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.

I rewatched TNG recently, expecting it to have aged badly (TOS certainly has!) but I was really impressed by how the scripts still stood up well.

I forgotten all about Just Good Friends!!! I hated Vince with a passion. He was so smarmy. I think that character is the reason I have never been able to find blond men attractive 😂
There was another similar character in a sitcom called Brushstrokes. He was a supposedly attractive jack the lad type decorator. He was also a colossal nob who gave teenage me the rage 😂

Haven’t RTFT but people always say Sex and the City has aged badly and give the example of the episode where the main character (a heterosexual woman) doesn’t pursue a relationship with a bisexual man. Whereas I completely disagree. The vast majority of heterosexual women would prefer not to get into a relationship with a man who has sex with men.

I love This Life and the only bit that aged badly is the young, beautiful female lawyer being attracted to her ugly, middle-aged, balding boss. It wasn’t even painted as her trying to get ahead in her career, she’s supposed to have had the hots for him - yeah, right. 😂

Curbing your enthusiasm
Nighty Night
Pulling

All wonderful

I love ER and it's currently on Netflix so I'm rewatching.

I've also just watched The Pitt, and it's really interesting how the medicine has changed, and how attitudes have changed also. There's an episode where a woman reports a rape and Carol helps do the rape kit - there's a similar episode in The Pitt, but the focus is much more on the wellbeing of the patient, of making sure she's comfortable and can trust the people around her. It's great. Both are great. But the characters in ER feel like old friends!

This take on the bisexual episode bothers me too - while Carrie's feelings might be 'old-fashioned' or whatever, she doesn't owe anyone a date, sex, or anything! You're allowed to be as discriminatory as you like imo when it comes to sex.

There was a remake of Yes Minister in the 2010s, and they got David Haig (lead frustrated copper in Thin Blue Line) and Henry Goodman in as Hacker and Appleby.

This, mind you was in the aftermath of The Thick of It and it just looked... Strangely dated. There was a lot of stuff about EU regulations from what I saw.

Infamously Armando Ianucci won't redo TTOI BC since 2016 satire is pointless

Don't think anyone has mentioned Drop the Dead Donkey yet? So very much of its time (90s) yet the characters and situations still ring true today. It was always intended to be ultra topical so it would be surprising if it hadn't aged. But all the scandals from government corruption and Robert Maxwell to wars in the Gulf are scarily familiar. If you lived through those times then it's so nostalgic to be reminded of for example the NUJ posters calling for the release of John McCarthy.

They did a DTDD reboot a couple of years ago that toured theatres round the country. It was well worth seeing. Surprisingly poignant at the end when the Damian Day character speaks out about AI and lack of trust in the media. Trouble with 2026 is that it's beyond parody....

The year of the Brexit vote and Trump's first election... he may have had a point.

Reboots rarely seem to be successful in any case.

It’s more recent than a lot of previously-mentioned programmes, but Teachers really hasn’t aged well.

We’ve just watched the re runs of Taggart and they’ve stood the test of time. Obviously the hair and clothes are very dated, and there’s no forensics or mobile phones, but the themes are well handled and pretty much ahead of their time.

Even the cast playing female characters would be complained about by some now. Steve in particular - amazing writer and actor as he is - really can't be anything other than a grotesque parody of a woman with his looks and physicality. Also Papa Lazarou.

I know it was always meant to be extremely dark, but some of it was (deliberately) utter horrific.

the show love thy neighbour, couple of main characters and all those phrases would not do well today
rules of engagement one character russel ? dont think it would do well today
x files was more about the conspairicies so not sure how that would be different ?
relic hunter had its moments but main seemed ok
the original tv series of la femme nikita i presume would be ok
the tv show covert affairs would be ok
then secret dairy of a call girl with billie piper, not sure ?

The Thin Blue Line was gloriously absurd farce, and I think its comedy brilliance was often overlooked as many people mistook 'silly' for 'rubbish'.

the big bang theory overall seemed ok and fairly modern
supernatural with sam and dean seemed ok
town called eureka was more about science so overall seemed ok

i did like the comedy spy with Robert Lindsley

I read the Kenneth Williams Diaries recently and yes, he was a terrible snob at times, but he was consistently and utterly scathing about the scripts and production of the Carry Ons even at the time of filming.

It's a huge shame that he was forced at gunpoint to participate in - and earn money from - all of those films, isn't it?!

I think some actors quite happily take roles that aren't the loftiest or most highbrow - but then slate them whilst happily taking the money and fame that they bring them.

It's not quite the same thing, but I gather Pauline McLynn (with Mrs Doyle) and Tony Robinson (with Baldrick) both hate people mentioning those characters and potentially typecasting them; yet they're still gladly benefiting from the doors that those roles opened for their careers.

I quite liked Morse, I always thought we were supposed to think he wasn't great in terms of his romantic ambitions. Though at the time there wasn't the kind of stigma there is now about age gap relationships, if they were both adults.

I rewatched Fame, the tv show, recently, and was surprised at how good it was. I am not sure it would be to everyone's taste, there are some hockey stories from time to time, but in other ways it has a lot going for it. The kids seemed real in a way that is often not the case in shows about teens. (not so much the ages of the actors which varies, but in terms of their experiences and attitudes.)

Cracker is still very good, and Life on Mars remains my all time favourite.

As for not aged well, I agree with Ally McBeal. I saw an episode of LA Law recently and found it way too over the top.

I know many of us of a certain age will gushing about how amazing Only Fools and Horses was; but there was a lot about it that was problematic and hasn't aged well at all. I think there's a good reason why it's never really shown on the main BBC channels anymore.

I also wonder if it may end up removed from the streaming services too 'at some point', if any of the rumours about one of the main actors turn out to be proven as true.

Aside from that, it's always annoyed me that OFAH flooded the schedules from the start as UK-wide entertainment, whilst the peerless Still Game was largely dismissed as 'Scottish interest' only. I'm from the English Midlands, so culturally no closer to a Cockney than a Weegie; yet I can still love SG for the unparalleled comedic genius that it was (whilst I've never found OFAH any more than smile-worthy, myself).

For what it's worth, I always thought that Dear John (also written by John Sullivan) was far, far superior to OFAH; but that too is very dated now and would never be made these days.

Aside from the many, many issues with On The Buses, it was pure nastiness how appallingly Olive was treated throughout - when she was actually one of the nicer characters, yet still shamed for nothing more than her plain looks.

Blakey was a deeply unpleasant chatacter, yet because he was a man, he was always treated by Stan and Jack with a kind of respectful friendly rivalry; yet Olive was shown no mercy at all and horribly abused for being a woman who dared not to be stunningly beautiful. Their mum was also treated dismissively and as nothing more than a 'service person', but because she was old, she at least was never judged for her looks.

Well, the first few series of The Thick Of It are about New Labour, the final ones are about Cameron's Tories, and Veep is a Democrat VP. Clearly.

The reason OFAH isn't shown on "the main" BBC channels any more is because no old sitcoms are shown on "the main" BBC channels any more.

Gen Z & I love Fawlty Towers. I like Connie Booth having been cowriter, especially.
I also think Basil & Sybil having separate beds makes sense given their prickly relationship.

Channel 4 streaming.

1 foot in the grave and outnumbered never fail to make me laugh when I'm feeling down.😂😂😂