Favorite tv shows by decade | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Favorite tv shows by decade

i would put how i met your mother above big bang. much more clever
Didn't really get into it. Not a huge fan of shows with a narrator even if it is Danny tanner.
 
I am genuinely shocked at the number of Big Bang Theory mentions here. I mean, i watch the show, but... a 'decade favorite/great?' How is that possible?

I sometimes “watch it” by accident when it comes on after something else that I was actually watching and I get sidetracked and don’t change the channel for awhile.

Sometimes that level of familiarity is enough to eventually warm me up to a show. Not this one. Really just find the characters unlikable.
 
if i dont like big bang im, stuck, but then its also basically where i work, if i dont like the chars i need a new job.
 
This thread has made me realize I should probably watch some of the well regarded more adult oriented shows of the 80s that I was alive for and familiar with but too young to be watching.

Even Miami Vice...my mother was really into that, and I would sometimes “watch” if I came into the room, but I had no idea what was going on. I remember the characters, and the “feel” of the show, the music and the pet alligator, but not the storylines. I should watch that through adult eyes.
 
This thread has made me realize I should probably watch some of the well regarded more adult oriented shows of the 80s that I was alive for and familiar with but too young to be watching.

Even Miami Vice...my mother was really into that, and I would sometimes “watch” if I came into the room, but I had no idea what was going on. I remember the characters, and the “feel” of the show, the music and the pet alligator, but not the storylines. I should watch that through adult eyes.
Hill Street Blues was appointment television back then (I was in grad school). It might not translate quite as well today, but back then it was cutting edge. They did everything they could to get around the censors.

"That move sucked brown wind, Frank!"

I still remember that line to this day.
 
This thread has made me realize I should probably watch some of the well regarded more adult oriented shows of the 80s that I was alive for and familiar with but too young to be watching.

Even Miami Vice...my mother was really into that, and I would sometimes “watch” if I came into the room, but I had no idea what was going on. I remember the characters, and the “feel” of the show, the music and the pet alligator, but not the storylines. I should watch that through adult eyes.
I loved Miami Vice. My idea of a 'perfect night' was getting some Chinese food, gummi bears, and then sitting down to Miami Vice and/or Twin Peaks. And once a month, that would all coincide with when the new magazines would come out, and i was in heaven.

Vice hasn't really aged well, though. It was just too trendy, and the acting was often quite bad. I still occasionally watch one every once in a while, but it's more kitschy than 'great' now.

A show i really liked in the 70s that i still like now is The Rockford Files.
 
I am genuinely shocked at the number of Big Bang Theory mentions here. I mean, i watch the show, but... a 'decade favorite/great?' How is that possible?
Frasier was the last good show with a laugh track/studio audience. I do not understand why this archaic practice continues.
 
Frasier was the last good show with a laugh track/studio audience. I do not understand why this archaic practice continues.
Cheaper and simpler than dealing with an audience. Doesn't restrict you to one set.
There have been enough good sitcoms that used laugh tracks to indicate it doesn't affect quality.
 
50's - any cartoon
60's - Gomer Pyle USMC/Gunsmoke
70's - All in the Family/MASH
80's - Seinfeld/Cheers/Hill Street Blues
90's - Friends/Married with Children/ER
00's - 2003 NCAA Bball NC/The King of Queens/West Wing/Two and a Half Men
10's - Reruns of my 00's list/VEEP/House of Cards
 
Cheaper and simpler than dealing with an audience. Doesn't restrict you to one set.
There have been enough good sitcoms that used laugh tracks to indicate it doesn't affect quality.
I don’t need to be told when to laugh. A studio audience is not necessary (e.g., Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Community).
 
I don’t need to be told when to laugh. A studio audience is not necessary (e.g., Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Community).
They're different types of comedy. You have to admit the 'tone' of those shows is very different to those with laughtracks and those with studio audiences. Producers choose those variables, and whether it's a one- or multi-camera setup, and each changes the dynamics of the content. Plus, you've already said Frasier is good, so is it good despite the laughtrack, or maybe it just isn't that important? No one is telling you when to laugh. It's no different from going to a movie in a theater with other people in it. They have their reactions. You have your own. Often they coincide.
 
50's - any cartoon
60's - Gomer Pyle USMC/Gunsmoke
70's - All in the Family/MASH
80's - Seinfeld/Cheers/Hill Street Blues
90's - Friends/Married with Children/ER
00's - 2003 NCAA Bball NC/The King of Queens/West Wing/Two and a Half Men
10's - Reruns of my 00's list/VEEP/House of Cards
West Wing... Have you seen Sorkin's* ** The Newsroom? One of my favorite series. I went back to try to watch The West Wing after the Newsroom had been out for a while, but i couldn't get into it at all. Never liked any of the actors, and i guess it's dated. I'm pretty sure you'd like The Newsroom, though. It's a Lefty's dream.

*alum

**Anyone know how to use an asterisk in this scenario? Is this correct? After the apostrophe+s? Somehow seems awkward to include the possessive bits.
 
Last edited:
They're different types of comedy. You have to admit the 'tone' of those shows is very different to those with laughtracks and those with studio audiences. Producers choose those variables, and whether it's a one- or multi-camera setup, and each changes the dynamics of the content. Plus, you've already said Frasier is good, so is it good despite the laughtrack, or maybe it just isn't that important? No one is telling you when to laugh. It's no different from going to a movie in a theater with other people in it. They have their reactions. You have your own. Often they coincide
All of the great sitcoms from the past would be improved if there was no studio audience/laugh track. It’s an old idea that no longer needs to exist.
 
Hill Street Blues was appointment television back then (I was in grad school). It might not translate quite as well today, but back then it was cutting edge. They did everything they could to get around the censors.

"That move sucked brown wind, Frank!"

I still remember that line to this day.
As I recall Thursdays in college:



Magnum
Simon and Simon
Hill Street

Bars
 
1960’s - Dick Van Dyke, Bonanza, Get Smart, Beverly Hillbillies
1970’s - Rockford Files, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett , All in the Family
1980’s - Cheers, The Golden Girls, The Wonder Years, Hill Street Blues
1990’s - Frasier, Cheers, Wonder Years, ER? - 90’s forward seemed to be weak for me
2000 - Sopranos, Malcolm in the Middle, NCIS
2010 - reruns
 
miami vice,, friday night viewing back in college when we only had 3 channels

Dukes of Hazzard was a Friday night show too right? I remember that was can’t miss TV as a kid.

Well, except for Season 5, the Coy and Vance season. Which I have on DVD. They made one. And someone found it. And gave it to me for Christmas.
 
Last edited:
From the perspective of what I liked at the time...


70s Six Million Dollar Man / The Jeffersons [when I got a little older]
80s Greatest American Hero / White Shadow
90s X-Files / Seinfeld / Simpsons
00s Curb Your Enthusiasm / The Shield
10s Walking Dead
 
Last edited:
From the perspective of what I liked at the time...


70s Six Million Dollar Man / The Jeffersons [when I got a little older]
80s Greatest American Hero / White Shadow
90s X-Files / Seinfeld / Simpsons
00s Curb Your Enthusiasm / The Shield
10s Walking Dead

Six Million Dollar Man and White Shadow are good calls. I enjoy reruns of both of those.
 
I could stay stuck in the 80s with (in no particular order):

The Fall Guy
Knight Rider
A-Team
Greatest American Hero
CHiPs
Moonlighting
Hill Street Blues
Dukes of Hazard
American Gladiators (more 90s than 80s but started in 89)
Simon & Simon
Murder, She Wrote
Remington Steele
Scarecrow & Mrs. King
Charlie’s Angels
 
I could stay stuck in the 80s with (in no particular order):

The Fall Guy
Knight Rider
A-Team
Greatest American Hero
CHiPs
Moonlighting
Hill Street Blues
Dukes of Hazard
American Gladiators (more 90s than 80s but started in 89)
Simon & Simon
Murder, She Wrote
Remington Steele
Scarecrow & Mrs. King
Charlie’s Angels

GREAT CALL on Moonlighting -- totally forgot about that.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
167,128
Messages
4,681,622
Members
5,900
Latest member
DizzyNY

Online statistics

Members online
191
Guests online
2,043
Total visitors
2,234


Top Bottom