What OLD series/movies are you watching? *Spoilers welcome!*

[O2Bfree]

Been watching The Love Boat on MeTV lately. Takes me back to the time when cruising was more glamorous, people behaved themselves on board, dressed better for dinner than on many ships these days, and the ships were smaller and more intimate.

Another thing I like about this show is the great variety of TV stars and other talent that make guest appearances. Tonight there's Dick Martin, John Astin, Lola Falana, Barbi Benton, Donna Mills, and others. I'd bet that the list of guest stars for that show is longer than the list for any other TV series of the time.

 

[Route246]

I buy old TV shows on DVD from Amazon, Ebay, etc. I rip them using Handbrake to convert them to MP4 and copy to iPad Mini and watch one episode each night before falling asleep. I can watch these in bed in the dark using airpods without disturbing my wife.

This is not binge watching, more like just watching an episode per night, sometimes falling asleep during the episode so have to replay it again the next night. Found this to be a great way to fall asleep, too.

Recently finished all seasons of Emergency, currently watching all seasons of the original Mission Impossible. Have many more DVDs ready to be ripped like Car 54, Batman (original series), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Wild Wild West, etc., the list is very long and these can be had used for pennies on the dollar of their original price.

 

[scfr]

Last night watched Casablanca on DVD (from the library). I've watched it approximately half a dozen time but this time was different because the TV screen size was much bigger than I've viewed on in the past. I've always loved the story and dialogue, but this time I was in awe of the cinematography! I rewatched it a 2nd time with commentary by Roger Ebert (a bonus feature on the DVD) . . . I love listening to that man talk about movies, and learned so much from him! As a result of listening to the commentary, I've added 2 more classic movies to my list: Double Indemnity and M (starring Peter Lorre).

 

[Qs Laptop]

Last night watched Casablanca on DVD (from the library). I've watched it approximately half a dozen time but this time was different because the TV screen size was much bigger than I've viewed on in the past. I've always loved the story and dialogue, but this time I was in awe of the cinematography! I rewatched it a 2nd time with commentary by Roger Ebert (a bonus feature on the DVD) . . . I love listening to that man talk about movies, and learned so much from him! As a result of listening to the commentary, I've added 2 more classic movies to my list: Double Indemnity and M (starring Peter Lorre).

Yes, I recently watched a clear copy of Casablanca on a large screen and it's awesome! The scene of singing duels of the national anthems between the Nazis and the French is a very intense scene and full of symbolism and serves as an inspiration for the downtrodden French people. I get goosebumps every time I see it.

 

[Rianne]

Recently watched Cool Hand Luke, Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, and Gaslight (1944). I'm tired of recent series and when I'm watching by myself I enjoy delving into the past. I enjoy black and white versions. There's a mystery in the lighting, shadows, and angles that intrigue me. HBO Max and a good variety of old films.

 

[SumDay]

Sons of Anarchy
Modern Family
The Office
Friends
I have a huge list that will hopefully get us through the writers & actors strike.

 

[scfr]

Yes, I recently watched a clear copy of Casablanca on a large screen and it's awesome! The scene of singing duels of the national anthems between the Nazis and the French is a very intense scene and full of symbolism and serves as an inspiration for the downtrodden French people. I get goosebumps every time I see it.

Yes - it never fails to bring a tear to my eye! It was interesting to hear Roger Ebert's comments about the number of European immgrants/refuges who were in the scene and indeed in the entire movie. He logically concludes that there is an authenticy to their emotions that comes across to us viewers.

 

[steelyman]

For the Casablanca fans out there: you may know that the film is based on a stage play, Everybody Comes To Rick’s. That script is available on the Internet:

http://vincasa.com/Screenplay-Everybody_Comes_to_Rick's.pdf

 

[JoeWras]

I watched The Thing from Another World (1951) last night.

Wow, just wow. One has to put this into context. If this movie dropped into our lap today, we'd obviously have some issues with the special effects and spare sets. Although... The man-on-fire scene may be one of the best in cinematic history. Yeah, it was crazy dangerous.

Take it for what it is for 1951. This movie along with The Day the Earth Stood Still (same year) defined a new genre. One could argue the genre of horror sci fi actually never reached the quality of these two movies again for decades, with just a few exceptions thrown in like The Fly (1958).

The movie keeps you guessing and on pins and needles. You wonder why everyone is so laissez-faire about hanging out with an alien, and then realize the context of the time. They just went through WWII. Aliens are nothing.

Also keep watch out for the "crazy scientist" character. Then watch Alien, and realize the basic premise of both movies is the same.

Alien is the resurgence of horror sci fi that has direct roots in this original The Thing. Watch them back to back and be amazed at the similarities.

One more thing: John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), is a great movie too. He pretty much throws away the tension of having to save the alien and focuses on the body horror of a shape shifter. There is perhaps no better body horror movie out there, until Cronnenberg redid The Fly a few years later.

 

[FLJim]

For the Casablanca fans out there: you may know that the film is based on a stage play, Everybody Comes To Rick’s. That script is available on the Internet:

http://vincasa.com/Screenplay-Everybody_Comes_to_Rick's.pdf

For the fans out there of Casablanca, there is a great documentary on the film on YouTube. Great commentary and even surprising. The writers were actually writing the script as they filmed and they didn't know how they would eventually end it.

 

[JoeWras]

I started crusing Tubi last night and ran into "Laugh-In".

Woah.

First of all, a flood of memories. This show was inexplicably on early enough in Central time for me to watch it. Of course my older siblings absolutely had to see it.

Second, some has not aged well at all. Of course, much of it was very much devoted to the issues of the day. It was kind of fun to try to understand what events they were referencing. It is just that there are some stereotypes that were funny and mildly uncomfortable at the time that are very uncomfortable today.

Finally, no doubt there were a lot of innovations. A lot is derivative of earlier comedy, but broke through walls of television production of the time. No wonder the teenagers loved it.

 

[O2Bfree]

I started crusing Tubi last night and ran into "Laugh-In".

Woah.

First of all, a flood of memories. This show was inexplicably on early enough in Central time for me to watch it. Of course my older siblings absolutely had to see it.

Second, some has not aged well at all. Of course, much of it was very much devoted to the issues of the day. It was kind of fun to try to understand what events they were referencing. It is just that there are some stereotypes that were funny and mildly uncomfortable at the time that are very uncomfortable today.

Finally, no doubt there were a lot of innovations. A lot is derivative of earlier comedy, but broke through walls of television production of the time. No wonder the teenagers loved it.

I found a few seasons of Barney Miller on Tubi, and then found the entire series on Uncle Earl's Classic TV Channel (https://www.solie.org/ClassicTV/index.htm). I still find it to be pretty funny and well-written, and my feet still start tapping to the jazzy opening theme.

Same thing about some of the stereotypical and racial humor being outdated. However many modern shows use the same types of humor and it somehow seems more ok to me. Such as The Big Bang Theory. Seems like in the older shows, the stereotypes and racial jokes were delivered with more intention, while in the newer shows there's usually a greater sense of jesting.

 

[Phroig]

Our local PBS station does Saturday night movies. We watched the excellent “In the Heat of the Night” this past weekend.

 

[GenXguy]

I watched an old Gunsmoke episode on MeTV a few days ago. It was one of the older black and white episodes. It's really the only old western TV series I like. I went through all 20 seasons a few years ago, then later watched about the last 10 seasons a second time.

I'm still working my way through Star Trek (Original Series) with maybe 4 or 5 episodes to go.

 

[MarieIG]

Not watching the series, but I saw an episode of Hazel. She had a dream that her job would be replaced by a machine . . .

 

[MichaelB]

Basted on an earlier post here I started watching Barney Miller on Amazon Prime. It makes me laugh out loud like few other shows.

That was the push Amazon needed to take it off the “included with Prime”. I’m now watching it on Tubi, but they have commercials and only 2 seasons, so another couple of weeks and I’m done.

I watched a couple of episodes of Laugh In but don’t find it as funny and won’t continue.

Tubi has fewer commercials than other streaming options but they still are a bother.

 

[ncbill]

I think my Tivo has finally recorded all episodes of "Mannix."

I'm still working my way through the first season.

I also enjoyed showing my new rookie patrol officer kid some old Adam-12 episodes.

Especially the driving course episode.

I've told him to let me know when he gets called out to "a 415...fight group...with chains & knives."

 

[Qs Laptop]

I think my Tivo has finally recorded all episodes of "Mannix."

I'm still working my way through the first season.

I went through the first several seasons of Mannix last winter. The first season is kind of weird because Mannix works for a government agency instead of having his own business.

I remember an episode from early in the first season where Mannix is trying to find a college-age girl. He walks into a groovy nightclub smoking a cigarette and starts waving the air as if to get the smoke out of his way. I remember thinking to myself why would he be waving away smoke if he's in fact, smoking a cigarette? Then I realized he was waving away a different kind of smoke. LOL.

And then I was quite surprised to see Buffalo Springfield was the band playing in the nightclub, a band which featured a young Neil Young.

 

[MichealKnight]

I could live on this thread

Indeed. As I have just woken up, getting ready for my walk.....and today's t-shirt reads "Because I was inverted" with Top Gun color scheme and I sit in my basement home theater which has oh, 20-25 official framed posters, and large black and white pictures of actually scenes from movies and shows I can look around and say -the newest one is from 1994, which would be Shawshank Redemption.

Yesterday: Return of the Jedi. On weeknights, I cook dinner for the kids while DW rests upstairs. Most days a Star Wars movie will be on and we partially watch, and partially its just background noise. I've seen the originals ....no less than 100 times a piece and I'm perhaps more into it now than when I was a kid.

I also saw an episode of KnightRider yesterday.

Today will be 2 episodes of MASH - no I Don't cherry pick them, whatever is next on my MASH DVD set.

And I'm feeling very counterculture today so I will be watching Family Ties also.

 

[DrRoy]

Unless I missed it, I can't believe that no one mentioned the
original Twilight Zone.

Also enjoy Mad About You and How I met Your Mother.

Perhaps my most re-watched movie is Last of the Mohicans (1992).

 

[Andre1969]

I have the Twilight Zone set to record on the DVR, from MeTV. It's interesting how, as I get older, I look at some of the episodes in a different light. For instance, when I was a kid, my favorite episodes were the ones involving space travel, alien invasions, and the ones that were more scary/action-oriented.

But now that I'm getting older, I can appreciate some of the others, as well. One of the episodes that hits me pretty deep, I think it's called "Night Call". It has Gladys Cooper in it, and I think that stocky lady that played the housekeeper on "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." Anyway, it involves a bedridden old woman who has wasted her life away, has one last chance at some kind of happiness, and screws it up.

To me, that's what's really scary. Being old, bedridden, regretting your life, knowing you don't have much time left. Moreso than being wished into the cornfield, endlessly harassed by a disheveled little hitchhiker, ending up as one of the entrees on an alien's menu, or being chased down by your driverless '56 Ford in the rain.

One of the episodes, "The Bewitchin' Pool", I even look at as sort of an allegory for early retirement. I forget the exact line, but it goes something like "Oh, those voices? You'll hear them good and strong for a bit, but over time they fade, and eventually, you don't hear nothin' at all." It makes me think of retiring, having second thoughts about it at first, but then eventually wondering why you didn't do it sooner!

 

[JoeWras]

I watched a couple of episodes of Laugh In but don’t find it as funny and won’t continue.

Yep. There's a reason you don't see Laugh-In running in syndication. It is ponderous after an episode or two. One way to summarize watching it today is: "You had to be there."

I'm going to guess that Love American Style is similar.

 

[ncbill]

I went through the first several seasons of Mannix last winter. The first season is kind of weird because Mannix works for a government agency instead of having his own business.

I remember an episode from early in the first season where Mannix is trying to find a college-age girl. He walks into a groovy nightclub smoking a cigarette and starts waving the air as if to get the smoke out of his way. I remember thinking to myself why would he be waving away smoke if he's in fact, smoking a cigarette? Then I realized he was waving away a different kind of smoke. LOL.

And then I was quite surprised to see Buffalo Springfield was the band playing in the nightclub, a band which featured a young Neil Young.

It's actually Neil Diamond:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641672/

And the show's setting the first season was changed to jut an office with an assistant because the original setting was deemed too expensive to continue to produce.

 

[FLJim]

Yep. There's a reason you don't see Laugh-In running in syndication. It is ponderous after an episode or two. One way to summarize watching it today is: "You had to be there."

I'm going to guess that Love American Style is similar.

Humor is definitely generational and what amuses one age-group will totally mystify another age-group.

 

[FLJim]

It's actually Neil Diamond:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0641672/

And the show's setting the first season was changed to jut an office with an assistant because the original setting was deemed too expensive to continue to produce.

Went off to college for 4 years in 1966 and that was the end of my watching TV, at least for weekly series. So bought the complete Mannix DVD's a few years back and really enjoyed what was a pretty cutting-edge and successful P.I. program from those years. Mike Connors was fun to watch and it looks like he took a beating just about every week! And Peggy was there every week!