steadier diet, though we got some better written stuff. Saturday morning programming was more of a Gen-X era thing (we watched cartoons from just after sun-up to midday, then went out into the bright light of the day and played. Millennials grew up with cable and early home video, Gen Y & Z with the internet and home video. We had 3 tv networks, then Public Broadcasting. If you were in an urban era, you might have an independent UHF station with syndicated programming and its own original stuff. Where I lived, the CBS affiliate was about 90+ miles away and the signal was weak; so, we mostly got two networks and PBS. I was a junior in high school when my community was wired for cable, in 1982. PBS bought a lot of adventure and comedy programming from the UK, as well as dramatic programming for Masterpiece Theater (and then the detective series, for Mystery). PBS brought us Monty Python, Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Hitchhiker's Guide, Upstairs, Downstairs, Brideshead Revisited etc, Good Life/Good Neighbors, To The Manor Born, Fawlty Towers, Doctor in the House, etc. By the 80s, we were getting more comedies and the mystery programs. Syndicated packages and PBS stations might broadcast the ITV shows, like The Saint, The Avengers, The Prisoner, the Gerry Anderson shows (some of those had Prime Time network broadcasts, too. That was responsible for my viewing of British television and introducing me to a wider variety of British films, as well as a lot of references and slang it took time to accumulate and understand. Now, I can pretty much follow any reference (barring some sports and regionally-specific things), basic regional stereotypes, and am pretty good at identifying the regional accents (definitely Northern vs Southern, West Country, Welsh, Edinburgh vs Glasgow Scottish, Dublin vs Belfast Irish and Geordie. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 16, 2021 19:40:59 GMT -5
With the magic of the internet you can learn all about these American shows. I have the same dilemma with other shows like Dr. Who. I have never watched one episode , but I'm sure there are resources and sites that I can learn all about the show. But also , at this juncture, why bother?
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Post by Batflunkie on Jan 16, 2021 20:00:05 GMT -5
With the magic of the internet you can learn all about these American shows. I have the same dilemma with other shows like Dr. Who. I have never watched one episode , but I'm sure there are resources and sites that I can learn all about the show. But also , at this juncture, why bother? I still find it interesting that Doctor Who initially started out as an educational show then spun-off into whatever the hell it is now |
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Post by junkmonkey on Jan 16, 2021 21:09:23 GMT -5
With the magic of the internet you can learn all about these American shows. I have the same dilemma with other shows like Dr. Who. I have never watched one episode , but I'm sure there are resources and sites that I can learn all about the show. But also , at this juncture, why bother? I know all that but wouldn't it be useful to have a 'typical/best' episode list rather than spend endless search-time disappearing down rabbit holes?
'Why bother?' Because I think the more you know about something (within reason) the more you can get out of it. I'm sure there are all sorts of jokes, nods, references, and homages that pass me by because I'm ignorant of the source material.
As for what Doctor Who is nowadays I have no idea. I've been watching it since Patrick Troughton was the Doctor and gave up half way through the last but one series. I think the last one I saw was the one with Alan Cumming in because it had Alan Cumming in and I'll watch just about anything he's in. (It was crap.)
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2021 21:38:18 GMT -5
With the magic of the internet you can learn all about these American shows. I have the same dilemma with other shows like Dr. Who. I have never watched one episode , but I'm sure there are resources and sites that I can learn all about the show. But also , at this juncture, why bother? Well, in the original version (haven't watched a tremendous amount of the revamped series), there was some tremendous writing, from people like Terence Dicks, Douglas Adams, Malcolm Hulke, and Terry Nation. There are also great performances by the lead actors, some wry comedy (varies according to the lead), some excellent sci-fi, and a lot of people running down corridors and screaming at the sight of monsters. Where else can you find the ultimate evil, in the form of rolling salt & pepper shakes, with plungers for arms and a bad case of the mumps...  Not to mention, meet characters like the Brigadier... the Master.... and the many companions... and the Doctor.... Oh, almost forgot; the monsters..... Pretty cool theme song, too! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2021 14:17:49 GMT -5
I still find it interesting that Doctor Who initially started out as an educational show then spun-off into whatever the hell it is now Now it's just a lot of woke 'pc' rubbish...if it's not an episode with Daleks or Cybermen I'm not too keen to watch.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jan 17, 2021 14:40:32 GMT -5
I still find it interesting that Doctor Who initially started out as an educational show then spun-off into whatever the hell it is now Now it's just a lot of woke 'pc' rubbish...if it's not an episode with Daleks or Cybermen I'm not too keen to watch. I don't mind the Doctor becoming a woman, but the reasoning before it was stupid. In a certain episode, The Master's lover ingested his ashes and somehow became a time lord from it. There was also an instance of Donna becoming a timelord from being exposed to energies of the Tardis to the point where it was killing her and the doctor had to wipe her memory
IDK, I blame Stephan Moffat for everything because he's a hack and turned in the show into a quippy, action adventure romance with mild sci-fi elements
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2021 14:52:55 GMT -5
I don't mind the Doctor becoming a woman either, the other Timelord did (the Master) and Missy was one of the best incarnations...
But lots of other things too nitpick about.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jan 17, 2021 15:03:32 GMT -5
I don't mind the Doctor becoming a woman either, the other Timelord did (the Master) and Missy was one of the best incarnations... But lots of other things too nitpick about.
I think I stopped caring about Doctor Who once Matt Smith came on board. Not that I minded him as the Doctor but that's when Moffat went full stupid. Riversong was the worst during that era and I swear I wanted to strangle her ever time she said "SPOILERS"
I did however like the direction that Peter Capaldi's time on the show went, seemed like a throwback to the grimmer, William Hartnel era |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 17, 2021 20:11:13 GMT -5
Eh, Doctor Who hasn't been the same since William Hartnel gave it up! There, I sneered it!  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 17, 2021 22:56:25 GMT -5
It's hard to work with someone standing over your shoulder; it's even harder to work with a cat standing on your shoulder!
It's impossible when he decides to lay down on your arm an shoulder.
The purring is pretty soothing, though...
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