So many streaming services. One of the best things about ones like Tubi and Pluto is you can revisit shows from your past, things you thought were awesome or hilarious, things you wasted time on as a kid. What I've learned from sorting back through some of the pieces of my past life is that some shows hold up really well over time. Others, not so much.
Shows that seem timeless:
The Andy Griffith Show
Cheers
Frasier
Perry Mason
Star Trek (original). Yeah, the acting is terrible, but it broke new ground and the CGI is spectacular for that time frame.
Columbo
Gilligan's Island
Shows that are still good but not as good as I remember:
Miami Vice
Still one of the best shows in TV history, though. The music is outstanding, the colors so vibrant. It was a different kind of show. And the guest stars... Julia Roberts at her smoking hottest, Bruce Willis, Ted Nugent, Penn and Teller, Gene Simmons, Giancarlo Esposito, Liam Neeson, Glen Frey, Sheena Easton, Ed O'Neill, Burt 'Paulie' Young, Dennis Farina, Frankie Valli, Liddy, Zappa, Bill Paxton, Tex Cobb, Vincent D'Onofrio, Annette Benning, Lou Diamond Phillips, Helena Bonham Carter and so many, many more. It might be a little dated and cringey, but it's such an easy, smooth watch. I never wanted to be anybody as much as I wanted to be Sonny Crockett.
Batman (1966) Still fun, still campy but it doesn't hold up.
Magnum
Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Seinfeld - humor is very dated
Charlies Angels
Brady Bunch - fact is, this was the beginning of the emasculation of the American male. It's actually subversive in that way.
Happy Days - I never liked this show and it doesn't really hold up. Richie Cunningham is a complete goober, the grown up colorized Opie who I disliked with intensity.
Silk Stalkings, Pacific Blue, and La Femme Nikita, the USA Network's first few entries into Drama (the visuals are very dated, 90s style, but Peta Wilson was so slinky hot you had to watch).
A few shows that are absolutely awful in retrospect:
Welcome Back Kotter - SO bad. Cringy and very unfunny, Kaplan in particular.
One Day at a Time: Except Valerie was so freaking cute and I even thought the ginger mom had some sexiness to her
What's Happening - When you've got The Jeffersons and Good Times, this just doesn't fit.
Three's a Crowd
The Ropers
Diff'rent Strokes and the spinoff Facts of Life
Gimme a Break
Eight Is Enough
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