Newer shows you like/collect although your main interest is classic TV (1 Viewer)

[Purple Wig]

Nine times out of 10, if I happen to be somewhere where a newer TV show is being played, it seems pretty dire, but there are exceptions. I’m curious, for those whose main interest is pre-1970 or at least pre-1980 TV, what more recent shows do you find yourself watching or collecting? If you are of the opinion that now is the true golden age, this thread is probably not the place to enthuse about all the new shows. I see it as more of a heads up, for those of us who mainly like old stuff but have found newer programs worth watching. My mother watches Bull and I found myself liking it. Doc Martin is another recent (in my world) show I like.

 

[Mike2001]

Good Place?

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Nine times out of 10, if I happen to be somewhere where a newer TV show is being played, it seems pretty dire, but there are exceptions. I’m curious, for those whose main interest is pre-1970 or at least pre-1980 TV, what more recent shows do you find yourself watching or collecting? If you are of the opinion that now is the true golden age, this thread is probably not the place to enthuse about all the new shows. I see it as more of a heads up, for those of us who mainly like old stuff but have found newer programs worth watching. My mother watches Bull and I found myself liking it. Doc Martin is another recent (in my world) show I like.

Doc Martin is still ongoing, IIRC, so I think it's recent enough.

As far as the actual question, I don't have a "golden age", but I do watch fewer newer shows, so I guess I qualify. And Doc Martin is one of the newer shows I watch. Call The Midwife is another still ongoing that I watch.

Speechless was probably my favorite ongoing show, until ABC canceled it before last season.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Post-1970s (not counting decade-straddlers like WKRP, Taxi, Barney Miller, Lupin the Third and SCTV), shows I collect on DVD/Blu in bold:

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
The Amazing Race
The Americans
Ash vs Evil Dead
Band of Brothers
Battlebots
Better Call Saul
Black Books
Black Mirror (would buy if released on disc)
Boardwalk Empire
The Borgias
Breaking Bad
The Bridge (U.S. version)
Burn Notice
Carnivale
Daredevil
Day of the Triffids
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Dexter
Downton Abbey
Fargo
Firefly
Game of Thrones
Get a Life!
The Hammer House of Horror
Heroes
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hour
The Human Target (Season 1 only)
Jessica Jones
Jim Henson's The Storyteller & Greek Myths
Justified
The League of Gentlemen
Legion
Lexx (first two seasons only)
Lilyhammer
Lonesome Dove (the original mini-series only)
Longmire
Lost
Luke Cage
Mad Men
Magic City
Maniac (U.S. version)
The Man in the High Castle (would buy if released on disc)
Michael Palin's Travel Series
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures
Mr. Bean
The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (plus Rifftrax, The Film Crew and Cinematic Titanic)
Night Court
Outlander
Police Squad!
The Punisher (would buy if released on disc)
Pushing Daisies
Ranma 1/2
Ray Donovan (I plan on buying the discs in the future)
Red Dwarf
Ren & Stimpy
Ripley's Believe It or Not! (Jack Palance version, would buy if released on disc)
Rome
The Shield
The Simpsons (Seasons 1-8 only, plus The Simpsons Movie)
Sons of Anarchy
The Sopranos
Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast
Spaced
Survivorman (Seasons 1-3 only)
Tales From the Darkside (Season 1 only)
Terriers (would buy if released on disc)
True Detective (just Season 1, so far)
The Tudors
Twin Peaks (both the original series and The Return)
Urusei Yatsura
The Venture Brothers
Vikings
Westworld
The Wire (I plan on buying the discs in the future)
X-Bomber, aka Starfleet

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Interesting idea for a thread, Alan! I watch a fair amount of newer TV shows (especially British shows), but I rarely collect any, as most of them seem pretty easy to get access to via cable or streaming. That's why 95% of my DVD / Blu-Ray collection is pre-'90s TV. I also tend to find more rewatch value in older shows.

Post-1990 shows I own on disc are:
STARGATE SG-1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
ANGEL
FIREFLY
the first season of NYPD BLUE
RED DWARF
HEAT OF THE SUN and ULTRAVIOLET (a couple of fantastic UK miniseries)
FATHER TED
Pretty much any wildlife documentary series produced by the BBC - especially those hosted by Sir David Attenborough, e.g. PLANET EARTH, BLUE PLANET, etc.)


Other modern shows I watch/watched and really enjoyed (most of Peter's list, frankly):
STRANGER THINGS
The Netflic Marvel shows, esp. DAREDEVIL and THE PUNISHER
LOST
JUSTIFIED
DEADWOOD
TERRIERS
LEWIS
ENDEAVOUR
THE MANDALORIAN
LONGMIRE
SPARTACUS (especially the prequel miniseries GODS OF THE ARENA)
THE WEST WING
The reboot of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (at least until it went off the rails)
ROME
GAME OF THRONES
a slew of British comedy panel, travel and cooking shows

Right now, I'm enjoying the reboot of ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL (guest starring the late Diana Rigg).

 

[BobO'Link]

OK... do you *really* want this? I own part to all of ~230 post 1990 shows, mini-series, and documentaries - that is it started in 1990 or later. Just about the only ones that are incomplete are those which are stalled or still in production. Of the ones no longer in production there are around 20 of which I'm still in the process of completing or just don't want any more seasons. My current collection consists of ~570 TV series, mini-series, and documentaries, the majority of which are complete.

This is in order by year it started:

Wings
Bottom
Brittas Empire, The (R2)
Dinosaurs
Eerie Indiana
Prince Valiant (Animated)
Home Improvement
Absolutely Fabulous
Are You Being Served? Again!
As Time Goes By
Batman The Animated Series
Bob
Hearts Afire
Men Behaving Badly (British)
Mulberry
Adventures of Brisco County Jr., The
Chef!
Cracker (British)
Demob
Frasier
Grace Under Fire
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Nanny, The
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
X-Files
Dave's World
Diagnosis Murder
Sharpe (Sharpe’s Challenge)
Arthur C. Clark's Mysterious Universe
Babylon 5
Earth 2
Friends
Mysteries of the Bible Collection
Pie in the Sky
TekWar
Vicar of Dibley, The
Weird Science
Ellen
Beatles: Anthology, The
Father Ted
Get Smart (Relaunch)
Hercules, The Legendary Journeys
Jeff Foxworthy Show, The
Legend
Ned and Stacey
NewsRadio
Pinky and the Brain
Sliders
Space: Above and Beyond
Star Trek: Voyager
Thin Blue Line
Xena Warrior Princess
Caroline in the City
Drew Carey Show, The
Outer Limits (New), The
Everybody Loves Raymond
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Men Behaving Badly (US)
Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
Superman: The Animated Series
Third Rock from the Sun
Two Fat Ladies
Spin City
Ally McBeal
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Just Shoot Me
Lexx
Roar
Stargate SG-1
Tom Jones (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling - Mini-series)
South Park
Dharma & Greg
Earth, Final Conflict
King of the Hill
Becker
Charmed
dinnerladies [R2]
From the Earth to the Moon (Mini Series) [DVD & BR]
King of Queens
Life of Birds, The
Royle Family, The (R2)
That 70's Show [DVD & BR]
Two Guys and a Girl [aka Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place]
Will & Grace
Crusade
Farscape (+ Peacekeeper Wars)[DVD & BR]
Futurama
League of Gentlemen, The
Spaced
Family Guy
Antromeda (aka Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda)[BR]
Black Books
Cleopatra 2525
Coupling
Dirty Tricks (Mini-series)
Gillmore Girls
Grosse Pointe
Jack of All Trades
Starhunter
Malcolm in the Middle
My Hero [British]
Band of Brothers [DVD & BR]
Blue Planet: Seas of Life, The
Christianity, the First Two Thousand Years (Mini-Series)
Grounded for Life
Justice League (+ Unlimited)
Office, The (British)
Reba
Scrubs
Star Trek: Enterprise [BR & DVD]
Tick (live action), The
Witchblade
According to Jim
Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Birds of Prey
Firefly [DVD & BR]
Life of Mammals, The
Monk
Footballers Wives
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica (New) [DVD/BR]
Fortysomething
Tremors
Little Britain
Two and a Half Men
Corner Gas
Deadwood [DVD & BR]
Stargate: Atlantis
Doc Martin
Invasion
manstrokewoman
My Name is Earl
Office, The (U.S.)
Rome
Threshold
American Dad!
Deadliest Catch
Doctor Who
War at Home, The
30 Rock
Blade the Series
IT Crowd, The
Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series (Attenborough) [DVD & BR]
Robin Hood
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Ten Items or Less
Til Death
Pulling
Barbarians II
Big Bang Theory, The
Burn Notice
Chuck
Flash Gordon (Live Action)
Guild, The
Samantha Who?
Shaun the Sheep
Tudors, The
Rules of Engagement
Universe, The [BR]
Back to You
Fringe
Kath & Kim (US)
Legend of the Seeker
Merlin
Lipstick Jungle
Sanctuary
Better off Ted
Caprica
Community
Defying Gravity
Dollhouse
Kings
Life (Attenborough) [DVD & BR]
Parks and Recreation
Reggie Perrin
Stargate Universe: SGU
V (The reimagined series)
Warehouse 13 [BR]
Middle, The
Ancient Aliens
Modern Family
Downton Abbey [BR]
Hot in Cleveland
Pacific, The [DVD & BR]
Sherlock [BR]
Spartacus, Blood and Sand - Vengeance - War of the Damned - Gods of the Arena [BR]
Todd and the Book of Pure Evil
Camelot
Earth: Flight
Falling Skies
Frozen Planet (Attenborough) [DVD & BR]
Prohibition by Ken Burns
Spy
Game of Thrones [BR]
Duck Dynasty
Hollow Crown, The
Mankind: The Story of All of Us
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Vikings: The Real Warriors
Arrow [BR]
Continuum [BR]
Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown
Bible, The
Blandings
Mr. And Mrs. Murder
White Queen, The
Atlantis
Goldbergs, The
Sleepy Hollow
Vikings
Black Sails [BR]
Musketeers, The
Penny Dreadful [BR]
100, The
Flash, The [BR]
12 Monkeys [BR]
Ash vs. Evil Dead [BR]
Hunt, The [BR]
Last Kingdom, The
Supergirl [BR]
Planet Earth II [BR]
Vinyl
Stranger Things
White Princess, The
Star Trek: Discovery [BR]
Lost in Space (new) [BR]
Orville, The
Doom Patrol [BR]

 

[jcroy]

My "golden age" was the 1980s era action type shows, which was dominated in releases by Universal. To a lesser extent, reruns of 60s and 70s shows which were released by Paramount/CBS and Universal.

The last show I followed closely in those days, was the first season or two of the original MacGyver. After that, I was spending most of my time hanging out with friends and/or at nightclubs, and not regularly watching tv anymore. So I'm not really well versed in the tv shows of the 1990s (and the tail end of the 80s).

 

[LeoA]

For shows that premiered from 1980 and later, here's my list. Probably missed a few.

A-Team
Cheers
Coach
DuckTales
Fraggle Rock
Highway to Heaven
Home Improvement
MacGyver
Major Dad
Newhart
TaleSpin
Wings

Honorable mentions to WKRP and the first 2/3's or so of The Facts of Life, which primarily were in the 1980's but premiered in the late 70's.

 

[jcroy]

I don't know if other folks feel this way. I've found that shows which are outside of my "golden age" decade or so (both before and after), have a very different subjective "feel" to me.

Basically I don't feel any emotional gravitas towards shows outside of my golden age. It is as if I'm watching more recent (or ancient) shows, through the lens of a "professor" and not just strictly for "entertainment" value.

In contrast whenever I end up watching stuff from my "golden age" of the late 1970s and 1980s, I don't watch them as often through the lens of a "professor".

 

[jcroy]

As recent/current examples of this, I've been buying and watching dvd sets of procedural shows like CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Chicago Med/PD/Fire, etc ...

I've found that when I'm watching such procedural shows, I'm always thinking about what tropes they're using and/or whether the "science" actually makes any sense.

 

[BobO'Link]

Yes, I enjoy the newer (for me that's generally post 1985) shows in a different way then those from the "classic" TV era of 1955-1975. That gap from 1975-85 is somewhat "lost" as I was in college, starting a job, starting a family, and really didn't pay much attention to TV. Sure, I watched but not at all in the same was as when I was growing up and then later when everything was somewhat "established." Those post 1985 years are also "time shift" years so the excitement of "appointment TV" was gone. Not going to be home? Tape it. Something I want to sample on another channel? Tape it.

Then there's the pure nostalgia factor of those "classic" years. Watching those shows takes me back to a much simpler time. It doesn't hurt that many of those shows just happen to be some of the best written and produced programs in TV history. Shows whose legacy is still being felt in what's produced today. These are shows I can watch over and over and over and never get tired of watching them.

Say what you will about today's TV environment being a "Golden Age" (it's really not, although some things are quite good and production values have gone back to what was expected in the 50s/60s after being ravaged by video taped programming of the 70s/80s), it was the 50s60s which are the true "Golden Age" when TV was magical and provided an escape that had never before been seen. We'd had some of that escape in movies but nothing could match watching that same level of quality in your own living room.

So... as you can see from my list there are literally dozens of post 1990 shows I enjoy. Yes, I blind buy based on genre and reviews with much of that being the 2010s onward as I disconnected my TV from cable ~7 years ago. Most of what's in my collection is based on having sampled at least a few episodes prior to the purchase. In general, if I don't like it I don't own it. If I do a blind buy and don't like it I give it away (and I've done that with a few series: The Walking Dead, Weeds, and Westworld, to name a few). There are still gems to be found in the current TV landscape - you just have to search them out. The big difference is I just don't find the rewatchability in many of these shows as I do in "classic TV" series, but I'll still continue to search them out as you never know when that magic might manifest itself again.

 

[jcroy]

Then there's the pure nostalgia factor of those "classic" years. Watching those shows takes me back to a much simpler time. It doesn't hurt that many of those shows just happen to be some of the best written and produced programs in TV history. Shows whose legacy is still being felt in what's produced today.

This is the probably the main difference between MY "golden age" of late-70s -> 1980s, and YOUR "golden age" before the mid-late 1970s.

It turns out most of the stuff from my "golden age" was rather mediocre or outright lousy when it came to writing and production. This would definitely be the case from a non-emotional "professor" perspective.

So the most likely reason such 80s era action shows have any "emotional gravitas" for me, is purely nostalgia and very little else.

 

[jcroy]

As a prominent example of this ^, my favorite tv show from my youth was the original Battlestar Galactica. This is probably one of the shows which had an absolute maximum "emotional gravitas" for me.

On the other hand when I watch this show from a non-emotional "professor" perspective, it was not a very well written show and was kinda cheesy looking. If I was a few years younger, most likely I would have never seen this show at all, and it would have been something which had zero emotional gravitas for me.

In the end, the original Battlestar Galactica is the epitome of me watching something based entirely purely on nostalgia and nothing else.

 

[jcroy]

When it came to the revived Battlestar Galactica and Caprica from the 2000s decade, I was definitely watching it from an unemotional "professor" perspective from the very start. In spite of some superficial similarities to the original Battlestar Galactica and having a lot better writing and production values, the revived show definitely did not have any "emotional gravitas" for me.

 

[timk1041]

For current or recent shows, about the only ones I regularly watch are Heartland, When Calls The Heart and the spinoff When Hope Calls. Going back to the last several decades: Walker, Texas Ranger, Highway To Heaven, Newhart and maybe a couple others like Family Ties or Cheers. Other than that, everything else is from the 50s through the 70s. Way too many to name from those time periods.

 

[JamesSmith]

One new program I'd like to try is the early ninties, "The Powers that Be," with Niles Fraser, who's real name I just blanked out on. From the clips I saw on youtube it looked pretty good. Sorry, but most modern programs leave me cold.

--jthree

 

[jayembee]

I grew up watching TV from the late 50s to the early 70s, and that tends to have a connection for me. And some of my favorite shows hail from that period.

While there are some shows from the 70s and 80s that I've liked, I largely tuned out during those decades. There are exceptions: Max Headroom (which I still think is the absolute Number One Best Science Fiction TV Show Ever), China Beach, Wiseguy, the second iteration of The Twilight Zone, et alia.

Some 90s shows started really bringing me back into the fold, as it were. Babylon 5, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., [Road to] Avonlea, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twin Peaks.

But it really was HBO that started the new Golden Age. The Larry Sanders Show, Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire (my choice for Best TV Series Ever), Deadwood, Carnivàle, Six Feet Under. And I think they started pushing other cable networks into trying for a better class of shows.

Some have succeeded, some not so much, and there are some highly-praised series of the last 20 years that haven't connected with me at all. And others that I enjoyed at the time, but have little desire to revisit. But some of them, like Firefly, Farscape, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Saving Grace, The L Word, Southland, Justified, Longmire, Treme, The Big C, The Americans, Fargo, Hell on Wheels, The Leftovers, Watchmen, are as amazing as anything I've seen on TV.

And that's not even counting (a) non-US shows, and (b) streaming platform shows.

 

[Purple Wig]

Post-2000, what mainly come to mind for me are comedies.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development
The Office (both)
Eastbound And Down
Party Down
Treme
Doc Martin
Last Tango In Halifax
Bull
House

Most of these are non-network. I have a feeling I’d like Better Call Saul, but I’ve never seen it. Don’t have room in my life for shows that are excessively dark, feature protagonists that I would avoid at any cost in real life, are cgi heavy, etc.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Post-2000, what mainly come to mind for me are comedies.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development
The Office (both)
Eastbound And Down
Party Down
Treme
Doc Martin
Last Tango In Halifax
Bull
House

Most of these are non-network. I have a feeling I’d like Better Call Saul, but I’ve never seen it. Don’t have room in my life for shows that are excessively dark, feature protagonists that I would avoid at any cost in real life, are cgi heavy, etc.

If you haven't already, I'd say try Parks and Recreation out.

It's like The Office, but with characters you generally don't want to strangle.

 

[Montytc]

The Mentalist
Foyles War
Inspector Morse
Inspector Lewis
West Wing
Numbers
Person Of Interest
Frasier
Gilmore Girls
Lost
X-Files
Monk
Cheers
Newhart
NCIS (first ten seasons)
Night Court
Jericho
Game Of Thrones
I watch a lot of others that I don't collect: Bosch, Stranger Things, Ozark and many more.