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25 Beloved TV Shows That Haven't Aged Well

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TMC

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 2:13:37 AM6/11/13
to
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/

The Internet's helped to create a culture of nostalgia. There are
myriad ways that we express our love of the bygone television shows of
our youth. We like them on Facebook, we change our banner or our
avatar to our favorite picture of Tommy Pickles or Cory Matthews, and
of course, we make lists about them. The sad truth is that when you
finally hop into your Netflix time machine and look at those old shows
with fresh eyes, you realize that many were never that good to begin
with. Plots that once felt fresh feel hackneyed. Characters that used
to resonate feel broadly drawn and poorly motivated. Jokes that had
our 13-year-old selves in stitches fill the room with nothing more
than disappointed silence.

We took a look at many of the shows that we used to love to see if
they stood the test of time; these are the programs that fell flat.
Here are 25 Beloved TV Shows That Haven't Aged Well.

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/blossom

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/macgyver#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/mr-ed#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/walker-texas-ranger#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/hey-dude#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/gilligans-island#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/the-nanny

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/wwe-monday-night-raw#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/doug#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/knight-rider#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/home-imrpovement#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/all-that

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/dawsons-creek#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/the-a-team#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/i-dream-of-jeannie#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/highlander-the-series#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/the-dukes-of-hazzard

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/the-brady-bunch#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/family-matters#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/xena-warrior-princess#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/mighty-morphin-power-rangers#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/baywatch

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/saved-by-the-bell#galleryS

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/full-house#galleryS

Jason Todd

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 12:56:58 PM6/11/13
to
On Jun 11, 2:13 am, TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> The Internet's helped to create a culture of nostalgia. There are
> myriad ways that we express our love of the bygone television shows of
> our youth. We like them on Facebook, we change our banner or our
> avatar to our favorite picture of Tommy Pickles or Cory Matthews, and
> of course, we make lists about them. The sad truth is that when you
> finally hop into your Netflix time machine and look at those old shows
> with fresh eyes, you realize that many were never that good to begin
> with. Plots that once felt fresh feel hackneyed. Characters that used
> to resonate feel broadly drawn and poorly motivated. Jokes that had
> our 13-year-old selves in stitches fill the room with nothing more
> than disappointed silence.
>
> We took a look at many of the shows that we used to love to see if
> they stood the test of time; these are the programs that fell flat.
> Here are 25 Beloved TV Shows That Haven't Aged Well.
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
>
> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...

Some of the items on this list, they bitch because they don't compare
well to Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Well, no shit Sherlock.

TV shows are a mirror of the era they come from. Either you can put
yourself in a frame of mind back to that era, or you can't.

Jason

Seapig

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Jun 11, 2013, 4:05:47 PM6/11/13
to
Most of the shows on the list were garbage, even by the standards of
their own time. It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
how the writer aged. The article should have been titled "25 Crappy
Shows That Didn't Seem That Bad to an Eleven-Year-Old."

David Johnston

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 4:30:20 PM6/11/13
to
> their own time.It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
> how the writer aged. The article should have been titled "25 Crappy
> Shows That Didn't Seem That Bad to an Eleven-Year-Old."

Most of those shows were quite popular with adults in their day and I
find this article a sometimes needed reminder that television had plenty
of suckage back in the past. How many people post about the superiority
of past television over the present and bemoan the worthless of today's
offerings by comparison?

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 5:09:30 PM6/11/13
to
sea...@altavista.com wrote:

>Most of the shows on the list were garbage, even by the standards of
>their own time. It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
>how the writer aged.

Did you mean the author of the article?

--
"We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends"
-- Barack "Dear Ruler" Obama

Your Name

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 5:35:03 PM6/11/13
to
In article
<9787d7b3-4124-4b0a...@b2g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>, Jason
Todd <janklo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On Jun 11, 2:13=A0am, TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-h...
> >
> > The Internet's helped to create a culture of nostalgia. There are
> > myriad ways that we express our love of the bygone television shows of
> > our youth. We like them on Facebook, we change our banner or our
> > avatar to our favorite picture of Tommy Pickles or Cory Matthews, and
> > of course, we make lists about them. The sad truth is that when you
> > finally hop into your Netflix time machine and look at those old shows
> > with fresh eyes, you realize that many were never that good to begin
> > with. Plots that once felt fresh feel hackneyed. Characters that used
> > to resonate feel broadly drawn and poorly motivated. Jokes that had
> > our 13-year-old selves in stitches fill the room with nothing more
> > than disappointed silence.
> >
> > We took a look at many of the shows that we used to love to see if
> > they stood the test of time; these are the programs that fell flat.
> > Here are 25 Beloved TV Shows That Haven't Aged Well.
>
> Some of the items on this list, they bitch because they don't compare
> well to Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Well, no shit Sherlock.
<snip>

I haven't visted the link(s), but if that's true then the writer is simply
yet another moronic imbecile from the Internet. Looking at the titles for
some of those shows, they were family entertainment shows ... "Game of
Thrones" and "Breaking Bad" are not even remotely "family" entertainment,
so this the writer is simply another of the morons who stupidly thinks
shows should "grow up".

Seapig

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 6:49:38 PM6/11/13
to
To me it looked slanted toward shows that were aimed at kids. Even
the ones that were popular with adults were recognized as mindless
fluff at the time; it's not like "Baywatch" and "The Dukes of Hazzard"
were getting showered with Emmys.

Seapig

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 6:50:17 PM6/11/13
to
On Jun 11, 2:09 pm, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
> sea...@altavista.com wrote:
> >Most of the shows on the list were garbage, even by the standards of
> >their own time.  It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
> >how the writer aged.
>
> Did you mean the author of the article?

Yes.

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 7:09:08 PM6/11/13
to
On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

>On 6/11/2013 2:05 PM, Seapig wrote:
[...]
>>
>> Most of the shows on the list were garbage, even by the standards of
>> their own time.It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
>> how the writer aged. The article should have been titled "25 Crappy
>> Shows That Didn't Seem That Bad to an Eleven-Year-Old."
>
>Most of those shows were quite popular with adults in their day and I
>find this article a sometimes needed reminder that television had plenty
>of suckage back in the past. How many people post about the superiority
>of past television over the present and bemoan the worthless of today's
>offerings by comparison?

I think a lot of people were happier then, at least in a lot of ways.
I swear, if I had a magic wand and could get rid of the racism, I'd
turn the clock back, all in all.

Empty-headed family entertainment was what you got because the entire
public space was PG rated.

On the other hand the books, music, painting etc. were better. Hell,
even the movies. When is the last time you saw a book on the
bestseller list you'd even call "literature"? Name a famous
contemporary painter.

This year's Academy Award nominations:

Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.

60 years ago:

Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.

It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
least, it isn't 60 years of progress.

(1961 was not nearly as good as 1962, but then, 2011 was downright
pitiful.)

And as for t.v., well, we just didn't watch nearly as much. Most of it
was crap. But you had Twilight Zone, and Walt Disney. And lots of
episodes of them. There may be 5 or 6 shows I really want to watch
now, but 13 episodes max. Maybe t.v. isn't actually that much worse!

Tom

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 7:42:53 PM6/11/13
to
I wonder why Power Rangers is on the list... it's still in production
and being shown on TV.

It and roaches will survive a nuclear war.

Tom

Michael Black

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Jun 11, 2013, 8:11:38 PM6/11/13
to
On Tue, 11 Jun 2013, Mason Barge wrote:

> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>
> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>
> 60 years ago:
>
> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>
I was just watching "To Kill a Mockingbird" last week. I'm not sure I've
ever seen it, though we did have to read the book in high school (long
enough ago that I don't know if the movie follows the book closely). On
some level it's a simple movie. or maybe the story is simple, yet it is
indeed a very different film. I suppose part of it is that it's set kind
of in a very different time (it doesn't really seem like the thirties). I
realized I'd have to watch it a few times to get it all in.

I've seen Lawrence about twice, once in a theatre when there was a big
rerelease maybe 30 years ago, and then a few years ago at home on VHS. It
spends o much time with the scenery, something like that wouldn't happen
today.

I've seen The Longest Day on tv, one of these days I'll get it on DVD.
One of the things I've noticed is that when I was a kid, movies were a Big
Thing, a rare occasion and thus something I replayed in my head quite a
bit afterwards, savoring it. Then I got old enough to see movies by
myself, and they became common place, something more like filler. And
then I stopped going to movies when they closed all the smaller theatres
herem and then a few years later started watching movies on DVD (and VHS,
I didn't get a VCR until after I got the DVD player) and it was like
watching movies as a kid. At home, I was paying much more attention to
movies, though of course a lot of those movies were older, either films
I'd not seen or not seen in a while. It was a big experience once again,
though I guess after about a decade, that potency has worn off somewhat.

But of those five movies from 60 years ago, wait, The Longest Day was
1962, fifty years ago, I've read The Longest Day (by Cornelius Ryan), To
Kill a Mockingbird, some of the Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy, and read a
biography of Lawrence. It was a time when books were sought out, and the
movies reflected the source. Too often in more recent times, the movies
have used a recent bestseller as a source, and likely just snippets of
that book.

Michael

David Johnston

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 8:46:29 PM6/11/13
to
On 6/11/2013 5:09 PM, Mason Barge wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
> wrote:
>
>> On 6/11/2013 2:05 PM, Seapig wrote:
> [...]
>>>
>>> Most of the shows on the list were garbage, even by the standards of
>>> their own time.It's not really about how the shows aged, it's about
>>> how the writer aged. The article should have been titled "25 Crappy
>>> Shows That Didn't Seem That Bad to an Eleven-Year-Old."
>>
>> Most of those shows were quite popular with adults in their day and I
>> find this article a sometimes needed reminder that television had plenty
>> of suckage back in the past. How many people post about the superiority
>> of past television over the present and bemoan the worthless of today's
>> offerings by comparison?
>
> I think a lot of people were happier then, at least in a lot of ways.
> I swear, if I had a magic wand and could get rid of the racism, I'd
> turn the clock back, all in all.
>
> Empty-headed family entertainment was what you got because the entire
> public space was PG rated.
>
> On the other hand the books, music, painting etc. were better. Hell,
> even the movies. When is the last time you saw a book on the
> bestseller list you'd even call "literature"?

Gone Girl, last year. I haven't looked at a list for this year.
Looking at the recent bestseller lists it's amazing the degree to which
teenagers have become the major consumers of books, though.


Name a famous
> contemporary painter.

Boris Vallejo? That may be pretty lame, but then the artists from the
60s I can name are Andy Warhol and the Brothers Hildebrandt, and I
remember Warhol for his gimmickry and the Brothers Hildebrandt for their
extraordinary gift for drawing the ugliest people.


>
> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>
> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>
> 60 years ago:
>
> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>
> It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
> nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012.


I can't really compare since I've only seen Argo, Lawrence of Arabia,
the Longest Day and the Music Man. But I didn't think that the Longest
Day was that great save in scale.

>It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
>nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
>least, it isn't 60 years of progress.

Well, the expectation that anything except the special effects
technology is going to get continuously better seems unreasonable to me.


JRStern

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 9:34:22 PM6/11/13
to
On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:13:37 -0700 (PDT), TMC <tmc...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that-havent-aged-well/

Well first, be careful clicking on the site, the pages kept coming up
again and again after I closed the browser.

Second, the author is just some random dweeb, Highlander the series
was uneven, but much of it was outstanding and overall much better
than the movie, even constrained to the small screen, maybe even
because of it.

And Gilligan's Island was never more than what it was, a low-budget
series of running jokes. Same as most of them, they were what they
were, a nice way to kill time, and sometimes they worked.


Yada yada, a lot of the shows on the list were horrid from day one, so
what the heck.

J.

jdunlop

unread,
Jun 11, 2013, 10:05:06 PM6/11/13
to
On Jun 11, 7:09 pm, Mason Barge <masonba...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
> wrote:

> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>
> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>
> 60 years ago:
>
> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>
> It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
> nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
> least, it isn't 60 years of progress.

Guys, please don't make me (born in 1960) any older than I am, which
is 53. 1962 was FIFTY years ago. (+1 of course, but you were talking
about the Oscar nominees.)

Remysun

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 6:18:20 AM6/12/13
to
On Jun 11, 8:11 pm, Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:

> I've seen Lawrence about twice, once in a theatre when there was a big
> rerelease maybe 30 years ago, and then a few years ago at home on VHS.  It
> spends o much time with the scenery, something like that wouldn't happen
> today.

ORLY? Pandora?

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 6:33:17 AM6/12/13
to
On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:05:06 -0700 (PDT), jdunlop <jdu...@aol.com>
wrote:
"Homer nodded."

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 6:47:19 AM6/12/13
to
On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:46:29 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
I can get some from the 60s. Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns were still
going. David Hockney, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein. Norman
Rockewell!!

Truth be told, painting was already in notable decline. As far as I'm
concerned, architecture had lost its mind, although a lot of people
would disagree. Mies van der Rohe and Erin Saarinen were big.

The novel didn't really die until the 80s, though.

>
>>
>> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>>
>> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
>> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>>
>> 60 years ago:
>>
>> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
>> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>>
>> It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
>> nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012.
>
>
>I can't really compare since I've only seen Argo, Lawrence of Arabia,
>the Longest Day and the Music Man. But I didn't think that the Longest
>Day was that great save in scale.

I did! Well, compare it to Zero Dark Forty and even Argo, since they
were both war movies.

>
> >It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
> >nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
> >least, it isn't 60 years of progress.
>
>Well, the expectation that anything except the special effects
>technology is going to get continuously better seems unreasonable to me.

Fine, but still, we have seen a decline in movies and a huge decline
in literature.

Professor Bubba

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 7:24:05 AM6/12/13
to
In article <3jjgr8ls2lea1gfc8...@4ax.com>, Mason Barge
Lawrence of Arabia — A well-made bore.

The Longest Day — A game of spot-the-star, accompanied by lots of
explosions.

The Music Man — Feh. Robert Preston was great, though.

Mutiny on the Bounty — Awful, awful, awful. Even the version with Mel
Gibson was better than this one.

To Kill a Mockingbird — Truly one of the great American films. So
there's one, anyway.

I've only seen Argo, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook, but any of
them was better than at least three of the films on the 1962 list.

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 8:20:35 AM6/12/13
to
On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:24:05 -0400, Professor Bubba
<bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid> wrote:

>In article <3jjgr8ls2lea1gfc8...@4ax.com>, Mason Barge
><mason...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:05:06 -0700 (PDT), jdunlop <jdu...@aol.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >On Jun 11, 7:09 pm, Mason Barge <masonba...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
>> >> wrote:
>> >
>> >> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>> >>
>> >> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
>> >> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>> >>
>> >> 60 years ago:
>> >>
>> >> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
>> >> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>> >>
>> >> It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
>> >> nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
>> >> least, it isn't 60 years of progress.
>> >
>> >Guys, please don't make me (born in 1960) any older than I am, which
>> >is 53. 1962 was FIFTY years ago. (+1 of course, but you were talking
>> >about the Oscar nominees.)
>>
>> "Homer nodded."
>
>
>Lawrence of Arabia — A well-made bore.

Heretic!!! I loved it and IIRC so did most everybody. Really one of
the great stories of all time, beautifully shot, with some great
recreation of the British Army in Egypt and commentary about the
Franco-British bungling in the Middle East. An A+ classic.

>The Longest Day — A game of spot-the-star, accompanied by lots of
>explosions.

Are you serious? It was a fascinating collection of vignettes
personalizing a really interesting battle.

>The Music Man — Feh. Robert Preston was great, though.

Well, it *was* cheesy. But Preston wasn't just great, his material
was also great. Despite the unfortunate parts, I'd watch it right now
in preference to any of the 2012 entries.

>Mutiny on the Bounty — Awful, awful, awful. Even the version with Mel
>Gibson was better than this one.

Okay, I never actually watched it. I'll take your word for it.

>To Kill a Mockingbird — Truly one of the great American films. So
>there's one, anyway.
>
>I've only seen Argo, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook, but any of
>them was better than at least three of the films on the 1962 list.

Lincoln - tragic self-conscious bore. One of the most fascinating
people in American history, too. I wanted to puke.

Argo - a pitiful bit of Hollywood narcissism. Let's put this
side-by-side with "Lawrence of Arabia". Two words: "Ben Affleck". I
win.

Silver Linings Playbook - very entertaining with lots of laughs,
really the only decent movie of the bunch. I'm not sure the excellent
entertainment value can completely overcome the distortion of bipolar
disorder, but maybe I've just had more experience with it than most
people. Also in its favor - a decent comedy is hard to find.

So, okay, I'll give you that one over Mutiny on the Bounty. It still
isn't close.

Also, I haven't seen "Life of Pi" and I liked the book.

I did just watch "Zero Dark Forty" and it was downright bad, despite
the best efforts of Jessica Chastain, who is brilliant in every role
she takes. Take her out of the equation and this is an absolute dog.
Boring, very badly directed, badly shot, badly scripted.

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 8:24:12 AM6/12/13
to
On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:46:29 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

>On 6/11/2013 5:09 PM, Mason Barge wrote:
>> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
>> wrote:

>> When is the last time you saw a book on the
>> bestseller list you'd even call "literature"?

You know, I have to make one caveat here, which is Kazuo Ishiguro.
He's right up there with the great novelists of all time.

>
>Gone Girl, last year.

I actually have this on order, so time will tell.

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 1:04:23 PM6/12/13
to
A lot of were never that good in the first place, not to mention "beloeved".

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 1:05:37 PM6/12/13
to
drs...@aol.com wrote:

>I wonder why Power Rangers is on the list... it's still in production

I was not aware of that!

Mason Barge

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 2:18:23 PM6/12/13
to
On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:04:23 -0400, Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net>
wrote:
There is not a single television program listed that I watched, much
less liked, other than the occasional Mr. Ed when I was a little kid.

Oh, scratch that, I watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and I wish it was
still on. Preferably on HBO ;)

I can *understand* why someone might like Gilligan's Island.

So, one I liked and two "watchable" for me.

Harold Groot

unread,
Jun 12, 2013, 9:35:40 PM6/12/13
to
On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:18:23 -0400, Mason Barge <mason...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>There is not a single television program listed that I watched, much
>less liked, other than the occasional Mr. Ed when I was a little kid.
>
> Oh, scratch that, I watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and I wish it was
>still on. Preferably on HBO ;)

It's in reruns on the ME TV (Memorable Entertainment Television)
network. In general, a very good selection of old shows. They have a
station finder on their website (enter your zipcode, they tell you
which station in your area carries ME).

http://metvnetwork.com/

Of course, that's the old "Can't have her naval showing" version. As
for the more liberal approach that HBO might produce - if you find it,
let me know! <g>

Tonight's ME TV lineup:

7:00PM M*A*S*H

7:30PM M*A*S*H

8:00PM Bewitched

8:30PM I Dream of Jeannie

9:00PM The Mary Tyler Moore Show

9:30PM The Dick Van Dyke Show

10:00PM The Odd Couple

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 16, 2013, 9:04:23 PM6/16/13
to
que...@infionline.net wrote:
>On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:18:23 -0400, Mason Barge <mason...@gmail.com>
>wrote:

>> Oh, scratch that, I watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and I wish it was
>>still on. Preferably on HBO ;)
>
>It's in reruns on the ME TV (Memorable Entertainment Television)
>network. In general, a very good selection of old shows. They have a
>station finder on their website (enter your zipcode, they tell you
>which station in your area carries ME).
>
>http://metvnetwork.com/
>
>Of course, that's the old "Can't have her naval showing" version.

There was another version of "I Dream of Jeanie"?

Michael Black

unread,
Jun 25, 2013, 1:15:14 PM6/25/13
to
On Sun, 16 Jun 2013, Ubiquitous wrote:

> que...@infionline.net wrote:
>> On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:18:23 -0400, Mason Barge <mason...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>
>>> Oh, scratch that, I watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and I wish it was
>>> still on. Preferably on HBO ;)
>>
>> It's in reruns on the ME TV (Memorable Entertainment Television)
>> network. In general, a very good selection of old shows. They have a
>> station finder on their website (enter your zipcode, they tell you
>> which station in your area carries ME).
>>
>> http://metvnetwork.com/
>>
>> Of course, that's the old "Can't have her naval showing" version.
>
> There was another version of "I Dream of Jeanie"?
>
Yes, typos aside, the version where she is a real slave girl, so most of
the time she's naked, and tied up. "Naster" becomes a whole different
thing for this Genie.

Barbara Eden was in a tv movie, "let's Switch", about 1975, with Barbara
Feldon. They swap their lives, one a housewife the other a magazine
editor. I don't think I ever saw it, but about a decade ago, I read the
book it was actually based on, which was about a real swap. A woman, the
magazine writer/editor, places an ad and eventually swaps with a
housewife. It soon went bad, but it actually was about a full swap, just
putting yoursel in the other's life and letting things happen. So the tv
movie could have had an xrated version, since I'm sure the tv movie was
comedy and didn't deal with sex, while the book did.

Michael


BTR1701

unread,
Jun 25, 2013, 9:48:43 PM6/25/13
to
On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:18:23 -0400, Mason Barge <mason...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> >>> Oh, scratch that, I watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and I wish it was
> >>> still on. Preferably on HBO ;)

No shit. Barbara Eden is just so freakin' gorgeous. There was an episode
on last week where Nelson puts Jeannie on a budget and as usual she goes
overboard and invites some hippies to rent a room from them so they can
save money. At one point, the hippies start an impromptu concert in the
living room, and Jeannie starts dancing and jiggling and swaying her
hips and I thought I was gonna have a stroke. It was like poetry in
motion.

Even as Eden aged, she stayed just as beautiful. HARPER VALLEY PTA was
on late night cable in May and other than the hideous 70s clothes, you
wouldn't have thought she'd aged a day.

On the other hand, I hadn't watched JEANNIE since I was a kid, and now
re-watching it with an adult eye, I find Major Healey to be completely
unlikable. I have no idea how he could possibly be an astronaut and be
so completely clueless all the time, or why Nelson had any desire to
hang out with him. (And when were there any Army astronauts, anyway?)

But the worst character on the show is by far Dr. Bellows. My god, what
an intrusive prick he is. He has absolutely no sense of personal privacy
whatsoever. He constantly shows up to Nelson's home and walks in without
knocking, then self-righteously demands explanations for whatever he
sees that's not to his liking. He volunteers other people's homes for
parties and office functions without regard to any plans or desires of
the people he's imposing on. He shows up to social occasions to which
he's not invited and insists everything be done his way regardless. He's
completely insufferable. I keep wishing Jeannie would just blink him
into the asteroid belt or something. Why Nelson puts up with it,
considering the resources at his disposal, is the second most nagging
question of the entire series. The first-- of course-- being why it is
that Nelson doesn't spend his entire life just banging the bejesus out
of the genie who's bound to do whatever he desires, is madly in love
with him, and is hotter than molten lava.

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 26, 2013, 7:21:26 AM6/26/13
to
atr...@mac.com wrote:

>On the other hand, I hadn't watched JEANNIE since I was a kid, and now
>re-watching it with an adult eye, I find Major Healey to be completely
>unlikable. I have no idea how he could possibly be an astronaut and be
>so completely clueless all the time, or why Nelson had any desire to
>hang out with him. (And when were there any Army astronauts, anyway?)

As a youngster, I think I used to confuse the actor's character on this
show with the one on The Bob Newhart Show because.they were many
similarities between the two.

>But the worst character on the show is by far Dr. Bellows. My god, what
>an intrusive prick he is. He has absolutely no sense of personal privacy
>whatsoever. He constantly shows up to Nelson's home and walks in without
>knocking, then self-righteously demands explanations for whatever he
>sees that's not to his liking. He volunteers other people's homes for
>parties and office functions without regard to any plans or desires of
>the people he's imposing on. He shows up to social occasions to which
>he's not invited and insists everything be done his way regardless. He's
>completely insufferable. I keep wishing Jeannie would just blink him
>into the asteroid belt or something. Why Nelson puts up with it,
>considering the resources at his disposal, is the second most nagging
>question of the entire series. The first-- of course-- being why it is
>that Nelson doesn't spend his entire life just banging the bejesus out
>of the genie who's bound to do whatever he desires, is madly in love
>with him, and is hotter than molten lava.

And why he still was employed by NASA after making wild unsupported
allegations so many times.

Harold Groot

unread,
Jun 29, 2013, 12:08:59 AM6/29/13
to
>On Sun, 16 Jun 2013, Ubiquitous wrote:

>> que...@infionline.net wrote:
>>> Of course, that's the old "Can't have her naval showing" version.

>> There was another version of "I Dream of Jeanie"?

There was a TV Movie "I Dream Of Jeanie - Fifteen Years Later" where I
believe they lowered the waistband and allowed her naval to show.
Barbara Eden was still gorgeous, of course.


Your Name

unread,
Jun 29, 2013, 2:27:04 AM6/29/13
to
In article <51ce588c...@news.west.earthlink.net>,
I didn't know Jeanie had her own sea-going military unit. No wonder they
wanted to keep it secret. ;-)

Ubiquitous

unread,
Jun 29, 2013, 8:15:56 AM6/29/13
to
anim...@cox.net wrote:
> Your...@YourISP.com (Your Name) wrote:
>> I didn't know Jeanie had her own sea-going military unit. No wonder they
>> wanted to keep it secret. ;-)
>
>God was that a stinkbomb. They couldn't get Hagman, so they recast
>Nelson with Wayne Rogers, and then through some horrible plot mechanism
>had Jeannie erase Nelson's memory of their entire life together (and
>child) and then she bumps into him to start over with her remembering
>and him not and I don't know what the kid or Healy knew and it was
>really sick and twisted ...

Oh yeah, I remember watching that now.

Ken Arromdee

unread,
Jul 2, 2013, 4:56:38 PM7/2/13
to
In article <atropos-E56B9C...@news-europe.giganews.com>,
BTR1701 <atr...@mac.com> wrote:
>But the worst character on the show is by far Dr. Bellows. My god, what
>an intrusive prick he is. He has absolutely no sense of personal privacy
>whatsoever. He constantly shows up to Nelson's home and walks in without
>knocking...

That's genre. Characters in sitcoms constantly walk into other characters'
homes without knocking. It also extends to other sorts of shows (Smallville
was full of it--Luthor is a rich man with guards and security systems,
and people still did it to him.)

>The first-- of course-- being why it is
>that Nelson doesn't spend his entire life just banging the bejesus out
>of the genie who's bound to do whatever he desires, is madly in love
>with him, and is hotter than molten lava.

Whether she was bound is questionable. When he met her he set her free and
told her to go away and she decided to stick around anyway.

I see, however, that this thread is full of treating sitcom logic as normal
logic. I've been recently watching Get Smart. For some reason, this show
never seems to gain the audience hatred that Gilligan's Island does, yet
it's ultimately just as silly. I could go on for ages about the stupid
things that people in this show do and how if I was a spy I wouldn't put six
locks on my door and then open it from the opposite edge, but I know better
than that--it's genre. It's supposed to be that way.
--
Ken Arromdee / arromdee_AT_rahul.net / http://www.rahul.net/arromdee

Some fanfic writers really like listening to Evanescence, so they decide to
make all the characters fans of it. Slash fiction is the same, but with
penises instead of Evanescence.

Freezer

unread,
Jul 2, 2013, 6:03:27 PM7/2/13
to
If I don't reply to this TMC post, the terroists win.

> http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/06/25-beloved-tv-shows-that
> -havent-aged-well/

This might as well be called "25 Beloved Shows I Thought Sucked."


--
My name is Freezer and my anti-drug is porn.
http://freezer.livejournal.com/
http://mst3kfreezer.livejournal.com/
@allhailfreezer
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