TV shows that you hated as a kid but watched them anyway

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Jericho
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TV shows that you hated as a kid but watched them anyway

Post by Jericho » Wed, 3. May 17, 12:37

I didn't really like school, I would have much rather be running around the garden or the woods with my friends.

So it seemed like, on a rainy sunday afternoon/ sunday night, I would watch any old crap on TV, just so I didn't have to go to bed.

I can't be the only one?
Some of these shows are UK-centric...

Bullseye
https://youtu.be/GdZd2rVW6rU

A horrible sunday afternoon show. About darts. And moustaches. Every man on the show had to have a moustache. Every woman had to either be stocky with short hair and arm-tattoos like Popeye, or they had big 1980's hair and talked in a quiet voice.

The production values were comical, and the prizes were even worse (Always teasmaid, usually some cultery, usually a portable black&white tv, often a power drill). And if they managed to win the star prize, then a pair of drinking buddies from Sheffield, 100 miles from the sea, would win a speedboat between them.

Also, the show was brown. Very very brown.

The host was Jim Bowen, who often had zero chemistry with the contestants, especially in the early days. They used to film about 5 episodes a day, and it showed. He did his best to coax the contestants into actually speaking. Many shows screen the contestants to ensure they get 'characters'.... Bullseye didn't, and it demonstrated why all shows should.




Catchphrase
Roy Walker hosted Catchphrase
https://youtu.be/3-o7lYlqZEE
Awful show, with the world's stupidest contestants. Just thinking of the music makes me think "Damn! I have to go to bed soon! Must watch this crap!"

Taxi
https://youtu.be/hSzEZscQBg4
Yes. Taxi. The 'classic' US sitcom. With the most depressing title music ever. Danny Devitto was good I seem to remember. Then Back to the Future arrived with "That mad guy from Taxi" and suddenly everyone was watching the Taxi repeats.

I know that Andy Kaufmann is considered the 'star' these days... But I hated him.

Blue Peter
After school, we'd watch cartoons. Then when the cartoons finished, the BBC would try and sneak some crappy edutainment show called Blue Peter into the schedule, and there was nothing else to watch. It was just before dinner, so not even time to go and play.
https://youtu.be/gfZcpLxBUKk
Also, it was live TV, so when they made a mistake, they had to carry on.

Horrible show, with ignorant presenters. I remember them laughing at a survey of US children who didn't know where London was on a map. Like the average UK kid can find Washington DC or New York. They even laughed when one child claimed London was in Canada!!!!! Ha ha ha, their smug grins. I was 7 or 8 when I saw that, and I knew that there was a London in Canada.

Star Trek
I'm waiting for the flames.
I'm a trekkie.
Star Trek, the original series, is 87% utter crap.
Every line out of Shatner's mouth is pure 24 carat gold. Every special effect is tin, at best.

For such an accepting and progressive future society, every episode ended with Jim and Bones laughing at the racist joke they just made about Spock.
Imagine Spock was a black guy. Every episode would end with a 'joke' like "Smile Spock, I can't see you in the shadows back there,"

Don't get me wrong, I love it because it was so bad. Jim fighting the Gorn? Classic.

Also, Bones was a very underused and underrated character. His performance in Star Trek 4 & 5 was excellent.

Can't think of others right now, sure they will come to me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
My 3 year old loves the turtles. We recently watched an episode where Shredder has a special anti-grav vacuum cleaner that he is using to rob banks. Then they flick a switch that says "Money" to "Antiques" and then it starts vacuuming up all the antiques in town.

Yeah. It was terrible, with terrible animation too. Best thing about it is the intro music and Splinter turning into a rat.

Also, in the first season, Shredder had a really bad fake Japanese accent. That got dropped. Bad Uncle Phil, you bad racist!!!!!



What utter rubbish did you watch as a kid?
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Post by pjknibbs » Wed, 3. May 17, 13:36

I remember turning the TV on and watching Open University programmes on Saturday mornings when I was young, because there was literally nothing else on! Swap Shop didn't start until I was 6 years old, and prior to that there was nothing on Saturday morning TV that was intended for kids. Not that Swap Shop was all that great, looking back at it now, it was just such a massive improvement on what had gone before that we sort of accepted it.

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Post by CBJ » Wed, 3. May 17, 14:17

pjknibbs wrote:...watching Open University programmes on Saturday mornings...
Oh boy, I remember those. Brown flares, brown checked shirts, beards, unkempt hair, and a delivery so dry you could have roasted peanuts in it.

Edit: Typo.
Last edited by CBJ on Wed, 3. May 17, 15:01, edited 1 time in total.

Jericho
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Post by Jericho » Wed, 3. May 17, 14:31

pjknibbs wrote:I remember turning the TV on and watching Open University programmes on Saturday mornings when I was young, because there was literally nothing else on! Swap Shop didn't start until I was 6 years old, and prior to that there was nothing on Saturday morning TV that was intended for kids. Not that Swap Shop was all that great, looking back at it now, it was just such a massive improvement on what had gone before that we sort of accepted it.
I vaguely recall early-morning TV.
I used to have swimming every saturday morning, and rugby every sunday morning, so I missed out on those fabulous shows.
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Post by apogee » Wed, 3. May 17, 16:24

The high chapparal,

it was on when i was a kid, and at that time (with 3 channels in uk) dad would watch it.

i on the other hand hated it, nothing ever happened, it was the most boring western show ever.

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Post by brucewarren » Wed, 3. May 17, 18:10

Nothing ever happening is a consequence of it being a series.

Unless you've got some amazing writers change is bad m'k.

Suppose for example in episode 3 a gunslinger rides in, shoots up the place, and the entire population is now stone cold dead. What are you going to do for episode 4?

Extreme example would be Dallas. After trying to branch out a bit and have shit happen for a change someone in charge got scared and reset everything with Victoria Principle declaring that two years of airtime was all a dream.

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Post by Avis » Wed, 3. May 17, 18:19

Prisoner Cell Block H : in my teens, it was some kind of SM thing I think.

Wacaday : with timmy mallet during School holidays when I was a true youngling.

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Post by X2-Illuminatus » Wed, 3. May 17, 18:40

Rugrats - Toddlers doing stuff in early Simpsons graphics/animation style.

The Mighty Thor (1966) - Watched it in the early 90s, when it was obviously from a different time.

Married... with Children - Simply not kid's humor, but was usually one of the first weekend afternoon sitcoms.

Roseanne - Specific kind of humor, was also broadcasted between other, funnier afternoon sitcoms.
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Post by Chips » Wed, 3. May 17, 19:53

Neighbours... need i say more? Yes, there was the odd "hot" girl in it, but it was just garbage. Yet most of the population seemingly watched it.

Didn't watch any other soaps. If i had they'd undoubtedly all be listed.

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Post by apogee » Wed, 3. May 17, 21:35

brucewarren wrote:Nothing ever happening is a consequence of it being a series.

Suppose for example in episode 3 a gunslinger rides in, shoots up the place, and the entire population is now stone cold dead. What are you going to do for episode 4?
I like that plotline, that's what they should have done, it would have saved us all from the torment.

Then again it has not stopped game of thrones from going through the cast at a high attrition rate.

Going back to the thread, I used to avoid M*A*S*H at all cost and found it unfunny, though i would like to see a few episodes again just in case it was a age thing and the jokes went over my head at the time, or maybe it was just rubbish!

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Post by pjknibbs » Wed, 3. May 17, 21:55

Avis wrote: Wacaday : with timmy mallet during School holidays when I was a true youngling.
I was 15 when that started, so I missed the...ahem..."joys" of it. Mind you, it was on ITV so I probably wouldn't have watched it anyway--have they ever done a children's magazine programme that was worth watching, apart from TISWAS?

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Post by Ripskar » Wed, 3. May 17, 23:11

Jim'll Fix It...
Some weird old guy would pluck a random kid with a with an utter lack of imagination and fulfill his/her dream... And that was before we found out what was actually going on.
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Post by greypanther » Wed, 3. May 17, 23:27

I can always remember watching Antiques Roadshow and Ski Sunday, with an almost morbid fascination. Almost trance like...
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Post by apogee » Thu, 4. May 17, 00:05

greypanther wrote:I can always remember watching Antiques Roadshow and Ski Sunday, with an almost morbid fascination. Almost trance like...
you still can, nothings changed. time to fall into a trance again. snore.

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Post by Jericho » Thu, 4. May 17, 10:00

Ripskar wrote:Jim'll Fix It...
Some weird old guy would pluck a random kid with a with an utter lack of imagination and fulfill his/her dream... And that was before we found out what was actually going on.
Not funny but: I saw him interviewed after Jim'll Fix It finished, and he was saying that he really hated children, and didn't really know how to interact with them. So he treated them like adults, and that made him a different kind of presenter because no one else on TV did that.

So... yeah... Kind of makes a bit of sense unfortunately.

apogee wrote:
I used to avoid M*A*S*H at all cost and found it unfunny, though i would like to see a few episodes again just in case it was a age thing and the jokes went over my head at the time, or maybe it was just rubbish!
I was never a fan of MASH, but I kind of got it. Then one day, they accidentally broadcast the US version of the show instead of the UK version of the show, and the public went ballistic. The difference is the fake-laugh track. The US version of the show has a really really really really bad fake laugh track, it sounds like the same laugh track from Top Cat.
Chips wrote:Neighbours... need i say more? Yes, there was the odd "hot" girl in it, but it was just garbage. Yet most of the population seemingly watched it.
Oooh, good call. I remember one summer-holiday, my best friend and I watched it every day. He'd come round every single day, we'd go to the park and play tennis for a couple of hours, then we'd come back and watch Neighbours over lunch, then Countdown, then play video games, before running around the garden with some other friends until the sun sets at 10pm (got to love summer in the UK).

Best friends for years... Then he went the way of drugs. Met each other on facebook a few years ago and caught up. Alas most of his posts are about the government and their weather-controller conspiracy theories with jetplanes leaving their weather chemicals in the air, and other conspiracy theories. Yeah, I unfriended him.

I don't think watching Neigbours did that to him though ;)
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Post by BigBANGtheory » Thu, 4. May 17, 10:09

Gummy Bear's :o

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Post by Redvers Ganderpoke » Thu, 4. May 17, 14:22

The Onedin Line, The Duchess of Duke Street, Triangle (that was a classic!), from times when you had a choice of 3 channels and all of them had something on you didn't like - usually at the same time (and visa versa - and no way to record!).

Also anything that was on Anglia (as it was for me) in the children's slot in the afternoon - apart from, I suppose, possibly "The Tomorrow People".
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Post by Redvers Ganderpoke » Thu, 4. May 17, 14:26

pjknibbs wrote:have they ever done a children's magazine programme that was worth watching, apart from TISWAS?
They only did the other "Blue Peter" - Magpie - it was like "Blue Peter" but presented by someone who was like the "hip and trendy" Geography teacher that everyone took the mickey out of.
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Post by pjknibbs » Thu, 4. May 17, 17:02

I remember Magpie--it was dreadful. Typical over-worthy 70s codswallop, frankly.

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Post by Jericho » Thu, 4. May 17, 17:30

Redvers Ganderpoke wrote: Triangle (that was a classic!),

AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To which glamorous locations does this luxury cruise ship go?
Bermuda?
Barbados?
Texas?

Nope.
It sails the triangle between Felixstowe, Gothenburg, and Amsterdam.

I can't even imagine how freezing cold she must have been in these opening credits as they cruise through the fog.

"there's something so stiff-upper-lipped about trying to film a glamorous soap in the greyest and windiest piece of sea on a very plain boat"

Please watch this video. 37 seconds of a prime example why some British TV was so bad. https://youtu.be/_-gmAloZDE8
"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Harrison Ford, 5 times a year, trying to land his plane.

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