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."

Comments

This story brings to mind fat, lonely nerds

[ObviousGuy]

Worst story ever.

It's not just for memories and trivia

[Savatte]

the popularity and fanaticism of family guy on the web contributed to it getting put back on the air.

Re:It's not just for memories and trivia

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Jump The Shark: Chronicling The Moments When TV Sh

[myownkidney]

Jump the shark site has info about hundreds and hundreds of TV shows, and the point at which they started going south.

Tv show research

[Stonan]

http://www.tvtome.com/list/all.html

Very extensive site for tv shows animated or otherwise includes episode lists & guides as well as all people accociated with them.

It's not my site but one I consult regularly.

Just wait a while

[Anonymous Coward]

Someday someone will come up with a fansite for Slashdot, remembering when it used to be about news for nerds, stuff that matters.

One thing I've discovered...

[Anonymous Coward]

...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.

Alternate article title

[nametaken]

...why the internet should be destroyed.

Re:What...?

[identity0]

"Hey, there's a Simpsons quote in it! I've never seen that on Slashdot before, it must be newsworthy!" - michael

Re:Jump The Shark: Chronicling The Moments When TV

[quantax]

For those who don't know, 'Jumping the Shark' is a reference to an episode in 'Happy Days' in which at the end of the show, the fonze is shown trying to water-ski a jump over a pool of sharks, in order to get more people to watch the following weeks episode which will show if he makes it. A reference to a show 'jumping the shark' means that whatever made that show unique and watchable is gone/going and thus the show must resort to gimmicks to keep it interesting.

I pity the fool

[doormat]

who posted this story....

Another good site for cancelled comedies/toons

[wynterwynd]

One site they forgot to mention was Digital Archive Project. They use a P2P community for the legal trading of cancelled shows. They're very good about removing things that go to video or are otherwise re-sold. It's kinda nice to see someone using P2P for something legal and worthwhile. Lots of animated series, comedy shows, and sci-fi/fantasy series. (the. Worth a click.

Re:Another good site for cancelled comedies/toons

[SPK]

Nice site and such, but I would hesitate to call it "legal trading" (of cancelled shows or whatever). Somebody *still* owns the copyrights on those shows, and just because they're not selling DVDs on Amazon.com does not mean it is legal to trade them online or elsewhere -- it's just that, to a certain extent, the owners of the copyright (and/or distribution rights) don't care enough to go after folks.

There's a difference between 'legal' and 'low probability of legal difficulties'.

Bad 80s is much better than bad 2000s

[chia_monkey]

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...