Where Are The Good Shows? (1 Viewer)

[michael_ks]

While those in the first group would definitely be wrong in suggesting that EVERYTHING post-'90 is pure dreck, those in the latter group would be WAY out of line and woefully misguided in suggesting that all shows pre-'80 are garbage.

One can "argue" that series television during the period of the 1950's-'70s in particular was "boring, "prejudicial", "slow-moving", "overly conservative", or "naive", but all of it 'crap'? Not in a million years. I'm not aware of anyone attempting to retronym "The golden age of TV" with a less flattering title--lest they be forced to watch endless re-runs of "The New Munsters".

 

[MichaelSloan]

Does anyone know if "You Are There" (1953) still exists? I've read some early television no longer exist because they were filmed and broadcast live and never recorded. If that's the case is there any chance "You Are There" and BBC's 1949 "The Time Machine" still exist.
I'd really like those to hit DVD

 

[Michael Alden]

11 volumes of You Are There were released 2 years ago. Here's the link to the info:
http://tvshowsondvd.com/releaselist.cfm?ShowID=4760

 

[Bob Hug]

With respect to the BBC's "Time Machine" it's likely a matter as to whether it was a filmed production or a live production. I strongly suspect that it was probably a live production and, given the year of its broadcast, it's doubtful that even kinescopes were made and I don't believe that videotape was used back then. There is a listing for "The Time Machine" at the British Film Institute's site, but I'm afraid that there's not too much information . . .

http://ftvdb.sigmer.net/show/summary/title/720172/

 

[MichaelSloan]

Pity.

 

[Jay_B!]

funny, I apologized for my behavior but nobody else apologized for theirs, who were acting no better than me.

 

[John*Wells]

I personally am not a fan of a lot of whats on TV today because a lot of it is this reality based mess that lacks anything sensible. I'm 32 years old and I grew up watching Nickelodeon. Things like Mr. Ed, Gomer Pyle USMC and so on

Today what do we have? Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, American Idol, Fear factor, No thanks

 

[John*Wells]

deleted

 

[John*Wells]

deleted, sorry, I didn't know I triple posted

 

[John*Wells]

deleted

 

[Bob Hug]

Actually, Image Entertainment, the company that released "The Twilight Zone" has released two, 2-DVD sets of "Tales of Tommorrow." This was a case where kinescopes of a live show were made and, fortunately, many of them were saved. But I'm unsure as to whether all of the episodes still exist, which might preclude full season sets. Here's the link to Volume 1 and you can link to Volume 2 from there . . . .

http://www.image-entertainment.com/d...roductID=14806

It's still pretty amazing that as many episodes from a live show as old as "Tales of Tomorrow" still exist.

 

[Michael Alden]

Especially one done on ABC, which was barely a real network at the time.

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, at the risk of invoking someone's wrath, I will pipe in with my two cents on this topic.

I was born in 1966, so I grew up watcing the new shows of the 70's and early 80's and re-runs of shows from the 50's and 60's. Mainly Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, Get Smart, etc. Most of these shows were and have been in reruns since they ceased production. So, I grew up with only three channels (and the occasional PBS station) for most of the first part of my childhood. When cable came along in the early 70's, I got to watch cable when I was at someone elses house. We lived too far from town to get cable. In the early days of cable, there were only about 10 channels (at least in my rual area of Indiana) and each of those channels reran mostly the same shows. You could catch I Love Lucy or Gilligan's Island several times a day.

Fast forward to the present day, and there are at least 100 channels on cable and satelite. Of those 100+ channels, there are very few that are repeating shows from the 50s, 60s, 70s or even the 80s. Sure there is Nick@Nite and TVLand, but let's face it, once a show hits those two channels, they are pretty much at the end of the road. Look at Rhoda for example. Once TVLand finished their run of Rhoda, the show pretty much vanished from TV.

So, what is the point of all of this? Well, considering the lower visibilty of older shows on TV these days, it doesn't surprise me at all that older shows coming to DVD is sporatic at best. I think that eventually any show that lasted long enough to get into syndication will show up on DVD. The good with the bad.

Also, I think that the reason so many recent shows are coming to DVD so quickly is that the DVD player has pretty much replaced the VCR. Instead of taping an entire season of a show like we used to, we can just wait until the end of the season and pick up the DVD. I for one totally agree with this. It's far easier to buy the full season of say Lost, then to try and tape it. Too many things can go wrong with trying to tape every episode while they are being broadcast (power outage, tape gets chewed, show gets interupted, etc).

As for old = good, current = crap, that is just a matter of opinion. I currently don't watch anything that is currently on TV. Lost and 24 are just about the only shows that I've considered, but since I haven't watched them from the beginning I decided to hold off. Also, I have too many older shows on DVD that I much rather watch.