Favorite Classic and Current TV Shows

[Sabin Shelley Army]

So what are some of your favorite classic television shows? By classic it should be over ten years old.

There were plenty of shows I liked growing up, but I don't really want to watch them now...The A Team, Perfect Strangers, and many others. There are many others though that stand the test of time.


Comedy

The Andy Griffith Show. Probably the best TV show ever. Barney Fife ruled, and no one supported his thread (http://www.pwsforums.com/threads/166743-Barney-Fife).

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Uncle Phil ruled, and you had to love the Carlton dance.

The Cosby Show.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Haven't seen it since it originally aired. That's what should be on TV Land, not the same stuff they always show. (Do people really want to still watch Everybody Loves Raymond?)


Western
Bonanza. Great western series. I haven't seen Rawhide...


Action/Adventure


Drama


War
Walker Texas Ranger


Detective or Cop Show

21 Jump Street. The greatest show of all time. Such a great show, and the DVDs don't do it justice since they cut most of the soundtrack from every episode (issues with royalties for using music from so many popular bands).

The Untouchables (the classic black and white series). I've only seen a few episodes, but I'm buying the DVD sets without question. I didn't find them when I last looked, so I'll order them. Who would have guessed TV in the late 50s-early 60s was that violent??


Game Show


Animation

The Simpsons. The first 10 seasons or so were pretty good. What season are they on now?


Alright, throw out some of your favorite classic TV shows and let's figure out what is the greatest of all time.

[ILuvMonkeeMike]

Comedy

I loved the Munsters because Grandpa was awesome, Dukes of Hazzard I've wanted a General Lee ever since,Happy Days deChachinated thanks, All In th Family, Good times, The Jeffersons, Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters I liked.


Western
Gunsmoke wasn't bad

Action/Adventure
Batman, and The Green Hornet(Bruce Lee as Kato YES!!) Wonder Woman was great too
, oh and The Incredible Hulk
Drama
Do soaps count as drama? I used to watch Young and the Restless with my grandmother back in the day

Detective or Cop Show
Can't remember any from childhood. I like NCIS, and Criminal Minds now, and Law & Order SVU.

Game Show
The Price is Right WITH Bob Barker, Match Game, Whammy, and Card Sharks

Animation

Anything Looney Toons or Tom and Jerry. The Flintstones, the Nintendo line up(Mario, Zelda, Captain N), Super Friends, Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and He-Man, and She-ra. Also mentionable Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dexter's Labratory, and The Powerpuff Girls

[Strawberries & Cream]

Over here they show about six episodes of The A-Team every Saturday and I'll usually watch them if I've woken up, despite some of the things on there being downright hysterical, punch sounds, thousands of bullets and only a small percentage actually hit etc, its still a show I've started to watch after seeing the movie. Other than the A-Team, theres no other "classic" shows I watch now.

[ILuvMonkeeMike]

oh yeah the A-Team!! Mr.T was da shit!

[Sabin Shelley Army]

LOL. The only person to ever be shot on the A-Team was Mr. T. He was hit in the leg on one episode and Murdock had to push him around in a wheel chair. I'm surprised I remember that.

Yeah, talk about shows you used to like if you want, whether you watch them now or not.



Western
Gunsmoke wasn't bad

Action/Adventure
Batman, and The Green Hornet(Bruce Lee as Kato YES!!) Wonder Woman was great too
, oh and The Incredible Hulk
Drama
Do soaps count as drama? I used to watch Young and the Restless with my grandmother back in the day


Gunsmoke was a good show. I would also rather watch most of the old superhero shows like the Green Hornet, the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and others over the new movies.

[Killswitch]

Where is The Wonder Years?!?! I know that was in the 80's-90's but it was still a damn good show. The music was awesome and you could just fall in love with the characters in the show. Probably one of my all time favorite shows.

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

As for classics, the most I watched were the sitcoms.

Who's the Boss, WKRP in Cincinatti, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Seinfeld.

Seinfeld is my absolute favorite though, and I still watch the reruns if I see them on. That show never gets old to me. I could watch over and over again.

As for some hour long classics, the one that comes to mind right now is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it is on right now. That is a great show, and has a little bit of something for everybody imo.

And OH YEAH! this was aired on the canadian broadcast company, so not sure who has ever heard of it, but The Odyssey was incredible when I was younger. Wikipedia it or something if u have never heard of it. It's about a young boy who is in a coma, and lives a total other reality in this coma. Sort of shows a theory about what happens in that state I guess. I was always mesmerized by that show. Had a very, mysterious, dark feel, that really grabbed you and made you watch.

[Killswitch]

Who's The Boss was a very good show. I didn't watch it much but now that it is on re-runs I usually watch it all of the time. Seinfeld has to be my favorite show of all time. I was young when it came out but I would hear my parents talk about it, but I would catch them once and awhile. I then got all of the DVD's and I started to see how great it actually was, and there were so many damn lines in that show that we very good and very memorable.

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

Seinfeld is life... that's why I love it so much. Every person in the world has had a Seinfeld moment, whether they know it or not. That's the genius of that show. Everybody can connect in some form.

I watched a classic last night, The Pilot. The season 4 finale i think it was, where the story arc culminates of the story where they write the show for NBC. such witty stuff. and so funny.




I'm still hoping somebody remembers the Odyssey! Where is speedy?! he must know

[Sabin Shelley Army]

Seinfeld is life... that's why I love it so much. Every person in the world has had a Seinfeld moment, whether they know it or not. That's the genius of that show. Everybody can connect in some form.

Art Vandelay is genius. Seinfeld was a better show before the plot about Jerry and George starting a TV show for NBC. Seinfeld didn't need long story arcs. It was fine with each individual episode being able to stand alone by itself.



As for some hour long classics, the one that comes to mind right now is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it is on right now. That is a great show, and has a little bit of something for everybody imo.

I liked the first three seasons of Buffy, but it went downhill after that. Angel became the show to watch until Connor debuted. Then it went downhill fast (not just because of the character...the story became flat).


For another really old show, The Honeymooners was pretty funny. That was being shown late Sunday nights a year or two ago. Funny stuff.

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

I'm not sure I agree about your earlier Seinfeld seasons are better, comment. I dont really classify as any being better than others, just, different.

you really notice the change in style around season 6 or 7 when jerry starts writing. a lot of the comedy and stories are... i dunno... "quirkier" i guess u can call it. wat i would say, is that the earlier seasons are more "real"




agreed. i dont know buffy seasons right off the top of my head, but can say once they started with that army recruit shit, it went downhill fast. earlier seasons are great though as u said. i remember the first time i came acros it on TV. saw it on the guide channel, and thought it was the movie. but much to my surprise a brand new show. quite a find it was

[Sabin Shelley Army]

I like the earlier seasons better mostly because they could be watched out of order. The later seasons had story arcs (the TV series, George's fiance Susan, Yankees, etc). You can still watch them out of order, but if you don't care for the ongoing arc, then it's not as good.



agreed. i dont know buffy seasons right off the top of my head, but can say once they started with that army recruit shit, it went downhill fast. earlier seasons are great though as u said. i remember the first time i came acros it on TV. saw it on the guide channel, and thought it was the movie. but much to my surprise a brand new show. quite a find it was

Yeah, the army stuff was Season Four. I guess they thought it needed a more mature edge or something. Didn't work.

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

a more mature edge eh? could possibly be the reason they included the oh so edgy lesbian storyline.. the bag guys overall started to get really ridiculous around this tme as well. demons and monsters and big silly looking things :no: she rarely slayed. only a scene here and there.

[Sabin Shelley Army]

BTVS changed directions and it suffered. That's the bottom line. I think Spike and Drusilla were supposed to be the major villains that season, but Juliet Landau wasn't able to appear. That would have made the show much better.

Angel was much more straight forward and awesome. It had a grittier feel. It was like a Film Noir, vampire detective series. There were other shows that were similar (like Brimstone, Forever Knight, and Kindred: The Embraced), but Angel had better production, stories, and characters....well I haven't seen that much of the other shows (they were pretty good).

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

ive never seen an episode of angel. just never bothered, due to the stigma of spin offs. maybe should check it out now.

[Sabin Shelley Army]

ive never seen an episode of angel. just never bothered, due to the stigma of spin offs. maybe should check it out now.

It's far better than BTVS ever was. It's one spin-off that destroys the original. You should watch it in order from season one.

[Wolf]

Comedy

Married with children- such a loving family. It was groundbreaking, revolution in television

Action

Hercules series- Kevin Sorbo was da boss. it was pretty dumb, when he went to Egypt and Ireland though.

[jabberwocky]

I'm still hoping somebody remembers the Odyssey! Where is speedy?! he must know

Holy crap I forgot about The Odyssey!

[tmnt316]

Angle is a spin off that destroys the origninal? hahaha riiight, it follows the exact same track, starts out great and gets crappier as it goes along.

Yeah I never seen the Odessey, remember you talking about it though.

As for shows I enjoy most of them as a kid were sitcoms Growing Pains, Martin, Full House(yes cheesy as hell), family matters, All in the Family, The Jeffersons a whole bunch more.

The only hour shows I remember watching were Due South(damn good), The Pretender, Walker(not a war show), Buffy, Angel, Xena, Hercules, Diagnosis Murder, JAG, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons and prob a few more. Due South, The Pretender, JAG, Buffy and Angel are all shows I still really enjoy watching. The rest of them are ok here and there.

The of course there were cartoon, Gargoyles, Ducktales, TMNT, Rescue Rangers, Aladdin, Hercules, Gummi Bears, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Digimon, etc.

There was so much to choose from back then in everything, now forget about it, cartoons and most 30 min shows(or 22 min whatever) suck. Hour shows have gotten better in a lot of cases, but the rest are complete trash.

[Sabin Shelley Army]

Angle is a spin off that destroys the origninal? hahaha riiight, it follows the exact same track, starts out great and gets crappier as it goes along.

Angel became very bad suddenly in the middle of season four and it never recovered. The storyline had to change when a main actor was having a child in real life, and everything changed for the worst. The original idea was better (Angel vs Cordelia).

Before that, the show had a better cast (Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Wesley, and the Wolfram and Hart law office), better stories (a lot of the flashbacks showing Angel's history gave the show a very large scale), and a better tone (it was just more serious than Buffy). I haven't seen all the later seasons of Buffy though, but I've seen enough to not capture my interest.




Hercules series- Kevin Sorbo was da boss. it was pretty dumb, when he went to Egypt and Ireland though.

Almost forgot about Hercules and Xena. Those were popular shows for a while.

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

Holy crap I forgot about The Odyssey!

im looking for a download. itd be great to see again





also, i forgot cartoons. my pet monster, tmnt, ghostbusters, smurfs, snorks.
then i got into YTV and all of the stuff they picked up. rockos modern life, doug, rugrats. and there was one more i liked too, but cant remember the name right now.

[Tommyspud]

... I bring up Nick's old game shows.

GUTS, Wild n Crazy Kids, What Would You Do, Double Dare, Nick Arcade.

And my most favorite game show ever.

LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE

I want to dress as a Temple Guard one of these days and just hide in an alleyway, scaring the shit out of people.

[tmnt316]

I forgot all about the ghostbusters cartoon haha, that was good too. I watched that Uh Oh game show on ytv too..haha

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

Uh Oh! is the one I watched as well... that was a messy show

[Sabin Shelley Army]

I don't know these game shows except for Double Dare. That was great when I was a kid. Does anyone remember Remote Control? It came on MTV, so I only saw it a couple times back in the early 90s. Why don't they make straight forward but fun game shows anymore? The only new game show that's good (that I know of) is Cash Cab, but I don't really watch it (I did for a couple weeks). The contestants apply to be on the show and are screened, so they aren't actually picking up random people off the street. It shouldn't be that hard to make something that's fun to watch. Well, there's also Ninja Warrior (but it's not on a mainstream channel anymore) and the return of American Gladiators was cool (but that was canceled).

[™S. nay-rappeX taMmeT]

where in the world is carmen san diego?

that show was amazing. it seemed like barely anybody ever won, which is what made it so good to watch. highly anticipating to see if anybody would.

[Sabin Shelley Army]

^^Ha. I saw a few episodes of that. Forgot all about it.

Has anyone seen the movie Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Is there any chance we'll ever see a physically active television contest like that? Well, not fighting for your life but something interesting though. Set up a prop city and have contestants in small teams compete to defeat the other teams in some sort of combat. Maybe give them laser guns with body sensors.

Just make the show a combat and strategy show, not a popularity contest where you get to know the contestants. Why does everything end up being about the personality of the contestants? I don't want to get to know these people on TV. It's not always about relationships. Just do something entertaining. No, I won't watch Survivor....gossip reality shows...

[Sabin Shelley Army]

*Bump

I'm expanding the subject of this thread to include current TV shows as well.


I mentioned just above that contestants are screened to be on Cash Cab, but they aren't all told when the cab would pick them up. That's why some of them are surprised since they aren't necessarily expecting it at that moment. I think I read that some contestants are actually just regular people on the street.

This article discusses how the show works. Just found the link (http://gameshows.about.com/od/cashcab/a/cash_cab_real.htm) again...I read it several days ago.

While we're on the topic of how game shows work, here's a link (http://foodstar.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-does-iron-chef-america-work.html) to a blog entry about how Iron Chef America works. It turns out the chefs are told that the secret ingredient would be one of five options, so they are allowed to plan ahead...but they're planning five different menus. It's an interesting read.

I don't watch Iron Chef very much, but I've watched a couple challenges in the past.

[ILuvMonkeeMike]

where in the world is carmen san diego?

that show was amazing. it seemed like barely anybody ever won, which is what made it so good to watch. highly anticipating to see if anybody would.

I used to watch that show pretty religiously. What's weird is that I was always good with my geography, and I probably should've been on the show because I'd be hanging back watching these kids not know wtf they were doing with the final map...like NO!! You fool!!! Kenya's in AFRICA NOT SOUTH AMERICA!!

[RocknRolla]

I grew up watching shows like the A-Team, the Dukes of Hazard and Doctor Who. They seem so dated now though.

I'm now hooked on American crime shows like CSI, Bones and Criminal Minds.

[John]

Stuff I cannot miss~:

The Craig Ferguson Show
Tonight With Jay Leno
Wrestling/UFC
Cops
1000 Ways To Die
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Ant & Dec's "Push The Button"
Harry Hills TV Burp
Coronation Street
Qi