Who was it, do you think, that came up with the idea of selling old TV shows on DVD? I mean, is that a brilliant idea, or what? Pure profit by tapping into nostalgia. I had never watched any old TV shows this way until I saw the first season of "MacGyver" at the library. I remember loving "MacGyver." I didn't remember a lot of the specifics of the show, but I remember liking it. So did A. So I checked it out and we watched a couple of episodes last night.
Wow.
It was both better and worse than I remembered. The nifty little MacGyver tricks were better, as I thought I was exaggerating in my memory the kind of shit they had this guy come up with on the spur of the moment (stopping a bomb with a paper clip---FOR REAL). The acting? SO MUCH WORSE. The cheese factor was about +200. The guy that played MacGyver wasn't so bad, although I don't know how he could have uttered some of those awful lines with a straight face, but the supporting actors were not so good. Some of them were so bad they were funny. Many were just bad. I don't know if the actors got better as the show progressed and got more well-known, and that's why I don't remember it being so bad, or if I just wasn't much of a drama critic at the age of seven, but in any case, the first two episodes had some horrifically bad acting.
This makes me wonder if I would have the same reaction to other shows I remember loving as a kid. I've watched a few re-runs of "M*A*S*H," and those were just about as good as I remember. But I'm afraid now to try anything else. Specifically, "The Cosby Show." I don't think I could handle it if the Cosbys made me cringe. Maybe it's better to be left with my golden memories of old TV. Because you know what they say: "You can't go back."
Ughhhh. Horrible flashbacks of rewatching Neverending Story. STOP THE PAIN.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you can't go home again...
I've had that experience twice. First was Batman. I used to watch it every Sunday morning before going to church. I remember being about 10 or 11 and thinking, "Wow, that's really stupid." I stopped watching it because I had gotten old enough to realize how bad it was.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see it again until I was in my 20s, after I had learned what "camp" meant, and realized, "Oh ... it was bad on purpose!"
The other one was Back to the Future III. I saw it at the Cinema & Draft House in Virginia Beach. A couple of years later it came on TV. I told my roommates that they had to watch it; it was the funniest movie I'd ever seen.
About a half-hour into it, one of them finally asked, "When's the funny part." I had to admit that the first time I saw it, I had just finished most of a pitcher of beer.
I wonder if it is just with the shows we used to watch and if we watch one we have never seen it might be good....nah....we are just more discerning as adults. And we have less time to waste on mediocre tv . :)
ReplyDeleteSo moving forward, we go and marry MacGuyver.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that the Cosby Show just as great - maybe even better - than I had remembered. E.T. = not so great.
ReplyDeletePartially it's that we only used to watch one episode of the show and then we had to wait a week for the next one to air. For example, I still think the Cosby show is pretty good if I watch one episode at a time, but more than about two on a row and I am SOOOOO tired of the Cos's schtick, and all the kids start to seem like little brats, and I just want to see Phylicia Rashad looking like a normal person for once (without make up and jewelry no matter what the occasion, even if they're just snuggling on the couch).
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what show is sooooo dated, and that's Seinfeld. Were the '90s really that trite? I wince so hard now when I watch it I almost say ouch.
ReplyDeleteBut the one show that has aged well, that I can still watch for hours every week? You guessed it! The Andy Griffith Show!
I loved, LOVED the movie "The Man from Snowy River" and it's follower: "Return to Snowy River" and then when I watched it recently, it was bad acting, cheezy lines, and just funny. But at least the horses were as beautiful as I remembered...
ReplyDeleteWe love, love MASH at my house.
ReplyDeleteI loved MacGyver - Richard Dean Harris with his sweet mullet! Although I fear that this show was as bad as you describe.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time watching any sitcoms from my youth as they are all rife with canned laughter and that shit drives me up a wall.
Meanwhile, I have no trouble watching movies from the 80s. They seem even better now than they did then.
Although I still don't get why Molly Ringwald was such a "heart throb".
Molly Ringwald? Red hair and pouty lips. Yowza.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I found that photo in this story, which you've just got to check out. 10 career-changing roles that were originally offered to someone else.