What are your Top 5 LEAST favorite shows from the 70s? (1 Viewer)

[Ockeghem]

I also often wanted at least one murderer to get away with the crime on Columbo. The Nimoy episode ("A Stitch In Crime") was close, and there was also an episode (the person being locked and asphyxiated in the vault) who Columbo allowed to get away with it because she (Ruth Gordon) was dying of a terminal illness. That episode was "Try and Catch Me" and it was another gem.

 

[Jack P]

No, that's not quite right. The episode you're thinking of where Columbo lets the killer get away because she has a terminal illness that's made her forget she committed the murder is "Forgotten Lady" (Janet Leigh). John Payne, in his last ever acting role, takes the rap for Janet knowing that by the time Columbo breaks his story, she'll be dead. In "Try And Catch Me" he does bring in Ruth Gordon, who isn't dying of anything terminal and tells her that he has to be a professional in his job even though he understands why she killed her nephew (who likely killed her niece).

 

[jimmyjet]

boy, waltons and little house ??

2 of my favorites !!!!!

 

[Ockeghem]

Jack,That's right, and thanks. I mixed the episodes up there! I like both of them very much, though.

 

[Gary OS]

1. This is easy. It's any and all Norman Lear shows, but especially Maude, AITF and One Day at a Time. About the only one I could tolerate was the first season or two of The Jeffersons, and even that one doesn't do anything for me now.

2. M*A*S*H. Admittedly the show is better than the film (which ranks right up there as one of my all-time most despised movies), but other than some funny bits in the first few years, it's a turkey as far as I'm concerned.

3. Three's Company (and the spinoffs). The only show that could make me dislike Don Knotts.

4. Soap. A few of my friends tried to get me to watch it, but it only took a couple of viewings for me to despise it.

5. Medical Center. I won't name the episode, but they had one that aired late in the show's run that literally made me want to vomit.


Gary "unfortunately I could easily name more shows i disliked in this decade than ones I liked - by a long shot" O.

 

[Jack P]

5. Medical Center. I won't name the episode, but they had one that aired late in the show's run that literally made me want to vomit.

Let me guess. Was Robert Reed in it?

I've avoided that title because after sampling the pilot movie (which didn't have Chad Everett) I wasn't impressed with the premise. I would rather see "Marcus Welby" unstalled from DVD purgatory (Shout IMO should have given it one more year than they did since they never tried it through the Select program).

 

[Gary OS]

Let me guess. Was Robert Reed in it?

Disturbing on multiple levels doesn't even begin to explain it.


Gary "I'd certainly opt for more Marcus Welby over more Medical Center" O.

 

[Ron1973]

Disturbing on multiple levels doesn't even begin to explain it.


Gary "I'd certainly opt for more Marcus Welby over more Medical Center" O.

Never heard of it so I googled it. I believe I could've went without doing that!

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Let me guess. Was Robert Reed in it?

I've avoided that title because after sampling the pilot movie (which didn't have Chad Everett) I wasn't impressed with the premise. I would rather see "Marcus Welby" unstalled from DVD purgatory (Shout IMO should have given it one more year than they did since they never tried it through the Select program).

Disturbing on multiple levels doesn't even begin to explain it.


Gary "I'd certainly opt for more Marcus Welby over more Medical Center" O.

Wow. I never really went out of my way to either watch Medical Center, or to avoid it, but I remember happening to catch an episode once, totally at random, when they were running the series many years ago on TNT... and it was that Robert Reed episode!

 

[Ejanss]

Never heard of it so I googled it. I believe I could've went without doing that!

I wasn't familiar with the episode, so I went to YouTube to look up the title.
I, um...didn't go further than the title.

 

[ScottRichard]

I think some of these comments are "disturbing on multiple levels!" You guys always manage to make it political! You denounce things like the Norman Lear shows, M*A*S*H*, Soap, or Medical Center, of all things, because of their heavy-handedness, supposedly one-sidedness, message, etc., but in doing that you certainly make your side clear!

 

[Jack P]

Uh. no I don't think we made anything political. The shows we don't care for were the things guilty of that.

 

[ScottRichard]

Oh no, not political at all, just episodes that made you want to vomit or even episode titles you couldn't get past, etc. Sorry I guess I misunderstood!

 

[Matt Hough]

That episode of Medical Center was actually quite touching, and Robert Reed earned an Emmy nomination for his performance.

 

[Jack P]

Oh no, not political at all, just episodes that made you want to vomit or even episode titles you couldn't get past, etc. Sorry I guess I misunderstood!

This thread is supposed to be about our individual preferences for what we like or don't like and insomuch as we will have some people praise certain shows for being overly political and use such buzzwords as "groundbreaking", "daring" to justify said forays into those realms, then be prepared for the fact that there will also be some of us who don't like the idea of TV being used as a propaganda soapbox where the intent is to cater to one group of people or to try and purposefully shape public opinion on certain subjects and for which those who think differently don't have the automatic recourse of seeing shows from their perspective able to argue the counter-position. It's amusing to me how you think certain shows should be exempt from criticism for doing what they purposefully set out to do.

 

[Gary OS]

Oh no, not political at all, just episodes that made you want to vomit or even episode titles you couldn't get past, etc. Sorry I guess I misunderstood!

I know you can't be referencing me, because there's not one smidgen of political talk in my post. Not even a hint of it. You must be referring to the initial post, which came from the thread starter. He referenced politics when he mentioned Maude, and rightfully so. It's no secret that show was what it was. But please stop accusing me of things I haven't done just because you disagree with my picks.


Gary "okay, I'm done in this one and hope everyone can calm down and move on" O.

 

[Ethan Riley]

The Jeffersons made a concerted effort to shy away from its earlier political/social viewpoints by season 4 or 5...it became a typical "fun around the house" type show.I never understood why Scooby Doo shied away from real ghost storylines because the next year they came out with Funky Phantom who WAS a ghost, not to mention Goober (a ghost dog) a few years later.

 

[Frank Soyke]

I'll chime in with Maude as well. It would have been nice had Lear at least attempted to present both sides of politics but he didn't even through a few characters for show that were conservative and not total bufoons.
The only episode of Maude that is worth anything IMO is the one with John Wayne. She spends the entire episode spewing out her feminist diatribe, only to cower in the face of the Duke when he shows up at the end of the ep. My guess is that Wayne wouldn't have done this ep had Lear wanted to present him as a ignorant misogynist jerk who gets bested by Maude.

 

[LeoA]

I never understood why Scooby Doo shied away from real ghost storylines because the next year they came out with Funky Phantom who WAS a ghost, not to mention Goober (a ghost dog) a few years later.

How would they resolve something if it turned out it was real?

Beyond running away in terror in the Mystery Machine when they're finally convinced that this is the real deal, I don't see how there could be a resolution to most episodes like the one with the mad doctor at an insane asylum they had to spend the night at once during a thunderstorm when their van broke down.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Let's be careful of introducing politics into discussion within this thread (or any other).

The argument has been brought up, but now let's put it to rest. This thread is being monitored.