The TV series “Fireball XL5” is nowhere near as riveting as it was when I was 8 years old. I think it was the intervening years of Lost In Space, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star Wars, etc. that did it. I’m still going to plow my way through it, though, because I have streaks of stubborn in me. I still like the models, though.
Oh, and ST:TNG is different now, too. I never saw the complete series when it was new; this is the first time, but still, I know that no matter how convoluted an episode is, unless it’s a 2-parter, whatever dire issue the episode is about, it’ll be resolved in an hour.
And I’ve noticed a very effective trick they used in “Leave It To Beaver”. I don’t know why they don’t use it more often, though maybe they still use it but I don’t watch those shows. The trick is the cameras are placed eye level with the Beav, so everything you see is from his POV. That’s so you have to look up at Eddie, Wally, and the teachers. Notice Ward and June are usually sitting down? That’s so the camera doesn’t have to tilt up to catch them.
Watching Gerry Anderson series nowadays is like watching Columbo (or Star Trek, or almost anything old, for that matter). They’ve become cultural artifacts. Even if you’ve never seen an episode before, you can usually tell what’s going to happen in the first few minutes, you’re so familiar with it. In other words, you’re not interested in seeing how it turns out, you’re just watching it for the sake of watching it.
This is why I’m probably never going to watch shows like The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire again. I don’t want them to end up like Batman or Leave It to Beaver in my mind.
But story arcs were just coming into existence in TV (outside of soap operas). And that doesn’t make them terrible – even today, Castle was best without them.
I’ve often revisited shows I liked as a kid, and nearly all of them hold up (the one major exception: My Favorite Martian). I liked shows with good stories, and stories are timeless.
I also have no trouble watching something in the context of its time. Further, most of the things people think are dated are elements that have nothing to do with the story.