Old Timey Television

[nomoxian]

Does anyone else like watching shows set in previous eras?

The kind of "wholesome" television my Christian grandmother watched never really piqued my interest (though I did like the Canadian series Wind at My Back when it was airing) but for some reason, in the past few years I've really gotten into watching stuff like Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables... I also like Murdoch Mysteries, but I'm not sure if I would put that in the same category as the other shows on this list.

[sippin0nsunshine]

I loved Little House and Anne of Green Gables growing up, so I still watch the episodes every now and then when I miss being a kid. I also like Road To Avonlea. I found it a few years ago and discovered that it's a continuation of AoGG. :)

[nomoxian]

You can watch all four of those series on Youtube :)

Have you heard of Emily of New Moon? It's a show based on the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[Deleted07]

I totally loved Anne of Green Gables growing up, Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons etc. Often see them on reruns here, and stop to watch them. Although these days now, I find it hard to swallow the inconsistent and unrealistic life shown!

[freejoytoo]

I used to love Little House on the Prairie - I'd watch it every Saturday after my drama class - and The Waltons. Both shows make me want to puke now.

[STLgirl]

I loved Little House and Anne of Green Gables growing up, so I still watch the episodes every now and then when I miss being a kid. I also like Road To Avonlea. I found it a few years ago and discovered that it's a continuation of AoGG. :)

I loved Anne of Green Gables too. Gilbert was one of my first crushes :) I read they are making a new Anne of Green Gables which will be out in a year or two. Wonder if the new one will be a good as the one I grew up watching??

[Loveday]

I loved The Waltons; had a crush on John-Boy growing up because he was a writer and I wanted to be one, too. And he was just so gosh-darned cute in those overalls. :lol: There's a Waltons museum in Schuyler Virginia; they have a kitchen set up just like on the TV show, and I swear you'd think Grandma was about to walk in, put on her apron, and start cooking!

I tried to like Little House on the Prairie, but it was just too saccharine for me, and it veered so far off from the books after the first season or so that I just couldn't watch it anymore. The books are almost sacred to me, and I couldn't bear to watch Michael Landon mucking them up so badly.

I was a big Anne of Green Gables fan, too, although that came out after I was married. I loved it because it was just as I imagined everything from the book, which is another sacred childhood favourite of mine.

[freejoytoo]

I got seriously pissed off when Albert came into the picture, especially when it became all about him instead of Laura.

[Loveday]

I got seriously pissed off when Albert came into the picture, especially when it became all about him instead of Laura.

I knew there was a character called Albert, but never knew how he fit into the show until I googled him just now. The Ingallses adopted him. :doh: Unbelievable. Another reason to be glad I stopped watching early on. Ranks right up there with Mary getting married, which also did not happen in real life. :roll:

Ugh. LHOTP could have been so well done in the right hands. Michael Landon's weren't the right hands. :?

[freejoytoo]

They adopted another couple of kids along the way but the show was dying at that point. I think Shannon Doherty was one of them and she slept with Melissa Gilbert's husband later in life.

[StarrieEyedKat]

I'm 27, but I grew up watching I Love Lucy, Bewitched, Dick van Dyke, I Dream of Jeannie, etc on Nick at Nite and TV Land. LOVED them.

[xDreamerx]

You guys are my people. Love all of the above. I'd like to add Bramwell to the list, I recently watched the series on Netflix. It's about a woman doctor opening her own practice in the 1890s. It was put on by the BBC and then I believe by PBS in America in the late 1990s.

In the same vein there is also the Casualty 1900s series. It's a procedural hospital drama that begins in 1906. Though it is not Old Timey, it was made recently. Over here in North America it's titled London Hospital. I've seen it airing but only in the middle of the night on TVO. Here's a YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6dNihJKY8k

Bramwell is also on YouTube for those without Netflix. Is Wind at my Back on You Tube? I know I could get the DVDs but Sullivan Entertainment puts them out double sided and I hate that. They scratch in no time at all.

[Terrie]

Get Smart was, and still is, a favorite of mine. So much fun.

[Chavymishmacoy]

I totally forgot about 'Bewitched' I loved that. Anne of Green Gables was my very favorite too!

Does MASH count?

[nomoxian]

Is Wind at my Back on You Tube? I know I could get the DVDs but Sullivan Entertainment puts them out double sided and I hate that. They scratch in no time at all.

There's a couple episodes.

Someone (someone!) should get the DVDs and put them up on Pirate Bay

[Witsec7]

MTM, Mash are about it for me. When I was in college it was Dark Shadows. I was never into those family sitcoms that had the SAHMs, even Ozzie and Harriet. The families they portrayed were polar opposites of my life during those years, and I recognized the cognitive dissonance.

[freejoytoo]

Did anyone watch Skippy?

[contrary]

wasn't shannon doherty the adopted daughter of Mr Edwards?

I was a big fan of LHOTP, but I lost track of some of the relationships in the later years.

I love-love-loved Bewitched, and the Waltons, too. Even that Waltons music makes my heartstrings twitch.

[Just_Jane]

I love London Hospital. I tried to watch Bramwell and I just couldn't get into it.

Anne of Green Gables was so good. I watched it all the time. I haven't watched it in years and like someone else here Gilbert was one of my early crushes. *sigh*

I also liked the early episodes of Little House on the Prairie not so much the later ones though. I had never read the books but the later ones seemed overly wrought with drama.

I remember watching Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman when it was being aired in the 1990's.

[Witsec7]

I just discovered London Hospital last winter and did a 4 day marathon of viewing. Incredible show.

[freejoytoo]

wasn't shannon doherty the adopted daughter of Mr Edwards?

I was a big fan of LHOTP, but I lost track of some of the relationships in the later years.

I love-love-loved Bewitched, and the Waltons, too. Even that Waltons music makes my heartstrings twitch.

According to wiki she was Almanzo's niece and Laura adopted her. I always thought she was one of the kids Pa saved from some kind of train crash.

[She Who Laughs]

Loved Marcus Welby as a child. Had a huge crush on James Brolin. Then he had to go and marry Streisand.

[xDreamerx]

According to wiki she was Almanzo's niece and Laura adopted her. I always thought she was one of the kids Pa saved from some kind of train crash.

I think that was the Runaway Caboose episode with the Edwards kids. They were a big part of the storyline in the early seasons but then John cheated on Mary with some girl he met at school in Chicago and that ended that. Also the Edwards family went bust when most of the town went bust and had to move. But for some reason they didn't move with the rest of the main cast to Winoka. I think Victor French took some sort of break from the show or something. It was too bad because I really loved him.

What are some of your favourite episodes? Has anyone read Melissa Gilbert's or Alison Angrim's autobiographies? I read both. MG's is interesting but LHOTP only makes for a few chapters of it. Alison's has a lot more stories about Little House and is surprisingly funny.

It seems like the show turned...less interesting and kind of went down hill in season 9, but I've still seen all of them and the movies.

Random things: It's weird how Micheal Landon made such great television yet his son became a conservative Christian and made horrible lifetimesque movies.

I noticed Karen Grassle on a commercial the other day. It might have been for scooters but I can't recall. It was something older people would use.

[RandomTrivia]

Bramwell is also on YouTube for those without Netflix. Is Wind at my Back on You Tube? I know I could get the DVDs but Sullivan Entertainment puts them out double sided and I hate that. They scratch in no time at all.

Brameell, I think, is on DVD - I know we watched it thanks to our library, but it was a while ago and may have been VHS. Duchess of Duke Street is another one, a woman cook/chef in Victorian or Edwardian England. It's on DVD too.

If your cable/satellite has BYU or INSP, both channels are showing Wind right now. And you might check on the DVDs again -we had season 1 from the library last week and they were single-sided I'm pretty sure. It was 4 discs for 13 episodes and disc 1 only had one ep8sode. (Double-sided discs are a peeved of mine -I ranted frequently about the Due South sets when they first came out because they were doubles and freakishly expensive at first.)

PSA: check your library, ours has a pretty good selection, especially of British and Canadian shows. I'm catching up on early Da Vinci's Inquest now thanks to ours (the local channel stopped airing it and skipped the last two episodes).

Also, if you want to snark on Little House, TWOP has a board for the show that may be just the thing.

[contrary]

I have the prairie bitch on my kindle but haven't read it yet.