Programmes that have aged poorly and programmes that have aged well?

I listened to a podcast on it this week and they were discussing how the Fast Show still stands up, compared to the likes of Little Britain

Big bang was a bit close to the line when it was shown and now there are bits of it that are horrifying. Howard’s treatment of women in particular but also the casual “funny” racism.

But we were so much happier , maybe because we just took things as they were not trying to find fault like discrimination, sexism etc in everything we see.

On The Thick of It, I always just think now of Armando Iannucci and the writers probably discounted so many story ideas for being too ridiculous to be believable. And are now watching the news daily thinking we’ve gone far beyond them.

Men probably still get turned on by girls in PE uniform. We just pretend it doesn’t happen - and at least girls’ PE kit has moved on from gym knickers.

So many of the shows I remember growing up just seemed really grubby and sleazy - benny hill, 2 Ronnies, allo allo…mind you that was in a time where the news of the world’s weekly magazine with the TV listings always also had some sort of sex guide in it. Urgh - and people are up in arms now about kids seeing sexualised images.

Absolutely fabulous has not aged well. The drinking driving under the influence (the one where they get rid of the chauffeur) blaming her mother and expecting Saffy to mansge it all. Yet I recal loving it and watched it religiously.

For me Vicar of Dibley is my ultimate comfort watch I think it has aged ok.

People did actually complain about Little Britain at the time. It was the tail end of 90s early 2000s lad culture and quite deliberately set out to offend BC even then they were trying to consciously hark back to that guy who did Ooh you are Awful, and Benny Hill BC PC GAWN MAD.

Neither of those would have done the character of the old lady who pisses herself in supermarkets though

I watched quite a few re-runs of "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?" and thought it stood up well. Bob and Terry's casual sexism is undermined by the fact that they're both ineffectual schmucks who are dominated by the various women in their lives. It's still funny, which is not always the case with sitcoms from that era.

BUT...

There is one scene in which Bob and Terry (who I guess are meant to be thirty-ish at the time) muse about how they're aroused by the sight of the girls at the local all-girls grammar school doing outdoor PE. To say that scene has not aged well is a massive understatement. I will say that I'm sure that when it was first shown in the early 1970s, hardly anyone would have thought it was weird. The 'sexy schoolgirl' trope was everywhere in those days.

Allo Allo !

Yes, Babylon 5 was much better (and strangely prophetic about the future). JMS could also write strong women, even if he did do Ivanova dirty!

What did you expect it to be about??

Completely agree. And with the pp who said about Jerry quietly being a good husband. I could never stand Tom - it was very funny though.

YABU for posting this in AIBU section and for not saying at the start what type of programmes you mean. Didnt expect this to be about TV shows.

Yes Minister/Prime Minister are still so good and one of the few things I watch and actually put the phone down to concentrate on what’s being said. Very intelligent comedy.

Third Rock from the Sun was great.

Spooks is still a great watch, very relevant to at the moment with it's warnings about the US and the power of billionaires.

I tried to rewatch The Good Life recently and gave up after Tom tried to snog Margot in the kitchen while Jerry and Barbara were groping each other in the living room followed by an episode where Tom gratuitously ogled a visiting woman's tits, and nearly peed himself in excitement at her low cut outfit, he was basically panting while his wife sat there taking it - and wifey had a pathetic little cry later, but he bought her a nice dress, so all was well.

I loved that show when I was youngster. God, it was awful.

No, not buying that.
At the time Little Britain was on, I was working in a school for children with special needs. We had grown adults as well as teens, making that huh, huh, huh noise that the character Anne makes, whenever we took groups out into the community. Sickening that children were the victims of real life disablism because of that bloody show.
Also racism, just isn't funny.

Porridge is on at the moment on U&Gold. It never fails to make me chuckle but watching it always makes me sad for Richard Beckinsale who was taken so suddenly and so young. I remember hearing the news, it was such a shock 😢

I was bored one night and decided to watch 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps on bbc iplayer. It was always shit, but it really made me remember what it was like at that time around the millennium, massive beer and “birds” culture, everyone obsessed with shagging, men expected to act blokey at all times. Glad we’ve moved on from those stereotypes

Pretty much everything else from my own youth that I've tried to watch with my children has had to be a hard no. Even The Good Life!
I can't remember if The Vicar of Dibley was problematic but it was definitely surprisingly rude.

I've just watched Frasier start to finish with my older children. Absolutely brilliant.

Agree with Porridge! Found DVDs in charity shop and enjoying watching them!

i found the opposite! Watched an old series I found in the charity shop, Sam proposes to Diane on a boat and is so angry she rejects him that he threatens he and tells her she needs to either jump off the boat ( into the sea, at night) or he’ll throw her in and then storms towards her so threateningly she does - cue canned laughter at this hilarious scene. Later in the same episode, Frazier is also so violently angry with his partner for rejecting him that he starts to strangle Diane whilst massaging her, as he is triggered. Cue canned laughter. So men’s violent reactions to female rejection is a hilarious joke.