The only TV show I can really remember one of my parents liking was The Avengers. Opportunities to see it are few and far between these days, but I do have a fondness for it.
**DesertRoomie **loves The Dick Van Dyke Show and since it is on Netflix, has it in permanent rotation to fall asleep by. Not all, but most of the episodes are well written and I was astonished how many punchlines I remembered from nigh on 50 years ago (“Now, swing the bag over your head and scream like a chicken!”).
They watched a lot of dreck that I didn’t like then and don’t like now (e.g., Sonny and Cher, The Brady Bunch). They watched a lot of shows I liked then but that I’ve since grown out of (Murphy Brown, Little House on the Prairie). But there are still a lot of good shows that qualify. Off the top of my head…
Barney Miller
All in the Family
The Waltons
Gunsmoke
Hawaii Five-O (the original with Jack Lord)
Star Trek (TOS and TNG)
The Carol Burnett Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Quincy, M.E.
Quantum Leap
Cheers
Frasier
The Golden Girls
In the Heat of the Night
Newhart (but I have never much liked The Bob Newhart Show which they also liked)
My dad only watched the news.
My mom thought television tacky and annoying. In our first house it was in the garage, when we moved, it was in the basement.
My grandma liked Red Skelton, Lawrence Welk, Petticoat Junction, Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw, and Green Acres.
I left home in 1972 and have not had a television since. I think I take after my mom.
I admit to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu.
Kind of reversing the premise of the thread but I wish my dad could have lived to see Firefly/Serenity. I can not think of a show that would have appealed to him more.
My father only watches a handful of shows now but he will watch them for hours. I used to wonder who marathon broadcasting was designed for and now I know.
He watches:
The Andy Griffith Show - I was never a fan of this show when I was young but I now enjoy it. It’s pretty well-constructed and Don Knotts was brilliant.
Bonanza (also Gunsmoke and other old westerns) - Again, I wasn’t a fan but when I watch them now, I’m surprised at how well they hold up.
MASH - Here I have the opposite reaction. I used to really like this show when it was originally being broadcast. But it has aged really badly.
Everyone Loves Raymond - God, what a horrible show. I don’t know why, out of all of the sitcoms that have been broadcast in the last thirty years, my father became a fan of this one. The only part of this show that’s even bearable is Peter Boyle and he’s saddled with terrible material.
Huh. I can’t remember my mother ever watching tv. Too busy living a rich full life, I guess. My father sat slack-jawed in front of westerns and sportsball much of the time. We did watch things like The Ed Sullivan Show and Walt Disney on Sunday nights, as a family.