And yet, if you took Breaking Bad, or probably most of today’s shows back in time 50 years, they’d probably wonder what kind of sick, drug addled, dystopian nightmare civilization we lived in.
“Wait, the hero of this show is a guy who becomes a drug lord???”
I don’t know if this counts since it was pretty recent but I was addicted to Lost until I read that the writers would read online forums to see what people’s theories were on where the story was headed and adapt the script depending on fans’ speculation. That ruined the entire thing for me.
A more valid entry might be Friends, I was quite young when I started watching it and would watch episodes on VHS almost every night. That show affected the behavior and humor of my entire (English) school. Watching them again recently, a lot of episodes just seem awkward, as if they’re trying way too hard. A lot of the acting seems bad even for a sitcom. Another reason was that I got into Cheers and Seinfeld which were obviously major muses for the Friends writers, and by “muses” I mean a resource from which they can blatantly and shamelessly steal.
I thought I was the only one who ever watched Rocket Robin Hood. I do regret finding clips of it online though, wish it had just stayed a fond childhood memory.
As a kid I LOVED Jonny Quest (the '60s original). In fact, there are a few episodes that I still remember fondly (the one with the spider-like robot controlled by Dr. Quest’s arch-nemesis {whose name escapes me at the moment} and the one with the weird “energy monster” that wreaks some MAJOR havoc on some island or peninsula somewhere {I think} before being zapped away by Dr. Quest and his helpers at the end of the episode). But I was watching some of those a while back and there was one that had a dinosaur in it and at one point in that episode Dr. Quest says something along the lines of: “I sure feel sorry for all the humans who had to deal with these in prehistory!” The show lost me at that point.
Hey, if there’s a dinosaur NOW, who’s to say there weren’t any back in caveman days? 
Dr. Zin.
Called simply “Dr. Z” in The Venture Bros.
Are you sure he said “humans”? :dubious:
I can, like, totally relate to other creatures having to deal with T. rex.
Just chiming in:
The only dinosaur I remember was the pteranodon (unless you want to include the “sea serpent” in the last epi), and I don’t remember that line about “…prehistory.” HOWEVER, several of the original episodes were re-dubbed later to make them more “PC” :mad: and maybe you caught a later re-dub (?). :dubious:
I’ll spare you the in-depth analysis, but JQ was, for a cartoon, rather sophisticated and non-pandering-to-kids (despite the obligatory 60-90 seconds where Bandit did something anthropomorphic or similar hijinx). Yer Dad would probably watch it, and if 7 year old racepug needed something “technical” explained, you weren’t going to get Go ask your mother.
Can you believe the original run was only 26 episodes? I bet if you go to IMdB and call up the series description and peruse each episode re-cap, you’ll recall 24 of 'em in exquisite detail.
I gotta go buy that DVD set. Later.
Also it became very formulaic after a while. While there were some great jokes / scenarios in there (and it influenced so many other shows), you forget how many jokes were based on the following structure:
Character says something silly or exaggerated (that’s not even a plausible thing for that character to say), other person makes sarcastic comment, <laughter>.
Nevertheless, I think it’s still watchable. I couldn’t call it awful.
Japanese “Friends” (courtesy of “The Simpsons”):
Japanese “Phoebe”: You are the emperor of last year!
Japanese “Chandler”: Your comeback shames me.
I think that’s sort of boilerplate for all sitcoms. My wife can’t get enough of Golden Girls, but I’m certain that most of Dorothy’s trademark withering comebacks would get her a hearty slap or claws to the face in real life.
I remember Newhart once had an episode that was put together as if it were an ordinary sitcom, and by doing so highlighted how stupid most sitcom tropes are.
Three pages and no Dark Shadows?! I have all the books, the new movie and Night of Dark Shadows and a couple of compilations but I can’t watch 'em anymore. Ouch, bad barely describes it.
You may not be aware of this, but a while back the Hercules package had the theme song re-done by JOHNNY NASH (“I Can See Clearly, Now”)! It is plug awful and brings that show down to a sub-basement level I wouldn’t have believed possible. I mean, imagine no more:
Hercules, he is a big, fat phony,
Hercules, made of cheese and baloney.
Fighting for his life with a rubber knife
With the strength of ten flimsy paper men
That’s the mighty HERCULES!!!
Pile on with your version (c’mon, you know ya wanna). 
Jonny Quest is painful for all of the racist and ethnic stereotypes in it. ALL of the natives were gibbering and superstitious idiots and almost all foreigners (non-Americans) were treacherous. The show seemed like it was a co-production of the the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan.
While the The Venture Bros. skewers it pretty well, the original series still doesn’t hold up very well after all these years.
Hahahahahahahaha!! I gotta find me that Venture Bros. take on Jonny Quest. Another thing that my wife found ridiculous about that show was the fact that “Hadji” was, in some ways, made to seem Muslim, but that he was dressed (with his turban, and all) more like he was a Sikh, or something. Anybody else have a “problem” with that?
Not so long as he keeps on going “AIEEEEE, Jonny!” when the script calls for it.
Or, “Sim, sim, sallah-bim.”
I used to watch both Bones and Criminal Minds.
Well, IMO, Bones got stupid. And Criminal Minds got WAY too disturbing.
Bummer, too, because they used to be good shows…
I guess I’m too old,I always thought Haji was pretty progressive AND I thought he was an Indian…
Allowing for normal cartoon shorthand, url=http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/072/9/0/hadji__sim_sim_salabim__by_malakismarvels-d4sp83w.jpg]he seems to be dressed like a typical Afghan, with turban and all.
Being made to seem Muslim and dressing like an Afghan isn’t inconsistent.
