EW.com's "15 TV Cl=assics You Just Don't Get"

Asked readers to comment upon classic (American) TV shows they don't understand, sparks predictable outrage

I am racking my brain thinking about classic (American) TV shows I have seen or heard about that I don't get. While I may not find "I Love Lucy" and "M*A*S*H" all the great now, I understand their genius and appreciate their role in TV history. So I would say I "get" them.

What about you all?

I was more baffled by some of them being on the list or the comment put by them than the actual list.

There sure were an awful lot of really dumb shows that were on a long time that belong on that list yet I didn't see any of those.

Meh, I recently spoke to someone who said that Super Mario 64 was completely irrelevant and anyone that claims otherwise is a fanboi.

It's all a matter of context. I Love Lucy is a slightly above average comedy with glaring flaws. Historical context and lasting impact are what matter...

Odd list. And yeah, most of those are generational things.

No Seinfeld though?

good luck D.B.B.

M*A*S*H remains one of my favourite shows of all time. My wife grew up in the Philippines and never really knew the show, so I borrowed my sister's DVD collection and we started watching it. Most shows that I loved as a kid kind of... suck... when viewed now, but I found M*A*S*H just as funny today as back then.

I have recently starting rewatching Seinfeld and...

I still freakin' love it. I love that the core group loves to make fun of each other. Some of the neurosis of the characters are my neurosis. I love George's lies and how he always gets caught. Actually, I love how they are really horrible people, but they always get their comeuppance, in one way or the other.

Of course, YMMV

This has more to do with the literate but inarticulate and unintelligent nature that our society has bred within the last generation.

Of course "they" don't get it. They don't get anything other than those things that they like or people they want to emulate like.

I actually find "Leave it to Beaver" hilarious. However the reason is it's so cornball over the top that I can't help but just laugh at how stupid it is.

I remember sitting down with someone 15 years younger than I am to watch the original Wild Wild West, a show I enjoyed greatly. He couldn't understand why it was popular. It was simply from a too different time of TV production. Indoor "outdoor" sets. The four act format. The henchmen from central casting (if you believe IMDB, the next six actors after the two leads appearing in the most episodes were henchmen).

But it was a time when spy series were popular and westerns already were. We would call some of the tech in it "steampunk" nowadays. Yes it was fairly predictable. So was Hogan's Heroes, Star Trek, Dragnet, The Man from UNCLE, Mission Impossible to name a few.

A lot of this is indeed generational, but I think the poll's intent is to try and measure the lasting impact of a given show culturally, and the Lucy series that eventually ran for thirty years is something you can't underestimate, along with Lucille Ball's position in the industry as the person who formed the production company and was its president for much of its life and helped other shows get off the ground (note when you watch original Star Trek, it's filmed in the Desilu studios).

Yes, a lot of the older comedies are formulaic, but it's because the demographic back then was considered to the Midwest and older people, and it wasn't until the 70's that it all shifted to younger, urban comedies like Good Times and All in the Family. I think what they wanted people to consider was that broader impact on society and their lasting iconic status, and I'm surprised that Seinfeld wasn't there also, even though it was probably more appreciated by comedians than a general audience over time.


S.

You know most of that list I can say i understand as a matter of taste. Though say like my mom loved the Mary Tyler Moore show, i never really got it. But then i was never a single woman trying to carve out a career at a time when women were new to the work place.

The show i dont get being on that list is MASH. Just seriously IMO that show was so perfect. It could take a subject like war and make an episode that had you laugh out loud and by the end be almost in tears. I can remember tearing up a bit when Hawkeye gives Radar one of the few offical salutes he ever gave anyoneon the show. Or getting choked up when Radar enters the operating room to tell everyone Henry died in a plane crash.

The writing, stories, concept, acting everything on that show IMO was a class act and really just showed the TV industry that a sitcom could be more then a laugh track and sight gags.