Old TV shows - best and worst

[HalvOnHorseracing]

I hate to break up the hard line political discussion, but...

With the explosion of cable stations, and a lack of original programming to fill time slots, many stations are turning to old shows. There are even stations that show old programs exclusively.

It occurs to me that the old programming is just a way for hucksters to have incessant commercials about Flex Seal, Lipozene, super sunglasses, flashlights and so on. I have a hard and fast rule - if it isn't also sold in reputable stores, it's likely to be crap.

Even so, there are a lot of really cool old shows (I'll mention the Twilight Zone, a favorite with almost everyone). For the sake of establishing a boundary, let's say only programs that aired before 1975.

What does everybody think? If you owned a station that featured shows on the air before 1975, what would they be?

[MutuelClerk]

Get Smart. Soap ( 1977 sorry). Monty Python's Flying Circus. Dragnet. Honeymooners. Adam-12. Brady Bunch (Marcia Marcia Marcia). Laugh-In.

That's off the top of my head. That being said as great as a lot of those old shows are. TV has never been better than it is now. So many more channels and if you take the best show from each channel it stacks up quite well.

[jimmyb]

All In The Family
Mork and Mindy
Mission Impossible
The FBI
Hawaii 5-O

[chadk66]

slapshot

[thaskalos]

The Honeymooners
Sanford and Son
The Odd Couple (Klugman and Randall)
The Three Stooges (with Curly)
M.A.S.H.

[Zydeco]

Green Acres!!!

[Zydeco]

The Honeymooners
Sanford and Son
The Odd Couple (Klugman and Randall)
The Three Stooges (with Curly)
M.A.S.H.

Definitely Sanford and Son.

[Tom]

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
St. Elsewhere
The Fugitive
Laugh In
The one about alien invaders with Roy Thinnes
BATMAN! WOW! POW!

[lamboguy]

THE TWIGHLIGHT ZONE

[HalvOnHorseracing]

I agree that TV figured it out. We tape what we want to watch and blitz through an "hour" show in 40 minutes.

I would add the Lone Ranger, Mission Impossible, Perry Mason, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Dragnet, Peter Gunn (for the theme song by Henry Mancini), Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide.

The Italian side of my family had an addiction to Westerns that was passed down!

[HalvOnHorseracing]

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
St. Elsewhere
The Fugitive
Laugh In
The one about alien invaders with Roy Thinnes
BATMAN! WOW! POW!

The Invaders?

[Nutz and Boltz]

Shows before 1975..Honeymooners
I love Lucy
Twilight Zone
The Fugitive
Perry Mason
Gunsmoke
Steve Allen Show
Sid Caesar Show
Star Trek(the original)

[MutuelClerk]

Johnny Carson.....

[Nutz and Boltz]

Worst shows...Love Boat
Brady Bunch
Threes Company
My Mother, the car
Love, American Style

...and most of these were hit t.v. shows.:puke:

[MutuelClerk]

The Pink Panther.

Johnny Quest.

Kimba.

[MutuelClerk]

Soupy Sales. Was that just a Detroit thing or was it national?

[MutuelClerk]

Hello?????????? Mr. Ed.

Soul Train.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Others in the Worst category

Hee Haw
Three's Company
Ironside
Canon
The Flying Nun
I Dream of Jeannie (especially when Jeannie wasn't on the screen)

[fast4522]

The Ed Sullivan show.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Soupy Sales. Was that just a Detroit thing or was it national?

I knew Soupy Sales from game shows like What's My Line

[Nutz and Boltz]

Soupy Sales. Was that just a Detroit thing or was it national?

I loved Soupy with White Fang and Black Tooth.:lol:

[Nutz and Boltz]

The Ed Sullivan show.
Except when he had opera singers on. My old man used to say "open up the bathroom door!' Don't know what he meant by that.:lol:

[OntheRail]

The Saint
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Night Gallery
Bonanza
My Favorite Martian
The Streets of San Francisco
Francis the Talking Mule
The Life of Riley
The Lone Ranger
Flash Gordon
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Rat Patrol
McHale's Navy

:popcorn:

[baconswitchfarm]

Hogans Heros

[Nutz and Boltz]

Loved 'The Prisoner" with Patrick McGoohan, and The Avengers with Diana Rigg as "Mrs Peel " (had a crush on her ).

[Actor]

THE BEST .. in no particular order

Adventures of Superman 1953-59
Gunsmoke -- before Chester left the show
The Mickey Mouse Club, A.K.A., Annette's Big Boobs
Dobie Gillis
What's My Line?
Star Trek: TOS
Omnibus
The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite -- especially coverage of the JFK assassination.


WORST .. Of course I did not watch many of these so I could be wrong.

Liberace
The Beverly Hillbillies
Highway Patrol
The Flying Nun
This Is the Life
Captain Nice
My Mother the Car

[MutuelClerk]

Actor. I respect your opinions but the Beverly Hillbillies was great!!!

[dirt]

Combat

[Nutz and Boltz]

Combat

Good one,never missed it.

[Greyfox]

Bonanza
The Homeymooners
The Avengers
Duffy's Tavern

[thaskalos]

Actor. I respect your opinions but the Beverly Hillbillies was great!!!

:ThmbUp:

One of the BEST!

[letswastemoney]

I'm a bit surprised I Love Lucy remains on the air in the ultra-sensitive era. Ricky literally spanks Lucy on air for misbehaving in some episodes.

It's a great show though. I still watch if I see it come on (I think on the Hallmark Channel).

[porchy44]

"The Big Valley"

[MutuelClerk]

Bullwinkle.

Leave It To Beaver.

Hollywood Squares.

The Monkees

[Secondbest]

Twilight Zone
Hawaii 5-0
Carol Burnett
Star Trek
The Avengers
Alfred Hitchcock Show

[wisconsin]

Andy Griffith Show
Hawaii 5-0
M*A*S*H
Three's Company
Have Gun Will Travel

[Marshall Bennett]

Twilight Zone
Outer Limits
All in the Family
Sanford and Son
The Three Stooges (Shemp)
Beaver
*Little or nothing after the 70's.

[Marshall Bennett]

Actor. I respect your opinions but the Beverly Hillbillies was great!!!
I couldn't stand it either. As with Dick Van Dyke, My Three Sons, I Love Lucy, Flying Nun (<<< dumb as it gets) Mash, too many more to mention. :)

[jimmyb]

F-Troop

[Burls]

The Honeymooners
Sanford and Son
The Odd Couple (Klugman and Randall)
The Three Stooges (with Curly)
M.A.S.H.

The Odd Couple (Klugman and Randall) was the best!

[ElKabong]

The Sopranos
The Honeymooners
Picket Fences (for production quality and difficulty of scenes)
The Untouchables
Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Seinfeld
The Naked City
Cheers
Barney Miller
Car 54
Colombo
Dobie Gillis
Combat

[Burls]

The Sopranos
The Honeymooners
Picket Fences (for production quality and difficulty of scenes)
The Untouchables
Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Seinfeld
The Naked City
Cheers
Barney Miller
Car 54
Colombo
Dobie Gillis
Combat

I remember those really early episodes of the Sopranos in the mid-70s.
Tony was just a teenage punk running numbers - paying his dues.

[mostpost]

slapshot
Slap shot was a movie, not a TV show. And it came out in 1977.

[mostpost]

The Sopranos
The Honeymooners
Picket Fences (for production quality and difficulty of scenes)
The Untouchables
Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Seinfeld
The Naked City
Cheers
Barney Miller
Car 54
Colombo
Dobie Gillis
Combat

You missed the part about pre 1975. The Sopranos was on in the 2000’s Picket Fences, Seinfeld, and Cheers were on mostly in the 90’s. Otherwise a good list.

[mostpost]

F-Troop
I loved F Troop, but I was nine.

[OntheRail]

Thought of a couple more...
The Phil Silvers Show... Sergeant Bilko
Our Gang
Laurel and Hardy
Laugh-in

[mostpost]

The Golden Age of Television is now.
Sopranos
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Lost
Battlestar Galactica (The most recent one with Edward James Almos0
The West Wing
24 (The original)
The Walking Dead
Big Bang Theory
Greys Anatomy
House of Cards
The Handmaids Tale
Homeland
VEEP
Breaking Bad
Mad Men

[mostpost]

Thought of a couple more...
The Phil Silvers Show... Sergeant Bilko
Our Gang
Laurel and Hardy

I never understood the appeal of Phil Silvers. Maybe I was too young.

[mostpost]

The original Star Trek was by a long way, the inferior series in the franchise.

[summersquall]

Guns of Will Sonnett, Seahunt, the Invaders, Star Trek, Branded, Outer Limits, Family Affair. Less appealing were shows such as Lost in Space, McMillan and wife, Gilligans Island, That Girl, The Night Gallery

[Actor]

The original Star Trek was by a long way, the inferior series in the franchise.Some of the episodes were pretty bad, e.g., "The Squire of Gothos","Turnabout Intruder","Spock's Brain". On the other hand some were great, e.g., "City on the Edge of Forever","Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" and "The Doomsday Machine" three years after Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove introduced us to the term. My personal favorite is "Balance of Terror" which was a blatant rip-off of the excellent Robert Mitchum movie The Enemy Below.

[Secondbest]

The original Star Trek was by a long way, the inferior series in the franchise.

You have to put it the context of it's time. Special effects were nothing compared to later series. The creation of Mr.Spock and the casting of Leonard Nimoy was brilliant.

[Inner Dirt]

For some reason I only like old school Sci-fi and Horror like what is on MeTv's Svengoolie compared to anything modern. I would rather watch Frankenstein meets the Wolfman from the 40's than the latest Star Wars movie.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Some of the episodes were pretty bad, e.g., "The Squire of Gothos","Turnabout Intruder","Spock's Brain". On the other hand some were great, e.g., "City on the Edge of Forever","Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" and "The Doomsday Machine" three years after Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove introduced us to the term. My personal favorite is "Balance of Terror" which was a blatant rip-off of the excellent Robert Mitchum movie The Enemy Below.

However, the subsequent movies with the original Star Trek cast were pretty good. Which movie in any of the Star Trek spin offs tops The Wrath of Khan?

The scene where Kirk looks up and yells "Khaaaan" has been ripped off in a lot of other movies.

[Fred Mertz]

What I enjoyed as a youngster is different from what I enjoy now.


Then, I liked Our Gang, Soupy Sales (saw him in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) and other kid shows.


Now, I enjoy westerns that I was too young to comprehend in my childhood. For example, Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza and others. I enjoy B&W shows immensely.


As they say, they don't make them like they used to.

[Marshall Bennett]

A few sports related oldies :

Wide World of Sports
Sports Spectacular
Make that spare (bowling)
Yankee game of the week (Pee-Wee Reese & Dizzy Dean)
Daytime World Series games (teachers put tv's in classrooms)
Roller-derby (ugh)
Gillette Friday night fights (featured many of the best boxers)

[Nutz and Boltz]

A few sports related oldies :

Wide World of Sports
Sports Spectacular
Make that spare (bowling)
Yankee game of the week (Pee-Wee Reese & Dizzy Dean)
Daytime World Series games (teachers put tv's in classrooms)
Roller-derby (ugh)
Gillette Friday night fights (featured many of the best boxers)

How about this wonderful baseball oldie..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaxrzW3aSrc

[Actor]

The creation of Mr.Spock and the casting of Leonard Nimoy was brilliant.For some reason Roddenberry wanted the name to begin with "Sp" and end with "k". Spook, Spunk and Spank were considered.

First choice for the part of Spock was Martin Landau.

Nimoy thought he was going to an audition for the part but instead Roddenberry gave him a tour or the set and asked when he could start.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Fantasy Island
The Incredible Hulk
The 6 Million Dollar Man
Dallas
Charlie's Angels
Chips
Hill Street Blues
Cheers
Seinfeld
Friends

[Tape Reader]

Amos and Andy

[HalvOnHorseracing]

For some reason Roddenberry wanted the name to begin with "Sp" and end with "k". Spook, Spunk and Spank were considered.

First choice for the part of Spock was Martin Landau.

Nimoy thought he was going to an audition for the part but instead Roddenberry gave him a tour or the set and asked when he could start.

The network execs wanted Spock to lose the ears because it gave him a devil-like look. Roddenberry fought for the ears and the rest is....

Two other cool things. One of the early scripts had Spock punching a guy. Nimoy said that he didn't think that was what a Vulcan would do and came up with the Vulcan nerve pinch instead.

The other piece of trivia had to do with the live long and prosper sign he gave with his hands. Nimoy grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home, and at services he saw the rabbi make that V with his fingers. He just incorporated it into the character.

[Maximillion]

[QUOTE=MutuelClerk;2371841 Soap ( 1977 sorry). l.[/QUOTE]

Was just a kid when this was on....what a wacky,memorable show.
I think it worked somehow because the actors in it were so good.

[gfnut]

Mary Tyler Moore
Marcus Welby
My Three Sons
Lassie
Gomer Pyle
Dragnet
Bob Newhart Show
Ozzie & Harriet
Father Knows Best
Flipper

[VigorsTheGrey]

Green Acres
Beverly Hillbillies
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Laugh In
Johnny Carson Show
Groucho Marx Show
Twilight Zone
Night Gallery
Pink Panther
The Avengers
Dragnet
The Monkies
The Flintstones
Brady Bunch
Monty Python
I Dream of Genie
Smothers Brothers
Hee Haw
American Bandstand
The SoulTrain
Dating Game
Newlywed Game
Jeopardy
Match Game
Monty Hall Door Game
Batman
The one with all the chimps dressed up...
The soaps
Hawaii Five-0
Star Trek
Etc,...

[clicknow]

I only watched these:

Sky King (loved his little Cessna)
Sea Hunt
That Girl!
Bonanza
Andy Griffith Show
Soul Train
American Bandstand
Ed Sullivan Show
Jeopardy!
Twilight Zone

[JustRalph]

F-Troop

Believe it or not I have an autographed pic of Larry Storch hanging in my office........he still does conventions at 95

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0832415/

[Track Collector]

The Munsters!
The Addams Family.

[thaskalos]

The Wild Wild West (Robert Conrad) :ThmbUp:

[Marshall Bennett]

Oh my, had forgotten about Gomer Pyle and the Munsters. My favorite episode was when Gomer broke Carter's fake sword over his knee.

[Nutz and Boltz]

How about "The Untouchables"? Remember the uproar about the violence?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Cqu6iRC2E

[Red Knave]

-The Trials of O'Brien with Peter Falk before he was Columbo
-Wanted, Dead or Alive with a very young Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall. His weapon of choice, a holstered Winchester 'Mare's Leg' rifle. The pilot included a turn by Robert Culp from the series Trackdown. Which brings up another good show
-I Spy (say what you will about Cosby ... )

[Red Knave]

I never understood the appeal of Phil Silvers.Well, it was humor.

[Buckeye]

I hate to break up the hard line political discussion, but...

With the explosion of cable stations, and a lack of original programming to fill time slots, many stations are turning to old shows. There are even stations that show old programs exclusively.

It occurs to me that the old programming is just a way for hucksters to have incessant commercials about Flex Seal, Lipozene, super sunglasses, flashlights and so on. I have a hard and fast rule - if it isn't also sold in reputable stores, it's likely to be crap.

Even so, there are a lot of really cool old shows (I'll mention the Twilight Zone, a favorite with almost everyone). For the sake of establishing a boundary, let's say only programs that aired before 1975.

What does everybody think? If you owned a station that featured shows on the air before 1975, what would they be?

I mostly watch Jewelry Television (JTV), it calms my nerves.

Can I get a witness, or a higher Rep Power Score please?

[buzzy]

Rockford files

[Secondbest]

Two shows from Britain
Sandbaggers - about the SAS but very little violence
Blake's 7. Science fiction.Was on for 4 years .Great ending .

[Buckeye]

Are You Being Served?

[OntheRail]

In the SiFi area Dr. Who was another

[VigorsTheGrey]

https://archive.org/details/%40lum_edwards?&sort=-publicdate&page=2

Just get an HDMI tv adapter and hook up your device to a tv...!

P.S. there’s a bunch of filters to sort with on the left.

[GaryG]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Twilight Zone

The Sopranos was the best tv show ever, but is it old enough to be old?

[Buckeye]

Keeping Up Appearances

[Greyfox]

Have Gun, Will Travel

[fast4522]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Twilight Zone

The Sopranos was the best tv show ever, but is it old enough to be old?

I can agree to that.

[Tom]

The Invaders?

Yes! That's it. Thanks.

I gotta add the Beverly Hillbillies.
Could be the best TV show ever.
I still watch it and LMAO! :lol:

And of course, I Love Lucy!

[Zydeco]

"You got a ticket from a white cop in a blue uniform in a black neighborhood...when you had a green light now you're not going to fight because you are yellow?? What are you? A box of crayons????!!" Classic!!
https://youtu.be/d-0MvfRAEEc

[VigorsTheGrey]

Thunderbirds..!

https://archive.org/details/youtube-wLiH4xrCITI

[Marshall Bennett]

"You got a ticket from a white cop in a blue uniform in a black neighborhood...when you had a green light now you're not going to fight because you are yellow?? What are you? A box of crayons????!!" Classic!!
I loved this show. That was one of the best segments that begins when he asked the arresting officer "what do you have against black drivers". :lol:

[thaskalos]

IMO...there has never been a funnier TV show than Sanford and Son. 40+ years later...and time has done nothing to diminish the entertainment value of that show. :ThmbUp::ThmbUp:

[Zydeco]

Judge-"But I'm Black"
Fred-"You're the judge, that don't count!"

lmao

[Tom]

Two I forgot about - Homicide:Life on the Street, and Dallas.

[OntheRail]

Come on how could I forget....

All in the Family

[GaryG]

Upstairs Downstairs

[bugboy]

Howdy Dooty
pinky lee
soupy sales
johnny uma....spelling? was a rebel
friday nite fights

[Zydeco]

Old story I heard. Can't find it on you tube. On the Soupy Sales Show he did a skit where he had a bunch of kids sitting there and he said" I am going to write a letter on the blackboard and you tell me what you see" He writes A,,kids say A...he writes B....kids say B..... He gets to F.....kids say K! He writes F and kids say K! Soupy says "How come everytime I write F...you see K!" Think he got kicked off the air! Also the bit about ..."I want you to go into mommy and daddys purse and find the green paper and send it to me!!"
:lol:

[Tom]

And he got several thousand dollars in the mail! :lol:

Pinky Lee - that was one of my favorites, with Howdy Doody and Ding Dong School, and Romper Room (Eddie Flumdum!)

[bugboy]

And he got several thousand dollars in the mail! :lol:

Pinky Lee - that was one of my favorites, with Howdy Doody and Ding Dong School, and Romper Room (Eddie Flumdum!)

speaking of soupy it is said on air
I took my girlfriend to her first baseball game.
we held hands
i kissed her between the strikes
she kissed me between the balls !!!!!

[Nutz and Boltz]

unaired, but funny...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cherobZX9cc

[Marshall Bennett]

Old TV Westerns : Wagon Train
Rawhide
Tales of Wells Fargo
Cheyenne
Wyatt Earp
Have Gun Will Travel
Bat Masterson
Gunsmoke

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Howdy Dooty
pinky lee
soupy sales
johnny uma....spelling? was a rebel
friday nite fights

Yuma. Like the city in Arizona.

Also, it's Howdy Doody

[thaskalos]

Kojak :ThmbUp:

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Old TV Westerns : Wagon Train
Rawhide
Tales of Wells Fargo
Cheyenne
Wyatt Earp
Have Gun Will Travel
Bat Masterson
Gunsmoke

It would be hard to beat Have Gun Will Travel. It was a western version of Shakespeare - a morality play. I used to watch it with my grandfather all the time when I was young. My grandfather was an unabashed westerns fan and I think some of that rubbed off. I was much older when I figured out what the title actually meant.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

I can agree to that.

At it's best it was as good as TV gets, although perhaps it went on a couple of seasons too long.

[fast4522]

At it's best it was as good as TV gets, although perhaps it went on a couple of seasons too long.

More so with free tv series (ncis etc.), the pay channels have less seasons and episodes.

[Stevecsd2]

T.H.E Cat with Robert Loggia


It Takes A Thief

[Stevecsd2]

There have been several mentions of Soupy Sales. Someone asked if he was local or national. We saw him on TV channels in Los Angeles when I was a kid.

My parents HATED Soupy Sales! :mad:

[Marshall Bennett]

Old Cartoons : Deputy Dawg
Casper
Jetsons
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Popeye

[Nutz and Boltz]

"The Prisoner ",with Patrick McGoohan

Also" The Avengers" with Diana Rigg as "Mrs. Peel". I had such a crush on her as a teenager !

[HalvOnHorseracing]

The heartthrob of the 60's was indubitably Mary Tyler Moore

[Track Collector]

Anyone else remember The Time Tunnel? I think it came on right after The Green Hornet.


I remember liking Combat, Twelve O'clock High, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Sea Hunt too.

[Burls]

"You got a ticket from a white cop in a blue uniform in a black neighborhood...when you had a green light now you're not going to fight because you are yellow?? What are you? A box of crayons????!!" Classic!!

:lol::lol::lol:

I still remember when he told Aunt Esther that he was going to push her face into a bowl of dough and make ugly cookies.

:lol::lol::lol:

[ronsmac]

1.Mission Impossible 2. Good Times ( seasons 1-3) 3. I love Lucy 4.Johnny Quest 5. Spiderman 6. Star Trek 7. The Mod Squad 8. Combat

[ronsmac]

Old TV Westerns : Wagon Train
Rawhide
Tales of Wells Fargo
Cheyenne
Wyatt Earp
Have Gun Will Travel
Bat Masterson
GunsmokeI've been watching Trackdown on Saturday mornings lately. I've never heard of it until recently but really like it.

[incoming]

One that I found on You Tube....."You Bet Your Life" with Groucho Marx. It's a laugh a minute. Also "Amos & Andy"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ZaXJst18k&list=PLHaioNpr_GDbvsTj_taM-jO6C1658N1PC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsJ_-W5cmvs

[Tom]

How could I have forgotten DALLAS!
And Homicide: Life on the Street.

[Zydeco]

:lol::lol::lol:

I still remember when he told Aunt Esther that he was going to push her face into a bowl of dough and make ugly cookies.

:lol::lol::lol:

"Gorilla Cookies!!" Great joke!

[Wiley]

Anyone else remember The Time Tunnel? I think it came on right after The Green Hornet.


Yeah, loved it as a kid, as well as Batman and the Green Hornet. Land of the Giants was also of the same mold as the Time Tunnel and around the same time period. Both I think Irwin Allen productions. I bet they used a lot of the same sets too.

[ElKabong]

The heartthrob of the 60's was indubitably Mary Tyler Moore

Barbara Eden, by far

Ginger and Mary Ann
Elizabeth Montgomery, very underrated
Barbara Feldon

[Nutz and Boltz]

Barbara Eden, by far

Ginger and Mary Ann
Elizabeth Montgomery, very underrated
Barbara Feldon

Barbara Eden would be your "fantasy crush", a beautiful genie who grants your every wish! (pant,pant,pant !).:lol:

[Inner Dirt]

Anyone else remember The Time Tunnel? I think it came on right after The Green Hornet.


I remember liking Combat, Twelve O'clock High, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Sea Hunt too.


Those are both on MeTv early Sunday morning 2-4 am. Saturday night-Sunday morning is old sci-fi shows. They change the line up every couple months. Some of the shows they have on didn't have a lot of episodes.