I keep hearing discussions ...
Question: I keep hearing discussions about how good TV is these days with too many quality shows for any person to watch (
Mad Men,
Dexter,
The Wire,
Battlestar Galactica, and so on). But I remember the rave reviews and accolades past shows (
like Hill Street Blues or
St. Elsewhere, for example) got when they were initially airing. And I
loved these shows when they originally aired. But recently I watched a few episodes of these programs that I found in a box of old videotapes and, well, disappointed sums up my feelings. I found the acting stiff, the pacing uneven, the writing tedious, the directing flat and the characterizations cartoonish. Neither run of episodes could hold a candle to any of the shows I watch these days. (I enjoyed the old commercials more!) People grow and tastes change, I know. But shouldn't "artistic" quality hold up longer? Are we spoiled by the supposed quality of today's television, or will I watch my
Mad Men Season 1 DVDs 20 years from now and feel the same way? I really need to know, because I picked up the first three seasons of
Buffy at a bargain price but am now afraid to spoil my memories by watching them!
Answer: It has been a while, admittedly, since I've dipped into the nostalgia well to screen the vintage TV that was all the rage back around the time I was first looking at TV professionally. But I can't believe these shows are all that bad, especially the acting and the characterizations.
Hill Street cartoonish? Really? There's no question the pace of TV storytelling has tightened, for good and (possibly) bad, as episode length has generally grown shorter. And TV from any earlier period can't help but feel dated, even those that were considered groundbreaking at the time. But
Hill Street Blues and
St. Elsewhere were the revolutionary building blocks of adult dramatic programming that led the way to
ER,
NYPD Blue,
The Sopranos,
Grey's Anatomy and on and on. Their critical reputation is in no immediate danger. (I'd put William Daniels' performance as
St. Elsewhere's imperious Dr. Craig up against anyone currently working today.) That said, I have no doubts that today's classics, from
Buffy to
Mad Men, will hold up just fine in the long run, as long as we bring fresh eyes and proper perspective to them and consider how state-of-the-art they were at the time.
