Old TV Shows You Remember Fondly...But No One Seems To Talk About

[Albino Boo]

Blake's 7. It was the campest and insane British 80s Sci Fi show.

There were rumors that Blake 7 may get a reboot at some point.

If you like TV written by Terry Nation (which includes many classic Doctor Who stories), you may like the original 1970's "Survivors" series. Its an 'end of the world' drama about a world pandemic (kind of relevant at the moment). It starts off like some twisted British 70's sitcom, with all the baggage that comes with sitcoms of that era. It really shows its age (attitudes to class and gender), but in my opinion that's one of the things that makes it so interesting. Its by no means perfect, the acting for example is uneven to say the least (oh god the children are terrible), but I'd give it a chance, their are some really great episodes in the first season.

I couple of things to watch out for. Peter Bowles plays the husband in the show, he was a huge TV star at the time and it was kind of a big deal he was playing a main character. Keep that in mind while watching the show.

The second and third seasons were not written by Nation, he left the production along with a really significant member of the cast, which kind of ruined the show for me (I'm being vague because SPOILERS!). In my opinion you should ignore those seasons as they are (IMO) kind of pants and the first season ends well enough to be left as is.


There was a reboot done a few years ago which again IMO is also not great. There was something about the original 1970's time period which just fits with the gloomy atmosphere of the show, something the reboot failed to capture.

--- Edit ---

Obviously this is a show about a worldwide pandemic, its kind of grim and disturbing... just to warn anyone that is maybe thinking a show about the collapse of civilization isn't going to have some icky bits.

I watched both when they first broadcast

 

[mrdude2010]

Recess and Arthur. Seriously, they were awesome.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There were rumors that Blake 7 may get a reboot at some point.

Eh, those rumours keep coming and going, wouldn't hold my breath.

If you like TV written by Terry Nation (which includes many classic Doctor Who stories), you may like the original 1970's "Survivors" series. Its an 'end of the world' drama about a world pandemic (kind of relevant at the moment).

Almost all his stuff seems to have a plague in them.

 

[Small Moon Rabbit]

I watched both when they first broadcast

I wasn't even born when the first season of Survivors aired As someone which can't remember the 70's, it adds to the mystique of the show a little I suppose. Not that I envy anyone living through 1970's Britain, seems like it was quite a grim time.

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

Blackadder still one of the funniest shows I ever watched.

Torchwood a sci-fi show that maybe went darker than it had it too.

Highlander: The Series-A fun series that was just fun.

Might Max, UltraForce, and Highlander: The Animated Series a trio of 90s cartoon shows that were just plain stupid fun.

 

[Albino Boo]

I watched both when they first broadcast

I wasn't even born when the first season of Survivors aired As someone which can't remember the 70's, it adds to the mystique of the show a little I suppose. Not that I envy anyone living through 1970's Britain, seems like it was quite a grim time.

To be honest I can't remember if watched survivors at first airing or on a repeat, but it was certainly in the 70s. The BBC used to produce a lot of good drama then, Secret Army, Elizabeth R, Colditz, The Stone Tape and the list goes on. In part because the there was only 3 channels and you could takes risks with something different and production values were pretty low. Something went wrong early 80s and the BBC lost its way in general and in Drama in particular. Thing were either campy and trashy e.g JNT's Dr Who and Howards way or all socially relevant dull agitprop.

Life in the 70's was not fun, the constant strikes and nothing working. I remember we moved house in about 1977 it took, whats now BT, 8 weeks to put the phone in. Your average teenager goes insane without a phone in their hand for 8 seconds, its quite remarkable how much the country has changed since then.

 

[lowtech redneck]

Dinosaurs...very good for its time.

Heh, I remembered that show every time I babysat a particular nephew; "Not the mama, not the mama!"

A show I remember absolutely loving as a child is The Wizard, a show about a genius dwarf inventer/toy maker who loved candy and went on various Indiana-Jones-esque adventures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_(TV_series)

It also featured some rather amusing product placement.

 

[FPLOON]

Code Lyoko anyone?...........

Basically Sword Art Online but with never ending deus ex machinas, and for some odd reason two different animation styles varying from: western attempt at weeaboo and Beast Wars but actually good and detailed.
The nerd get's his virtual waifu in the real world, there's a badass dog named Kiwi, the comic relief character is dressed like a furry, and they fight a xenomorph one time.....

ANYONE?! CODE LYOKO?!........

I also vaguely remember enjoying Time Squad and Freakazoid. Shows i'm pretty sure I will never be able to bring up during a conversation.

"Return to the past now..."

Yeah, Code Lyoko was OG like that... Even got it's own live-action continuation/spin-off(?) series that not that many people know about, if I'm not mistaken...

Also, Time Squad was awesome with its use of real historical figures acting way out of character like George Washington being too evil or Eager Allen Poe being too nice for his own good...