Network Television: Old Vs. Middle Vs. New

[Dean Winchester]

lol, ok.

Well, Roseanne is an ABC sitcom that started in the 1980's and I'd have it over any NBC show from the 80's (even Facts Of Life), so does that count at all?

[TJL]

As much as I love some of the sitcoms from the 70's, My heart lies with the new stuff. TV programming has changed alot in the last 15 years.

[Magnum]

I wonder how many people are voting based on when they were young? For some reason, my favorite shows are all from my youth. I think if they tried to put Gimmie A Break on tv today I would puke. But 20 years ago I could not get enough of it and the middle girl Samantha.

I should add, that back then I would have picked a Big Mac for dinner over a lobster.

I wish I could have stayed stuck in my pre-pubescent years.

[Dean Winchester]

Magnum, you're probably right.

While I think if Roseanne was to premiere today, I'd still be a fan. There are 80's shows I love as a kid and still love now, like Gimme A Break, Facts Of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, etc... that I'm sure I wouldn't bother giving a chance if they premiered today, but yet I still love and enjoy those shows because I have all the childhood memories of them.

I think kids of every generation are like that, you see people in their 20's who still watch Saved By The Bell, it's doubtful if it premiered today they'd like it. Every generation has their shows.

[robby76]

Yes it's weird how people cling to their actual childhood years. I mean I've loved and watched I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Kenan & Kel, Fresh Prince, Seinfeld, King of Queens religiously and rave about them, yet I only "obsess" on my late 70's - mid 80's ones... i.e. buy the dvds, visit websites, forums etc. In fact I'll concede that there are hundreds of shows I find 100% funnier than my two faves Punky and Good Times, yet there's some strange pull towards what you watched as a kid... maybe it's like a comfort zone. Like I'd be in hysterics over The Nanny and not Good Times, yet I'd buy Good Times on dvd. Weird!

[Sal]

I'd like to put in a vote for the 'old' generation, even though most of the shows that make up that era were on before I was born and I had to discover them through reruns. I'm willing to go on record and say that I would rather watch a terrible episode of "Gilligan's Island" than an outstanding one of "Seinfeld" any day, any year. My reasons are as follows:


---The shows existed in a simpler, less stressful, era.

---Families were modeled on what we wanted ours to be like, rather than what we were already like. Parents were treated with respect, even when they were wrong.

---Plots dealt with fantasy and escapism, rather than reality and truth.

---They were also creative and imaginative. Each week, the viewer felt like he was watching an exciting bedtime story, rather than a standard stand-up routine.

---Nobody ever died, nobody ever got hurt. Violence was strictly of the cartoon variety. The most serious problems anyone ever faced was whether they could get dates for Saturday night. Not having one constituted a major crisis.

---We can emphatize and feel for the characters, even the bad guys, and we can laugh with them, instead of at them.

---Speaking of bad guys, there was always a clear distinction between good and evil, right and wrong. Good always triumphed over evil and evil was always punished. Today, it seems like the bad guys are the heroes.

---Sex and other adult themes were implied rather than demonstrated, which sometimes added to the humour.

---In the 50s and 60s, there were NO REALITY SERIES!!!!

---Or maybe, the shows as a whole were simply better and funnier. There was more quantity and quality than there is now. As an example, consider the year 1965, which featured the following sitcoms:

The Addams Family
Bewitched
Mr Ed
McHale's Navy
The Munsters
I Dream Of Jeannie
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Petticoat Junction
Get Smart
Green Acres
Gilligan's Island
Gomer Pyle USMC
My Three Sons
The Andy Griffith Show
The Lucy Show
The Donna Reed Show
Ozzie and Harriet
Hogan's Heroes
The Flinstones

That's 20 shows in all! Look at what ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX have out today. Some weeks, you won't find 20 sitcoms combined, and not too many good ones either.

To be fair, I also have many favorites from the 70s to the present, and that will never change, but for me, give me the 'oldies' any day. I will never get tired of watching them, even now that some of them are on DVD, which only adds to the fun and, more importantly, subtracts from the ratings of the 4 networks.

Today, the sitcom may not be dying completely, but a few weeks in intensive care can't hurt. Even so, I'll still be watching the old stuff---and, loving it!!

[badbrainsfan]

Originally Posted by BuffySlayer79

NBC and MTV were both infinately better 20 years ago than today.

Give me Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and all that other "bad 80's pop and hair metal" over 50 Cent, Simple Plan and all the other crap rap, teen junk and reality shows they air.

Nothing on NBC present-day is as good as Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers or ANYTHING ELSE that they had in 1985.

Sorry Buffy, But I have to agree on the NBC and MTV hater, and I'll tell you why. Because MTV had always suck, and I always hated the music they play like REO Speedwagon. Why can't anybody listen to bands like Sex Pistols, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and the Bad Brains.

And about NBC, if you think that the stars from that network at the time are popular & yet overrated, you're right. I really don't give a rats about NBC's hit shows of 1985, and where was the rest of the cast of It's Your Move (besides Jason Bateman)? NOWHERE!

So my pick is the Mid-Generation (1970-1984). At least the CBS & ABC shows like All In The Family, Jeffersons, Happy Days, and Three's Company had the power to take out The Cosby Show, and the rest of those other shows on NBC. The NBC network stars think they're all cool but they're not.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by badbrainsfan

Sorry Buffy, But I have to agree on the NBC and MTV hater, and I'll tell you why. Because MTV had always suck, and I always hated the music they play like REO Speedwagon. Why can't anybody listen to bands like Sex Pistols, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and the Bad Brains.

I understand exactly what you're saying (I agree, I hate the fact that MTV tries to dictate what is "cool" and what "sucks" instead of giving the audience the freewill to choose for themselves), but I'd say that MTV's showed a lot more Chili Peppers videos than REO Speedwagon actually. When did people last hear from REO outside of the "free concert at the state fair" circuit, 1987 or so? RHCP continue to receive MTV support with each passing album, I even remember when MTV had the 20th anniversary special, there was a big deal that "somebody really big and important to MTV is going to give a surprise performance", and a lot of people assumed it was going to be someone like Michael Jackson, Madonna or maybe a reunited Guns N Roses, but then it was the Chili Peppers. I definately would say they've broke big when MTV considers them in that league.

I agree a number of the NBC shows in the 80's were overrated (but for every Cosby Show there's three Gimme A Break's), but for the most part, they were still good. Scrubs is the only current sitcom on NBC that is decent IMO and NBC basically gave it the kiss of death by relegating it to midseason, Will And Grace stopped being funny about four years ago and Joey was a disaster from the start (ok, all my opinion). None of those shows will be as widely popular in 20 years what Cosby, Cheers or The Golden Girls are today, that's just IMO of course.

[badbrainsfan]

Originally Posted by DallasCowboysFanatic

Mid Generation. I like a lot of shows since but theirs also a lot of crap on as well.

I agree!

[EmoJoe]

I liked sitcoms best fro 1984-2000

[Rachel3118]

I liked the ones after 1984 since they are the only thing I have really seen.

[Dude111]

I def say 1946-1984

I picked Mid generation on the p0ll

[merlinjones]

I would group it differently.

To me 40's-50's was TV in its infancy experimenting.

60's-70's was TV at its bright pop culture peak. (my favorite era)

80's-90's was adult TV aged like whisky or wine.

Post 2000's is past its prime, cranky, post apocalyptic.

[AMackII]

I like New Blood during its early years and mid generation era