The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by The Old Mixer, Jan 11, 2016.

  1. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    The Feb. 13-14 Decades Binge will be, appropriately enough...Love, American Style.
     
  2. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Sweet. I'll definitely have that one on. Hopefully they'll show some episodes they haven't shown before.
     
  3. DarrenTR1970

    DarrenTR1970 Commodore Commodore

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    Here in the Seattle area we've had five 'over the air/antenna' TV stations launch in the last two-three months.
    There's Comet TV - a sci-to channel which, according to its website will be showing the Stargate franchise and the 1990s version of the Outer Limits as well as old sci-if/horror movies.
    We also have GRIT TV which is showing Lariame (sp) and Walker: Texas Ranger as well as old westerns and war movies.
    Then there's LAFF TV which is airing programs from the Touchstone vault. It seems to consist mainly of Empty Nest, The Ellen Show, The Drew Carey Show, Grace Under Fire and Spin City as well as old Touchstone movies.
    There's also Decades TV which has been mentioned before, and just this weekend I scanned the airwaves with my antenna and a new channel called ESCAPE TV popped up. So far I don't know anything about it. It looks like tru-life reality cop shows and a smattering of movies.
     
  4. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    That's pretty amazing. These stations are just broadcast, with no cable access? A local Sci-Fi channel is pretty sweet.
     
  5. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Might be local broadcast affiliates of networks that get put in cable lineups as well.
     
  6. DarrenTR1970

    DarrenTR1970 Commodore Commodore

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    I believe all the stations I've mentioned are national. I also get MeTV and Antenna TV as well. They're sub-stations/channels to the network channels.
    ABC is channels 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
    NBC is channels 5.1, 5.2
    CBS is channels 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
    PBS is channels 9.1, 9.2, 9.3
    CW is 11.1, 11.2 and
    FOX is 13.1, 13.2, 13.3.
    ABC, NBC etc are the .1 stations while Comet, GRIT etc are the .2-.3 stations. I don't know how it works with cable in your area. On a good day with my antenna I can get approximately 50 over the air channels. Of course when it's rainy and windy it goes down to about 30.
     
  7. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Yeah, it turns out Comet is a network. We allegedly have it here in Massachusetts on a local UHF (if that means anything anymore) station. It lists the primary affiliation as Cozi. I'll take a look, but that station is almost always infomercials whenever I check.
     
  8. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    The Agent Carter and Legends of Tomorrow threads have me on an historical inaccuracy check binge....I just watched an episode of Black Sheep Squadron on H&I that dealt with a fictionalized version of the early 1943 mission in which Army fighters shot down Yamamoto's plane. The thing that caught my attention was that the guest Army pilots (led by an actor whose performance was so awkwardly wooden that he made Robert Beltran look like Patrick Stewart) were flying P-51 Mustangs...which seemed a little too early from what I knew of that plane's distinguished service. Sure enough...while P-51's did operate in the Pacific, it seems that was largely on the Chinese mainland and no earlier than late '44...and the fighters used in the Yamamoto raid were P-38 Lightnings.

    Digging deeper into the historical inaccuracies...the Yamamoto raid was in Spring of '43...Boyington put together the Black Sheep in Fall of '43...and this was a Season 2 episode....Black Sheep is a fun show, but it definitely doesn't stand up to "quick Google search / Wiki check" scrutiny.

    (And the next episode deals with...rival Navy pilots....)

    Friendly reminder to anyone interested--Man from UNCLE today and tomorrow on Decades.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2016
  9. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, Boyington was of course still alive when the show came out and never hesitated to point out that it was largely hogwash. But if was hard to get flying Mustangs and Corsairs for a TV show, P-38s, -39s and -40s would be pretty much out of the question.
     
  10. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Just thought to check what the Feb. 20-21 Decades Binge will be:



    That intro confused me when I first saw it because it looks like they're frantically trying to get away from Bob the Discount Police Captain. Maybe he has their annual reviews ready....
     
  11. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    ^^ He represents The Establishment, man.

    Oddly enough, I never liked Mod Squad. Maybe because of the bland cast.

    I had The Man From UNCLE on all weekend, though I wasn't around to actually watch most of it. I saw many familiar faces show up as I walked back and forth, though. Yvonne Craig, Glenn Corbett, Gavin MacLeod (took me a minute), Barbara Feldon, Judy Carne, Victor Buono, and that guy who played Roger Korby (took me another minute), among others.
     
  12. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    I was saying in the TOS guest actors thread that I barely saw an episode go by without at least one recognizable Trek guest actor in it...often more than one...and that was in addition to other familiar faces from TV of the era, like MacLeod, Feldon (co-guesting with Caesar Romero), Buono, and in the last episode that I woke up to the end of this morning, Martin Landau.
     
  13. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Oh, yeah, I saw Martin Landau and Cesar Romero, too. One of the pleasures of watching these old shows is seeing all the great character actors we used to take for granted. Ah, I just remembered: I saw John McGiver in that killer bee episode.
     
  14. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    The Decades Binge for Feb. 27-28 will be...The Love Boat. :ack:
     
  15. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    I liked the first season, but I have no desire to watch it again. It will only be interesting if they show the original pilots.
     
  16. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    I used to watch it as a kid, but no interest now...and I actively avoided it on Me because the theme song is a major earworm for me.
     
  17. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Haha. Good old Paul Williams. :rommie: I might watch the early episodes. At the time I was very interested, because it was basically Love, American Style with a recurring cast (just like Fantasy Island was Twilight Zone with a recurring cast)-- and it even had the same producer. The cast was very good, and it was cool seeing Murray from MTM playing such a different (and starring) role. But after the first season, it just wasn't the same, although I continued to watch on a pretty regular basis.

    And, speaking of Love, American Style, I've had it on in the background all weekend. I caught a nice little story about immigrants that had Labeau from Hogan's Heroes.
     
  18. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Miss Emily from Night Stalker and Billie Jo from Petticoat Junction are on now-- and Miss Emily is the swinger. :rommie:
     
  19. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    LAS certainly does offer a plethora of recognizable guest stars, often between their best-known roles. Take bearded Larry Hagman, for example....
     
  20. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I've been enjoying the Johnny Carson reruns on whatever station has those (Cozi?). The stuff from the 80s fits like an old glove. The 70s were a little too laid back and conversational which can be OK but you start to need a cigarette like Johnny after a while. I think Johnny really hits his pace with the 80s (maybe it's the shift from 90mins to an hour) and holds up quite well today.