Sick of network TV....missing 80s sitcoms

YES!

Oh. You were asking someone else?

 

Forget 80s sitcoms, I think a revival of the over-the-top, high-concept stoopid shows along the lines of the 60s sitcoms would resonate. Something Gilligan's Island-ish. Something with an orangutan in the cast.

 

I want to punish my kids the way the Cosbys did; in creative, make-you-think ways. I'll always remember the episode where Theo is "put on trial" for lying and Cockroach is his lawyer.

Then there's the life lesson one where Theo wants to move out and Bill gives him money and starts taking it back for all the bills. When Bill says "you need a car" Theo smartly answers "I'll ride a bike" and takes back some money.

The show was great. My wife and I want to buy them on DVDs and mimic some of those creative parenting ways. I think they'd work.

 

I want my kids to have good family sitcoms like I grew up with.

Right now, how many of those exist?

The Middle - It's OK, but nothing special.
Modern Family - Fantastic show, but I don't think most kids would get it.
Two and a Half Men - Not for kids.

 

And the best part of all, when Bill asks Theo if he's planning on having a girlfriend. Theo says yes, then Bill takes the rest of the money out of Theo's hand.

 

That Cosby Show was fantastic.

Also loved Seinfeld but it was never as smart as Cosby.

 

Now that I'm a dad, I share some of the concerns of Pete and Mizzou, but I couldn't disagree more with the premise of this thread.

Reality TV is garbage, yes. Project Runway is the only reality show I watch, and only because you actually have to have talent to win the thing.

But this is the Golden Age of Television. Yes, even network television. I look at television now the way some people look at movie making in the 1970s. There is way more creative freedom than there has ever been at any point in the history of the genre. Premium cable channels have forced the networks to push the boundries of what's interesting and creative, and the results far, far exceed anything that was on television in the 80s. You're letting nostalgia skew your perceptions if you think the stuff from 20 years ago is better, overall, than what's on today. The Cosby Show was wonderful. It still is. The thing that strikes me most when I watch it now is how funny it was without every being crude or even particularly risque. Bad television comedy now is all about sex jokes. That's what makes Two and Half Men such a stupid comedy. It's lazy because it's all about banging whores. Of course I don't want my kids watching that.

However, the Cosby Show was the exception. (And its final seasons were not good.) Some of those shows still hold up, like Cheers and Seinfeld, although the final seasons of both were also painful, but shows like Night Court and Family Ties aren't anywhere near as creative as shows like The Office or Arrested Development or Parks and Recreation or Modern Family.

There are a lot of quality options out there, and if you're sick of crime procedurals, you just have to look around. Parks and Rec and Community are as funny as anything on television right now. The Good Wife is the best legal drama since the halcyon days of LA Law. Modern Family is the best family sitcom to come along in years, and it actually has a heart. It's not just snark. Chuck is as fun and as creative as any dramedy on TV. Mad Men, which is on most basic cable packages, has already established itself as one of the five best shows of the last 25 years. The arc that LOST has undergone over the course of six seasons is remarkable. It has reinvented itself so many times, it would make your head spin if you tried to explain it to someone who didn't watch, but it will probably go down as one of the most creative things network television has ever done. The first two seasons of Friday Night Lights I would put up against any drama from the 80s and win, easily. The Big Bang Theory, when it's on, produces more laughs than anything on TV. How I Met Your Mother has managed to tweak the three-camera buddy sitcom by playing with time in incredible creative ways.

And nothing in that paragraph even touches stuff on the premium channels.

If you think TV blows these days, you're not giving the right kind of TV a chance.

 

And I completely forgot to mention Glee!

 

*applauds thunderously*

 

Buy DVDs.

 

Ten network shows that are still peaking creatively, or maintaining the promise they showed early on, that you should be watching right now if you're interested in watching something other than CSI: Who Done it?, Or NCIS: Abracadabra!

1. Mad Men

2. Modern Family

3. Community

4. Parks and Rec

5. Breaking Bad

6. Glee

7. Chuck

8. The Good Wife

9. Fringe

10. Sons of Anarchy

 

I miss "Wings."

At the baseball game I covered the other day they brought in about a 10-foot long Subway for the press box. All I could think of is the "Big Sandwich" episodes on "Wings."