# TV Shows (or other art...music, etc) you are embarrassed that you once liked **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446 "2018-05-02T01:39:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/21 "2018-05-02T17:02:11Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > 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. He was the center of the show, keeping the radio station going. IRL he and Loni Anderson had a really hot ‘thing’ together. However, she eventually met and hooked up with Burt Reynolds (and what a disaster that was, I think he’s not only bipolar, but a bipolar jerk). It is my unsway-able opinion that Burt Reynolds, jealous and one of the biggest noises in show biz, did something to cut short Gary Sandy’s career. He never did anything much after that, a couple of bit parts in movies and a lot of stage work. Which isn’t ‘nothing’. He was in a revival of ‘The Music Man’ and I think ‘Chicago’. No more tv, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/22 "2018-05-02T17:36:56Z")
**KISS**. Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/23 "2018-05-02T17:42:23Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > 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 recall his pulling a chain out of a concrete slab with his real arm. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/24 "2018-05-02T17:49:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > **KISS**. Need I say more? Oh, that’s awful! I have a, a _friend_ who still kind of likes them. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/25 "2018-05-02T18:06:41Z")
I used to love **Fantasy Island** when I was a kid. I still like Mr. Roarke (he was awesome) but the rest of the show was completely cringeworthy. I was also a huge **Vega$** fan. Can’t even watch that one anymore, it’s so dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/26 "2018-05-02T18:30:14Z")
I collected Patrick Nagel’s art in the '80s and paid a fortune to have the posters matted and framed. I was very proud of my good taste in high art: [http://www.liketotally80s.com/2011/10/patrick-nagel-art-in-the-80s/](http://www.liketotally80s.com/2011/10/patrick-nagel-art-in-the-80s/) In retrospect, I cringe at my taste. I know that he’s respected in some quarters and is collectible, but the art is so “cut-rate salon/manicure shop decor” to me now. At least it wasn’t Thomas “Painter of Light” Kincaid stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/27 "2018-05-02T18:33:46Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > 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. When ya comin’ home dad? Can we get together soon? BTW, the cat’s in the cradle and I polished the spoons ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/28 "2018-05-02T18:40:48Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I collected Patrick Nagel’s art in the '80s and paid a fortune to have the posters matted and framed. I was very proud of my good taste in high art: > > [Patrick Nagel — Art in the 80s | Like Totally 80s](http://www.liketotally80s.com/2011/10/patrick-nagel-art-in-the-80s/) > > In retrospect, I cringe at my taste. I know that he’s respected in some quarters and is collectible, but the art is so “cut-rate salon/manicure shop decor” to me now. I wonder sometimes if some of this feeling is due to the fact that people forget how ground-breaking a particular TV show, movie, art style, etc. was at the time, and now it seems cheesy due to lots of imitators. Not saying I’m putting Nagel in this category, mind you, but for those who weren’t around when things like **Hill Street Blues** started, it’s hard to get one’s mind around just how much of a breath of fresh air they were compared to what they had to compete with (HSB was one of, if not the, first TV dramas to use ongoing, interconnected story arcs in a series instead of single-serving episodes, but now, of course, everybody is doing that). ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/29 "2018-05-02T19:59:59Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > 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. Do the MeTV episodes use the original music, or the “replacement” music that’s on the DVDs? That could have something to do with it. Here’s a theory; when you were younger, you tended to watch, or at least remember, just the “good” episodes of shows. For example, a lot of stations would air just the “Barney” episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, but now, you get the entire series, including the “Warren” ones. Strangely enough, I remember what it was pretty much the other way around; I watched _Gomer Pyle, USMC_ in syndication for years without ever knowing that the black and white episodes even existed. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/30 "2018-05-02T20:07:53Z")
I remember once being impressed with the film **Natural Born Killers**. I was college-aged or thereabouts. I thought it was so deep, man. Then I hadn’t seen it for about five years, tried watching it again and it was just unwatchable. I couldn’t imagine what I ever saw in it. These days, I can get a little amusement out of how Micky Knox and _Zombieland_’s Tallahassee are essentially the same character aside from one being evil and the other being good. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/31 "2018-05-02T20:36:14Z")
I remember seeing Flash Gordon when it first came out it theatres. I thought it was awesome. I even remember telling my friends at school that they NEED to see it and described it as “Like Star Wars but way better”. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/32 "2018-05-02T21:42:17Z")
I really loved Aerosmith’s comeback era in the early 90s when I was in junior high. “Eat the Rich” and that pierced cow udder was like, the coolest. It helped that I could share my appreciation with my parents, too, like when I dug out their old vinyl copy of Toys in the Attic. Made me feel like a character from Dazed and Confused, another group of losers I mistakenly looked up to in my preteen years. Sometime before Armageddon came out (and that awful “Pink” song), I realized how cringeworthy Aerosmith’s whole shtick was. I can still appreciate some of their 70s work, and I wouldn’t say I’m _embarrassed_ exactly. But Aerosmith was a big part of my life for a couple years, and looking back, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. It was out of character for me, and it was exactly the sort of manufactured, cheesy corporate rock Nirvana (another band I loved at the same time, and still appreciate) was railing against. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/33 "2018-05-02T21:57:59Z")
See my username? Yup, that’s right. Back in my teens, I was a fan of Piers Anthony’s writings-- Not just the Incarnations series, but even Xanth as well. I started using the name “Chronos” online back then, and have since. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/34 "2018-05-02T22:19:41Z")
I don’t regret anything I’ve ever liked. There’s loads of that stuff I don’t like all that much _now_ of course. Embarrassment doesn’t even figure. Why would it? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/35 "2018-05-02T22:43:59Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I don’t regret anything I’ve ever liked. There’s loads of that stuff I don’t like all that much _now_ of course. Embarrassment doesn’t even figure. Why would it? Dude, have you _listened_ to Ted Nugent? Wang Dang Sweet Poontang is his magnum opus. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/36 "2018-05-02T22:54:36Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Dude, have you _listened_ to Ted Nugent? Wang Dang Sweet Poontang is his magnum opus. Never heard any of his music, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/37 "2018-05-02T23:00:43Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Never heard any of his music, sorry. I both forgive you and wish I was you. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/38 "2018-05-02T23:01:57Z")
Piers Anthony Boris Vallejo Foreigner ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/39 "2018-05-02T23:04:14Z")
_The Moody Blues_ did not deserve to consume my freshman year of high school as much as they did. I don’t even have age as an excuse: I was born in 1984. My freshman year was 1998-1999. Better music existed by then. Otherwise… hey, no regrets. _The Ramones_ rocked then and they rock now, as do Charlie Parker and Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446/40 "2018-05-02T23:29:12Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > 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. That’s how I feel: my tastes have changed, but that doesn’t mean I’m embarrassed. However, there are some things I used to like that make me uncomfortable now because they have outdated portrayals of race, gender, sexuality, etc. The first thing I thought of was [the scene in the movie “All of Me” where Steve Martin is trying to explain to the guru “put Edwina back in the bowl”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNV-WsmwfUA). I thought that was hilarious as a kid, but now it just seems stupid with an insulting quasi-“Indian” accent. I can think of some blaxploitation movies that I used to laugh at (not with) as a young guy, too. And comedies with a flaming homo character? Oy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-or-other-art-music-etc-you-are-embarrassed-that-you-once-liked/813446.md?page=3)