# Things you've rewatched after years and have held up, things that have not **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [May 2, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064 "2024-05-02T12:29:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/281 "2024-06-17T22:30:45Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > _I liked Little Big Man when I watched it years ago._ He was funny-_ish_ in that one. But have you ever seen **Ishtar?** ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/282 "2024-06-18T02:45:09Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > And Dustin Hoffman simply is not a funny guy. You may have a point, but in the case of Tootsie, I don’t believe he was supposed to be funny. He’s a “serious actor”; serious to the point of neurosis. Now that you mention it, I don’t think he’s played very many funny characters. Meet the Fockers was supposed to be light hearted but he was hardly a barrel of laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/283 "2024-06-18T16:36:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > A lot of us didn’t notice or perhaps didn’t care. Ellen Cleghorn criticized _Friends_ for it’s lack of black characters on _Saturday Night Live_ in a Weekend Update segment. “We all know how hard it is to find a black person in Manhattan.” The odd thing is, the cast of _Friends_ certainly noticed. David Schwimmer, in particular, was pretty candid about the need for more diversity at least in the supporting and background characters. I guess to shut him up the producers finally wrote in a Black girlfriend for Ross (Aisha Taylor) for eight episodes in seasons 9-10. For that matter, there was also a lack of Latinx and Asian American characters. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/284 "2024-06-19T01:47:53Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > A while back I watched the first four hours of MTV’s broadcast on YouTube. One of the things I made note of was the lack of black artists. There were videos featuring black musicians in bands, but no solo artists or majority black bands and it was a little jarring. I remember that there was some discussion of that at the time. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that Michael Jackson became the first black artist in heavy rotation on MTV, with “Billie Jean.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/285 "2024-06-19T16:56:50Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Robin of Sherwood. 80s British fantasy take on Robinhood I used to love as a kid. I remember thinking this was cheesy even then. But I was an adult, not a kid. > [@Chefguy](#): > > I remember loving the series **Combat** with Vic Morrow way back when it was new. I used to be able to hear their guns firing on the Culver City backlot when I was a kid. > [@DCnDC](#): > > **Tremors** is still just as good today as it ever was. I always tell people that _Tremors_ is a perfect genre movie. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/286 "2024-06-19T17:08:07Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > _A while back I watched the first four hours of MTV’s broadcast on YouTube. One of the things I made note of was the lack of black artists._ MTV was totally Rock oriented for quite some time until MJ broke the barrier, but even after that there weren’t many Black artists seen on MTV for quite some time. Lionel Richie, George Benson, Billy Ocean and Whitney Houston were exceptions. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision or whether record companies hadn’t yet caught up to the video trend when it came to their Black artists. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/287 "2024-06-19T17:52:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > While we’re on the subject, there’s an episode _The Outer Limits_ that I’d like to see again, _Demon With a Glass Hand_. I was in Los Angeles a few years ago and went to the building where that was filmed (and dozens of other shows and movies, too). I’d like to see how that holds up. The Bradbury Building. Very cool place. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Holds up: Miller’s Crossing My fav Coen Bros movie. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > I don’t think that I’ve seen every episode of _The Twilight Zone_, but I’ve seen quite a few. I thought I’d seen them all, but my sister was talking about an episode called _The Ring-a-Ding Girl._ I’d never even heard it, so she found it, and we watched it. Made me cry. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > Don’t get me started on the crappy Ray Bradbury series that was originally on HBO. Gawd, that was so awful. So _cheesy._ ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/288 "2024-06-19T18:06:08Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > But I liked “Banshee”, which was based on his experiences with John Huston while writing the screenplay for _Moby Dick_. Casting Peter O’Toole as Huston helped a lot. Of all the episodes I watched (_The Ray Bradbury Theater_), this is the only one I really liked and/or wasn’t bored by. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/289 "2024-06-19T18:13:23Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > My fav Coen Bros movie. To me, it’s almost perfect. There is not one wasted line of dialog. Every word of that script propels the action forward. There are enough hidden things to make re-watching interesting. Besides being a great watch, it’s movie masterclass. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/290 "2024-06-19T18:31:28Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Michael should have ended up with Teri Garr. The way she was treated was just awful. Made me hate the movie at the time. And now. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But when it comes to soap opera hijinx movies, I prefer _Soap Dish_. Brain fever!!! > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > There are enough hidden things to make re-watching interesting. Besides being a great watch, it’s movie masterclass. Yes! I love a movie that you keep finding things in that you never noticed before. _Gosford Park_ is also like that for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/291 "2024-06-19T19:00:47Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I always tell people that _Tremors_ is a perfect genre movie. _Tremors_ is what happens when Lovecraftian monstrosities run into Arizona rednecks instead of effete New Englanders. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/292 "2024-06-19T19:19:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Tremors_ is what happens when Lovecraftian monstrosities run into Arizona rednecks instead of effete New Englanders. Very good. We were binge watching Star Trek, ToS. Mostly, it has held up. Now we have moved on to ST-TNG, and boy season 1 is full of stinkeroos. S1 E4 · Code of Honor- Pretty damn racist. ""Jonathan Frakes referred to the episode as a “racist piece of shit” . At a 2007 science fiction convention in Toronto, Canada, he told the audience, “The worst and most embarrassing and one that even Gene would have been embarrassed by was that horrible racist episode from the first season… Code of Honor, oh my God in heaven!” " [Reddit - Dive into anything](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/s7d97/wasnt_this_episode_kind_of_racist/) Then there is the horrible ferengi in E5, and E8, where Picard blatantly violated the Prime Directive, even after saying he wouldnt. by rescuing Wesley from a death sentence. Okay Encounter at FarPoint almost looks good compared to those. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/293 "2024-06-19T19:22:30Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Yeah obviously Jamie and Adam do not get along. IIRC Adam and/or Jamie have stated that in some of the early seasons they had a producer who believed all TV shows must have _conflict_, so she edited the show in a way that emphasized the two of them not getting along. They’re definitely not friends, but it real life they don’t hate each other _quite_ as much as the show made it appear, they say. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/294 "2024-06-19T19:25:20Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > IIRC Adam and/or Jamie have stated that in some of the early seasons they had a producer who believed all TV shows must have _conflict_, so she edited the show in a way that emphasized the two of them not getting along. They’re definitely not friends, but it real life they don’t hate each other _quite_ as much as the show made it appear, they say. Yeah, not Buddies but not enemies. Sure Jamie is neat and meticulous, abd Adam is the opposite, but they couldnt have made the series last 14 seasons if they hated each other. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/295 "2024-06-20T04:17:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Now we have moved on to ST-TNG, and boy season 1 is full of stinkeroos. It was before Riker grew his beard. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/296 "2024-06-20T17:14:50Z")
Early in the thread there was a lot of mention of _MASH_ the TV show. The movie definitely doesn’t hold up. It suffers from a terminal case of Altmanism but worse than that all the characters are assholes. Ther really isn’t one character you can empathize with. All the early Pixar movies that I watched with my kids hold up. Every show I loved as a kid is embarrassing now. > [@Disinfectus](#): > > But as far as things that really don’t hold up well, look no further than _Adam 12_ and _Emergency_. When I was about 8 years old, these were the coolest shows on tv to me. Watching them as an adult, I didn’t last 15 minutes. I watched a few and I found them fascinating. The thing that makes _Emergency_ bad for modern audiences is that it’s too realistic. I watched them perform CPR on someone and it was exactly how it would go in the field. Too slow and not enough yelling to be dramatic but very realistic. > [@digs](#): > > They lampshaded that on the last Blue Bloods. > > Tom Selleck’s kid (sorry, don’t watch it enough to… wait, JAMIE!) is driving, his (adopted? half?) brother, a more rebellious cop, says “No lights or siren if you want a collar.” > “What?” > “The minute you use lights or a siren, you’re going to warn them and then it’s a footrace. But that’s IF you want a collar.” > “Why wouldn’t I…?” > “See, a lot of cops blare the siren, perp’s gone by the time they pull up. You make an attempt at a chase, but you give up, and no collar! Therefore, no paperwork.” > “That’s a thing?” > “Oh, yeah, for lots of the beat cops. But you’re the commisioner’s kid, like royalty, so no one’s gonna tell you this stuff.” _Blue Bloods_ and to a certain extent _The Rookie_ will do this. They will have very real feeling moments like this and then the next scene will be wildly unrealistic. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/297 "2024-06-20T17:54:34Z")
Re: the Matrix stuff upthread. When I watched it, I _instantly_ realized the issues with it (when Fry from Futurama sees the flaws, you know they are glaring). Instead of writing it off to either artistic license or as The Siblings seeing their audience as idiots, I took it as a deliberate clue that the destroyed Earth/Zion/Battery level was just another level in a _multi_-dimensional simulation, and when Neo was able to use his mojo on said level at the end of movie 2, I went “Aha! So that’s where that is all going!”, and looked eagerly towards the third movie to show the next higher level, perhaps showing up a myriad of them as Neo ascends the ladder in his quest to find Prime Reality… Alas, no, we can’t have that. The Siblings of course didn’t go that route, at all, and everything I’ve read seems to indicate that it wasn’t even a notion at any point in the conceptualization/scriptwriting phase. So sometimes the simplest (meta-) explanation turns out to be the correct one, that they indeed thought their viewers were idiots and would never get the nested reality thang at all, if said process as indicated even got that far to begin with. One of the biggest wasted potential plots in any movie or franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/298 "2024-06-20T20:03:28Z")
I think I may have to start a thread “ST-TOS - now which episodes WEREN’T crap?” In another thread recently I posted my wife’s and my reactions - both of us pretty major Trekkies - after slogging through TOS. Some of you persuaded me TOS was amazing for the time. I’ll grant you that. But in our household, I’m not sure we would even be able to agree on 20 out of the 80 that were even watchable today. I’ve long been disappointed at trying to watch so many of my fave sitcoms: Barney Miller Sanford and Sons WKRP The Odd Couple… The list goes on and on. It seems I’ll watch one and think, “Hmm, that must’ve been a bum one.” Then you think, “Hmm - 2 clunkers in a row…” Dick Van Dyke? Man, Rob was a jerk. And poor Sally - brilliant and beautiful, and it is all about she can’t get a man. As a kid I woulda sworn Monty Python was hilarious. Someone gave me a boxed set, and I didn’t make it through the first season. Just so much dross between the few good bits. The Honeymooners? Another one with long wastelands between the payoffs. And threatening violence against women does not age well. I even find The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy - my FAVES as a youth - unwatchable. As far as films that I can still rewatch, I’ve got little to offer beyond The Blues Brothers and Caddyshack. And I still enjoy the first few seasons of Andy Griffith before Don Knotts left. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/299 "2024-06-20T22:30:28Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Barney Miller > Sanford and Sons > WKRP > The Odd Couple… Geez, I binged both _Barney_ and _Wkrp_ and they are both still wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064/300 "2024-06-21T01:43:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Early in the thread there was a lot of mention of _MASH_ the TV show. The movie definitely doesn’t hold up. It suffers from a terminal case of Altmanism but worse than that all the characters are assholes. Ther really isn’t one character you can empathize with. You know, I think the M\*A\*S\*H movie was supposed to be anarchic and politically incorrect, and it still is, but in a different way. When it was new, the racism and sexism probably didn’t raise any eyebrows, but the language and disrespect of authority were probably somewhat scandalous. Now, the language in irreverence are no big deal, but the sexism and racism are unaccepable. In that sense, it holds up surprisingly well. I think the characters were meant to be assholes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-rewatched-after-years-and-have-held-up-things-that-have-not/1001064.md?page=16)