Classic Television

[Glory1863]

With all the remakes of things like Hawaii Five-O, The A-Team and The Rockford Files that have been floating around lately, what classic television shows do you like (besides Trek, of course)?

There are 2 classic TV stations available free over the air in Chicago, MeTV for comedy and MeToo for drama. I watch MeToo and my 5 channels of PBS more than I watch the commercial networks. MeToo is showing the remastered TOS and TNG back-to-back every weekday.

My favorites are:
1. The Fugitive
2. Perry Mason
3. Quincy, ME (occupational hazard )
4. The Untouchables

I admit that the A-Team is a guilty pleasure. The Trek character Reginald Barclay always stuck me as being "Howling Mad" Murdock in space (no slap at Dwight Schultz).

[Aquarius]

Mine tend to be sitcoms.

Absolute faves:

I Dream of Jeannie
The Monkees
Green Acres
Laugh-In, for a little sketch comedy mixup

[Honeybee]

I sometimes feel like I missed stuff - because I spent a good chunk of my childhood with no TV. But, I did catch stuff in reruns (like TOS) and these are favorites:

Blackadder: Goes Forth (Since I have Hugh Laurie on the brain)
WKRP in Cincinnati
Hart to Hart
Newhart

[Aquarius]

Oh, WKRP was AWESOME!! Herb and Johnny were my favorites. And Les.

Visiting my grandparents in Kentucky as a kid, it was hard to watch TV there because in the mountains they got like two channels and it was hit or miss if they came in any good...but one of the channels was like the WKRP channel, because that's all that was ever on! I wasn't complaining; Grandpa liked it, too, so I'd sit and watch with him and the dog.

Good times.

[Honeybee]

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

[Aquarius]

*dies*

[Misplaced]

I Love Lucy (Yep. I love that show.)
Twilight Zone (Classic, black & white)
The Adams Family
The Munsters
Bewitched

Less "classic" classic shows:

Charles in Charge
Who's the Boss
Family Ties
Night Court
Alf

These are the ones that I remember loving watching through my formative years. I only watch The Twilight Zone any more these days, though.

[Kathy Rose]

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Um, honestly, there was a story that I was told when I first started working at a newspaper in a small Illinois town that the WKRP episode was based on an incident that happened at the local radio station. I could never get anyone to confirm it, but it sounds like something that would have happened here, especially as I got to know the slightly lunatic people who worked at the radio station. The story involved frozen turkeys, not fresh, and numerous windshields were damaged by the giant iceballs dropping from the sky. After living in this area for 30 years, I've never been able to confirm it.

As far as my favorite classic shows, M*A*S*H has to top the list. I can sit down and watch it at any time, any episode, and still enjoy it.

[EntAllat]

Misplaced and I must share part of our brains since there's a lot of those classic shows I love too:

I Love Lucy (Mostly for the situations Lucy and Ethel get into.)
Twilight Zone
The Adams Family
The Munsters

I also love M.A.S.H. and (oh god, I'll admit it) the Beverly Hillbillies. [shame face]

I can't forget Gilligan's Island or the Flintstones and the Carol Burnett Show can still crack me up.

Does MacGyver count as classic television now?

[Kathy Rose]

Classic TV is also a great place to get inspiration for stories.

An episode of M*A*S*H inspired me to write "Has Anyone Seen Commander Murphy?" In it, Trip invents a fictitious engineer to get something he wants, but winds up regretting it, of course.