# Back to the roots

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-roots/941079>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** disney-hulu\
**Created:** [April 30, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-roots/941079 "2021-04-30T00:57:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-roots/941079/1 "2021-04-30T00:57:09Z")

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We signed up for a free month of Hulu and they have lots of old TV series. I watched S1E1 of several. I guess the theory goes that when a TV program first comes out, it needs to be edgy, take chances that others won’t. As time goes by, they become formulaic and stale and next thing you know, Fonzie’s jumping a shark. So I was hoping to revisit the original material for some distilled goodness.

I’m trying to recall—I think one actually started at S1E2—but I saw Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Cheers, The Odd Couple, and more.

One that impressed me: My Name is Earl. Earl learning to accept his friend’s homosexuality was cool. Well, the kid he teased grew up, and Earl tried and succeeded in helping him—a new friend, so to speak.

One that didn’t: MASH. The laugh track was very annoying. Was that there for the whole series? I haven’t seen it in a long time.

Have you ever gone back to the beginning? I imagine some have re-read an author’s first work or revisited album 1 of a favorite group, possibly revisiting the original strips of a comic, that sort of thing. Does the old material hold up?

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-roots/941079/2 "2021-04-30T01:04:09Z")

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> [@lobotomyboy63](#):
>
> One that didn’t: MASH. The laugh track was very annoying. Was that there for the whole series? I haven’t seen it in a long time.
> 
> Have you ever gone back to the beginning? I imagine some have re-read an author’s first work or revisited album 1 of a favorite group, possibly revisiting the original strips of a comic, that sort of thing. Does the old material hold up?

The laugh track was there in the beginning, but they dispensed with it as the series grew more serious.

I’ve watched a lot of pilots and early seasons of past shows over the last few years on daytime retro TV. I don’t know how people not in my age group react to them, but I do enjoy seeing them again even if they are 40 to 50+ years old.

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**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-roots/941079/3 "2021-04-30T01:09:22Z")

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> [@terentii](#):
>
> The laugh track was there in the beginning, but they dispensed with it as the series grew more serious.

I didn’t remember it. That makes sense.