Would 60's & 70's Kids TV & Movies be popular today?

i don't think they would reach today's audience, because they relate to different time and era. Kids today like the iPhone, xbox, ps3, mp3, cell phone etc. The old shows touch a chord to what was happening at the time. The afterschool special were very good, because they focus on different issues of the day. This generation of kids are different in many aspects and they are less physically active, more techie savvy, etc. So, you would need to have shows that touch on things they relate too now.

 

I was born in 1968 and i have two neices: 1. 21 years old  and 1 15 years old. Both of them are more interested in facebook, chatting, cell phone, etc. They are no interested in sports. In fact, the order one is more into beer pong, which is like game called caps that i played when i was her age. So, how do you reach this generation and that is by their cell phone, social networking sites, etc. They are not that interested in dated shows, because laugh at the clothes, hair styles, cars, etc. This is similar to how my generation view our parents. The only difference is that physical activity was instill in me and my friends.

 

 

 

There might be a sentimental reason for me to see some of the ABC After School Specials (I grew up watching them), but I doubt there would be much of an audience from today's children.  They are too busy watching movies past their age range on cable/satellite TV.

I was born in the same year.   But think those girls are older then what they were aiming for with the 'after school special'.

I'd say 9-13 was the age range for most of those shows.   Most of the "issues" of growing up have not changed,

according to my opinion.  If anything, the social networking media have made some of them more apparent,

just look at the bullying  issues in the news this school year.

 

Coming of age is a universal experience.  It just seemed like they talked about it more

back in the 60's and 70's, now some of us expect more from our kids, but really, they don't

develop any differently physically, emotionally, and intellectually than they ever have.

Every generation wants to think of themselves are an original one, different than any that

came before.  But in reality, not of lot of things change (except for the size of the cel phones)

and I think many kids could learn and relate to well done television from another time.

Put it on for them and they will watch. Some may complain a little bit but in generally, I have found them receptive, particulary to older educational programming and comedy.

I think the old walt disney and after school special still have some value. The issues are similar today, like bullying, environmental, atheletics, crime, etc. So, you maybe able to show them in that light. However, i still think the kids now are growing up with different pressures and the computer/internet is ruling some of these households. The kids now generation are less active then what it was like back in 1960s/1970s/1980s. I was raised with a different set of values that kids today seem to have or understand.

 

I think if the remade these - updated and dapted for today's kids but keeping the heart,soul and core of the original, they would do well.

 

Take "High School Musical" - who would have thought today's kids would latch onto a MUSICAL - a genre of film that has fallen by the wayside these last few years. A good story kids to relate to,a good script and music,and well cast.

 

So I think done the right way, those great Afternoon Specials could be adapted for the modern youth.

Do cartoons count?

 

If they do then...

 

Rocky & Bullwinkle could work if it was related to events from the last decade.

 

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, just because

 

I know at least one After School Special would be out of place: "Rookie of the Year", starring Jodie Foster as a girl who plays on a Little League team back in the days when this was not allowed (and I mean "not allowed" as in "if a league was caught having any girls playing, that league lost its spot in the World Series tournament").  It has been at least 30 years since that ban was lifted (and I remember one TV program - an Emmy Awards, I think - where, while she didn't come right out and say it, Foster implied that her show had something to do with it), and kids would wonder what they were talking about when they said that girls couldn't play.  ("Charlie Brown's All-Stars" has the same problem, although they could edit it to make it sound like the only problem was that Snoopy was on the team.)

 

A number of them, however would still work.  Was "One Too Many" an After School Special?

 

-- Don

I'm not sure why you think it would be "out of place" for kids to learn about a time that once girls were not allowed to play on Little League teams.

Sounds like a great thing for kids to see.

 

Agreed, it is important to remember where we came from and it was well portrayed and can still have some relevance, there some boys that still have sexist attitudes toward girls though it should be noted that there are plenty of girls that have sexist attitudes toward boys and assume an heir of superiority. This is an issue that should have been dealt with then and should be dealt with in any new media.

 

Regardless of this, some boys could probably identify with our heroine as well as the exclusion, while based on gender here, can apply to a different sort and the idea of cliques.

 

If you showed this to some age appropriate girls interested in sports they would like it and may likely be more encouraged to try to play in one of those leagues.

If you look at the list then you will see issues that are relevant today, like divorce, bullying, dealing with different people, challenges faced by kids, I would agree that many of these issues are still relevant today.

 

1. The divorce rate is very high, so kids are more likely to be separated from their parents now. In 1970s/1980s divorce rarely happen to extent it does now

2. Bullying has not change, except how it happens now, like cyber bullying

3. Competitive aspect of sports has not changed either, especially the will to win and/or become a professional

4. Cultural integration - This another area that is becoming bigger and bigger, especially around cultural diversity

5. Attraction to opposite sex - Kids still to this day are always looking at ways to impress the opposite sex.

 

So, i think there is an opportunity to look at these classic and maybe re-introduce them to this generation of kids. The old saying is that those deem to forget history are then deemed to repeat it!! Life has its challenges and shows like this show kids that anything is possible and that is one of the message that these shows would still related to kids of today.

 

 

 

 

• Last of the Curlews- Animated special about a father and son who go hunting, and debate whether or not to kill an Eskimo curlew, which may become extinct.
• Follow the Northern Star - A young boy helps his friend escape slavery through the Underground Railway.
• Santiago's Ark - An imaginative and determined 14-year-old Puerto Rican boy builds a sailing ship to sail around Central Park. Followed in 1975 by the sequel Santiago's America.
• William: The Life, Works, and Times of William Shakespeare - Special introducing William Shakespeare to young people through sketches, readings and music.
• The Incredible, Incredible, Magical Physical, Mystery Tip -Animated special about two youngsters who are miniaturized and travel through their Uncle's body, to understand more about his health.
• Alexander - The story of a retired clown and his undying love for children.
• Rookie of the Year - 11-year-old girl encounters opposition when she joins her brother's Little League baseball team, which happens to be all male.
• My Dad Lives in a Downtown Hotel - Son is shocked when his parents announce that they have decided to separate.
• Psst! Hammerman's After You - Sixth-grader insults the school bully who wants to meet with him after school.
• Cyrano - Long-nosed Cyrano de Begerac helps an army officer woo Roxanne, the woman he loves in this animated version of Edmond Rostand's play.
• Runaways - A small-town teenage girl teams up with a younger but street-wise boy for survival.
• The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red's Head - Two youngsters are shrunk so they can enter their teenage sister's head, and discover how the mind works.
• The Crazy Comedy Concert - Live action/animation special geared to educate young people about classical music.
• Sara's Summer of the Swans - Teenage girl is forced to confront the problems involving her retarded brother.
• The Bridge of Adam Rush - 12-year-old city boy adjusts to a new way of life when his mother remarries and moves the whole family to the country.
• Winning and Losing: Diary of a Campaign - The 1972 Senate race is seen through the eyes of two teen aged girls, each a campaign volunteer for George McGovern (Democrat) and Leo Thorness (Republican).
• The Toothpaste Millionaire - 12-year-old entrepreneur decides to create and sell his own brand of toothpaste.
• The Skating Rink - Teenager with a stuttering problem overcomes his shyness to become a championship figure skater.
• Santiago's America - Puerto Rican boy is invited to a prestigious conference in Los Angeles. With no money, he re-builds a broken taxi to get there.
• The Secret Life of T.K. Dearing - 12-year-old girl invites her grandfather to join her 'secret' club.
• It Must Be Love ('Cause I Feel So Dumb!) - A 13-year-old boy has a crush on a cheerleader at his school and dreams up creative ways to try to impress her.
• Fawn Story - Brother and sister discover a wounded deer and proceed to nurse the animal back to health.
• The Shaman's Last Raid - Despite his failing health, a Native-American medicine man is determined to teach his great-grandchildren the traditions of the Apache nation.
• The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon - Tired of being short, a sixth-grader buys a magical book that enables him to "Think Big".
• Me and Dad's New Wife - 12-year-old girl finds it hard to accept her new step-mother.
• Blind Sunday - In an effort to understand his blind girlfriend, a teenage boy decides to spend an entire Sunday blindfolded.
• Dear Lovey Hart: I Am Desperate - Teenaged girl decides to start an advice column for her school newspaper.
• Francesca, Baby - Francesca James is a teenage girl dealing with her alcoholic mother through the support group Alateen.
• P.J. and the President's Son - Update of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. Delivery boy and President's son discover they are exact doubles of one another, and decide to swap identities.
• Mighty Moose and the Quarterback Kid - Football coach tries to mediate a conflict between the star quarterback and his father.
• My Mom's Having a Baby - Curious about his mom's pregnancy, a ten-year-old seeks answers to where babies come from.
• The Horrible Honchos - Neighborhood gang makes a pact to torment and bully the new kid on the street.
• Very Good Friends - A sensitive young girl (Melissa Sue Anderson) gradually comes to terms with the accidental death of her younger sister. Based on the award-winning young adult novel by Constance Greene.
• Hewitt's Just Different - 16-year-old mentally challenged teen attempts to make friends with other kids in the neighborhood.
• The Pinballs - Three orphans from very different backgrounds find themselves living with the same foster couple while waiting to be adopted.
• Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird - Live-Action/animation special featuring Michel Legrand in a true story about the bird that inspired him while studying at the Paris Conservatory of Music.
• It Isn't Easy Being a Teenage Millionaire - 14-year-old wins the lottery and thinks all her problems are over. But she quickly learns that her real problems are just beginning.
• The Rag Tag Champs - 14-year-old baseball player and his uncle/baseball manager find themselves at odds over the philosophy 'Winning Is Everything'.
• Mom and Dad Can't Hear Me - Adolescent girl is ashamed to introduce her friends to her parents because they are deaf.
• It's a Mile from Here to Glory - High school track star is involved in a life threatening accident, and now must learn to depend on others for his day to day living.
• One of a Kind - Free spirited mother realizes her daughter is no longer a little girl, and tries to give her more independence. Meanwhile the daughter is puzzled by her mother's lack of attention.
• A Home Run for Love - In 1947, a young white boy and an elderly black man enjoy a warm and wonderful friendship based on their mutual love of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson.
• Gaucho - A young Puerto Rican New York boy thinks his mother wants to move back to her homeland, so he takes a job as an errand boy for a small-time hood to pay for the move back to her Caribbean homeland.
• Dinky Hocker - Overweight teenage girl is obsessed with food and can't stop eating. Only when she turns to a friend for help does she start making changes in her eating habits.
• Make Believe Marriage - High school students take part in a marriage course where they are coupled up and must complete everyday married life tasks.
• The Terrible Secret - Teenage girl is involved in a hit and run and the guilt starts to take a toll on her everyday life.
• Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid - Lonely rich kid is suddenly granted seven wishes from a genie. He uses all of the wishes to impress a girl at school, but it doesn't work out the way he envisioned.
• Which Mother Is Mine? - 16-year-old girl is stunned when her biological mother arrives to take her away from her adoptive parents.
• A Movie Star's Daughter - Shy teen enrolls in a new school and doesn't make friends easily. Then overnight, everyone wants to be her friend, once it is discovered that her father is a famous movie star.
• A Special Gift - 14-year-old basketball player wants to be a ballet dancer, and is worried about what his friends and family will think.
• The Late Great Me! Story of a Teenage Alcoholic - 15-year-old girl starts to drink liquor to impress a boy, and soon starts to develop a serious alcohol problem.
• The Heartbreak Winner - Teenage figure skater learns to true value of winning when she meets a paraplegic youngster.
• Where Do Teenagers Come From? - 12-year-old girl wonders about all of the changes that's happening to her body. Sequel to My Mom's Having a Baby.
• What Are Friends For? - Two 12-year-old girls whose respective parents are divorcing make a pact never to divorce their friendship.
• A Family of Strangers - Widower with two daughters marries a widow with one daughter, creating a blended family.
• SchoolboyFather- High schoolsenior discovers his summer girlfriend has given birth to his child, and decides to fight for custody.
• The Gymnast - 16-year-old gymnast is determined to become a world-class athlete.
• Stoned - Jack is a motivated high school student who smokes marijuana for the first time, and falls in with a fast crowd. Will he wake up and realize what he's doing with his future before it is too late?
• A Matter of Time - Teen Lisl Gilbert (Karlene Crockett) finds inner strength when she learns her mother (Rosemary Forsyth) is dying of cancer.
• Run, Don't Walk - Teenage girl is in denial about being in a wheelchair when an accident leaves her paralyzed. She begins to change when she becomes friends with a boy in the same situation.
• My Mother Was Never a Kid - Teenage girl is convinced her mother doesn't understand the younger generation. Through circumstance, she is sent back in time and meets her mother as a teenager.

Are you sure? The kids I see outside today dress and wear their hair exactly the way we kids did in the 70s!

My daughters are only 4 and 8 so we will see what happens when they get older, but right now we enjoy watching shows together before bed time, such as: Lassie, Fury, Black Beauty, Dennis the Menace, Flipper, and Father Murphy to name a few. Other than that the only TV channel they watch is Nick Jr. (previously Noggin).

Yes I wish many of the after school specials would come back. I had to write because one show you mentioned has stayed with me all these years........I was ten and watching saturday cartoons and around one in the afternoon a little show came on about a catterpiller named Fred. I only watched it once but it left me feeling a few emotions that never left me. I can recall that he had no memory of the people who helped him become a beautiful butterfly. He was sick while going through the change and it was sad. He needed help and they played that song, what the world needs now is Love sweet Love.. I must say it really shook me up! Most cartoons on now don't have that impact. I always looked for the show so I could of let my daughter watch it but never got to see it or find it again. It was well written and gets the point about life across in a beautiful way. I wanted Fred to remember those that helped him but when he became the butterfly he was new and started fresh. I guess at ten it is harder to understand those things. Has it only been me or are there others who found the show to be hauntingly beautiful . I wonder if I at my age now would feel as I did when I was so young and unblemished? Why do things get shelved that really would be great to see when there is so much crap on TV? Great subject and thanks for the memories. Sincerely Yours Valerie Vierra
Rhode Island.
Edited by valerielouise - 12/10/11 at 6:29pm

My children enjoyed watching certain older movies and tv shows. I have always been curious what interest them or turns them off about old shows/movies. I think one of the problems is that over time, shows have become faster, louder, more sexual and violent. It is almost like a drug. People get used to certain things and need a continuing bigger fix to be satisfied. They need cartoons to be faster and action shows to be more violent. Children today have less capacity to tolerate story development. And forget black and white.

Approximately 80% of what I watch is retro television. I have an enormous library of shows, cartoons, movies mainly from the 60's and 70's. I can't tolerate many new shows. I find them immoral and obnoxious, with few exceptions. Plus, I am tired of modern shows and movies being a mere disguise to conceal a message or an agenda.

This may not be a recent thing.

I grew up during the late 1970's and through the 1980's, where I was mostly into tv shows and movies which had fast paced action type stuff. I don't know how widespread it was, but some of my friends growing up during that same time period were also into similar cheesy fast action tv shows and movies back then.

Of the cartoons I was into, I was really into the Road Runner and later stuff like The Transformers, GI Joe, etc ... I thought stuff from Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and other Looney Tunes characters seemed kinda "slow" in comparison.


When it came to prime time tv shows, I was really into shows like The Dukes of Hazzard, MacGyver, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Miami Vice, Airwolf, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Magnum PI, Hawaii Five-O, CHiPs, Starsky & Hutch, etc ... and off-network reruns like Get Smart, Gilligan's Island, etc ...

Back then, I wasn't as interested in (relatively) slower paced shows like dramas, sitcoms, soap operas, etc ... I was into some "slower paced" shows like The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angels, Wonder Woman, etc ... Though it was for reasons unrelated to the plots, stories, etc ... In the case of the The Incredible Hulk, I liked watching the Hulk destroying things and getting the villains. In the case of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, I liked watching the crazy cartoonish stunts and stuff being thrown around or destroyed. (Usually some fast action elements somewhere in the shows).

The only "non fast action" shows I sometimes watched back then, were shows like Diff'Rent Strokes, Remington Steel, Moonlighting, V, Hart to Hart, etc ...


When it came to movies when I was a teenager, I was watching a lot of cheesy action type movies like Stallone and Schwarzenegger type stuff (ie. Rocky, Rambo, Terminator, Conan, etc ...), along with some really bad comedies like Cheech & Chong, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc ...


Fast forward to the present day, these days I still watch a lot of cheesy fast action type shows like reruns in the Stargate and Star Trek franchises, Criminal Minds, CSI Miami, etc ... Even today, I find I still can't get into "slower" paced shows like dramas, sitcoms, soap operas, etc ...

Sitcoms were popular with all ages at all times weren't they, since it's about quick remarks or joke lines. A big issue I think is presentation, if it looks like older film some will lose interest, cartoons/kids television now is basically paced like the Road Runner on acid and the stories and themes seem a lot more shallow than before. It must all be so safe to avoid offending. The young viewers have also become less exposed to the old classics, so it all seems alien to them anyway. Guess I feel much like David does. My tolerance for story development in series and movies today is extremely low and I wonder how folks have the patience for the popular TV dramas, so many hit shows move dreadfully slow compared to the A-to-B-to-C structure of yesterday's television. Goes for both cop and drama storytelling, at least for my taste it's certainly not very fulfilling.

This is an obscure reference but I remember watching an episode of Marine Boy, but this would apply to most older cartoons, and was struck that this cartoon was done in the same pacing as a live action show. Contrast that with the modern cartoons that are quickly flashing from one seen to another. It makes you feel disoriented.

I don't think the 1960's had many message shows, maybe I am wrong. They seemed strictly entertainment. Now the 1970's had many shows that were about getting a message out ie. MASH, All In The Family, Maude, etc.

Going back to the original point, for most children to be entertained they need to have enough bells, whistles, and explosions every few seconds or their bored.

I find many serial style tv shows (ie. where one has to watch just about every episode in sequence) to be very slow and tedious, when watched during their first-run broadcasts or once a week off-network reruns.

Though with that being said, I find that some serial style shows were actually tolerable when I watched the dvd seasons over several evenings. For example, I found both the Battlestar Galactica remake and "Stargate Universe" to be intolerable slow and tedious to watch, back in their first-run broadcasts a number of years ago. (I stopped watching both shows after several episodes). But when I watched the dvd seasons of both shows, I found I actually enjoyed them a lot more. The "slow pace" wasn't as big of an issue when watching the dvds, where I watched 4 to 5 episodes over an evening, or as many as 12 to 15 episodes over a weekend "marathon".

Another serial style show I enjoyed watching through the dvd seasons, was The Shield. I probably would not have watched it at all, back in its first-run broadcast.

I'm not quite sure if this is the case in general.

I was never really into sitcoms or comedies in general, even when I was a kid and teenager.


The few I did watch were ones like: Happy Days, Diff'rent Strokes, and later Beavis & Butthead. Though I didn't really watch these shows for the jokes/humor.

In the case of Happy Days, I liked watching the antics of the Fonz. (The other characters didn't really interest me much at all).

For Diff'rent Strokes, I liked watching the antics of Gary Coleman's character.

For Beavis & Butthead, I liked watching their misadventures and the havoc they caused. (I later tried watching "King of the Hill" and "Daria", but found I just couldn't get into either show).


In more recent times, over the last few weeks I was bored and channel surfing, where I came across various sitcom shows (some are reruns) like: Roseanne, 3rd Rock From The Sun, That 70's Show, Frasier, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Friends, etc ... and tried watching through them. I found that I just couldn't get into any of these particular sitcom shows at all, even though I got all the jokes/humor.

Back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I tried watching other sitcoms like Saved By The Bell, Welcome Back Kotter, MASH, Mork & Mindy, Charles In Charge, The Cosby Show, Silver Spoons, Three's Company, Married With Children, Seinfeld, etc ..., but found I couldn't really get into any of them either.
Edited by jcroy - 12/14/11 at 8:51am

Wonder how long this has been the case.

Amongst myself and some friends/acquaintances who grew up during the 1970's and 1980's, we were entertained largely by shows with tons of explosions, destruction, gunfire, and other forms of violence.


When I was a kid and teenager, I use to like watching crappy horror movies. (ie. Stuff like Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, Halloween, The Exorcist, etc ...). But as I got older, I had less and less interest in horror movies. These days I have no interest in horror movies at all.

These days I still like watching cheesy fast action tv shows with tons of explosions, destruction, gunfire, etc ... But I don't really watch any newer movies these days, with the same violent elements.

I would like to see seasons of captain kangaroo get released

Dose anyone even know what still exists on the the series?

It seems like the only way today's kids would even know about the older stuff, is either on cable or DVDs. And both things cost money, and these days, we always hear about people trying to cut back on their expenses. Like cutting their cable. And the price of the DVDs of older cartoons, just seems a bit steep.

I can remember coming home from school, and turning on the TV, watching a mixture of old and current cartoons at the time, on the UHF channels. Now the afternoon cartoon block is completely gone, replaced by judges shows and talk shows, which is a shame.

I do wonder if today's kids probably can't get into the older stuff, either because it looks so primitive and dated (like Hanna-Barbera), or the fact that it's not shown on TV much. Plus not exactly something for them to talk about in school, with their friends. I can remember talking with some parents, and asking what cartoons their kids like to watch. And whenever I bring up some older cartoons that the kids may watch, the parents would only respond by saying something like "I remember that, I used to watch that as a kid".

My kids are 8 and 4 (both girls). I have no problem with some of the animated shows of today. It is true, that they are not on the dial where we used to find them, but there are plenty of quality shows on specialized channels. My kids watch "Nick Jr", previous, known as "Noggin", and from a quality and educational stand point I think they are better then anything I watched as a kid. Now the standard "Nick" channel has some I would question, but luckily my kids have no interest in any of those.

My problem was finding good non-animated shows on cable. My older daughter is interested in seeing more live action shows now. So I've gone the route of introducing them to many that I watched as a kid. We watch 1 hour together each night before bed. Some that have caught on are Lassie, Fury, Flipper, Dennis the Menace, and Black Beauty.

So in my experience, kids of today can get into the older shows (even b/w), but they won't find them on their own with so many options available. They need to be introduced to them. But once done, a good show is a good show no matter what era it was produced.