c/forgotten-tv-shows

Had a debate with my dad about "Tales from the Crypt" being horror or comedy. He says it was pure horror, I say it was campy on purpose. Which side is right?

Stumbled on an old PBS show called 'The Woodwright's Shop' from 1980s

I was flipping through channels last Saturday night, and landed on some public access station that was rerunning old episodes of this show where a guy builds furniture with nothing but hand tools and no electricity. It was so quiet and slow compared to everything else on TV today. He spent a whole half hour just explaining how to sharpen a chisel on a whetstone, and I was completely hooked. I grew up watching Power Rangers and cartoons so I never knew this show existed back then. It made me realize how much care went into making things before cordless drills and table saws took over. Has anyone else seen these old woodworking shows from the 80s and found them relaxing in a weird way?

I finally found the theme song to a show I thought I made up

I was at a record shop in Portland last weekend digging through bins when I stumbled on a soundtrack LP for this weird 80s puppet show called 'The Great Space Coaster.' I used to watch it before school but nobody I knew remembered it, so I figured it was a fever dream. Has anyone else ever had a show they were convinced was imaginary until proof showed up?

Rant: That old show 'The Inside' from 2005 just vanished mid-season on streaming

I was binging it on Hulu last Friday and halfway through episode 11 the whole series just disappeared from the platform with no warning, so now I'm stuck hunting down DVDs on eBay wondering if anyone else had this happen with a forgotten show suddenly pulled from streaming.

Heard someone mention "Freaks and Geeks" at a diner and it hit me how much that show got right

I was sitting at a booth near a group of 30 somethings talking about high school movies and one guy said "Freaks and Geeks" was the only show that actually showed what it was like being a loser in 1980. I watched it again that night after like 10 years. Man, that scene where Sam gets stuck at the dance with the weird girl felt way too real. Anyone else go back and rewatch that show and see it totally different as an adult?

Just remembered a shortcut for finding old reruns on low-budget cable

Back around 2005 I wanted to watch this show called 'The Lost World' that nobody talked about anymore. I figured out that checking the 3am time slots on weird channels like PAX or TechTV would sometimes have them, and it worked for a few weeks before they pulled it. Anyone else find a show that way?

The fact that everyone hates the last season of That 70s Show is wrong

I was talking to my buddy Mike after work at the shop last Friday, and he said he actually liked season 8 because it showed how the group fell apart naturally after high school. That hit different because I always just jumped on the bandwagon of hating Randy and the whole Kelso-less vibe. Now I think people are too hard on it. Has anyone else gone back and found they actually didn't hate a forgotten season as much as they thought?

Just realized I was watching old TV shows on the wrong speed setting for years

I was rewatching The Prisoner on DVD last week and kept complaining about how slow the dialogue felt. My buddy came over and pointed out my TV was set to 50Hz instead of 60Hz for PAL content. All those British shows I watched growing up were playing at the wrong frame rate. Has anyone else dealt with weird setup issues that totally changed how you saw a classic show?

That time I found an old VHS of 'Space Above and Beyond' in my parents' basement

I was cleaning out their garage last weekend and popped it in just for kicks. Turns out that show from the 90s had this gritty war drama vibe that I totally forgot about. It was wild seeing how dark TV used to be before everything got all polished and streaming-friendly. Anyone else remember that show or am I just dating myself here?

The notes I got from a retired writer about my old 'Space Precinct' fan script

I wrote a fan script for 'Space Precinct' back in the 90s after the show got cancelled and found an old forum where a retired TV writer read it. He told me I was using WAY too many technobabble terms that didn't mean anything, like 'quantum flux stabilizer' and 'hypercore matrix.' So I went back and cut out over 20 nonsense words, replacing them with actual dialogue about cops doing their jobs. Has anyone else tried rewriting an old show script with real writer feedback?

Remember the show 'Now and Again'? The one with the guy in the government lab...

I was watching an old VHS tape I found in my basement last weekend and stumbled across an episode of 'Now and Again' from 1999. My VCR ate the tape right at the part where the main character's daughter almost finds out he's alive. I had to manually rewind the tape with a pencil, which took forever, and it still skipped around. Does anyone else have a crummy memory of a show you loved that got cut short?

Comparing two old cop shows made me realize how much better Hill Street Blues was

I was bored last weekend and decided to watch an episode of T.J. Hooker from 1983 and then an episode of Hill Street Blues from 1981 back to back. The difference was wild. Hooker had all these clean shootouts and neat endings where everything got wrapped up with a bow. But Hill Street Blues felt messy and real like actual police work where cases overlap and people make mistakes. The characters on Hill Street had complicated lives and talked over each other just like real conversations. Hooker felt like a commercial for being a cop while Hill Street felt like a documentary about being human. I think the shaky handheld camera work and the failing relationships made it feel way more honest. Has anyone else gone back and compared two old shows from the same era and been surprised by which one holds up?

That one episode of The Lost Room that completely changed how I watch TV

I was at my buddy's place in Columbus like 8 years ago just flipping channels and we stumbled on this weird mini series The Lost Room. Nobody I talk to remembers it but that episode where the guy gets trapped in the motel room that connects to everywhere? I swear after I saw that I started paying way more attention to how shows build their own rules. Like before I just watched stuff passively but now I catch every little detail they set up. It ruined regular sci fi for me because nothing feels as clever anymore. Has anyone else had a random forgotten show totally mess with how they watch things?

Appreciation post: The weird fact I found about Space: 1999's moon base

I was digging around on a fan site last weekend and found out the moon base set for Space: 1999 was actually the biggest indoor set ever built in Europe at the time. It was 200 feet long and cost like 2 million dollars just to build for the first season. That blew my mind because the show only ran for 48 episodes total and most people forgot it existed by the 80s. I always thought the corridors looked huge but I had no clue they were that massive and expensive. Anyone else remember that show or find random stats like this about forgotten sci-fi?

The one episode of 'Cop Rock' I managed to find on a bootleg DVD actually explains why that show died so fast

After tracking down a grainy copy from a guy on a message board, I saw the problem wasn't the singing cops, it was that they aired the musical numbers in the wrong order for two episodes and nobody could follow the plot.

Hot take: I wasted $200 on a DVD box set of 'The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.' and it was worth every penny

Everyone says streaming ruined physical media and that old shows like this are better left as memories. But I spent $200 on a complete box set from a eBay seller in Ohio last year, and I finally got to see the season 1 finale without it cutting out mid-scene like it did when I was a kid. My friends laughed at me for buying DVDs in 2024, but the picture quality is actually better than the old VHS rips floating around. The show had this weird steampunk Western vibe that never caught on again, and I forgot how funny Bruce Campbell was in every single episode. It saved my weekend when my internet went down for three days during a storm, so I popped in disc four and binged half the season. Has anyone else tracked down a forgotten show on physical media and found it held up better than you expected?

Warning: That show "Strange Luck" from 1995 isnt on any streaming service

I tried to find Strange Luck to rewatch last weekend and it's basically vanished. No DVD release, not on any platform. Back in the 90s I used to tape it on VHS but those tapes are long gone. Has anyone else had luck tracking down forgotten Fox shows like this one?

Finally watched The Prisoner all the way through after 20 years of just knowing the intro

I always thought it was some spy show, turns out it's a full on weird psychological trip. The episode with the exploding balloon tipped me off that I had the whole genre wrong. Has anyone else given up on an old show halfway through then came back and loved it?

Question about that weird show 'The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.'

I tried to rewatch Brisco County on a streaming site last week and the episode skipped around so bad it was unwatchable. The file must have been corrupted or something, I spent an hour trying to fix it before giving up. Has anyone else had trouble finding decent copies of this show or know where to track down a good version?

Everybody keeps saying Freaks and Geeks was cancelled too soon, but they forget the real reason it died

I was at a bar last month talking to some film student who swore it was because of network meddling. But my uncle worked on the crew back in 1999 and he told me the actual problem was the show kept getting stuck in this weird time slot limbo. NBC moved it around 4 different nights in one season, and nobody could find it. Has anyone else heard a different inside story about why a favorite old show tanked?

The trick to finding those old one-season shows from the 80s

I kept trying to search for a show called "The Highwayman" from 1987 and getting nothing but modern results. Then I realized if you put the year in quotes after the title like "The Highwayman" 1987 it filters out all the noise. I tested it on three other forgotten shows from the 70s and it worked every time. Anyone else have a better way to dig up these buried series?

Pro tip: That one critique from a college film professor changed how I watch old shows

I was posting about this forgotten show from 1995 called "The Noon Hour" and a professor replied that my favorite scene had bad continuity. She pointed out a coffee cup that moved between shots. Now I notice stuff like that in every old show I watch. Since she said that 2 years ago, I pay way more attention to set details. Have any of you had someone point out a flaw that ruined a show for you or actually made it better?

My dad swore watching reruns of The Outer Limits as a kid would teach me something, and he was right

He kept saying the episode The Architects of Fear from 1963 was a mind trip and after finally finding it on a random streaming site last week I get why he was obsessed with it, has anyone else tracked down a show their parents loved that turned out to be way better than you expected?

Watched Twin Peaks for years before I realized Lynch didn't intend it to be funny

I was in my living room about 3 months ago, laughing at how ridiculous Agent Cooper's coffee obsession was. My buddy stopped me mid chuckle and said 'dude, he's not joking, that's the point.' I sat through 2 whole seasons thinking I was in on the joke but really I was just missing the whole damn vibe. Has anyone else had a show completely flip on them like that once you understood the director's real intent?

I finally watched that weird 90s show my friend kept pushing

Was totally skeptical about 'Space Cases' on Nickelodeon, thought it was just a cheap kids' sci-fi knockoff. The episode where the crew gets trapped in a sentient nebula that feeds on their memories actually had some solid writing. Anyone else remember this one or have another forgotten 90s gem?