AIBU to find old TV far more watchable than today?

I’ve watched lots of modern dramas which I’ve enjoyed at the time, only to find 2 weeks later that I’ve completely forgotten what they were about. Obviously there are some good things on now (LoD, the Night Manager, Rivals to name but 3). I think the fact that we have so much to choose from these days means that good tv feels much rarer. In the 70s-90s the proportion of good tv was probably higher.

I found The Pitt refreshing because the characters were more 3 dimensional.. Flawed characters that weren't all bad, weren't all good... Just people. It made me realise that a lot of other more recent programmes got a bit simple where you have cartoonish baddies and Saintly goodies. I think that's what takes me out of it. I think it takes a lot of good writing and acting to make flawed characters that you can still sympathise with, still acknowledging that they make unwise decisions. Like in House that I've been watching since it appeared on Netflix.

I think there's been a tendancy in recent years to look at a character and say "this character represents all people like them" so programme makers worried about putting certain demographics into certain character roles (Davros from Dr Who representing people in wheelchairs for example). I think that stuff might have peaked though and is dampening back again. Just because a character is female or of a certain race doesn't mean there's some underlying message being conveyed about everyone of that group. It's just one character.

Neither YABU or YANBU. It's your taste.
I find older programmes, even ones that i loved at the time, like the Morcambe and Wise show or the Barchester Chronicles, dull.
At the moment we are watching Breaking Bad, an episode a night (4 episodes until the end) and i think it's fantastic.
Yes, there's a shed load of dross around now. And there's a lot more than in the past, because there are more channels to fill. But the good stuff is fantastic. We loved The Gold, and i'm looking forward to Legends.
And i say that as a poster in their late 60s.

I have been watching the Pitt and whilst I like it I don't know what the fuss is about. I watched an episode of ER to contrast it and it was as I recalled, very good. It got me wondering why the Pitt was held is such high regard.

Remember Hill Street Blues.

Anyway I think one of the challenges is there are way too many things being made now and the gems get lost.

Yes, spreading things over 6 episodes is not always a good idea - first episode great, second not so exciting ,third a filler, fourth and fifth some weird twist to prepare for a second series, sixth a slightly hanging denouement.
I’ve been reading books published in 50s/60s - less goes on but characters more filled out.
Have watched the lonesome Dove boxed set series recently which first came out in 1989 - cowboy series based on Larry McMurty books.

British comedies - so much funnier. OFAH, Dad’s Army, Porridge, Are You Being Served?, Allo Allo. Obviously you need to understand that some of the content WAS acceptable back in the day.

A lot of recent dramas have mumblegate. Actors now speak in everyday tone, rather than projecting their voice. Plus sound is produced in a cinema style. Plus if characters are upset, the actors voices get lost.

if producers stop mixing the sound cinema style, we won’t have mumblegate watch with subtitles

I find some stuff made in the 1970s-1990s actually peak bad language, nudity and violence along with horrible misogyny. I can find some older programmes and films much more disturbing than anything made now. Unless you are going back to the heavy censorship times of the 1950s I wouldn't rely on old programmes to be so clean cut.

I do like listening to old plays and book dramatisations on BBC Sounds. Some things my parents would have listened to when they were young. It doesn't mean I don't like any contemporary stuff though. Some people seem very old before their time.

I am currently massivley into Play for Today. It was made before I was born. I love the way the often start out mundane and by the end you have been on such an emotional journey. Alan Bennet plays, the original Talking Heads are fantastic. They tell a story in one episode, not drag it out over 6, which ever since "The Killing" seems the thing to do as a "slow burn". I hate it, I want to be able to watch one episode of something and not have to invest huge amounts of time to watch it. They knew how to tell a story back then.

Agree with everything you say even down to L&H

I can't stand the modern habit of naturalistic voices, as I can't hear what on earth anyone is saying.
I prefer the older stuff when they had to talk clearly for the microphone to pick it up as I shouldn't need subtitles to understand English.

I also don't want to see any nudity, hear foul language, have identity politics shoved down my throat, see historical characters reimagined as something they were not, or see any sex scenes.

We are currently working through Laurel and Hardys back catalogue on our movie nights.
My son picked them and we've been really enjoying them.

I am watching Poirot and the original law and order.
It's not only better acting and writing its camera work too.
Scenes in older tv shows dont constantly flit from one actor to the other. They actually let the camera stay still and music doesnt constantly take over either.

Watch a modern tv show the camera is constantly moving.

Also all the serious shows
are so much more gory or sexual now. Like that jackal one or the white lotus. Sometimes i just want a good story without the constant humping and blood..

Watching Law and order there was actually so much less blood but the acting and story lines
were so much better.

By all means just pick a random programme. I was thinking more of The Bear, The Diplomat, Film Club, The White Lotus, The Anniversary, Keeping Faith, Rivals, The Newsreader, The Other Bennet Sister and Amandaland, among other things.

I adore Porridge, The Good Life and Father Ted etc but I've seen each one several times and I could practically recite them.

YABU

The last quarter century since HBO gave us The Sopranos, TV has really upped its game. The scope depth and quality that you get now didn't exist before that.

Sure, there's a lot of crap in the mix, but there always was.

But in terms of landmark quality, event level viewing TV, we've never had so much to choose from. And the good stuff is way better than what we had before.

Endeavour is a nice enough programme. Not too challenging, everyone knows what they're doing, it's pleasant to watch. But come on, it's light years behind eg Chernobyl, Mare of Easttown, little fires everywhere, I may destroy you, line of duty ...

I recently started Life Begins with Caroline Quentin and it is so relaxing. Highly recommend re-watching it.

I’m from the US and watch all things Britbox and Acorn. I loved George Gently, Foyle’s War and so on. I watch all kinds of police dramas. Oh…and have watched ER many times too (as others have posted).

Married at First Sight for example!

Also try Radio4Extra.

I find some things stand the test of time and others don't. I've looked forward to watching some older programmes and then found I didn't enjoy them as much as I thought I would, or that a couple of episodes were fine and I didn't bother to watch the rest. Nostalgia can be fun but I think we are in a golden age of television now.

Completely agree. I've recently been watching episodes of One Foot in the Grave and The Good Life with my 8 year old. She loves the old programmes, as do I.

More and more theses days,I find myself watching (really) old stuff on TV. At the moment,I'm watching Dr. Who from 1971.

I adored it and I’ve never seen the original!

DD watched a bit of Confessions of a Window Cleaner earlier. A slightly entertaining curiosity which we “enjoyed” for ten minutes. It was no Jewel in the Crown

Have to say that Endeavour was SUPERB and actually better than the original Morse

Most modern acting seems to be standing with their mouth open. If there's nothing on I watch classic Casualty on YouTube. I do like 2 weeks in August, the Dog House and the Weakest Link.