My tastes have been somewhat variable through the years, but not a huge amount. There are a few things that I used to love that I don’t understand any longer (I was completely addicted to “Trapper John, MD” as a kid. WTF?)
What books, movies, shows, music have you gone from “OMIGOD, this is the best thing EVER!” to “I would be happier never to see that again”?
My girlfriends and I watched “Flashdance” almost every weekend in high school - I watched it a couple of years ago, and while I can see the allure for teenage girls (and boys, frankly), it was…not a great movie.
Any of the shows from my childhood. Gilligan’s Island–watched that the other day with my kid and she was like WTF!! I had to sort of agree with her–what an awful show, but I used to love it growing up.
Another one was Starksy and Hutch. I LOVED this show as a teen–terrible acting and just a bad show overall now looking back.
Yvonne Fair’s album The Bitch is Black (I had nothing to do with the name) has a song on it called “It Should Have Been Me”. I remember loving that song way back when, I finally found a CD of the album on Ebay, ordered it, and when I played it, I was like, WTF?!?!?!.
Have no idea what happened, it is the same song, even the same ‘take’ I recall, but it is like finger nails on chalk board now.
If we count things we liked as kids, there would be a ton. My brother and I used to watch Brady Bunch every day and I adored the old Dennis the Menace TV show.
More recent, though:
Austin Powers - I know, a lot of people still like it. I saw it recently and except a few brief moments, I found the whole thing terribly unfunny now.
Saviour Machine - Used to be my favorite band. Now, I see how lame they were in many way. Just not my cup of tea, anymore. I guess they were OK, but I used to insist they were the best band ever. I was clearly wrong.
[Katy Perry]
“I ate some dirt and I liked it…”
[/Katy Perry]
As a kid I used to love The Brady Bunch, now I watch reruns and can hardly get through them. The other day Alice was trying to catch a mouse or some shit and it was like “Who the fuck cares?”
When I was a younger nerd, Monty Python’s Flying Circus would make me laugh until my sides hurt. Now I can generally take it or leave it, although there are certainly a few classic sketches that still make me smile.
I can still watch Transformers, laughing at the stupidity of parts of it. (That I’m still a fan of the franchise in general probably helps.) Disney stuff stands up. Robotech hasn’t flagged. Surprisingly, the Littles actually stands up pretty good.
But GI Joe? He-Man and She-Ra? Voltron? Alvin and the Chipmunks? Jem past the first season (first season’s actually pretty good, though)? Good goddess, no. I actually actively refuse to rewatch a lot of stuff, now, just to avoid sullying it like I did.
About the only thing that disappointed me was rewatching My Favorite Martian. I liked it as a kid but the last time I saw it, it was awful (to be fair, the show jumped the shark after a season or so and I stopped watching; this may have been after I had stopped).
Other than that, I haven’t seen anything that brought that reaction. But remember, my tastes as a kid were not usual. For instance, when I was twelve, I decided the best movie I ever saw was Dr. Strangelove. I’d watch things like Gilligan’s Island, but I new they were bad even then.
I’ve been a martial arts film fan since I was around 5 years old. A channel here used to show old Run Run Shaw and Golden Harvest films, and then I watched the newer hollywood stuff like Jean Claude Van Damme, Karate Kid, Chuck Norris, Steven Segal, etc. Then, my girlfriend took me to see Rumble in the Bronx at a foreign film theater, and I realized how bad Hollywood films were in terms of choreography, speed, cinematography, etc. Recently it’s been better though thanks to using Hong Kong choreographers, cameramen and fight coordinators, but when I watch the older stuff nowadays, I wonder why everybody is moving so slowly, like a bad musical.