Why do we only care about TV shows from the 90s-present nowadays?
 

So on Rolling Stone, the top ten for tv programs mostly consisted of stuff from the 90s-2020s(Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, The Wire, etc). In public, I usually hear only talk about Breaking Bad, Saul, Game of Thrones, and all that. To tell the truth, I do not even watch these shows, but I still find it hard to believe that the best tv shows of ALL TIME came out within the last decade. How about all the stuff from the 70s-80s, but it seems like all that stuff is "cheese" nowadays. I kind of like the cheesiness of what I have seen though, as it makes me feel more comfortable.

I swear that the stuff before the 90s are still relevant even though they are not as talked about. I still think jazz music is still relevant even though it is not popular anymore.

I love cheesiness, so much so that I'm currently binge watching The Love Boat! after that I'm watching Fantasy Island.

Re: Why do we only care about TV shows from the 90s-present nowadays?
 

Because before the last couple of decades, TV was a fundamentally different medium. It was largely a creative treadmill, telling similar stories week-in and week-out to fill time. Something to watch while you ate, something to while away an evening, something to put on while you fold clothes, even.

If you go back even further and watch The Long Ranger or something, the difference is really stark. That show was on every single week for years on end. No summer breaks, no nothing. The same kinda stories every time. By the time you get to the 80s and 90s, sure, it was less like that, but it still had a long way to go.

The entire goal of the medium was fundamentally different. The shows weren't bad, but they were trying to do different things and had more modest goals. Shows that don't aim as higher aren't going to find their way onto those kinds of lists, in the same way fast food isn't going to win Michelin stars.

Re: Why do we only care about TV shows from the 90s-present nowadays?
 

I mean, it would probably help if you could cite some specific examples of titles that you think belong in the conversation. Not doubting that they exist, but it seems like a lot of the recent titles you referenced were massively popular and influential in a way that would account for their acclaim (to say nothing of how they represent an evolution in the possibilities of television as its own medium - sprawling HBO ensemble dramas like The Sopranos or The Wire didn't exist in the 1980s but they have come to represent the zenith of what television can do on a storytelling/artistic level). I try to think of similar titles from pre-1990 but I'm coming up with stuff like The Twilight Zone or Star Trek or Miami Vice, all of which are classics but may not necessarily be to quite the same extent as relatively recent titles.

Columbo '71, Galactica '78, Magnum, P.I. '80, Knight Rider '82, The A-Team '83, Airwolf '84, V '84, MacGyver '85, Desmond's '89
^ Grew up with them so can't really rate/rank them objectively but they're all in my top 100 tv shows with a 40-60 min. runtime..

If you like jazz you would like the Peter Gunn series (1958-61). The show featured the first detective created for television, and it was far and away the hippest show on TV. All shows in those days were pretty much produced on the cheap in terms of sets, action, and special effects. But the chemistry between stars Craig Stevens and the gorgeous Lola Albright was palpable, and featured some of the most innovative and sexiest dialogue on TV. The jazz was during the "cool" era (post bebop) and featured some of the great players of the day.

The shows of the 1950s thru the 1970s featured palatable stories acceptable for their time, which may still be the case. Outside of Gunn, old shows that stand out in my memory were Have Gun, Will Travel (1957-63) Richard Boone; The Untouchables (1959-63) Robert Stack; and much later, The Streets of San Francisco (1972-77) Karl Malden, Michael Douglas.

Comedy fared even better: I love Lucy (1951-60), Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77), and Barney Miller (1975-82). There are others, but these stick out in my mind as shows that can still be enjoyed today.

Due to the circumstances cited above, along with changing mores, special effects, and highly increased budgets make many of the older shows anachronistic. There's a similar effect in feature films.

Another thing I miss are variety shows hosted by name celebrities. You got to see not only some of the best acts at the time, but also a wide variety of talent. From Ed Sullivan to the Smothers Brothers, these shows were extremely popular.

Some of my favorite TV shows were from before the 1990s, and as far back as the 1960s.


The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)
Ben Casey (1961 - 1966)
My Favorite Martian (1963 - 1966)
The Addams Family (1964–1966)
Batman (1966–1968)
Star Trek (1966 - 1969)
The Carol Burnett Show (1967 - 1978)
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969–1972)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977)
Columbo (1971 - 2003)
The Rookies (1972–1976)
The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978)
Starsky and Hutch (1975–1979)
Barney Miller (1975–1982)
The Muppet Show (1976–1981)
B.J. and the Bear (1978–1981)
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982)
Remington Steele (1982–1987)
Moonlighting (1985–1989)
Midnight Caller (1988 - 1991)

COZI-TV shows a lot of Columbo

Barney Miller is a staple of Antenna TV and MeTV has been showing edited versions of The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights for about a year.

Re: Why do we only care about TV shows from the 90s-present nowadays?
 

You actually read Rolling Stone? Please tell me that was just an out-of-curiosity thing. Rolling Stone is a bunch of hacks and sellouts who base their opinions on what they think they NEED to tell their fanbase. Example: Sgt. Pepper's is the greatest album of all time. Why wouldn't it be a Beatles album? U2's Songs of Innocence is the greatest albums of 2014, followed by a Taylor Swift album. Why? Because they're POPULAR (despite the fact that Songs of Innocence was kinda forced on the Apple community). If you know your music communities, trends and magazine chart-making stylistics, you can call BS. And RS is BS.

I think you mean EB.

https://i.postimg.cc/RFyjmRpQ/download.jpg

Agreed. I know my music communities quite well as there are more genres of notable music outside of just rock(progressive rock, jazz fusion, traditional jazz, experimental music, and also music from other countries). Rolling Stone is too based on rock music to even care about everything else.

In reality, I could be watching all kinds of shows from different decades and countries, but my favorite shows will depend on what mood I am in. I really want to check out some tv shows. Subscribe to Rolling SuperMetro and not Rolling Stone

People only like what they can see. People can't latch onto classic television if it's unavailable. Even though a lot of shows are still in syndication, if you don't have a computer, there's nowhere to watch All in the Family or Hill Street Blues or The Mary Tyler Moore Show or The Fugitive or Perry Mason or Hollywood Palace or [i]The Carol Burnett Show[/I or Bewitched or The Defenders or Peyton Place or ER.

I don't watch anything from the 90's onward, with the exception of sports, religious, educational, documentaries, and news programs. I watch mostly MeTV and Antenna TV.