I recently watched episodes of Happy Days and Welcome Back Kotter and was flush with embarrassment at the fact I was a big fan of these shows when I was a kid. In fact, not only was I embarrassed, my reaction almost bordered on shame. Anyone else feel guilty (tongue-in-cheek, of course) that you liked something that you later found awful?
(Two shows that I liked and stil hold up…Mary Tyler Moore and the original Bob Newhart show.)
I used to like Ted Nugent.
:smack:
Most of the Harry Chapin songs I used to regard with reverence when I was a kid are really not that good. He has some brilliant work and a lot of cringeworthy crap. He did try to help alleviate hunger around the world, which he deserves credit for. But I probably didn’t need to spend all that time and money collecting all his albums.
My Favorite Martian. I used to love it as a kid, but it seems too contrived and schlocky now. The fact that there was no other science fiction available on TV at the time made up for a multitude of sins.
But most of what I liked as a kid – *The Outer Limits, Get Smart, The Addams Family, Star Trek, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Ed Sullivan * – holds up well.
I’ve been watching 80’s music videos and OMG they look so ridiculously dated now. Big frizzy mall rat hair, black leather pants and bras, spiked hair, and those idiot dark glasses on everyone, day or night. All trying to look so ‘cool’. What a bunch of douchebags, we thought that was so chic! Smoke machines and canned drumming and cold blue lighting. The music is another topic altogether. Some of this I still like, the videos and the music, but it’s so definitely dated. It WAS 35 years ago, after all.
I used to love The Beverly Hillbillies, but now I find myself cringing at a lot of episodes. The show ran for nine years, and the Clampetts were just as clueless at the end as they were the day they left the Ozarks. That goes beyond culture shock to borderline retardation.
Obligatory NSFW Patton Oswalt bit about 80s hair bands:
I was excited when WKRP in Cincinnati recently came to MeTV. I was a fan when it first aired and have not seen it since.
I watched 2 episodes, then removed it from my series record list. Zero funnies.
mmm
Beat me to it. I still have a couple of old Nugent albums in my collection. I never listen to them, but never got around to tossing them. Luckily my albums are in a closet in the basement, so I don’t have to worry about anyone seeing them.
I loved The Monkees show. I was really young, but I was a serious fan-girl. Ugh.
In the actual 80s, I thought that synth pop was only for douchebags, but I have since grown to like it. On the other hand, I liked Def Leppard which I am now embarrassed by.
I was a Fanilow. :o Mostly, I had a crush on Barry, and he does have a beautiful voice, but ugh! The songs themselves are nauseating for the most part. How could I have listened to that?
“The Partridge Family” I still admire their well-crafted pop songs, but ICK! And I didn’t think Susan Dey was any big deal, either.
Most 80’s and 90’s videos should make me embarrassed for being so earnestly tacky, but I still consider them cool because I rationalize that they were being campy on purpose.
“Classic era” Doctor Who. Ugh, every once in a while I check out a few episodes from some point in its run – a different Doctor, different decade, etc. None of it is very good.
Big fan of Prog Rock when I was a teen. Especially YES.
Watched Yessongs on Prime last night. I can still enjoy some of it…but *MAN *is it ridiculous.
Beverly Hillbillies was the first show that came to mind when I saw the thread title. I really enjoyed it when I was a teenager. Now I can’t watch it for even a few moments. TV shows from that era were such crap. I guess it is because we have much better quality shows now that they don’t hold up in comparison. I am surprised how little effort and money they put into something that would be seen across America in both writing and sets.
Another show I downloaded for nostalgia was the 6 Million Dollar Man. Again I was a major fan and even went to the interactive 6 Million Dollar Man ride at Universal at the time. But it is terrible. The sets are so cheap, the effects so cheesy, and the scripts seem like they were writing them as they were being taped.
I would have thought shows like WKRP would have stood up better, but I guess not, and I no longer have the hots for Lori Anderson.
About WKRP: wasn’t “Andy” with the fancy hair supposed to be the star? I can’t remember anything he ever said or did that was memorable.
As a child of the 90s people I know are apparently supposed to be pre-disposed to be embarrassed by what they liked. Everytime a boy band comes on or Spice Girls or something like that everyone’s like “omg I used to love this stuff I’m so embarrassed!!”
But why?
It was what was popular at the time, relevant for the time, and you consumed it like everyone else…I don’t understand why you’re embarrassed about it. I used to LOVE Saved by the Bell as a kid, then I watched it again while in college and, holy shit, it was cringeworthy and not funny AT ALL. But it’s not like I’m ashamed I liked it as a kid because it’s a kid’s show. Times change and so do tastes. I doubt the 8 year old me would love Westworld…but here I am.
Yeah I can’t come up with anything I’m embarrassed about from when I was a kid. Some stuff that was funny/cool when I was 12 aren’t funny/cool to me now at 39 but uhm…I’m an adult.
I used to be mad for the Monkees, big big time, when I was a tween in the early 90s. But they had put The Monkees back into syndication and it was a show for tween girls, and here I was a tween girl and I loved The Monkees. And it turns out they had some pretty good stuff going on beyond their silly TV show (their movie was great!) So I’m not embarrassed at that at all, except maybe for the fact that I eschewed every other “boy band” that I maybe should have liked in my era, and my guys were in their 50s when I was groovin’ on the show they made in their 20s.
Oh! I know. I liked Duck Dynasty for a minute (as an adult). I was over it slightly before the dad went Full Racist but to be honest I wasn’t surprised. They made no bones about their level of religious conviction.