A few more:
Carol Burnett Show
Hee-Haw
Black Sheep Squadron
Around this time last year, the AV Club round table column did a feature on the infamous “WKRP in Cincinnati” turkey drop episode. I was rather surprised that most of the site’s reviewers and a large number of the commenters said they had never seen the show and were unfamiliar with it. I know that its been kept out of regular reruns because of music rights, but still In my youth, this was THE show that everybody watched, knew about, could recite lines from.
“Will & Grace” doesn’t seem to be much remembered anymore. That’s not too surprising though since so much of its humor derived from making swipes at contemporary pop culture ("It’s not just bad, it’s “Mariah Carey in Glitter bad!”) and a parade of guest star actors who were already past their primes in the 1990s / early 2000s.
Ellen Degeneres’ sitcom and even her revolutionary for the time coming out episode seem like period pieces akin to “Boys in the Band” nowadays.
Is there an official name for the Love Boat / Fantasy Island type shows? A framing device with recurring characters, a handful of C-list actors, telling two or three unrelated stories running through each episode?
That seems to be a dead genre.
Battle of the Network Stars
Back in the late 70’s / early 80’s this was a HUGE annual TV event. Nowadays you would be hardpressed to find anyone under 35 who has even heard of it.
They, and Variety shows were staples of 70’s TV. Both are pretty much gone.
I will definitely watch it, then. Even though I don’t remember a whole lot about the second, truncated, season.
I love this show. Not only is it outrageously funny, it was a showcase for many talented black actors of the day. It was also nowhere near as racist as shows like ***Good Times ***in the '70s, IMHO.
Yes, but when was the last time you heard “Let’s go down to the R ‘n’ R for some cherry pie”? :dubious:
I do not believe I have ever heard that in conversation.
You can make a similar case for Circus of the Stars.
I think the main reason both of these eventually faded away is, back then, entertainment options for actors were so limited that you could get A-listers to appear on them, but in the 24-hour pop culture society of today, they don’t need the extra publicity. The closest modern day equivalent is Dancing with the Stars.
In a way, this is why The Love Boat and Fantasy Island won’t be back any time soon; who has time to appear on shows like these nowadays?
I’ll bet most people today don’t remember that Was The Week That Was. It was a (from all accounts – I’ve only seen a couple of episodes) savagely funny show featuring blackout routines, a fake news show commenting on current events, and the songs of Tom Lehrer. I refer to the American version – the earlier British version had, of course, a different cast. The folks involved on both sides of the Atlantic were a veritable who’s who of humor.
The show was never syndicated, and never put on video VHS or DVD. Most episodes apparently don’t exist any more. I saw a couple of them at the Museumm of the Moving Image.
A few years later, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In featured blackout comedy and a hack news broadcast, but was watered-down by comparison with TW3. Years after that, Saturday Night Live started up, with its skits and features and hack news broadcast. If they ever cancel SNL, sometime later another comedy show with skits, blackouts, musical numbers, and a hack news broadcast will be created to take its place.
Have you seen the* Today* show lately?
Desperate Housewives was a gigantic show when it was airing but seems to have completely disappeared from the cultural consciousness right after it finished.
One of the ESPN channels (ESPNU?) shows it. It is hysterical. Howard Cosell treating it like a real sporting event and doing play-by-play. Sometimes the stars are remarkably good athletes. Just this weekend I saw Tom Selleck crush the 200 yard dash. Cosell said he played basketball for USC, which I didn’t know.
We, here, watch Twin Peaks annually (or try to annually) from start to finish. Twin Peaks will never die here at Casa Sally Barry.
My 20-something is also, independently of us, a huge fan. Can’t wait for a remake. Also, there must be some kind of videogame thing for Twin Peaks, very popular with the young 'uns.
I think if they tried that now all they would get would be reality show participants looking for 15 more minutes.
Queer as Folk. A very accurate look at gay urban life during the Bush years. Some of it dated very quickly, but I do think it had an effect on the rapidly changing perception on same sex marriage
I’ve occasionally heard “damn fine coffee” or “fire, walk with me” over the years. There have been numerous pop culture allusions to it.
The same thing arguably happened to The Jack Benny Show, because of the portrayal of Rochester, Jack’s live-in servant. Jack Benny was a hugely popular entertainer in the US for decades (first on radio, then on TV), but his shows almost never appear in reruns. Everyone knows who Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel are, and most people can conjure an image of The Honeymooners cast. But how many people today are familiar with Jack, Mary, Phil, Rochester, Don, Dennis, etc.?
I loved Doug. Thought it was the best of the lot (Hey Arnold! was second). I’m bummed that Doug isn’t still in syndication somewhere, 'cuz if I happened by it while channel surfing I’d probably stop to watch. Ren and Stimpy, BTW, started out great and devolved into a mess. Again, IMO.
What about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?