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Retro Vision
dncsky1530 writes "The Sydney Morning Herald reports: It babysat generations, distracted countless teenagers from homework and, as Homer Simpson sagely observed about television, became our 'teacher, mother, secret lover'. Sure, the shows may have been ludicrous - think Webster, The A-Team, Charles In Charge - but they became part of our lives nonetheless. So what do you do when they end? Immortalise them online. At least, you do if you're a diehard fan - and there are plenty of them out there. Look up a show, any show, and the odds are there'll be at least one fan site, possibly with a tinny version of the soundtrack playing in the background and certainly with photos galore, plot lines, trivia as well as 'where are they now?' information on the actors."
However, watching old reruns on cable, i can't believe how bad some of them were. Magnum PI, stands the test of time (though the fight scenes seem corny), but for the rest, they seem stuck in the past. I've moved on.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
...is that most of the TV shows I loved as a kid are best left as fond memories. Trying to watch even one episode of them again as an adult wasn't the enjoyable dose of nostalgia that I expected-- instead I was just sitting there thinking, 'Wow, this is so corny, how did I ever think this was a cool show?' I'm talking about stuff like CHiPs, Knight Rider, The Dukes of Hazzard, etc.
If "I Love the 80's" has given you the urge to set your TiVo to pick up a few episodes of some show they talked about, trust me-- ignore that urge.
Well, that and selling over 1 Million copies of Family Guy Volume 1 DVD. Almost as much for Volume 2.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
the popularity and fanaticism of family guy on the web contributed to it getting put back on the air.
Trust me, that had little to do with it. TV execs don't give a shit if people love the show, they only care if the show is profitable.
They saw that the Family Guy DVDs were selling like hotcakes, and that it's getting high ratings on Cartoon Network, and realized that they put it out to pasture prematurely when there was still cash to suck from its teat.
Ya know, you sit back and watch reruns of "A-Team", "Knight Rider", "Greatest American Hero", etc (only when you're sick in bed, of course...) and go "holy crap, how in the hell did I watch this?" You laugh as bullets go flying everywhere and miss people, but cars explode. Or when you see the hood of the General Lee (Dukes of Hazzard for you kids that don't know) get crumpled to all hell from jumping over a dirt pile (huh?) but then it's all fixed as they speed down the road. I sure get a good laugh.
BUT...in 20 years when people look back at OUR shows, they're gonna think we're a bunch of morons. Ohhhhh..."American Idol" is amazing! Or today's "reality" shows like "I Married a 7'3" Midget" and such. THAT'S going to be scary...looking back at today's stuff. Egads...
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
How did I manage to miss all of Family Guy during its first run? Was it the disturbing chin visualization that turned me off? Was it my prejudice against cheap tricks like talking dogs AND babies? Since the reruns I learned to love Family Guy for the very first time and find Stewie and Brian to be my favorite characters (along with that creepy old man)
This seems like the perfect time to mention the fact that under original copyright law, the television shows you remembered watching as a child would fall under the public domain at some point in your lifetime.
Music, television shows, movies -- all these are stolen from the public by excessive copyright terms. Copyright was supposed to encourage "content developers" to share the fruits of their labors so that the public could benefit from (and eventually take ownership of) their works.
Lately I keep thinking of a short bit of an Arthur C. Clark's "2061: Odyssey Three" in which Haywood Floyd remembers a bit of an old tune and considers asking his computer to help him to find the actual song. It strikes me as quite sad that because we seem to have forgotten the benefits of copyright expiration, it's likely that whatever old tunes I try to remember in 2061 will probably still be controlled as tightly as possible by the recording industry.
I feel like the media industries beat me up and stole my lunch money.
Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
If you thought the Dukes of Hazzard and Kight Rider were bad... it's a far cry from "Neighbours" and the Australian "Young Talent Time".
"Full House" is slow torture compared to "Young Talent Time".
There was a time for everything 80s... and that was in the 80s.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
It's sad to me that You Can't Do That On Television, along with the other 80's Nickelodeon shows that I grew up watching, will probably never be shown again.