Redartz: Recently we were 'riding the retro', and in discussing the shows of the relevant year 1984, there seemed to be several of us less than enthused about the programming of the time. This got me to wondering, given the incredible wealth of classic television during the 70's, and the frequently high quality of tv during the last two decades, was there a slump during the 80's and 90's? This question forms the outline of our discussion today.
Rather than pontificate at length about my own opinions, I'll just present some evidence (subjective, admittedly) of the programming of these decades and let you all serve as judge and jury. A dozen shows from each decade were selected. All shows represented ranked in the top 20 by Nielsen rating at some point during their respective decade. Granted, there is some overlap in the time frames, but the shows are listed according to the decade generally associated with them. Is there an era or eras that stand above the rest? Was there a decline, or not? Let's look at the evidence.
1970's
Hawaii Five-O
All in the Family
The Mary Tyler Moore ShowSanford and Son
The Bob Newhart Show
The Waltons
M*A*S*H
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Rockford Files
Laverne and Shirley
Soap
Mork and Mindy
1980's
The Love BoatMagnum, P.I.
Hart to Hart
The A-Team
Newhart
The Cosby Show
Family Ties
Cheers
Miami Vice
Moonlighting
Alf
L.A. Law
1990s
Rosanne
Designing Women
Home Improvement
Northern Exposure
A Different WorldSeinfeld
Frasier
ER
Friends
NYPD Blue
Touched By an Angel
The X-Files
2000s
Law and OrderEverybody Loves Raymond
Survivor
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
The West Wing
American Idol
Without a Trace
Will and Grace
Two and a Half Men
Lost
House
Grey's Anatomy
2010s
NCIS
The Big Bang TheoryCriminal Minds
Blue Bloods
Dancing With the Stars
The Mentalist
Castle
The Voice
Modern Family
Scorpion
Bull
Empire
All right, the data is yours, and now you may put it to use. Which era has the strongest , most entertaining programming? Was there a slump, or is there now? Perhaps it's just different material for different times? Look over the shows; consider the times and your memories, then share your thoughts...
9 comments:
I was going to sit this one out (busy day, it's hot and humid as Satan's armpit where I am), because I don't really have strong feelings on any given era of TV programming. However since nobody else has chimed in yet, I'll throw in my 2 cents.
I really don't really have a 'golden era' of TV that I think is the best - I think programming has always been a mix of good stuff and, quite frankly, crap. I certainly like watching (some of) the old shows from the 1970s and 1980s when I was growing up, but that's due to nostalgia more than anything else. So while I may still like watching stuff like Sanford & Son, Magnum PI, the Fall Guy, Good Times or Buck Rogers, I can't say I honestly think any of those are high-quality shows.
Otherwise, I notice that the lists you posted based on Nielsen ratings doesn't include a lot of stuff that should be there, i.e., there are no first-run syndication shows, thus excluding all of the Star Trek series from the 80s through the 90s and early 00s (TNG, DS9, Voyager) which I like better than pretty much anything on those lists. It also doesn't account for shows produced and aired by HBO and other sat/cable networks, so no Sopranos, The Wire or Mad Men, for example, all shows there were much better than anything else being aired at the time.
Also, I see the 1970s doesn't include Columbo, which I think is hands down one of that decade's best shows.
Hmmm, well just going by the shows you've included, I seem to be watching a lot fewer shows now than I did as a kid. On the 70s list, I watched pretty much everything except the Bob Newhart Show at one time or another, and was a regular viewer of most of them. Same in the 80s (I never watched Moonlighting and rarely Miami Vice, Hart to Hart, or Love Boat).
But getting into the 90s, my viewing habits narrowed a bit (only 3 or 4 shows I watched regularly) and only 3 in the 2000s (I started watching Lost but gave it up after the second or third season). In the 2010s, Big Bang Theory (yes, I know, everyone hates it) and Modern Family are the only ones I'm really familiar with. I've seen Criminal Minds and Castle on and off, but ultimately got bored with both.
I don't know if the fall-off in my viewing says something about the shows, or about me; I don't have as much time as I used to for watching TV, but I also find that a lot of newer shows just don't grab my interest. I don't know if that means I'm more discriminating (some of those older shows are pretty goofy in retrospect) or if I'm just turning into some kind of curmudgeon who thinks everything was better in the "good old days".
But most of the stuff on your 70s list, and about half of the 80s list, are shows I could still enjoy watching, even if I've seen them multiple times. I'm not sure if the newer stuff will hold up that well.
I don't know if I can give one decade over the other.
It seems in every span you will get a couple of shows that are timeless and watchable. While the abundance of the shows are creatures of their times and don't really hold up well.
...and don't get me started on the game/reality shows from the last couple of decades.
I'd love to chime in but, as a practical matter, I stopped watching TV around 1979 when I started college. Never watched it at college, in the Army (in Germany), returning the USA...
That being said I /we (once married in 1990) had a very few choice shows:
In the 70s, Happy Days and Baa Baa Black Sheep
In the 80s, Magnum PI
In the 90s, X-Files, Femme Nikita, Xena
In the 2000s, Netflix, lol.
And that summarizes my boring TV-life, lol.
As to which era is better... Hard to say because in theory I get older and wiser and my viewing habits change. I would say that the 5 shows I've watched tend to hold up well except for Baa Baa b/c the special effects so amazing to a 13 year old, no longer are. But the other 4 I've watched when in reruns seem to hold up for me.
From Terry in Virginia:
1960s: Star Trek, Get Smart, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, The Monkees (!?)
1970s: MASH, All in the Family (first couple of seasons of each were the best), Barney Miller, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman
1980s: Hill Street Blues, Cheers, LA Law, Star Trek TNG
1990s: X-Files, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Deep Space 9, Xena, Hercules
2000s: NYPD Blue, Battlestar Galactica, 24, The West Wing, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (animated)
2010s: Homeland, The Newsroom, Designated Survivor, and on rare occasions I've watched the new Odd Couple and Big Bang Theory
I also follow the Arrowverse shows in the CW channel: not "great," but pretty enjoyable for lightweight fare.
A few opinions:
1) Addams Family was funny; The Munsters was NOT.
2) Mary Hartman Mary Hartman was a really weird, esoteric approach to tragicomedy: a sitcom without a laugh track. Really cool.
3) Hill Street Blues was the granddaddy of excellent writing, acting, and all around well executed drama. A game-changer.
4) The modern (2003-2009) version of Battlestar Galactica was unbelievably good. I've watched the entire DVD box set of all 4 seasons three times.
5) I loved "24," even though it lost some of its edge in the later seasons.
6) West Wing: On the same level of quality as Bochco's Hill Street Blues, Aaron Sorkin's drama was awesome!
7) The Justice League animated series were really well-written. Intended for kids, sure, but lots of references to DC's long history that only a lifetime comics fan would understand... highly recommended, in spite of the mostly unimpressive "animated" style of artwork.
Thanks for commenting, guys! I'd agree that there is both trash and treasure to be found in television from each era. And a good point was made about the absence of cable/streaming/Netflix shows. Perhaps with the changes in television viewership now, it's comparing apples to oranges...
I think your apples/oranges point is well-taken, Red. And even within the context of network viewing, it's hard to compare scripted shows with that relentless wave of (mostly AWFUL) "reality" shows that came into prominence because of the daggone writers' strike in the early 2000's. This current iteration of QUEER EYE is the sole example I can think of that really bucks the mind-set of that whole trend. (Although I'll confess that there have been some stellar individual performances in the talent-show formatted offerings-- but not enough to make me actually watch whole episodes---).
Looking through the lists, and tossing out reality programming, I feel like the 80's may have been a kinda weak decade for TV viewing over-all. Still some decent shows, sure. . . but that list looks a lot like it was repeating formulas and trends (and shows) from the previous decade-- no new visions or ideas. Whereas in the 90's there was an explosion of risk-taking shows-- the risk being either with genre or style or format or etc--: Northern Exposure; Seinfeld; Twin Peaks; ER; a lot of the quirky Fox offerings; and of course X-Files (which was almost hilariously dismissed by most established TV critics when it debuted-- ha!). And while trend-chasing has seemingly never STOPPED being the Programming Prime Directive for network executives (OMG. . . HOW MANY vampire/supernatural/paranormal-themed shows can be sustained at the same time?? And/or CSI-style grim procedurals???), there clearly has been a willingness to make a space for more original fare since the '80's banality, I think.
Not. . . that I've been watching THAT much on-going television, mind you. Most of my watching is now via Netflix; our local library; and the broadcast MeTV & AntennaTV channels-- ha!)
HB
I basically agree with Edo Bosnar that I don't think any one era of TV is the "best, though if I had to pick my favorite era, I guess I'd go with 1985-1995. NBC's Thursday night lineup has a lot to do with it, plus you've got the early seasons of The Simpsons, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, to name a few.
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