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Been watching the outer limits recently since it's on Hulu and I enjoy old sci-fi shows and movies. Like to see what crazy things have become reality in our time (video phones? Well, cell phones have filled that niche with facetime/duo/Skype etc). Have watched 4 episodes and man, what an awesome show! Can't believe I haven't watched this show before!

Have always liked the twilight zone, lost in space, star trek... Read a lot of sci-fi. Oh, and Forbidden Planet! I think I like the more serious Leslie Nielsen better than the Naked Gun Leslie Nielsen lol!

For some reason, the intro themes to Love American Style and Room 222 came to mind. I'm not sure why. As a kid, I did NOT like the shows, especially Love American Style, but my older sister was a big fan. I still wouldn't watch Love American Style, but admittedly, the opening theme song is catchy:

https://youtu.be/IvUkUdX2Lak

As for Room 222, if it was ever representative of what an American high school is like, those days are long gone. Also, this show was very much ahead of its time. The lead actor was Lloyd Haynes, an African-American actor, something that never even occurred to me back then. The show began airing 50 years ago. Something I always found a bit odd is that Karen Valentine looked like a Caucasian version of my sister, lol.

https://youtu.be/-MLkofLSYZs

Jim

Aside from the popular choices like The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, which are still personal favorites (the original Twilight Zone is probably my all-time favorite series), one show that was clearly ahead of its time was Playhouse 90, an anthology drama series that ran from 1956 to 1960 and a progenitor of some of the successful anthologies in decades to follow. It featured some of the best writers in the industry, such as Rod Serling, Albert Horton Foote Jr., and Abby Mann, and directors like John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet, and George Roy Hill. "90" referred to the length of the typical show in minutes. Some of these shows were remade as major motion pictures, such as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (the original is better) and "Judgment at Nuremberg." I've only seen a few episodes but would love to see more.

Keeping with the anthology motif, I also love Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which later became The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Great stuff.

Forgot about Hitchcock. That was great.

James Y wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 3:09 pm

For some reason, the intro themes to Love American Style and Room 222 came to mind. I'm not sure why. As a kid, I did NOT like the shows, especially Love American Style, but my older sister was a big fan. I still wouldn't watch Love American Style, but admittedly, the opening theme song is catchy:

https://youtu.be/IvUkUdX2Lak

As for Room 222, if it was ever representative of what an American high school is like, those days are long gone. Also, this show was very much ahead of its time. The lead actor was Lloyd Haynes, an African-American actor, something that never even occurred to me back then. The show began airing 50 years ago. Something I always found a bit odd is that Karen Valentine looked like a Caucasian version of my sister, lol.

HOlY COW(sills)!! how did you remember "Love American Style" :eek: I've got a fairly decent memory and I can barely remember that one myself :rolleyes: . It's one of the very few other TV Shows that Max Baer Jr. ( Jethro Bodine, Beverly Hillbillies) ever starred in. That music group that did the soundtrack of that show known as the Cowsills were truly a one year superstar wonder back in the day. They also did the soundtrack of the Broadway musical "Hair"

Room 222 was just a feeble attempt at a reality show back in the day. Although I did think Karen Valentine was hot and I had a crush on her big time as a teenager :o :D

While we're on the subject of obscure 1960s shows there was a comic-Western I never missed an episode of>> I'm speaking of Laredo with one of my all time favorite characters Reese Bennett :D Oh how I wish time travel were possible at times.

Dragnet was way ahead of its time imo.
I’m talking about the 50’s version though.

It really set the baseline for police procedural shows.
Given the time period the acting was excellent also.
If you have never seen the 50’s version check out “The Big Cast” with Lee Marvin playing a serial killer.

As good as the tv show was I still prefer the radio show though.

willc wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:51 pm

Dragnet was way ahead of its time imo.
I’m talking about the 50’s version though.

It really set the baseline for police procedural shows.
Given the time period the acting was excellent also.
If you have never seen the 50’s version check out “The Big Cast” with Lee Marvin playing a serial killer.

As good as the tv show was I still prefer the radio show though.

Jack Webb and Harry Morgan I believe were the two you're speaking of? It's most interesting how many TV shows Harry Morgan was in but few can remember anything other than his work with the M.A.S.H. TV Show. I even remember him all the way back to the "Pete & Gladys" when I was just a "rug-bopper" :rolleyes: But who could forget Jack Webb as "Joe Friday"?

I'm glad I started this thread. Now I realize it just isn't my own personal liking>> the 60s TV shows were indeed far better than the raw sewage we have on TV now a days.

Agreed. The crime shows today have become soap operas tangled in political correctness.

I forgot about Wild Wild West! I am going to look it up and try to watch it again. The 50s/60s were definitely the era of the Western. How about Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges? I think someone already mentioned Jonny Quest.

I was no Love American Style (or Love Boat for that matter) fan, but my parents loved both, and I can't get the theme songs out of my head.

The TV adaptation of the beloved DC Comics superhero
Adventures of Superman from 1952 to 1958
was one of my favorites.
https://youtu.be/p0swAKS-5qA
We did not have a color TV until I went to college in 1965.
So I thought all that stuff was filmed in black and white.

I might have mentioned it in another post, but my favorite Twilight Zone episode, "He's Alive," was way ahead of its time, as were many other episodes. This episode stands out as my favorite. It stars Dennis Hopper as an American neo-Nazi. The entire point of the episode was that, as long as people harbor hate and prejudice for others, the evil spirit of Hitler and what he stood for will live on. The way Rod Serling presented it was done in a way that would make any intelligent person THINK.

Unfortunately, by some of the YouTube comments about it online, it's clear there are many idiots out there who completely missed the point. The episode was not glorifying hatred, or presenting Dennis Hopper's character as a shining example of how people "should be," or that his character's message should be followed, but the exact opposite. It was about the folly of hatred, and it was done in a way as to stimulate self-reflection. It's tragic that there are people nowadays whose heads the message completely went over, because they lack the intelligence to see that. And it didn't have to be overly PC to do it, which makes Serling's message so much more powerful and relevant today.

https://youtu.be/B3ID7k0_xn4

Jim

It's not possible to have a reasonable discussion anymore.
Utter one word a person might consider hurtful and your point no longer matters.
You're a hater, the opposition and deserving of censorship or a beat down.

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer were Mark Twain's overture for racial equality.
Now they are no longer allowed to be read in school. We've lost our way.

Totalitarian causes, whether monarchies, despotic dictators or religious tyranny
are spread by the use of social pressure, force and violence.
Disarming the population, shutting down the opposition and suppressing free speech
are hallmarks of totalitarian governance.

Freedom can not be spread by violence. It can only be defended.
Yesterday may have been the 4th of July, but we have to make every day
independence day.

Oh darn. I've gone off the reservation again. Have a good weekend.

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 7:58 am

Agreed. The crime shows today have become soap operas tangled in political correctness.

And that is why almost all of them suck.

And why the old shows are a lot better for the most part.

They cared about the story and the plot and making quality shows instead of the all the BS that takes away from the show to the point that they aren't even worth watching.

One show I remember watching as a kid during the late '60s/early '70s (but had almost forgotten about) was The Name Of The Game:

https://youtu.be/igMoIRvjWqI

As far as crime dramas go, my all-time favorite was not from the '60s, '70s or the '80s. It was the late-'90s series Millennium, starring Lance Henriksen as Frank Black, a profiler who can see into the minds of serial killers. It was a dark crime drama with elements of mystery and horror mixed in. It only lasted 3 seasons, but it was far better and more interesting than any of the crime dramas today.

Jim

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:56 am

It's not possible to have a reasonable discussion anymore.

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer were Mark Twain's overture for racial equality.
Now they are no longer allowed to be read in school. We've lost our way.

I read both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn when I was in school. I just saw the movie "Huck Finn" about a year ago. It was absolutely hilarious. I never thought of either novel to be racially bigoted when I read them. Mark Twain ( Samuel Clemons) was just simply depicting how things were back in those days. There really wasn't anything in either novel that encouraged racism that I could remember. Twain just showed everything like it was in the mid 1800s.

Now as far as the present day schools are concerned>> well we lost all of our public schools probably as far back as the 60s in many instances. Even when I graduated in the 70s the public schools I attended were showing signs of Marxism and Communism even back then unfortunately

Not to get away from the spirit of the thread, but does anyone listen to replays of the old radio shows? I know, in my neck of the woods, that AM 900 out of Toronto broadcasts them from around 9 pm on. Nights are the only time I can pick it up.

My Favorite Martian 1963-1966 skewered the foibles of the human situation.
Mork and Mindy was great but not until 1978-1982. Nanu nanu.

The wisecracking talking horse, Mister Ed, 1961-1966.

Nanu nanu!!