TV now or TV in the 80's/90's

[pastypirate]

Dp and I really disagree on this. I'm 42 hes 45. I think streaming has made tv amazing and I can find something relevant to me most of the time. I love tv now.

In the past I hardly watched anything and I probably didn't watch tv at all for all of the noughties except sex and the city which was pretty radical at the time. I remember in my teens feeling there was only a couple of hours a week of tv aimed at me - it was This Life and tfi friday.

Dp thinks the 80's and 90's were the golden age of tv and nothing compares. Examples he gave were limited to THe Tube and top of the pops.

What's the verdict?

Sorry I agree with your DP, loved tv in the 80s - the music programmes not to mention The A-team, Fame, moonlighting etc . The comedy was far superior then too and they weren’t cancelled for being politically incorrect.

TV is better now but I wish there wasn't so much of it. No more water cooler TV chat these days.

You would have only watched childrens tv in the 80s OP so how would you know how good it was, on the whole it was better then as although there is a lot on now a lot of it isn't very good

Comedy was better then, but there are some really good dramas now - lots of old dramas look like am dram productions. I think the only old dramas I still like now are Tenko and Prime Suspect.

I'm with your DH. Ab Fab, Young Ones, Men Behaving Badly, Making Out, TV Offal, Brass Eye, The Live and Loves of a She Devil, Snub TV, Twin Peaks, Eurotrash, Brittas Empire, Allo Allo, Cook Report, Dallas, Dynasty, I could go on...

They just don't make 'em like that any more!

I'd go back to the 90s.

So many channels, so much shite.

I love my dedicated non-fiction streaming services, but I think TV quality has declined hugely since the 80s. Im also aware that people being able, and indeed having little other choice, than to select specific items to watch, read or listen to means that increasingly people are less exposed to variety and increasingly locked into echo chambers and small-mindedness.

Neither.

In between.

The Office
The Royle Family
Gavin and Stacey

Hands down the best UK tv has ever offered.

So that era.

I do think something has been lost now we can all stream what we want when we want. Now, if you don’t want to binge watch a popular series you have to try and avoid spoilers. That’s a pain! And everyone is on different episodes so you can’t chat about it until the series is over.

For me personally, I find there’s too much choice. The amount of nights I sit there and flick through Netflix and prime and can’t find anything I fancy watching. I’m in my 50s and remember the “old days” of buying a tv magazine and circling what I wanted to watch! I know I used to watch more tv than I do now.

As a child and eventually young teenager in the 80s the TV programmes were the best. I loved all the classic children's TV programmes, Saturday Superstore, etc. Top of the Pops caught my imagination early and I still love watching old episodes. The Chart Show got me into less mainstream music as I got older. Plus I enjoyed watching things like early computing programmes featuring BBC Micros, Tomorrow's World and Wish You Were Here. I thought Judith Chalmers had the best job ever, being paid to travel

When EastEnders first came on in 1985 it was a bit of a revelation in start contrast to Coronation Street which had become a bit "cosy" by then. But speaking of cosy you could still watch the likes of Morecambe and Wise and Only Fools and Horses with your granny. Alternative comedy went over my head a bit when I was young but in the 90s I was lapping it up.

Everything from The Mary Whitehouse Experience to Bill Hicks. Weird and wonderful short programmes by the likes of Victor Lewis-Smith. Jo Brand Through The Cakehole. Sean's Show. Loved all of these. Wasn't into the likes of The Word as it was a bit too laddish.

So a mixture for me.

For me it was the 1970s & 1980s. As a child I wasn't only watching children's TV. I have vivid memories of period dramas that I watched when I was around 5. 1970s was the golden age of television period drama and sitcoms. TV was more of an event. I remember watching Upstairs Downstairs, Lillie, Jennie, Edward & Mrs Simpson and Edward VII as a child.

I have virgin media and we have Netflix and and Amazon prime,but I still find myself flicking through channels trying to find something I want to watch ,back in the 80,s we only had 3/4 channels and imo there was far more quality TV than now .,plus as a family we all sat down together to watch it .

@Housewife2010

For me it was the 1970s & 1980s. As a child I wasn't only watching children's TV. I have vivid memories of period dramas that I watched when I was around 5. 1970s was the golden age of television period drama and sitcoms. TV was more of an event. I remember watching Upstairs Downstairs, Lillie, Jennie, Edward & Mrs Simpson and Edward VII as a child.

Me too ,because we had nothing else to watch 🤣 I remember watching things like the Thorn Birds and Tenko etc when I was maybe 7 or 8?

I don’t like streaming so I’d like TV now but with no streaming. I find it weird how people can binge watch an entire American season of a show in a weekend, especially the ones with 26 episodes. Do they actually watch it properly or do other stuff in between?

I think it depends. There has always been good TV and there has always been shit TV.

People moan about Love Island or MAFS or The Chase. But people have always moaned about entertainment format TV. Back in the mid-80s everyone was complaining about New Faces and why Nina Myskow could get away with being so horrible etc etc. When This Morning first started, with Richard and Judy from the studio in Liverpool, no one thought it would last.

American drama has, I think, improved notably over the last 30 years. Most American shows in the 80s were either formulaic comedies or formulaic dramas, that existed largely to sell advertising space on the networks. Of course there were some good examples The Golden Girls, Columbo, thirtysomething but there was also a lot of dross. Now, the writing is better and the production is better. Personally I think that Twin Peaks was a major turning point for this, although I'm sure others have different opinions!

On balance I'd say TV now is better. Partly because lots of newer TV is good in its own right, and partly because a lot of the TV from then is knocking around on one streaming platform or another!

I think we watch TV differently now. You can't find stuff by channel-hopping any more. I get TV partly via reviews, partly through actors that I already know doing something new, partly through whatever algorithms Netflix or Prime use to suggest things, and partly through watching 10 minutes of something that catches my attention as a title card.

The golden age of TV was the 2000s (some of those shows started in the late 90s).

80s and 90s telly was far better

@knackeredcat

As a child and eventually young teenager in the 80s the TV programmes were the best. I loved all the classic children's TV programmes, Saturday Superstore, etc. Top of the Pops caught my imagination early and I still love watching old episodes. The Chart Show got me into less mainstream music as I got older. Plus I enjoyed watching things like early computing programmes featuring BBC Micros, Tomorrow's World and Wish You Were Here. I thought Judith Chalmers had the best job ever, being paid to travel

When EastEnders first came on in 1985 it was a bit of a revelation in start contrast to Coronation Street which had become a bit "cosy" by then. But speaking of cosy you could still watch the likes of Morecambe and Wise and Only Fools and Horses with your granny. Alternative comedy went over my head a bit when I was young but in the 90s I was lapping it up.

Everything from The Mary Whitehouse Experience to Bill Hicks. Weird and wonderful short programmes by the likes of Victor Lewis-Smith. Jo Brand Through The Cakehole. Sean's Show. Loved all of these. Wasn't into the likes of The Word as it was a bit too laddish.

So a mixture for me.

Are you me?

The kids' stuff back then was great, really good dramas and everyone talked about it. I can't imagine children of today having so much nostalgia about the TV of their youth. Mine don't even watch it now, it's all YouTube and tiktok, I mentioned one of their preschool favourites the other day and they don't even remember it

TV dramas are too samey and polished now. Every show needs a good looking cast, particularly the main male and female lead. Every episode needs graphic sex scenes and nudity (usually at the expense of good plot/dialogue). The whole thing is too formulaic.

Agree with your DH. I’m also 42 and the only things I watch are; sitcoms that are older then me (The Good Life, Man About the House, George & Mildred), classics (OFAH, Frasier).

The only ‘new’ programme I watch is ‘Not Going Out’ and I much prefer the older episodes as it’s crap since they introduced the kids. I only watch now as Lee Mack has flashes of brilliance and Hugh Dennis is a great foil to him.

Many shows are too same-y (psychological thriller, whodunnit, corrupt police) and a lot of the US dramas are too many episodes.

@ChrissyPlummer

Agree with your DH. I’m also 42 and the only things I watch are; sitcoms that are older then me (The Good Life, Man About the House, George & Mildred), classics (OFAH, Frasier).

The only ‘new’ programme I watch is ‘Not Going Out’ and I much prefer the older episodes as it’s crap since they introduced the kids. I only watch now as Lee Mack has flashes of brilliance and Hugh Dennis is a great foil to him.

Many shows are too same-y (psychological thriller, whodunnit, corrupt police) and a lot of the US dramas are too many episodes.

Many shows are too same-y (psychological thriller, whodunnit, corrupt police) and a lot of the US dramas are too many episodes.

I find shows aren't fun anymore, even if they're entertaining. As you say it's all about dark themes and overly-serious. Even modern sitcoms tend to be dark and earnest which seems to be standard now (or just plain trash).

One thing a lot of 80s telly was, was fun.

I miss telly being more of a shared experience in the past, and being more able to chat about what you watched, with friend's the next day.

I preferred soaps in the past. Wish they would re-air classic Brookside.

I do like having tv shows on catch-up now...Wish BBC iplayer wasn't so shite, given we pay the license fee!

Agree with your DP, definitely. So much now feels derivative and formulaic, because huge quantity is being produced. Also weary of how comedy is “slick” and “smart ass” passes for of wit.