do 'dated' episodes impede your enjoyment?

[paul.austin]

What do people think?
The Cliff Babysits episode is a tad dated. Everyone bar Cliff and Claire is off to a Michael Jackson concert and Rudys friend Buuuuuuuddddd wants to marry Whitney Houston.

[Torgo]

Nope. I don't expect shows made over 30 years ago to feel like they were made yesterday.

[tlc38tlc38]

[TMC]

I've heard the argument lately that not only The Cosby Show but its sister show A Different World unlike previous "black sitcoms" like Good Times, The Jeffersons and certain episodes of Sanford and Son, have become virtually unwatchable in current times. What I mean is they were like period pieces of sorts that were made before crack epidemic destroyed the African-American community and gangster rap defiled the minds of American-American males.

The most ironic thing though is that these two shows were current while all of the crime, killing and chaos was happening. So instead of trying to address the reality of those times (and not just slap together some decidedly weak episodes about about HIV and other serious topics after the ratings started to fall), Bill Cosby and company chose to pretend that all black people were upper middle-class and most of the African-American youth were in college.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Nope. I don't expect shows made over 30 years ago to feel like they were made yesterday.

I couldn't agree more. I actually like the '80's references in each episode, mainly because I feel that the decade was so cool. It's unfortunate, though, that I couldn't experience it properly, being born in 1986.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by TMC

I've heard the argument lately that not only The Cosby Show but its sister show A Different World unlike previous "black sitcoms" like Good Times, The Jeffersons and certain episodes of Sanford and Son, have become virtually unwatchable in current times. What I mean is they were like period pieces of sorts that were made before crack epidemic destroyed the African-American community and gangster rap defiled the minds of American-American males.

The most ironic thing though is that these two shows were current while all of the crime, killing and chaos was happening. So instead of trying to address the reality of those times (and not just slap together some decidedly weak episodes about about HIV and other serious topics after the ratings started to fall), Bill Cosby and company chose to pretend that all black people were upper middle-class and most of the African-American youth were in college.

Er, that may have been true for The Cosby Show, but it wasn't true for A Different World, which actually dealt with serious topics. The latter show even did an episode about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, much to the severe opposition of then NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield.

[paul.austin]

Look at Murphy Brown which is so full of the 1990s in references that it's barely a blip in syndication and almost no one bought its solitary DVD release because the show falls flat for anyone who isnt well versed in 1990s culture and events.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by paul.austin

Look at Murphy Brown which is so full of the 1990s in references that it's barely a blip in syndication and almost no one bought its solitary DVD release because the show falls flat for anyone who isnt well versed in 1990s culture and events.

I think that's because the '80's is when coolness peaked.

[jimpickens]

Originally Posted by glickmam

I think that's because the '80's is when coolness peaked.

Agree plus the 90s blew anyway.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by jimpickens

Agree plus the 90s blew anyway.

Yup, the '80's were hip, the '90's were square.

[jimpickens]

Agree 100%

[paul.austin]

Doesn't it sound weird when some character on an old sitcom says "Hey, get with the times! It's the '70s!"

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by paul.austin

Doesn't it sound weird when some character on an old sitcom says "Hey, get with the times! It's the '70s!"

Well, you know, the '70's were sort of a "dork age" for America, due to having to deal with the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iranian hostage crisis, the OPEC energy crisis, double-digit to triple-digit inflation, among other problems. The '80's, on the other hand, were pretty much when America was "rescued from the scrappy heap", thanks to such positive events as Reaganomics, a booming stock market, increased advancements in technology, the renaissance of pop music and the cinema, the decline of the Soviet Union, among others.