# Shows from back in the day that your parents loved that you still enjoy today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 26, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302 "2018-08-26T14:53:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/1 "2018-08-26T14:53:15Z")
Both my parents are long gone, but I remember clearly how Mom loved ‘ **Gomer Pyle, USMC** ’ and Dad couldn’t get enough of ‘ **All in the Family** ’.
To a lesser extent, ‘ **The Andy Griffith Show** ’ (Mom) and ‘ **Hogan’s Heroes** ’ (Dad) are similar.
These are among my favorite sitcoms of all time (well, maybe not Hogan). I suspect nostalgia has a little to do with that.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/2 "2018-08-26T15:37:37Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/3 "2018-08-26T16:28:30Z")
My dad used to enjoy watching the Washington Senators lose. Now I enjoy watching the Washington Nationals lose.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/4 "2018-08-26T16:34:42Z")
Watching _M_A_S_H\* on Hulu right now.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/5 "2018-08-26T16:35:51Z")
My parents watched very little TV and I can’t think of any favorite shows. Maybe _Ed Sullivan_
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/6 "2018-08-26T16:37:41Z")
My dad watched sports and news. Oh, and “The Muppet Show.” I like all three!
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/7 "2018-08-26T16:42:30Z")
Three Stooges
Star Trek (TOS)
Old kung fu movies
This was basically my Sunday afternoon lineup during the early 80s, watching TV with my dad.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/8 "2018-08-26T16:48:17Z")
M_A_S\*H
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
The Carol Burnett Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
(The latter three give you an idea of what Saturday nights were like at our house 😃 )
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/9 "2018-08-26T17:01:38Z")
My dad liked “The Rockford Files,” which is a great show, but doesn’t seem to be aired anywhere these days.
He also liked “Columbo,” which I’ve seen recently and it is a damned fine show really.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/10 "2018-08-26T17:32:14Z")
My mom loved “Bewitched”. We’d watch it together. She wasn’t happy when they changed Darrens, but she got through it.
Dad and I loved “Bonanza”. Mom would bring us popcorn while we watched it.
Gramma loved “Lawrence Welk”. I loved my gramma, but once I got past the age of 5, I just could no longer watch that with her.
Grampa believed TV was a waste of time; so he just told me stories of his childhood.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/11 "2018-08-26T18:07:05Z")
\*\*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!_”).
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/12 "2018-08-27T01:59:12Z")
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)
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/13 "2018-08-27T02:12:40Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/14 "2018-08-27T02:33:20Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/15 "2018-08-27T03:40:14Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Watching _M_A_S_H\* on Hulu right now.
My parents loved MASH and so do I. The HD versions on Hulu are great.
> [@Ulfreida](#):
>
> 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.
You left the house in 1972 and your parents watched Buffy, which premiered in 1997?
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/16 "2018-08-27T04:37:17Z")
Married with children.
Having said that, the [Taxi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tYdd7drSE)theme song gives me instant nostalgia.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/17 "2018-08-27T05:04:44Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/18 "2018-08-27T06:18:13Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/19 "2018-08-27T06:27:02Z")
Columbo, and Ironside. I’ve got the DVDs.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-from-back-in-the-day-that-your-parents-loved-that-you-still-enjoy-today/820302/20 "2018-08-27T11:45:10Z")
McHale’s Navy was one of my dad’s favorites. It still makes me laugh, even tho it’s hokey.
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