I WANT MY CLASSIC TV rant!

[brownie87]

Let me just get some stuff off of my chest here. Even though I am only 18 I have been exposed to some great classic TV shows from the 1970's and 1980's. Some of my favorite shows are "Diff'rent Strokes", "The Facts of Life", "Valerie/Hogan Family", "The Brady Bunch" and "One Day at a Time". In my opinion, all these great classic shows are a million times funnier than the crap that's out there today and the last decade. I mean, "Diff'rent Strokes" is a million times funnier than that endless pile-of-excrement about "nothing" that is still being shown on TV ad-naseum known as "Seinfeld"...yet, which show gets the full DVD treatment??? "SWINEFELD"!!!!! Even though Gary Coleman runs circles around Jerry Seinfeld and all the other losers on that crap show in the comedy department, we're stuck with only two seasons of "Diff'rent Strokes" while "SWINEfeld" has ever episode and ever season out on DVD. Then there's the whole thing with "Facts of Life"!! Everytime episodes are uploaded on YouTube or Joost, greedy-Sony has the power to remove them, while full episodes of "Frasier", "Friends", "NCIS" and "SWINEfeld" remain! Sadly, "FOL" has been the only show on TV that has depicted women as being human beings rather than sex-obsessed anorexics we see today. It's like we're being deprived of a great show that could have opened so many doors for more female characters on TV in which female characters were ambitious and realistic while piece-of-excrement shows like "Beverly Hills, 90210", "One Tree Hill", "Gossip Girl", "The Hills", "Sex in the City", "Desperate Housewives", "Real Housewives", "90210" and "Bridezillas" are being are endlessly being shoved down our throats! Not to mention all these disgusting crime shows like "CSI", "Bones", "Law & Order" and "NCIS" that are currently polluting the airwaves right now! And the only sitcoms on TV right now are total SH**COMES!!!! "Big Bang Theory" is total CRAP!!!! "Two and a Half Men" is total CRAP!!!! "Rules of Engagement"...CRAP!!!! "How I Met Your Mother"....CRAP ON A CRACKER!!!!! "House of Payne"....100% CRAP!!!!! And yet these shows are being released on DVD left and right!! But shows from the '80s like "Family Ties" are being stalled. And how in God's name "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are on TV all the time and have DVD's out there while we can't even get any "Bugs Bunny" cartoons anymore is appalling!! Now I hear all the episodes of "Facts of Life" that have been posted online could be in danger of being taken down again because of the stupid copyright laws that have just been issued on Comcast. And how is it that Lifetime decides to show "Frasier" - a show about a womanizing, long-winded radio "psychiatrist" who makes mountains out of molehills - rather than "One Day at a Time", or "Facts of Life"? And yet, "Frasier" is another show that has all the seasons out on DVD. Same thing with "Friends"! I would much rather see Blair's beautiful face than have to look at Jennifer Aniston's horse face and terrible acting anyday. So, to all the loser, clueless DVD distributors out there, LISTEN UP!!!!! There are tons of PO'd classic TV lovers out here who want to see some of our favorite classic shows anytime we want to and we would like to see again and we don't want to get all these crappy newer shows shoved down out throats against our will!! And if you're not going to release anymore seasons on DVD then quit taking the episodes off YouTube and Joost for crying out loud!!! And, sorry, but alot of us don't consider "SWINEfeld" a classic! It's a show about NOTHING!!!!! And IT SUCKS!!!!!!

[OH Nuts!]

I also feel the oldies are the goodies. But since we're in different generations the oldies for me are the 50s shows (and some of the early 60s) since I remember seeing many of the 70s shows firsthand. I'll take I Love Lucy, Bewitched, The Adv. of Ozzie and Harriet and Little House On The Prairie over almost anything else and have all of Lucy and LHOP. But some current shows can be nice. I personally like Sex And The City. The photography of NYC is tdf and I love Samantha. Carrie I could live without but she's focal to the series, and she does make me appreciate what I do like. BUT YES, I basically watch the news on my TV and 99% of the time do my DVDs of the oldies, which I just love love love. And btw, if you like old shows, Shout! Factory is rolling out a lot of great old series that are finally making it back to the light of day!

[MrCleveland]

Hell, I'm 26 and I watch TV Shows from the 60's!

All the TV Stations are now is ratings rather than identity. That's why I wrote those petitions awhile back.

This is the reason why I won't get cable. Unless these stations bring back their own TV, their attitude is "If it's not on TV, get the DVD".

Like I have $120 to but the entire season of "I Love Lucy"!

[Jessica]

I wouldn't diss Seinfeld. Yes, today's TV-show does not have the same quality as the older ones.. I thought they were good till the 90's ended.

[Doodyville10019]

::sinister laugh:: just wait till Brownie starts checking out '50's TV shows... then he'll REALLY start ranting!

Seriously, I may moan and complain about when I was born, but there's one thing good about it - I was a first-run witness to some of the greatest TV shows EVER put on a small screen (i.e. Bewitched, Star Trek, Batman, Hawaii Five-O, etc.) Now THOSE were great shows!

[brownie87]

What's all this about "television shows from the '50s/'60s" CRAP?!?!?!?! I don't even like them sh***y shows like "I Love Lucy" and "Andy Griffith" and all the crap!! And those seem to be the only "classic" TV shows out on DVD and still being shown on TV!! I am talking about shows from the '70s and '80s that we can't see anymore because they keep getting taken off the air, or taken off the internet, or not released on DVD while we're stuck with all the sh*t shows from the '90s and today, as well as all the excrement from the '50s and '60s.

[Big C]

Originally Posted by brownie87

What's all this about "television shows from the '50s/'60s" CRAP?!?!?!?! I don't even like them sh***y shows like "I Love Lucy" and "Andy Griffith" and all the crap!! And those seem to be the only "classic" TV shows out on DVD and still being shown on TV!! I am talking about shows from the '70s and '80s that we can't see anymore because they keep getting taken off the air, or taken off the internet, or not released on DVD while we're stuck with all the sh*t shows from the '90s and today, as well as all the excrement from the '50s and '60s.

So, what you're trying to say is that all TV sucks except for that from the 1970s and 1980s?

And to blast those old 1950s shos that are considered timeless classics- sir, you clearly have no respect for the timeless classics.

You better be careful with what you say- I'm not a fan of pessimists, and YOU seem to be a pessimist.

[Big C]

Originally Posted by brownie87

"Diff'rent Strokes" is a million times funnier than that endless pile-of-excrement about "nothing" that is still being shown on TV ad-naseum known as "Seinfeld"...yet, which show gets the full DVD treatment??? "SWINEFELD"!!!!! Even though Gary Coleman runs circles around Jerry Seinfeld and all the other losers on that crap show in the comedy department, we're stuck with only two seasons of "Diff'rent Strokes" while "SWINEfeld" has ever episode and ever season out on DVD.

There are a lot of Seinfeld fans on this site- be careful what you say. They're not going to be happy.

And the only sitcoms on TV right now are total SH**COMES!!!! "Big Bang Theory" is total CRAP!!!! "Two and a Half Men" is total CRAP!!!! "Rules of Engagement"...CRAP!!!! "How I Met Your Mother"....CRAP ON A CRACKER!!!!! "House of Payne"....100% CRAP!!!!! And yet these shows are being released on DVD left and right!! But shows from the '80s like "Family Ties" are being stalled. And how in God's name "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are on TV all the time and have DVD's out there while we can't even get any "Bugs Bunny" cartoons anymore is appalling!!

First of all, I like 'Big Bang Theory,' so you have insulted me GREATLY! And there are a lot of people who like 'Simpsons.'

sorry, but alot of us don't consider "SWINEfeld" a classic! It's a show about NOTHING!!!!! And IT SUCKS!!!!!!

Dude... you have a lot of anger problems.

[littlebelle]

We have similar taste in shows, and I feel your pain. I do like Seinfeld though.

[Jessica]

Yeah, we have our opnions, but still. Seinfield is cool!

[JAlanRuss72]

I agree, I think the 70s-80s was a great time for television (maybe the 2nd Golden Age). All In The Family, Good Times, Sanford & Son, Bob Newhart, Barney Miller, Carol Burnett, Family Ties, Night Court, Cheers, Taxi- alot of classic shows. Not sure we'll see lineups like that ever again. Seems like the country (and movies, music, TV) seemed to lose something after 1992, not sure why. JMO

[Stuck In The '70's]

Originally Posted by JAlanRuss72

I agree, I think the 70s-80s was a great time for television (maybe the 2nd Golden Age). All In The Family, Good Times, Sanford & Son, Bob Newhart, Barney Miller, Carol Burnett, Family Ties, Night Court, Cheers, Taxi- alot of classic shows. Not sure we'll see lineups like that ever again. Seems like the country (and movies, music, TV) seemed to lose something after 1992, not sure why. JMO

in 1992 Who's The Boss , Growing Pains , and MacGyver ended on the same night. That same year The Cosby Show, Night Court and Golden Girls also ended. It was the end of an era. Two years later the 90's era officially began with Friends. I think all the friends clones especially on NBC helped damage the sitcom. Most of them were real bad. I didn't care for Friends myself. I did like Seinfeld though. There were a few good sitcoms during the 90's like Drew Carey and 3rd Rock and some real gems like Titus and Norm which never had much of an audience. By the end of the decade though there wasn't many good sitcoms at all on. I truly believe 1992 was the end of the Golden Age of the sitcom. I hope it comes back again soon.

[dawsongirl]

I just got RTN. Yay me!! I'm watching shows now that I don't even fully enjoy. hehe...it's fun. I'm watching Knight Rider.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

Hell, I'm 26 and I watch TV Shows from the 60's!

All the TV Stations are now is ratings rather than identity. That's why I wrote those petitions awhile back.

This is the reason why I won't get cable. Unless these stations bring back their own TV, their attitude is "If it's not on TV, get the DVD".

Like I have $120 to but the entire season of "I Love Lucy"!

I hear you. It can get costly buying DVDs. The library has some I know. I just decided having DVDs I liked would be my "vacation" and since basic cable is probably $30-35, I'd rather spend $400 a yr on getting shows I love.

[brownie87]

I just think the shows that came out between 1990 (counting "Beverly Hills, 90210") and now are entirely too sex-obsessed and don't really offer anything meaningful. Alot of people love to watch shows and laugh and learn something at the same time. "FOL" was in my opinion the last truly great teen show on television that we never see anymore. Nowadays, you have kids as young as 13 jumping in the sack and getting pregnant! I never liked "Beverly Hills, 90210", which came out shortly after "Facts of Life" went off the air (even though I was born a year after it debuted) because first of all, the acting was total crap! And the kids all dressed like they were going to a music video shoot rather than school. A girl once got suspended for wearing a pair of hip-huggers and a tight-fitting T-shirt at my school. You had 15-year-old kids having sex with each other, one almost getting pregnant. Everyone looked like supermodels and didn't seem too relatable. Then shortly after we had "Seinfeld", "Frasier" and "Friends" where all anyone basically did was try to bed every member of the opposite sex. Ironically, this was supposedly around the era when AIDS was becoming a public issue and you had people on TV jumping into bed with each other every ten seconds, while lots of kids are getting the wrong impression. In contrast, the one episode of "Facts of Life" where Natalie lost her virginity was done in a very tasteful way and she even said they used protection. Yet, you didn't see all the girls hopping into bed with their boyfriends afterwards. These days, it's all you see on television; children jumping into bed with children. It's sick and it's sad. My point is all we see on TV and DVD are these crap shows. While great wholesome classic shows like "Facts of Life" might never see the light of day again (at least the rest of the series). Why? Because the girls on the show weren't sickly thin, or nasty to each other every ten minutes, or semi-human representations of Bratz Dolls like you see on today's shows? What's also sad is that everytime we start getting these great episodes on YouTube, or any other online video service, they all get taken down, while full episodes of shows that are already on get to stay up! The only "FOL" episodes that stay up are either the ones that are already out on DVD, or those crappy minisodes.