What's scary is to hear SNL, Taxi, Barney Miller, All in the Family, etc. be called "oldies". I try to watch the modern sitcoms/ensemble shows and they just don't match up to me. I feel like an old codger whining and complaining about the good ole days.

IMHO - I still think there a few shows today that are well made but they are few and far between. The talent level of the television pioneers was so much greater that maybe there is a difference in talent. A lot of them had years of experience before television came into existence.

I agree that maybe it is a sign of being an old codger that we still like shows that we enjoyed when we were younger. Maybe we feel younger while watching them.

I have to beleive that the talent and the production quality of today's shows are equal to, or superior to that of the 50s, 60s, and 70s shows that we all remember so fondly. It is human nature to prefer those shows, music, memories of our youth as being superior, but that is because they shaped our thinking and our attitudes at a time when we were still impressionable. Modern Family, Parenthood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Office are excellent shows that compare favorably to most of the great shows of earlier times. The problem, at least for me, is that the choices are so great that with some 2-300 choices of programming to watch, I seem to have developed ADHD when it comes to TV. I can no longer concentrate on even a half hour show very often. I find myself watching mostly reality or sports, and switching back and forth during commercials and constantly checking my guide to see if there is something else I might find more compelling. When we were kids we had 3 or 4 choices of channels and in order to change the channel we had to get out of the chair and walk 12-15 feet and turn the dial for crissakes.

Turning the TV channel was my younger brothers jobs -

Here in TV (we all have homes here) they have other jobs to do for their big bro.


.

Annie Oakley
Sky King
Rin Tin tin
Fury
Texas Rangers
Donna reed show
Loretta Young Show
Jack Benny
The Ed Sullivan Show
I Love Lucy
Lawrence Welk ( my dad made me watch that one)
Dr. Kildare
Ben Casey
My little Margie
My goodness the list can go n and on

There were many great minds in the television industry back in the 50's-70's.

Most of the real talent came from radio, vaudeville,Broadway and the Hollywood studio system. People came from an inventive and talented pool. Mostly garbage on Boob Tube today.

The Midnight Special/Wolfman Jack
Dean Martin/Celebrity Roasts:MOJE_whot:
Frank Sinatra Show
Jack Benny Show
Bob Hope Specials :MOJE_whot:
Soupy Sales Show
Jackie Gleason Show
Ed Sullivan Show
Phyllis Diller Show
Smother Brothers Comedy Hour
Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys:MOJE_whot:
Daniel Boone/Davie Crockett
To Tell The Truth

Actually, I like a lot of the dramas of today. They were probably as good or possibly even better than Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, The Lawyers (some of my favorites), Wanted, Dead or Alive (I was absolutely in love with Steve McQueen). I just don't like today's comedies all that much. Couldn't stand Thirty Something; The Middle just gives me the creeps, Modern Family is okay but some of the dialog is irritating.

BTW -- The funniest line I have ever heard was in NCIS. Someone made a random comment about how Ducky looked as a younger man. Gibbs replied, "Like Illya Kuryakin." I almost spit Coke on the screen I was laughing so hard. (Try explaining to a 22 YO why that line is funny. It loses something in the translation.)

And one I totally forgot until now, which is strange because I refused to miss it -- The Twilight Zone. Absolutely incomparable!

I long for the variety shows of yesteryear!

Memory Lane Dilemna
 

Wouldn't it be great if all of the older shows mentioned could be upgraded to the vastly improved production qualities of today. With so many television stations available that one could choose all of the shows that were mentioned in this post.

Wouldn't it be a nice problem to have. :)

For some reason, I just now remembered a fantastic TV show that I really liked and where I discovered George C. Scott. It was called East Side, West Side and aired only one season. Here is the wiki page for it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side/West_Side

How about . . . .

Hot L Baltimore (!)

Soupy Sales

Have Gun, Will Travel

Route 66

Soul Train

Our Miss Brooks

$64,000 Question

Lassie

Roots

and on and on and on - - -


.

Gulligan's Island. I think it was Mary Ann in those little black shorts that kept me watching. I was a little younger then. :jester:

The Prisoner was awesome.

:agree::agree::agree: