Retro TV

I thought I'd start this thread (with filmcarp's permission.     ) so as to avoid hijacking the What Series Should I Watch Next thread.

so, talk about favorite old series and are you watching any of them now.

Or whatever.

I've been watching The Andy Griffith show for a while now. I just started watching Bonanza, and I'm surprised at how entertaining it still is.

I'd love to re-watch the original Superman, but I can't find it anywhere.

Mary Tyler Moore still holds up pretty well.  The Dick Van Dyke Show is also still funny (aside from the occasional episode like the one where Rob can't stand the idea of Laura working outside the home).  The episode where Rob thinks their baby was switched with another at the hospital is still a classic.

I always enjoy old episodes of Designing Women and Maude. I forget the serious topics they tackled, topics that must have freaked out many advertisers. 

Early in the pandemic, I was watching a lot of The Rockford Files. LOVE it!

drummerboy said:

I'd love to re-watch the original Superman, but I can't find it anywhere.

Fios channel 488. Heroes & Icons channel.

This Saturday if you get up at 6:00 a.m. you can catch "Olsen's Millions" and "Clark Kent, Outlaw".

Channel 140 on Optimum.

Noelle Neill is high on my list of Lois Lanes. Quite possibly #1 live action. Margot Kidder is the other contender for live action #1.

Dana Delaney is clearly #1 animated, possibly best in all media.

pluto.tv is great for these kinds of things. Last year, after we decided I need to watch The Love Boat for research purposes, it wasn't available anywhere except one terrestrial side-channel at 6pm on a Sunday. Now there's a 24/7 Love Boat channel on pluto.tv. It's cheesy AF, but I kinda like it.

ridski said:

pluto.tv is great for these kinds of things. Last year, after we decided I need to watch The Love Boat for research purposes, it wasn't available anywhere except one terrestrial side-channel at 6pm on a Sunday. Now there's a 24/7 Love Boat channel on pluto.tv. It's cheesy AF, but I kinda like it.

 Is it still exciting and new?

A friend has been on more than 50 cruises, and missed a major one she’d scheduled ages ago, back when the pandemic first hit. She laughed that she was watching Love Boat reruns last May to simulate her passage to the U.K.  

mrincredible said:

drummerboy said:

I'd love to re-watch the original Superman, but I can't find it anywhere.

Fios channel 488. Heroes & Icons channel.

This Saturday if you get up at 6:00 a.m. you can catch "Olsen's Millions" and "Clark Kent, Outlaw".

Channel 140 on Optimum.

Noelle Neill is high on my list of Lois Lanes. Quite possibly #1 live action. Margot Kidder is the other contender for live action #1.

Dana Delaney is clearly #1 animated, possibly best in all media.

 I don't subscribe to any of those. I'll try pluto.

As long as we're talking Superman.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56669924

drummerboy said:

 I don't subscribe to any of those. I'll try pluto.

 No cable TV anymore? It seems like 25% of the channels on Fios now show TV shows from the 50s to the 80s.

mrincredible said:

drummerboy said:

 I don't subscribe to any of those. I'll try pluto.

 No cable TV anymore? It seems like 25% of the channels on Fios now show TV shows from the 50s to the 80s.

 I just use FIOS for internet. I use YoutubeTV as my "cable". There are a few channels that show old shows. But no Superman.

Heroes and Icons is channel 9-4 on digital terrestrial tv. If you have a digital antenna, you can pick it up for free.

Here's an interesting bit about The Adventures of Superman. They filmed in color even though color TV was years away.

I've been loving watching "The Twilight Zone" & "Alfred Hitchcock" on ME-TV.  Fun to watch (then future) popular stars in their earlier days.

"Seinfeld" (which I guess is 'retro" now) is always a good way to kill a half hour.

And for really retro, never-been-heard-of old movies & lots of laughs, I can get MST2000 on TUBI.

There's a dedicated MST3000 channel on Pluto though they tend to show the same fairly small number of episodes over and over again.  

Heroes and Icons has Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. I'd watch more of them but the commercials are constant.

MASH always feels current.

and love The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock. Another vote for Seinfeld if it's retro enough.

Wish they would rerun St. Elsewhere and LA Law and Thirty Something.

Morganna said:

Heroes and Icons has Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. I'd watch more of them but the commercials are constant.

MASH always feels current.

and love The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock. Another vote for Seinfeld if it's retro enough.

Wish they would rerun St. Elsewhere and LA Law and Thirty Something.

Agree completely. With all of the old shows on those backup channels, it drives me crazy that no one shows St. Elsewhere. You'd think that the "Hey! It's a young Denzel Washington!" (or Mark Harmon) factor would be enough to get it on the air.

chalmers said:

Agree completely. With all of the old shows on those backup channels, it drives me crazy that no one shows St. Elsewhere. You'd think that the "Hey! It's a young Denzel Washington!" (or Mark Harmon) factor would be enough to get it on the air.

 You can stream it on Hulu. 6 seasons worth, it seems.

“West Wing” loses none of its brilliance in re-runs. Nor do “ER” or “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

"At the tone leave your name and message. I'll get back to you."

Jim, you're not going to believe this, but I've probably seen all of your cases four or five times over the years. The next time Rita, Isaac, Louis or Simon is in town, give me a call. Oh, and how much longer are you going to need my car?

I've watched Gilligan's Island a few times recently.  I expected it to be dumb and corny over time, but it still maintains a certain level of charm.

I just did a quick research of where the lagoon was - turns out to be a parking lot now.   Here's a little research on that:

Heynj said:

“West Wing” loses none of its brilliance in re-runs. Nor do “ER” or “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

 Same with the old "Law & Order"s --especially those with Donofrio.  I catch them on demand, & find myself doing a lot unintentional bingeing before I even realize.

DaveSchmidt said:

"At the tone leave your name and message. I'll get back to you."

Jim, you're not going to believe this, but I've probably seen all of your cases four or five times over the years. The next time Rita, Isaac, Louis or Simon is in town, give me a call. Oh, and how much longer are you going to need my car?

 The best! Fun story: many years ago - about 1990 before kid was born - spouse and I were visiting family in the L.A. area (coincidentally the kid that was born has made his home there since 2014). We did the whole Disneyland thing and then I wanted to expose the spouse to the amazing canyons I recalled from my previous visits over 15 years prior. We arrived via Malibu canyon (or maybe it was Topanga) to the Pacific and pulled into an empty lot with just a small trailer on it.  We both immediately thought of Jimbo and the Rockford Files.

I have to say, re-visiting Bonanza has been very entertaining. I had forgotten the sometimes goofy humor of the show.

11AM on TVLAND

I'm a realtive oldster with some nostalgia and affection for old shows but for me this is the golden age of television.  I'm more inclined to get started on one of the highly praised (here often) streaming shows than  to watch reruns of old favorites.  There's so much to catch up on.

bub said:

I'm a realtive oldster with some nostalgia and affection for old shows but for me this is the golden age of television.  I'm more inclined to get started on one of the highly praised (here often) streaming shows than  to watch reruns of old favorites.  There's so much to catch up on.

 Indeed. Gone are the days of fairly limited choices. Even if two shows you wanted to watch were on different channels at the same time, you could catch one in reruns (just consult your TV Guide to find out when).

Now there's a firehose of new content spread across multiple subscription services. 

My wife and I catch maybe one or two episodes a night. We'll never get to see everything that we find interesting. Not enough time and the subscriptions start to add up!

I try to push for new shows only but right now we're enjoying "Monk" which doesn't qualify as retro yet. My 12-year-old digs it.

drummerboy said:

I have to say, re-visiting Bonanza has been very entertaining. I had forgotten the sometimes goofy humor of the show.

11AM on TVLAND

"I met Michael Landon on the set of 'Bonanza.' It was a wonderful show about a 47 year old man...and his three 40 year old sons."

---Lorne Greene

I still love Frazier. Actually, I don't like Frazier the character, but the rest of the cast is outstanding.

Heynj said:

“West Wing” loses none of its brilliance in re-runs. Nor do “ER” or “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

 West Wing is my go to. Several years ago I bought the DVD collection and I periodically watch the whole series slowly to relish the experience. I pulled it out a few months ago and I'm on Season 6.

It is my all time favorite series that ended.

As for a series that is still going strong, I watch old episodes of Law & Order SVU daily.