A couple mentions up thread about the retro look of computers and such in Max Headroom. That was deliberate on their part. They used some stuff that was already out of date by decades even when they made it.
Some parts of the show got cyberspace concepts right ahead of their time.
But the TV channel stuff is really off.
People in that universe only watched what a limited number of channels were airing as it aired. Versus the huge number of options now plus DVRs. (We almost never watch a show as it is actually airing. About of 1/3 of our nighttime TV are shows that aired months to years ago.)
So the key concept of real-time ratings monitoring where shows get replaced midway thru an episode if their ratings fall too low is quaint. How 80s!
Plus there’s the pirate TV station run by Blank Reg. What’s the point of a pirate TV shation now? How are people going to even know it’s there. People, if they have antennas, run one setup scan at the beginning and forget it. If you want to show weird videos, start a YouTube channel.
(OTOH, it does appear that pirate radio is booming in some areas to serve otherwise ignored subpopulations.)
There are some episodes of “Space 1999” where they have the computer chose people for a mission, most notably the episode “Earthbound” with Christopher Lee. There is also one where the mention the Boston Red Sox beating the St Louis Cardinals in the 1998 world Series. Actually, they were only off by 8 years.
CRT screens are jarring to me now, especially in science fiction where the computers are supposed to be advanced. Babylon 5, for example, has a lot of shots where they have a fairly high-tech looking computer but an obviously curved CRT screen instead of a modern flat screen, and places where the workings clearly takes up quite a bit of room behind the screen. (I suspect shows like TNG and Farscape would do the same thing if I rewatched them). It’s noticeable to me because the sets, including the computers, look reasonably futuristic in all ways except the monitor/TV, so it glares out. Star Wars screens don’t jump at me the same way because they Star Wars goes for a lower tech look with manual switches and dials.
the original film 2001 didn’t use real computer screens for their displays. As a result, they don’t look like CRTs.
On the other hand, the sequel, [b} 2010**, DID use them, because they were the currently available technology.
As a result, the displays in 2001 actually look more futuristic than the real (but dated CRT) displays in 2010, which was made later and set at a later time.
I find it jarring that the TV’s seen on Gotham in 2016 seem to all be SD CRT sets. Even the one in boy billionaire Bruce Wayne’s mansion. Yet it’s not like the show’s a period piece or anything (they have cellphones).
I was just rewatching a scene from The Rocky Horror Picture Show yesterday. Frank is talking to Brad and Janet and asks Brad if he has any tattoos. Brad says “certainly not”. So Frank then turns and asks Janet if she has any.
It was a punchline back then because the idea that a young woman would have a tattoo seemed crazy back in 1975.
If you see the 1978 Playoff game between the Yankees and Red Sox, early on Yankee broadcaster describes Red Sox pitcher Mike Torrez (who is from Topeka, KS) as “an excitable Latin type”. Try that now Scooter and you will get a louder reaction than the time you left Babe Ruth off your all-time Yankee team.
Although I have met Torrez and he is quite animated, friendly, likes to tell funny stories and looks every inch of his 6’5" height. Wears his 1977 Yankees world champions ring. Because of Reggie jackson, people forget Torrez had two complete game wins in the world series, as well as 5 shutout innings coming out of the bullpen in the decisive ALCS game 5.
Watching “Perry Mason” people are always running off to Mexico or Las Vegas for quickie divorces, with worrying about how long it takes for California to recognize them.
Maybe they’re going for that “Timeless” vibe by throwing in technology and styles from several different decades, the way the first Tim Burton Batman movie did.
I think it’s partly a way to on one hand point out that “this is neither your universe nor That Other DC Universe (or that other one, or that…)”, partly part of the retro look of Gotham in general, and also the retro details are always purely aesthetic ones (such as having TVs that look old fashioned) but never functional ones (no having to chase down a landline).
Try watching “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” with your teenager. With me trying to explain them sniffing freshly dittoed test papers, and the concept of rock concerts and ticket scalpers, and why everyone had jobs at the mall in addition to going to school, he found it all too nonsensical and wandered off.
Sorry I can’t give a cite but there was an episode of some show back in the late '60s/early '70s- was either a sitcom or possibly an episode of Love American Style- where they did the “Housewives discover Women’s Lib” shtick. Of course, it ended with their husbands putting their feet down to restore the natural order of things and the wives returning to their roles as obedient domestics. A painfully dated fable.
There’s an episode of “Father Knows Best” titled “Crisis Over a Kiss”. You can view it on Hulu at Stream Live Sports, News, TV Shows, and Movies | Hulu + Live TV. A college student takes Betty on a date. Later they drive to Prospect Point and he tries to kiss her. She resists and gets out of his car. Bud (up there with his date trying the exact same thing) drives her home.
In the last segment her date shows up at the house, and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have a VERY serious discussion with him (and Mr. Anderson says he’ll have a similar discussion with Bud later). That segment is really worth watching to see how radically things have changed.
This episode seemed very quaint. But considering the way colleges have begun handling accusations of sexual misconduct, it can be viewed in a whole new light.
Those of us still here almost 14 years after the above post will probably recognize that if the genders are reversed, it’d get the same laugh or an even bigger one.
Not they weren’t. Just because a kid dreams about something doesn’t mean that something can’t also exist outside of his fantasies. Like Cheers. Maybe he watched Cheers and it somehow got mixed up into his own headverse. Doesn’t mean Cheers itself doesn’t exist on its own (particularly because the “crossover” didn’t have anyone from the kid’s head show up on Cheers, just Cheers characters show up in his head).
