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02 February 2011

I am in seventh heaven! [More:]
A new TV channel, Sky Atlantic, started yesterday. I checked the schedule today and, apart from shows new to the UK (Boardwalk Empire, Blue Bloods) it's also showing The Sopranos and - OMG! - ER and thirtysomething right from the very first episodes!!

What long-gone TV shows do you wish you could see again?
I miss 30something. Also Hill Street Blues.
posted by Obscure Reference 02 February | 10:26
I ..... have a weakness for Brazilian telenovelas. One in particular, which was super-uber cheesy, and had me on the edge of my seat five nights a weak back in, oh, I dunno, 1999 or so. It was called "Suave Veneno", and I would pay good cash money to see it again. Like many telenovelas, it was over the top, but what made this one special was its awareness of just how gonzo it was. It was genius, and I would love to see it again. Alas, they don't release Brazilian telenovelas on DVD or online. If they did, I may never leave the house again.
posted by msali 02 February | 10:29
I catch reruns of Hill St every now and again and it looks so hackneyed, clichéd and dated, 25 years on, yet at the time it was cutting edge.

I never saw the last episode of thirdysomething because my husband recorded over it. I'd been saving it for just the right day, I put the tape (which had a label on it saying "LAST EPISODE OF 30SOMETHING DO NOT RECORD OVER!!!") to find 3 back-to-back episodes of New Yankee Workshop. Do you need to ask why I'm now divorced?
posted by Senyar 02 February | 10:30
I'd rather have a blank tape than a single episode of New Yankee Workshop. Now I'm scared to see Hill Street and be disappointed.
posted by Obscure Reference 02 February | 10:35
I would love to revisit thirtysomething at the age I am now. I also would love to watch the early years of ER as I caught on a bit late. Good choices there.

3 back-to-back episodes of New Yankee Workshop

Oh, good grief, that's irritating! Didn't that same kind of idea make it into some show or other as a subplot - maybe Friends - about somebody recording a sports game over their wedding videotape?
posted by Miko 02 February | 10:56
I was too young to get into St. Elsewhere during its original broadcast, but I think I might love it now.

Since it's one of the few series that Local Supercool Videostore doesn't have, I was pretty thrilled to see 22 episodes available on Hulu. Next time I have a flu or a cold or just a long crappy night ahead, I'm going to bunk down on the sofa and watch as many episodes as I can before I fall asleep.

I'm also thinking I might enjoy rewatching The Sopranos from the beginning, seeing the existential emptiness of the show ramp up slowly and watching the characters' fates and fatal flaws intertwine.

I am totally spoiled by having married into Local Supercool Videostore. Anytime I have a hankering to watch an entire series in order, the rentals are A) free and B) delivered to my home by my partner... and then I review the shows for the shop's weekly newsletter. It's a symbiotic relationship.
posted by Elsa 02 February | 11:13
Sam Keith's "The Maxx." I have the whole thing, unabridged (there were rights issues on the releases, as with many MTV properties) on VHS — complete with 90s' commercials. But every time I watch it, the quality degrades a bit...

Though there's probably a torrent out there. I suspect there are torrents for a lot of the shows in this thread...
posted by Eideteker 02 February | 11:24
Ah The Maxx! And Aeon Flux.
posted by By the Grace of God 02 February | 11:49
I had completely forgotten about 30something. My mom used to watch it when I was a kid. I mostly remember a blond lady getting sick and a man with a beard crying by the back door.

I used to watch New Yankee Workshop with my father. He would tell me that the show was done in our garage. I'd go to check during commercials, and find nothing. "Of course," my father would say. "They're on commercial break."

I could go for some Perfect Strangers about now.
posted by youngergirl44 02 February | 12:01
My ex-husband loved New Yankee Workshop. Every single show was identical. Norm Abram, wearing something from his vast collection of plaid shirts, would show you a piece of furniture and then, after "a brief word about shop safety", he'd make the piece of furniture and show it to you at the end.

It was so fucking boring. Look, here's a plank of wood going through a circular saw. Here's another plank of wood going through a router. In a really exciting episode, you might get to see how a dovetail joint was made.

And even though my ex could tell you, down to the last dowel and doorknob, how to make just about anything in wood, because he'd learned it all from Norm, it was all in his head - he couldn't knock a nail in straight.
posted by Senyar 02 February | 12:29
Though I have loved many new TV shows and my tastes are toward gritty dramas, not comedy, these are the four I long to see again:

The Munsters
The Addams Family
Car 54 Where Are You?
The Honeymooners
posted by bearwife 02 February | 12:43
Dobie Gillis
posted by JanetLand 02 February | 12:51
Look, here's a plank of wood going through a circular saw. Here's another plank of wood going through a router. In a really exciting episode, you might get to see how a dovetail joint was made.

That sounds great! I'm sure you'd hate to hear what I find boring.
posted by Hugh Janus 02 February | 13:42
Yes! Dobie!
posted by Obscure Reference 02 February | 13:46
I just started watching Arrested Development on Netflix, never having seen it before. Almost finished with the first season and am hooked. I think St. Elsewhere, 30something, and Hill Street Blues are on there as well. Might check those out next.
posted by mudpuppie 02 February | 15:19
I loved all of the home repair and making-stuff shows on PBS. But as much as I would love to make my own eight-foot-tall Shaker pie safes, I was always irritated at the ridiculous amount of machinery Norm used. I mean, sure, I do know people who have workshops, but the guy must have used at least 38 different table saws and biscuit joiners in each project.

And then you've got The Wheelwright's Shop, where the guy does everything with, like, a rock and a broken stick, because that's how they did it in the old days!
posted by Madamina 02 February | 16:01
I'd love to see St. Elsewhere again. I saw one of the Hill Street Blues episodes where the Captain's gf calls him Pizzaman. I love that.

30something was kind of eerie. Parts of it tracked my life really closely, and not the Hope and Michael being in love and having a pretty happy life parts.
posted by theora55 02 February | 16:16
It dawns on me that you all may be picturing me posting while leaning on my walker. Actually, the shows I'd like to see were before my time but I did catch them all either as a little kid or in rerun at some point. Would love to see more.
posted by bearwife 02 February | 18:17
I also LOVE Dobie Gillis, JanetLand! I'm really surprised to find a fellow traveler.
posted by Miko 02 February | 19:10
I'd like to see a miniseries called "Chasing Rainbows" again. It came out when I was 14, I think. It was set in Montreal just post-World War I and starred Paul Gross.
posted by Orange Swan 02 February | 20:40
Thought of a couple more: Family and The Paper Chase.
posted by Miko 02 February | 23:11
No one ever says "China Beach."
posted by Eideteker 02 February | 23:54
Quantum Leap
posted by lysdexic 03 February | 00:18
"I'd love to see St. Elsewhere again." yup.
posted by arse_hat 03 February | 03:05
Eide: I say to thee "China Beach"! But maybe only the first or second season because it went off the rails towards the end.
posted by TrishaLynn 03 February | 06:47
The movie "Broadcast News" || I want to see the most beautiful photos of winter weather

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