Fame or Shame: TV Shows Discussion Thread

[JaseSF]

M*A*S*H enters the Hall of Shame. Was surprised to not see this get more supporters (although Rev. tried his best to save it). Personally I always thought it was one of the most overrated shows ever on television. I never ever really cared for it at all. Guess I wasn't as all alone in that as I used to once think.

[JaseSF]

This thread needs to be moved. There'll be some updating to do here shortly.

[JaseSF]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 joins the Hall of Fame. I have mixed feelings about MST3K myself. I hated when they made fun of really good movies such as The Crawling Eye, Revenge of the Creature and This Island Earth showing poorly edited versions in some cases but I have to admit I did laugh when they made fun of stuff like Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men. Hence I didn't vote for or against the series here.

[Mr. DS]

MST3K was and still is a brilliant show IMHO.  It was one of the seeds planted in my mind that eventually made me want to start reviewing films.

[Rev. Powell]

I hated when they made fun of really good movies such as The Crawling Eye, Revenge of the Creature and This Island Earth...

THIS ISLAND EARTH is the only one of those I would describe as "good," much less "really good."  Still, I never got offended when they made fun of a movie I liked, as long as they made it funny.  The editing of THIS ISLAND EARTH was obnoxious because of studio interference, but I thought they still did a good job all things considering.   

[JaseSF]

Personally I think of all 3 as classics, flawed but still classics. I always liked quite a number of other films they showed on there. It always kind of bugged me it was usually an easy target they went with - low budget B-movies. I'm sure someone could just as easily make fun of most of today's blockbusters, and many of them probably deserve it far more, not to mention some that even have won Oscars. Still I have to admit they were sometimes very funny and I did like the little segments they did in between during the series..actually I think I liked those better than the making jokes, sometimes they were also very lame or poorly done IMO, at a movie's expense. The Crawling Eye they aired is also the edited shorter American version of the film.

[Rev. Powell]

Jase, you may be pleased to know (if you don't already) that Mike Nelson's post-MST3K project RIfftrax does just that (makes fun of Hollywood blockbusters).  They've even done CASABLANCA, which doesn't offend me in the slightest. 

[JaseSF]

Hill Street Blues joins the Hall of Fame. It was truly an high quality police show with gritty, more realistic stories.

[JaseSF]

Hogan's Heroes joins the Hall of Shame. I caught of few episodes of it here and there. It didn't make me laugh once. The situations seemed so forced and contrived as is the whole premise really.

[JaseSF]

Happy Days enters the Hall of Shame. There were things I liked about the show...I loved the theme music opening the show. I thought the Fonz was an iconic character but once the show got underway, I found it usually disappointed me more often than not and just wasn't terribly funny or really even all that great at holding my attention. A show I wanted to like but just could never really get into.

[JaseSF]

Murder She Wrote joins the Hall of Fame. This show starring Angela Lansbury was one of my mother's favourite shows as I was growing up so inevitably I had to watch it too. I ended up usually enjoying it far more than I expected.

Home Improvement joins the Hall of Shame. Tim Allen starred in this series as a somewhat sexist inadequate tool man/handyman who liked to grunt a lot. I enjoy Allen's movies a lot more as really the only truly likable characters on the show were Al and the unseen next door neighbor.

[JaseSF]

The Dick Van Dyke Show joins the Hall of Fame. This was one of the earliest sitcoms and was truly a groundbreaking show in its era. Not only did it give us Van Dyke as Rob Petrie but also Mary Tyler Moore as his not always quite perfect wife Laura. The couple sometimes had realistic fights and the Petries actually seemed to come across as a real couple, at least real in terms of  1960s era TV, but mostly it was good, fun escapism at its best.

[Rev. Powell]

If anything deserves to be in the TV Hall of Fame the Dick Van Dyke show does. 

[JaseSF]

Roseanne joins the Hall of Fame. Certainly a groundbreaking show in many ways as it features one of the arguably most realistic everyday working class families ever portrayed in a comedy sitcom. The cast was very good and each played their parts particularly well. This was far from your perfect happy family but the family and the issues/troubles they face were realistic and it was just about time to see less than perfect characters get some TV time for a change.

[JaseSF]

The Daily Show was put to shame. Never really cared much for it personally to be honest...