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

[HaveYouHadYourBreak]

What programmes that you loved have surprised you on rewatching?

I've just finished the first series of This Life and was surprised at how well it has aged for the most part (but so much smoking!). It was refreshing to see people with imperfect teeth and pubic hair and wobbly bums living in a grotty house share past their early 20s. I'm re-living my youth with the music too.

But Coupling! Oof! I remember it being really good but some clips I've seen (like making sex videos without consent and the way women are talked about) demonstrate exactly why I've never seen any re-runs.

Allo Allo !

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Agree with all except for grotty flat - I remember thinking how cool it was at the time !

radio not TV but I still do enjoy Round the Horne and its seqelae

I can't believe that no-one has mentioned The IT Crowd. It is still so funny.

but I think that was the point of it. Pretty much all the characters, apart from Benjamin, were absolutely horrific.
I know that when they did the revival series in 2018 before the tour, they were under pressure to change some of them, but they held fast. The way they dealt with some of the issues that they had been accused of was with some genius script writing.
But then Im a massive fan......

Does anyone remember Jam and Jerusalem? Some very bonkers bits but also funny and touching.

our kids loved the new version of Magnum with female Higgins so when we ran out of episodes we tried the original which I remeber loving as a kid.

Each episode is about 15 minutes of story and 30 minutes of Magnum ogling women in bikinis entirely unconnected to the plot. Even my teenage sons were mystified.

And you can add the episode in the Sweeny where they discuss why underage schoolgirls are so sexy whilst driving past two.

Yes Minister - an episode about drunk driving was an uncomfortable watch. Also Coupling and Men Behaving Badly. We loved them both when they were current but cringe at them now.

DH and I love Last of the Summer Wine. It's our current binge when life is stressful. It's almost a period drama now!

Desperate Housewives! I watched it for the first time about 3 years ago. The scenes with Juanita (Gabrielle Solis' daughter) are particularly bad, especially the one where she makes her run behind the car to lose weight. I still love it though and I think it's fine to appreciate these things for what they were at the time.

Love Still Game. I can thoroughly recommend it.

What did you think is was going to be about?

I cant watch it though as Chris Langham is in it.

In case anyone doesn't know, I know its easy to google.
On 2 August 2007, Langham was found guilty of 15 charges of downloading and possessing level 5 child sexual abuse images and videos. Langham was jailed for ten months, which was later reduced to six months on appeal. He was made to sign the sex offenders' register and was banned from working with children for ten years.

Yes, we should still be allowed to take the piss out of accents etc

Clearly someone of privilege who finds it onerous to consider their impact on others.

ANTM, I loved it when it first aired but it aged sooooo poorly and the recent documentary also was revealing of some ugly stories behind the scene