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To help pass the time until we are back in action next weekend, I propose a thread of TV stuff that we loved but really is just embarrassing now. I'll kick off with the following small selection.
MASH - I think it is still watchable, with some good story lines. The wonder years - Still makes me guffaw, mainly because it is the era that I grew up in. Cheers and Taxi - loved them both but my god they haven't aged well and I find them generally very embarrassing and unfunny now. Frasier - excellent then, excellent now, could watch over and over. Yes Minister - same as Fraisier.
And here are some series that I loved but should be too embarrassed to admit to it. The golden girls, The love boat, TJ Hooker, Fantasy island and the eternally nauseating Happy days.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 13:31 - Sep 11 with 2625 views
Brian, an exception to the idea that history tends in the right direction is the demise of a show like After Dark, where a group of people were set loose to discuss a topic for as long as they wanted. Dropped by Channel 4 in 1991, occasionally revived, but not since 2003. No doubt the ratings weren’t great given the time it was on and the static nature of it but it cost nothing and is still remembered with great affection. Why can’t we have something similar now?
Channel 4 has handed over the keys to inane reality formats, the BBC can’t give us discussions without a studio audience who add precisely zero to the arguments. Maybe public intellectuals can’t bear to be in proximity with people who disagree and would rather preach to the converted and avoid the taint of collaboration. In any case I feel it’s our loss of both genuinely stimulating TV and some understanding of what other people believe and why it might be different.
[Post edited 11 Sep 2023 14:11]
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TV that hasn't aged well on 14:08 - Sep 11 with 2502 views
Sadly the dumbing down of terrestrial TV is largely complete.
You look back to the 70s and 80s when we only had three/four channels and some of the stimulating, thought-provoking content there used to be. Barely exists any more.
I couldn't agree more with this - we grew up in a time where people could and would have their ideas questioned and debated for hours by peers and other intelligent people.
Very very few of today's intellectuals or politicians are comfortable outside the soundbite, prepared speech or panel of people shouting over each other. The slightest disagreement is dismissed as "not respecting freedom of speech" or other specious jargon. There are whole TV channels built off the back of it.
Would love to see three hours of After Dark back. Even though it was boring as hell for most of the time it was good for the brain
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TV that hasn't aged well on 14:35 - Sep 11 with 2423 views
Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 15:36 - Sep 11 with 2301 views
Being in a band in the 70s was like having a license to nonce.
Jesus.
Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 15:53 - Sep 11 with 2240 views
TV is by and large exactly the same as it always was. For every Benny Hill show there is a Keith Lemon show for example.
A lot of critics tend to mix up preference with quality.
What is great about modern TV that previous generation didn’t have, is access, variety, and the freedom to choose.
If I wake up in a serious mood, I can watch Steven Harker on HardTalk interviewing some philosopher about existentialism in 16th century Syria, but within seconds and with two presses of a button I can watch someone shit themselves in an exam on The Inbetweeners. All before 9am while I eat my cornflakes.
One thing for sure that has dropped in quality, is TV News (and news in general). The turning point began after the Dr Kelly WMD scandal.
It’s an old cliche, but if someone says it’s raining I want the news to go outside and check, not bring in Michael Fish, Piers Morgan, and a hand picked crowd to discuss it.
[Post edited 11 Sep 2023 16:05]
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TV that hasn't aged well on 16:16 - Sep 11 with 2178 views
I was a huge fan of Ever Decreasing Circles in the mid-80's. Then I never saw it again until it showed the odd re-run on Gold about 2-3 years ago. So a good 35 years had passed! Still found/find it brilliant!
Also had a massive crush on Penelope Wilton.
[Post edited 11 Sep 2023 16:17]
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TV that hasn't aged well on 16:37 - Sep 11 with 2125 views
Red Dwarf is still great for Seasons 1-6 (except eps Kryten and Camille which are junk). My 2 kids watched the whole thing all the way through Season 13 and loved it, they're 12 and 10. Unless its Grant and Naylor writing together its generally pretty weak if just one of them.
I know there are a large number of cricket fans on here so... Outside Edge with Timothy Spall & Josie Lawrence; fan or not? It has a lot in common with The Detectorists which is one of the finest "sleepers" on TV.
The grass is always greener.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 17:10 - Sep 11 with 2088 views
I’m afraid he wasn’t very funny with him either. To be honest, like a lot of “ golden” tv 90% simply doesn’t stand the time test. The 2 Ronnies was always the same format. Jokes at the start were ok then mainly downhill, culminating in the excruciatingly double entendre laden song at the end. Ronnie B’s word play was clever, much of the rest purile
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TV that hasn't aged well on 18:51 - Sep 11 with 1995 views
I listen to a lot of Radio 4 Extra while working - 'cos you didn't have to think - and they are always having to give out a warning that it "contains language and attitudes of its time", especially the comedy.
What strikes me is that I'm never shocked if something from the 50s-70s is a bit dodgy on race, sex etc - I mean, who knew? and it's not really offensive if there's no nastiness involved. But some of the satirical stuff from the 80s and 90s, which thinks it's "right-on" is pretty dodgy. I heard a routine about Monica Lewinsky which, leaving aside the fact that anyone under 25 wasn't born before her scandal, was really nasty and notable for the fact that Bill Clinton didn't get mentioned.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 19:22 - Sep 11 with 1936 views
(Whatever happened to the) Likely Lads - don't remember the gymnslip one and will accept that it was dodgy, glad to say that attitudes have moved on, but overall I think it's a brilliant and honest view of what was going on in working class communities around the start of Thatcherism, with Bob jumping onboard and Terry being left behind. Also great on friendship and growing up. So more of a wry smile now than laugh out loud, but no worse for that. (Once saw an episode of the original "Likely Lads and have to say it was pretty terrible)
Monty Python - yes, it's patchy, but it aways was. When it works it's still brilliant. A bit like punk rock - God there was some sh*te put out, but someone had to shake things up, and there are some jewels in there.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 19:29 - Sep 11 with 1927 views
This is heresy, but while the first few years of Dad's Army are terrific, for the last few - roughly from after the death of James Beck (Private Walker) are thin stuff.
The strong ones are all about an ensemble cast of great character actors, some of them playing themselves, in a situation which just a tiny twist would have made tragic. The first time Jonesy is running around in a panic shouting "don't panic', it's funny, then it just becomes something he has to do every time something goes wrong. Pike's mum turning up while Mainwaring goes on about being a crack force of fighting men, and making the boy wear a scarf is funny, after that it's just a prop.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 19:40 - Sep 11 with 1895 views
Yeah, I think quite a lot of people did get that Alf Garnett was meant to be horrible, a bit like old man Steptoe - my parents did.
But the thing is that the young couple (Una Stubbs and Tony Booth) who were supposed to put the other point of view don't quite work. Una Stubbs is always rather sweet in anything she did but Tony Booth is a bit of a pain and you can't help thinking that maybe old Alf has a point sometimes when he calls him a layabout sponging Scouse git.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 19:54 - Sep 11 with 1879 views
Vaguely thought that was so, but according to Wilfred Bramble's wikipedia page that's not really true.
About the worst that it seems can be said was that he got arrested for cottaging in 1962 when it was illegal to be gay. Probably true of a lot of poor sods, if you'll pardon the pun. (Plus, I wouldn't give 100% credence to Met Police evidence on that sort of thing in that time and place, as Tom Robinson used to point out in song)
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TV that hasn't aged well on 13:44 - Sep 12 with 1562 views
I don't remember watching After Dark - too young but I have seen clips, wasn't amongst others Christine Keeler on it and Ollie Reed totally P1ssed on one occasion.
Cancel culture surely means such a programme is a no no.
Another one not really on air now 2 and a half men only started in 2003.
Simon Bird said The Inbetweeners had probably dated due to it's laddish style.
Shame really.
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TV that hasn't aged well on 14:07 - Sep 12 with 1505 views
Chris Barrie (Rimmer) did some compering for a company event staged by one of my previous employers. He was terrific! Engaging, masterful, humorous, he did a sterling job
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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