While there are certainly many television shows that worth watching these days — Fringe, House, The Office, and so on — there are many more that are no longer on the air. Yes, it is positively possible that I am viewing these classics through rose-tinted glasses, but I’d still like to see them come back for another run on the old boob tube.
It’s debatable whether any of these are actually educational shows at all, but they were certainly entertaining and that’s what I want to extract from my television-watching experience. If I don’t enjoy watching it, why would I bother watching it? This list is far from exhaustive, but here are four shows that immediately come to mind.
Beavis and Butthead
The portions of the show where Beavis and Butthead would “critique” the different music videos weren’t the best, but the “sitcom”-like portions offered plenty of irreverent and crude humor. That why I also enjoyed the Beavis and Butthead Do America
Seinfeld
Who can forget about the Soup Nazi? Or how about the time that George’s mother “caught” him? Or the first time that we get to the “dancing” by Elaine? Yes, Seinfeld
The Sopranos
I will admit that I have yet to finish watching the entire series and I’ve still got some catching up to do, so I’m not quite as anxious to see the revival of The Sopranos just yet. In the meantime, I can think about the talking bass, the writing ambitions of Christopher, and some poor sap known only as Big Pussy.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The pilot episode was positively electric and the show had a very strong cast, but the plot lines did start to lose a little steam as the season went on. Even so, it was an intelligent and insightful show that offered a (relatively) realistic behind-the-scenes view at an SNL-like show (without Alec Baldwin). Aaron Sorkin is a genius. I really ought to check out The West Wing
What television shows would you like to see come back on the air?
I don’t miss the Sopranos as much as I miss the ritual of Sunday nights when the Sopranos was on. It was a big deal for me, to put down whatever it was I was doing, or to make a point to be home to watch it Sunday nights. Even the dinner the night of, because it was Sunday and because it was the Sopranos was unique on its own.
The Seinfeld ‘reunion’ on Curb isn’t finished yet. It goes throughout the season, though last week’s episode didn’t have a mention of it.
I miss The West Wing. The last season was very nearly like the Obama/McCain election, with Jimmy Smits running against Alan Alda. And this was like a year or so before all of it.
But the show, I really miss is Dirty Sexy Money. I have about six episodes of the last season to watch, and have been rationing them just so the show doesn’t end.
Funny, I never watched any of those shows ever. Well, I watched Beavis and Butthead once and was completely turned off. It was lowlife comedy and the cartooning sucked.
As for the rest, I had no interest in Seinfield and the Sopranos was on a channel that I never watched. Didn’t have the time for Studio 60.
Now West Wing was a really good program. If you want good TV you need to go back a long way and watch Donna Reed, Father Knows Best, Dragnet, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Andy Griffith and MASH.
Today’s TV is a shell of what it used to be, which I think is a commentary on our society and education.
Sorkin is an acquired taste…one that’s over the head of the average American. Same reason why Sports Night was short lived.
I’ve been meaning to watch The West Wing as well but never got around to it.
I never really watched any of those shows, except Seinfeld. But I didn’t really start watching Seinfeld until it was in syndication. Seemed funnier then than it did during the original run.
Agreed on Studio 60…would’ve loved another season of that.
This year, I’m missing a few recent cancellations that I’d love to get back: My Name is Earl, The Unit and Without a Trace. I was also enjoying 11th Hour last year.
Oh man, I had no idea they canceled The Unit. It was one of my favorites…although I have to admit the show was in decline last year.
Too much of the wives, not enough covert ops.
They moved The Unit to Sunday nights and I think maybe they were trying to compete with Army Wives or something. I wasn’t surprised it was cancelled.
I’ve heard the same complaint (“Too much of the wives, not enough covert ops.”) from other viewers too. I think the change and the move did the show in.
I used to like My Name is Earl but it seemed like it had lost something its last season. Namely being funny. Used to be that you’d watch the show and you’d get a lot of laughs out of it. But, when I tuned in during the final season, the episodes I saw I could sit through and not get a single laugh out of it.
It was sad to see it go downhill like that.
Beavis and Butthead comes up on MTV once in a while. It usually comes on a weekend back to back with a bunch of episodes so I TIVO it. My 11 year old cracks up at it. I’m probably not the wisest father letting him watch it but hey … it’s something we both can have a good time doing together.