Saturday, September 8, 2012

Teenage TV Wasteland

I was talking about the X Files with a friend yesterday. I loved that show in the 90s . I recall watching it in like 1996-7, it was a Sunday night thing. Once it got heavily into government conspiracies it just lost me. I always liked the story of the week episodes the best.
My partner and I tried revisiting it last year with dismal results, I can't remember if it took a few seasons to hit it's stride. Or maybe it was a case of a show that pioneered a style that's been aped to death such that the progenitor seems quaint and...dull.

It got me thinking about the shows I loved as a teenager.

Among them were such gems as Thirtysomething.  I recently saw it again on netflix and I was surprised again by how boring I find it. It seems ironic given that it was now so much more age appropriate then when I was a fan.




Then there was Murder She Wrote. In fairness I was fully aware of the narcoticizing effect of the show as a teen....but man oh man. It's sort of in the tradition of a show like Columbo, where Peter Falk sort of stumbled around, dumb like the proverbial fox until he nailed the killer. I just loved Angela Lansbury.
the gumshoe of Cabot Cove, Jessica Fletcher

I loved the way she was always doing something improbable like infiltrating a community theatre, or going to masquerade ball.














The opening sequence is completely evocative of my youth. There, I said it.


The other completely tedious show I was obsessed with was Northern Exposure. This one had legs, I remember even watching it as an adult after working night shift, it was on at like 8am or something. Of course, in the hunk triumvirate on the show, I fell on the side of Ed Chigliak (played by Darren Burrows). 

Behold. I still think he's hot as hell. 
I really loved this show. I guess all these programs had good writing, character development and some thematic depth. It just seems funny that I loved all these kind of dull shows....
Of course there was also Twin Peaks, Golden Girls and I held a torch for Three's Company for a long, long time. I maintain that it was really funny. 
I do notice as I've gotten older that my attention span has shortened. I guess everyone's has, but I know I have a hard time sitting through an hour TV show at all these days. 


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