The Best TV Shows and/or Series Past/Present

**maxx** · May-25-10, 08:55 PM

St. Elsewhere. The show took on controversial topics long before it was the norm.
WKRP in Cincinnati
M*A*S*H
Newheart [[the one where he owns and Inn) and where he was a psychologist
Murphy Brown for Grant Shaud's performances
South Park for its irreverence towards everything
Futurama
Northern Exposure for its portrayals of native Americans
Fawlty Towers for the manic performances of Cleese and the actor playing the Spanish waiter
Black Adder
Rocky and Bullwinkle

**Jimaz** · May-25-10, 08:58 PM

Retroactively adding Monty Python's Flying Circus to my list of cream-of-the-crop TV. I think I omitted them because I was taking their genius for granted.

**rb336** · May-26-10, 08:09 AM

adding Black Adder

and another failed show -- Brisco County Junior

**Johnlodge** · May-26-10, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by rb336

adding Black Adder

Ah, but which Blackadder? I liked Blackadder II, Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth was genius, and you get Hugh Laurie's old partner Stephen Fry. Blackadder the Third actually had Hugh Laurie in it.

Of course have all the Pythons on DVD.

**Islandman** · May-26-10, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by rb336

adding Black Adder

and another failed show -- Brisco County Junior

Loved Brisco County Junior! He's doing pretty good as the sidekick on Burn Notice.

**Downriviera** · May-26-10, 10:02 AM

Here are a few shows from the past I enjoyed watching as a kid growing up, when I actually had time to watch tv:

The Man From Uncle
Outer Limits
The Immortal
The Invaders
Highway Patrol
Rat Patrol
Evil Touch
Land Of The Giants
Adam 12
Mission Impossible

**ggores** · May-26-10, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

I actually had time to watch tv

You know it! So much fantastic television, so very little time to watch it all. Here's some mo:

5) Soap [[mentioned multiple times here I notice)
6) The Chris {can't remember his last name} Show
3) Hart to Hart
2) This Week In Baseball
1) Hustle

and, of course, Fish.

**Detroitnerd** · May-26-10, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by ggores

3) Hart to Hart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSn9xPnjLps

**rb336** · May-26-10, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Johnlodge

Ah, but which Blackadder? I liked Blackadder II, Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth was genius, and you get Hugh Laurie's old partner Stephen Fry. Blackadder the Third actually had Hugh Laurie in it.

Of course have all the Pythons on DVD.

I am a rare bird that liked all the adders. oh -- let's ad Jeeves & Wooster!

**Johnlodge** · May-26-10, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

I am a rare bird that liked all the adders. oh -- let's ad Jeeves & Wooster!

And The Young Ones.

**Ragtoplover59** · May-26-10, 07:42 PM

MizMotown started with several HBO shows, One of my favorites from about 25 yrs ago was another HBO hit

Dream On
I got a DVD set for Christmas....still laugh my a$$ off!

**rb336** · May-27-10, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Johnlodge

And The Young Ones.

Punk Monkees

**rb336** · May-27-10, 09:33 AM

i forgot old cable shows --
Brothers and a tv version of steambath were good, and Bill Maher's Hard Knocks

**Detroitnerd** · May-27-10, 09:40 AM

Nobody picked "F Troop"?

**Downriviera** · May-27-10, 09:49 AM

Remember the good ole days of getting up to change the channel? And then spinning the dial in the little box to rotate the antennae on the roof. How I made it through life without a remote is a miracle.

**Gannon** · May-27-10, 10:50 AM

LOL, I was JUST signing on to praise the comedic genius of Forest Tucker and his gang [[especially Larry Storch) in F-Troop. Damn, you beat me to it, 'Nerd.

Watched that in B&W on the ol' Admiral, before we got the Monkey Ward's color set. Neither of them had their own remote, in our household...that was MY job. Turned it into a career...

Cheers

**rb336** · May-27-10, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Nobody picked "F Troop"?

the end of the civil war was near when quite unexpectedly...

yeah, I occasionally sing the theme song to annoy coworkers

Hogan's Heroes, another favorite, still funny as _____

**Jimaz** · May-27-10, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

Remember the good ole days of getting up to change the channel?

A TV that came along with our house was supposedly one of the first models to come with a remote. Of course the remote had been lost long before we ever saw it.

As part of the design though, it had a power-assisted tuner. As it sensed the attempt to turn the knob, some solenoid[[?) would kick in and turn it one notch for you. I always thought that was a decadently unnecessary feature but it was pretty cool at the time.

**GOAT** · May-27-10, 12:38 PM

Trailer Park Boys

Little Britain [[even the USA one short lived as it was)

Get a Life

Seinfeld

Modern Family

Carnivale

Benny Hill

6 Feet Under

**rb336** · May-27-10, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Downriviera

Remember the good ole days of getting up to change the channel? And then spinning the dial in the little box to rotate the antennae on the roof. How I made it through life without a remote is a miracle.

I remember those early remotes, with those little rods that looked like cigarettes. I remember that if someone jiggled their keys, the channel would change.

remember having to constantly adjust the "horizontal hold"

**Gannon** · May-27-10, 04:42 PM

Yeah, early remotes worked on ultrasonics.

The early infrared light remotes had big trouble with sunlight!

I'll never forget my first Midnight Madness sales event at Tech Hifi in Royal Oak, back in 1981, the manager was selling the first remote-controlled Aiwa tape deck...while the area manager hid behind a pile of speaker boxes with the remote in his hand. Danny the manager had the customer convinced the unit was 'voice-controlled'. One of the better practical jokes ever in my hifi career.

I'll never forget him egging the poor fella on, "Louder, it can sense unease. Make it a command." Don't remember if they sold it or not...

And it was actually the vertical hold that kept that horizontal line from scrolling the picture...either way it was a huge pain in the ass!

**Jimaz** · May-27-10, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

And it was actually the vertical hold that kept that horizontal line from scrolling the picture...either way it was a huge pain in the ass!

Although I do remember one TV that also had a horizontal hold. That never had much effect on the picture though.

I used to try to get the horizontal hold balanced so the black bar stayed in the middle of the screen. There was binary data hidden near that bar. It always had a counter of some sort clicking away in binary. Totally tubular!