How do you know it’s not really HD? It almost certainly is, IMO.
As has been stated many times before, if a television show was shot on film and telecined with HD equipment, it is just as much HD as any modern TV show in HD.
If you’re looking for old TV series, the best thing is to get a DVB satellite receiver and a 1 meter Ku dish. There are far more channels trying to get carried by cable and the consumer satellite companies like DirecTV and Dish Network than they have space for. So these odd little channels will pop up and start broadcasting, hoping to get picked up. They’ll have their satellite coordinates on their web sites, and allow cable operators to pick up and air their programming, making money from the airing. And they’re unencrypted or Free To Air. And you’re free to watch as well.
I’ve always wanted to see Daria because so many people told me I was like the main character, but I didn’t get MTV until after the show had ended. I heard that they can’t release it on DVD because of music rights issues, so I’ll probably never be able to tell if I was like Daria.
You can hear the old Dragnet radio show on otrnow.com sometimes. Good stuff.
How good is your French? The whole series is available for $25.99 Canadian.
The Equalizer on the Universal HD channel might be real HD, but it looks low-def to me. Not as sharp and detailed as I expect HD to be. When there’s an HD commercial during The Equalizer, the difference is dramatic.
It’s been cropped to 16x9. Sometimes awkwardly so, with heads chopped in half. I wish they hadn’t done that.
I was wrong about The Equalizer. According to Universal HD’s FAQ, it was “re-mastered in 1080i HD from 35mm, reframed from 4:3 to 16:9 through tilt and scan.” Doesn’t look like HD to me, but maybe it’s just my old, tired eyes.
I would like to see “The Young Rebels”, a 1970 ABC series set in the early American Revolution. It starred Rick Springfield as a supposed ne’er-do-well (actually the leader of a young group of revolutionary fighters), Louis Gossett Jr (as a freed slave), Alex Henteloff (a young Ben Franklin-type), and Hilary Thompson (the young female go-between). It also starred a young Frenchman, Phillipe Forquette, as the young General Lafayette.
It was an excellent, although short-lived series, & it made one think about political priorities.
A major problem is that a lot of the independent channels, which used to show all of these reruns, have been bought up by all of these new smaller networks that like to show their own product during the 7 to 10(or 8 to 11) prime time. They are attempting to create a unique image to attract young viewers, and there’s not much room in their schedule for old shows.
I want Harry O and Rockford.
I know it got turned into “The Magic Schoolbus”, but I’d like to see the original cartoon, “Mission: Magic”. Also “The Banana Splits”. Also “The Goodies”. “The Prisoner”, too; but I suspect I might not understand it any better a second time around.
They don’t seem to rerun Mr. Wizard’s World anymore (most of the saturday morning pickins seem pretty slim these days, to tell the truth).
Oh, yes, Harry O totally slipped my mind. I used to love that show and wouldn’t mind seeing it again.
Thanks, SpazCat, I’ll check it out.
Y’know what, I just vaguely remember that. Wasn’t Karen Valentine on it? Or did she appear as a guest star?
Valentine was on Room 222.
My favorite was blown up after it ended, My World and Welcome To It.
Mystery Science Theater 3000. The stuff they showed on Comedy Central. Not the Sci Fi era.
/accidentally taped over “The Day the earth Froze” 
Already mentioned:
- Barney Miller
- Have Gun Will Travel
Not mentioned:
- S.W.A.T.
- Remington Steele
- Soap
Mission: Magic! is available on DVD from VCI Eclipse, who releases the Filmation/Entertainment Rights library. Although there are some similiarities, Mission: Magic! and The Magic School Bus have nothing to do with each other: School Bus was based on the Scholastic book series by Joanna Cole, the first of which was published in 1986, over a decade after Mission: Magic! stopped production.
The Trouble with Tracy. For bad TV, it can’t be beat. Regular half-hour sitcom, but approximately 130 episodes shot in one season! One season! Quantity, my friends, not quality!
Mr. Belvedere. I remember loving that show as a kid, and I’ve literally never seen it in syndication. I would absolutely love to be able to watch that show again. I doubt that it’s popular enough to ever be on DVD either.
I want “Herman’s Head” and “James at 15” (or was it 16? Or was that when he turned a year older…?)