Picked six random shows from a '90s TV guide and watched them all in order

I found an old TV Guide from October 1995 at a thrift store in Portland for $3. I decided to watch the first episode of each show listed on one random Tuesday night, including things like Step by Step and The Nanny. I figured it would be a fun nostalgia trip, but I actually ended up liking two shows I never gave a chance back then. The weird part was how much slower the pacing felt compared to modern streaming shows. I learned that old network TV really relied on laugh tracks to fill gaps in the dialogue. Has anyone else gone back to watch shows from a specific year and noticed how different the storytelling feels?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean_walker4510d ago

Holy crap, I used to ROLL my eyes at people who said old shows felt slower or clunky. Honestly, I thought they were just being dramatic about nostalgia or whatever. But after trying this exact thing with a stack of Saturday morning cartoons from '94, I totally get it now. The pacing is like watching paint dry compared to something on Netflix today. Every scene holds for an extra beat and the laugh track literally tells you when to react. It changed my mind completely about how much television has evolved in just thirty years.

terryallen10d ago

Wait, you rolled your eyes at people saying old shows were slow, but you never actually watched any of them yourself to see what they meant? That's kind of hilarious honestly. I mean, I get it, I used to think the same way until I sat down with an episode of The A-Team from the 80s and my jaw dropped at how long it took for anything to happen. The laugh track thing is real too, like the show is literally hand-holding you through every joke. It's wild how much our brains have gotten used to faster cuts and no dead air.