We've covered more than a few of these in the forums already...but why not a consolidated thread on this very dear subject?
Post themes, best bits, whatever you want. Post it and then say why it's near and dear to you.
^ Knight Rider. Enough said. I mean, this has to be the pinnacle of TV watching for an impressionable young mind in the early 80s. I didn't miss an episode.
^ St. Elsewhere...I don't know why I got into it. Could have been some early encounters with them because of family and cancer (a LOT of visits). They weren't particularly good memories, but there always seemed to be one or two bright points, usually revolving around a doctor or a nurse that were awesome at what they did. This show was, unfortunately, at the very end a total mind-f*ck. Still, excellent show.
^ Hill Street Blues. The theme song and intro, I think, were a big pull for me into this series. It also formed the idea that I wanted to be a cop some day.
^ China Beach. This and the one below were staples of us JROTC nerds back in the day. I watched just so I could be in on the conversations the next day about either of them.
^ I think Tour of Duty was far more popular among said nerds than China Beach was. Still, I liked them both. Tour of Duty was fairly watered down compared to other staples at the time - Platoon (the movie), as well as several books that we read as part of our English curriculum in school. I think America was just then trying to start to come to terms with its involvement in Vietnam and there was a big outpouring of books, including A Rumor of War by Philip Kaputo, which I read in my senior English class.
^ Another show with a theme song that I loved. The show was great, too, but frustrating as hell - I mean, the guy loses the manual to the damn suit.
^ NNtN was easily one of my favorites in the mid-to-late 80s. Featured on HBO, the commentary was often sarcastic, witty as hell, and often at the expense of current events, world leaders, other news, and many, many other things. I remember very few things being off limits for them, including their "Come to Lebanon" musical travel commercial. You definitely will NOT see sh*t like this nowadays:
...anyway, I could go on and on. So many more shows I'd like to post but I'd like to see what y'all think.
I really liked Miami Vice, especially the early seasons. Three's Company was great, although that show started in the 70s.
M.A.S.H
Magnum PI
There was a sci fi show on when I lived in England. Something 7. It was good.
Blakes 7, and it was excellent.
Thats it. Thanks Bob
Haiku imposement
temporarily off now:
One of the greatest things, to me, about the Greatest American Hero, is that the writers went out of their way to comment respectfully on the tension between conservative and liberal America: the two sides didn't always understand or appreciate each other, but they had to work together to get things done. Sometimes the bleeding heart school teacher Ralph was right (and after all, the aliens explicitly chose him to get the suit due to him being a school teacher and fundamentally a believer in peace), but sometimes he was wrong and the show would poke fun at that. The show tended to poke more fun at gung ho FBI agent Bill (moreso after the pilot movie where he was much more somber, due naturally to the murder of his previous partner -- whom the showrunners explicitly wanted to be Bill Cosby as a salute to Cosby and Culp's teamup on "I Spy", which also featured social tension commentary), but he was also often right. And when he was wrong, he usually bit the bullet -- and then did what it took to pull the win out of the fire. There's an amazing scene in an early first season episode "The Hit Car" where Bill Maxwell has been shot and banged up, just wrecked physically, trying to get a prostitute who says she's afraid of flying across the state to testify against a mob boss, and realizes after she soberly pleads the fifth (after acting like a ditz all episode) that he has been tricked (and tricked Ralph into endangering himself, too, trying to help). The whole thing was a setup to assassinate Bill, not the supposed witness. It's Ralph who figures this out, and Robert Culp plays this incredible sequence where he comes to terms with the uselessness of their week that has almost killed him. Bill in a state of shock is driving Ralph back to school, when this look of disgust and resolve comes over him, and he grumps out that he wants some Italian food for lunch. Ralph doesn't realize what's going on (until later), just thinking that Bill is being peckish about admitting what happened.
Bill heaves himself
on crutches (LEAVING HIS CRUTCHES BEHIND!), half-crippled, into the restaurant... because he knows the mob boss will be kind-of holding court in there.
Being Bill, he doesn't bother to tell Ralph what he did -- just that the spaghetti was cold and never mind. That whole sequence was genius, not so much in the writing but in Culp crushing the acting.
Some of the eps could be pretty weak, and not always campy in a good way either (as the seasons and premise wore out). But overall, it deserves its cult status.
Haiku challenge back.
It was good while it lasted :P
My favorite like every decade before or since is COLLEGE BASKETBALL. All other forms of TV suck in comparison.
Quote from: airboy on January 29, 2018, 07:18:08 PM
My favorite like every decade before or since is COLLEGE BASKETBALL. All other forms of TV suck in comparison.
I'd rather watch The A-Team.
^I've never watched an episode of The A-Team.
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 07:25:09 PM
^I've never watched an episode of The A-Team.
You should be banned.
Loved Tour of Duty. We are talking 1980's right?
Feel free to tell us your favorite shows from the 1880s
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 07:25:09 PM
^I've never watched an episode of The A-Team.
And you call yourself a sci-fi fan... :nerd:
Because my dad used to let me and my brother stay up late on a Friday night to watch it.
^Is there a site that lists all of the really bad 80's TV shows???
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:15:15 PM
^Is there a site that lists all of the really bad 80's TV shows???
IMDb?
http://www.imdb.com/
Glad someone listed Automan. I looked forward to Thursday nights my freshman year of high school because this and Masquerade were on. The intro to Masquerade wasn't the greatest but I really liked the show.
A friend of mine got me into Tales of the Gold Monkey, too. This show had been trying to get on the air since the late 70s I think but network execs didn't think anyone would care about pulpy-type adventure stuff. Raiders of the Lost Ark made them change their tune real fast. Too bad this didn't last that long.
Voyagers was another one. I really liked the time-travel aspect of it. Real shame about Hexum.
Buck Rogers, too...man. Erin Gray. :dreamer: :dreamer: :dreamer: :smitten:
(I know technically it started in 1979, but still.)
Quote from: MetalDog on January 29, 2018, 08:18:24 PM
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:15:15 PM
^Is there a site that lists all of the really bad 80's TV shows???
IMDb?
http://www.imdb.com/
It was one of them rhetorical questions. :P
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:45:05 PM
rhetorical questions. :P
That's too complicated of a concept for this crowd (myself included) :bd:
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:45:05 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on January 29, 2018, 08:18:24 PM
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:15:15 PM
^Is there a site that lists all of the really bad 80's TV shows???
IMDb?
http://www.imdb.com/
It was one of them rhetorical questions. :P
It was one of them sarcastic replies :P :P
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarcentral.com%2Fpics%2Fisee.jpg&hash=526923b82ad18287079a26f2341c5e27d935e463)
Quote from: bbmike on January 29, 2018, 08:15:15 PM
^Is there a site that lists all of the really bad 80's TV shows???
I very, very sadly watched all those. I'm pretty sure they're on a site somewhere.
The first two, Automan and Manimal, I was very excited to see as a very young me. NBC's new and brash head, Brandon Tartikoff had gone to great lengths to advertise for the new lineup with the hot new Sci-Fi shows as their anchor. As a Sci-Fi starved kid, I tuned in excitedly after seeing all the ads.
It was my first lesson in disappointment. Kept me prepared for my life post 30.
Quote from: BanzaiCat on January 29, 2018, 08:36:59 PM
Glad someone listed Automan. I looked forward to Thursday nights my freshman year of high school because this and Masquerade were on. The intro to Masquerade wasn't the greatest but I really liked the show.
Buck Rogers, too...man. Erin Gray. :dreamer: :dreamer: :dreamer: :smitten:
(I know technically it started in 1979, but still.)
Of those shows, I actually liked Automan.
And heck yeah, I loved Buck Rogers. You've got the wrong intro though...
For those that love Erin Grey, you're welcome.