Television Shows

[Detective D]

I don't watch TV. I mean, there can be a program on specifically I might sit down for, but generally speaking I can't stand modern TV writing and the pace and topics are unimaginative and at this point repetitive between shows even.
Thing is, I used to watch TV. I used to like some shows, comedy, drama, whatever. There are a few reruns from 15-20 years back that I might sit through.
Lately I just can't get past this thought: It sure seems like years back TV was good. As in, worth the time to watch something, you didn't feel like you 100% wasted your time, and certainly the hour program did not have 25 minutes or more of commercials in there.

So lately, the wife and I have been digging through old DVD's. Thought I would share one of our favorite series. Some years ago, this was one of the prime, daily rerun series that they kept on for years. Then, whispers about it getting taken down off the air went around. I found a complete series DVD collection for my wife and bought it. Sure enough, the series was taken down. Over the years, the reason for it has changed 3 times.

So what series am I talking about?






This show, in my opinion, could be broadcast at prime time tomorrow and would instantly take ratings from every other regurgitated puke on TV right now. There is something authentic and wholesome in this show that people in TV now are simply incapable of replicating.
I am glad I own this entire series. Topics in the show and a particular strong theme will prevent it from ever returning to television, which is why they keep changing the reasons they won't bring it back. Watching this both makes me happy, and full of nostalgic sadness as there is something to it that strikes a strong cord with me about how things used to be when I was young. And I don't mean on tv this time, I mean in my community growing up. I don't want to get to into it but we have lost something as a society and what we have lost prevents us from ever creating something like this again.

If you have a series like this that you enjoy, please share. I may just add it to my collection

 

[Kern Dog]

I do watch TV but most of the time, it is in the background while I surf the forums.
There are shows that I considered a Must Watch but those were few and far between. I loved The Walking Dead when it was on. It was an unusual show and a huge departure from other shows.'
Look at how many law enforcement shows are on now. Three FBI shows alone, then add in Criminal Minds, the Law and Order based shows, the CSI shows, the NCIS shows....
ENOUGH. I have a feeling that the FBI shows are a sort of propaganda trying to sway public opinion of the organization.
The wife and I do binge watch shows during dinner and after each night. Currently we are watching The Handmaid's Tale, a story based on a fictional dystopian future where a worldwide birthrate epidemic led to America being taken over by religious zealots with primitive views on society and family.
It is slow moving though. I do like a show that moves a little faster.

 

[moparedtn]

With the advent of two developments in TV - namely, the three major networks turning into literally hundreds
of outlets these days, coupled with the streaming of many series themselves - the product has overall become
quite diluted over time in both quantity and quality.
One has to do their own homework these days amongst all the outlets to find anything decent as a result.
That said, there's TONS more stuff to choose from speaking positively as well, though.

With me, I've got tons of old series as favorites, so I instead choose to give a quick (5) more recent series to recommend.
Writing is paramont to any truly good series and all of these cornered the market on that amongst their competition IMO.
In no particular order:

(OK, I lied - this is pretty much my favorite series of all time).


Again, the writing is so incredibly strong throughout. It's BETTER than the series it came from, Breaking Bad.


From the original movie of the same name, each season has been a reset in both cast and narrative...
Still going!


Cullen Bohannon and the story of westward expansion through the railroad construction.
Impeccable, authentic and breaktaking production. Excellent cast and writing.


If you don't know Walt Longmire (from the long-running series of books by Craig Johnson), you should.

Notice none of these are from the big 3 networks? Yep, there's a reason for that.

 

[kiwigtx]

If you have a series like this that you enjoy, please share. I may just add it to my collection

The Waltons was a good honest family show.....the early ones with Grandpa Walton. Before Ike Godsey found love in a woman.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Everything I know, I learned from the Three Stooges.

 

[toolmanmike]

Everything I know, I learned from the Three Stooges.

That explains a lot

 

[polywideblock]

Married with children, unhappily ever after, that 70s show, The X files, Greg the Bunny, Home Improvement, the Big Bang Theory.

 

[toolmanmike]

That 70's Show was pretty funny.

 

[Dave6T4]

The Wonder Years

 

[toolmanmike]

I still laugh at Big Bang Theory and we watch a lot of Everybody Loves Raymond. Funny stuff.

 

[WileE]

 

[toolmanmike]

View attachment 1687413

I like a little newer version of Star Trek myself.

 

[Davefinan]

With the advent of two developments in TV - namely, the three major networks turning into literally hundreds
of outlets these days, coupled with the streaming of many series themselves - the product has overall become
quite diluted over time in both quantity and quality.
One has to do their own homework these days amongst all the outlets to find anything decent as a result.
That said, there's TONS more stuff to choose from speaking positively as well, though.

With me, I've got tons of old series as favorites, so I instead choose to give a quick (5) more recent series to recommend.
Writing is paramont to any truly good series and all of these cornered the market on that amongst their competition IMO.
In no particular order:
View attachment 1687156
(OK, I lied - this is pretty much my favorite series of all time).

View attachment 1687157
Again, the writing is so incredibly strong throughout. It's BETTER than the series it came from, Breaking Bad.

View attachment 1687160
From the original movie of the same name, each season has been a reset in both cast and narrative...
Still going!

View attachment 1687158
Cullen Bohannon and the story of westward expansion through the railroad construction.
Impeccable, authentic and breaktaking production. Excellent cast and writing.

View attachment 1687159
If you don't know Walt Longmire (from the long-running series of books by Craig Johnson), you should.

Notice none of these are from the big 3 networks? Yep, there's a reason for that.

I have not seen justified but I will look for it. Every other one on this list is excellent.

 

[Cranky]

I still laugh at Big Bang Theory and we watch a lot of Everybody Loves Raymond. Funny stuff.

The laugh track on Big Bang got on my nerves after while. Short, shorter and really short....and then lots of really short laughs on stuff that wasn't even funny. If ya can't do a show in front of a live audience, I'm not interested in watching it.

 

[toolmanmike]

The laugh track on Big Bang got on my nerves after while. Short, shorter and really short....and then lots of really short laughs on stuff that wasn't even funny. If ya can't do a show in front of a live audience, I'm not interested in watching it.

I'm so poor I can't pay attention. Never noticed. Good catch.

 

[Kern Dog]

Laugh tracks annoyed me too. It felt as if I was being coerced into laughing at stuff that they deemed to be funny, not what I thought was funny.

 

[#41]

I never did care for Little House specifically.... but I get it. After retirement and while recovering from some spine problems I recorded on my DVR and watched several old series from end to end in order: Adam 12, Barney Miller, All In The Family, The Andy Griffith Show, and Leave it To Beaver. You get through a series pretty fast watching one or two a day. I loved all the cars in Adam 12 and of course Ward Cleaver was a Mopar man. It was a lot of fun, but I think I have gotten that yearning for TV nostalgia out of my system now.

 

[toolmanmike]

The laugh track on Big Bang got on my nerves after while. Short, shorter and really short....and then lots of really short laughs on stuff that wasn't even funny. If ya can't do a show in front of a live audience, I'm not interested in watching it.

Laugh tracks annoyed me too. It felt as if I was being coerced into laughing at stuff that they deemed to be funny, not what I thought was funny.

Is this a laugh tack? I use it way too much.

 

[Photon440]

I like a little newer version of Star Trek myself. View attachment 1687420

Seven Of Nine in Star Trek: Picard last year -

 

[TBONE]

When I had my hip replaced watched a lot of Corner Gas. I enjoyed it.