What favorite movies and television shows from your youth still hold up today in terms of quality?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

When you were younger, I'm sure everyone had their favorite movies and television shows. The thing is, you grow older, times change, and you'll forget about those favorite movies and shows until one day you catch one on late at night on TV. And truth be told, a lot of times you'll be watching them and think either, "Meh" or "Why on earth did I like this crap?" Or sometimes it will be so dated that you just can't get past it being a relic of its own time to enjoy it further.

Every once in a while, however, you'll see something that you knew you loved when you were young that is just as good as the first time you saw it.

A few of my entries:

The Wonder Years--It was the right blend of both comedy and drama, and featured top notch writing and acting. I remember watching it and wishing that I had lived through the 1960s-70s just like Kevin Arnold had. Looking back at it, it's amazing that this aired on the same network concurrently as Full House.

The Right Stuff--I didn't see it when it came out in theaters, but I remember watching it on video in its entirety on Election Day 1988 when we had off from school. I remember being completely captivated by it. It still is such a beautiful, well acted, well directed and well shot film about the early days of the Space Age. One of the best contemporary modern historical dramas out there.

Star Trek II--Yes, the fashion styles and technology depicted are clearly out of date now (unless we go seriously retro in the 23rd Century). But this is just a riveting, exciting movie from start to finish. The entire Kirk-Khan cat and mouse game is wonderfully done. The scene where Khan reveals himself to Chekov and Terrell on Ceti Alpha V is one of the best done, underrated scenes in all of science fiction. Spoiler alert about Spock though.......


The Adventures of Pete and Pete--Most live action shows geared towards kids, both past and present, are absolute dreck. This was anything but that. This show that aired on Nickelodeon in the early 90s about two brothers with the same first name was so wonderfully weird and absurd. What made it stand out was that it just let you take the weirdness for granted (for example, a man named Artie who claimed to be "the strongest man in the world", a love struck bus driver who forced his passengers to stay on the bus endlessly as he obsessed over his breakup, a mysterious pay phone that kept ringing perpetually, a mother with a metal plate in her head and a father who competed with another father as to who could stack the most items on their car's cargo rack). It also never bothered to play over its head and get too deep or serious (no preachy "very special episodes&quot and gave the viewer a sense of kids enjoying being kids, with lots of absurd goofiness added in for good measure.

[ailsagirl]

1. Dick Van Dyke Show and Andy Griffith Show spring to mind

They still make me laugh!! A true classic is ageless.

[cyberswede]

11. These are exactly my choices.

[ailsagirl]

12. Your taste is impeccable, cyberswede!!

[ashling]

25. And Mary Tyler Moore

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. Yes. And also yes.

Ageless because good acting, casting and GREAT writing never get old.

[malthaussen]

2. Depends on what you mean by quality.

Production values or character/story? If the former, the farther back your "youth" goes, the less chance of any show meeting today's standards. But good acting and writing is timeless.

Even topical shows can hold up, if you don't subscribe to the idea that some things are "dated." A show needs to be viewed in context if you want to evaluate it in terms of how funny, daring, or clever it was. I'm sure in a generation or two, comments about Donald Trump will seem "dated." But the worst kind of jokes are "you had to be there" moments -- if you didn't experience the event being joked about, you'll never really get it any time.

-- Mal

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. I mean quality of story and acting.

TV shows and movies are always going to be a prisoner to the time that they air, unless it's something like the aforementioned "Wonder Years" which was set in a specific era before it aired, and therefore is already "dated" when it comes to style and technology.

But for example, Seinfeld is forever going to be a child of the 1990s, and the fashion, technology and cultural references might reflect that. But in terms of good universal humor, it's still high quality even today, at least in my opinion.

[surrealAmerican]

4. The Twilight Zone

They were reruns when I saw them as a kid, even. It really was an amazingly well written and produced series. Most of the episodes don't feel "dated" even now.

[ailsagirl]

13. Serling was brilliant and way ahead of his time

So many of those stories haunt me even now, such as "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

Whoa!!

[ashling]

26. Let's ask Fred ...

he's a physicist! ... or something like that

[kairos12]

5. The Prisoner

[hifiguy]

17. Agreed 100%

The Macnee/Rigg Avengers, as well.

[madamesilverspurs]

6. Mission Impossible (from the 1960s)

Back then, it was the technology that dazzled the audience. Now those devices are severely outdated, but still serve to advance the thinking that went into the action; still superb. Wish those reruns would show up more often!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. The Avengers with Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg

I have the DVDs of the Emma Peel episodes, which were must-see TV at my high school in the 1960s.

The plots and dialogue are still clever, and they don't appear dated because Steed was already an old-fashioned character in the 1960s, and Diana Rigg had a sort of timeless beauty (except for that flip hairstyle).

[Tom Kitten]

8. Several I like have already been mentioned

Like Twilight Zone, Mission Impossible, Star Trek TOS, Andy Griffith Show, Avengers, The Prisoner.

Off the top of my head, I'd add The Addams Family, All In The Family, Bewitched (the Dick York years-after he left it should ended, IMO), Columbo, The Odd Couple...

When the TV's on I usually watch the retro channels like MeTV, AntennaeTV, GetTV, et al.

MeTV started showing The Man From UNCLE last year and I had never seen an episode until then. That might have been the coolest TV show ever!

I haven't seen it since I was little but I'd like to see Patrick McGoohan's pre Prisoner spy show Secret Agent Man again to see how it holds up. I know it had a great theme song!

Of course not every episode of the shows I mention is a classic. Most popular shows live past their apex and drift into mediocrity, or worse.

[ashling]

27. Duckie on NCIS

is still Ilya Kuriakin to me

[kentauros]

9. Movies, then TV :)

Late 60s to roughly late 70s, early 80s (I consider my early college days as part of my youth, too.)

2001: A Space Odyssey
Failsafe
Dr. Strangelove
The Pink Panther
The Taking of Pelham 123 (original)
Star Wars: Episodes IV, V, and VI
Alien
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Heavy Metal
Wizards
Young Frankenstein
Blazing Saddles
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Life of Brian
Used Cars
J-Men Forever
Animal House
Caddyshack
Koyaanisqatsi

Probably many, many more on the movie side, thanks to watching the 3 o'clock movie after school (most of which would later show up again on AMC, and then TCM.) Not to mention more art-house movies than I can remember from my college days (and some I'd rather forget!) Some of those old movies I did get to see when they were re-released and restored, and shown on a truly big screen, such as Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia. Most of both Kubrick's and Lean's movies are watchable again and again without any fear of them being dated or not holding up story-wise.

TV (pretty much same time period as above)

Johnny Quest (original)
I Dream of Jeannie
All in the Family
M*A*S*H
Soap
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Star Trek (original)
Star Trek animated series
The Outer Limits (original)
Greatest American Hero
Maverick
The Rockford Files
Poirot
Lovejoy
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)

Again, probably more, but it's "late" and I do need to get a little sleep (before I get up and do next to nothing again...)

[mucifer]

10. I've started watching "Hill St. Blues" again

it's on the "heros and icon's" free tv channel.

It came on when I was a teenager. I think except for the silly scenes with the gang members, it holds up pretty well. It's just a bit depressing that almost all the characters are younger than me now.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. One I liked at the time but doesn't hold up today: Family Ties

I think it did a great job back then playing off the shifting mores of the 80's, sort of a kinder-gentler version of what All in the Family did in the 70s, but now it seems flat and tired. Meanwhile, the show that generally came on right after it, Cheers, still seems fairly fresh.

[yuiyoshida]

15. StarGate SG1 and Star Gate Atlantis

[keroro gunsou]

16. babylon 5

sci fi done right

[Paulie]

31. Yep

By miles!

[sorechasm]

18. Northern Exposure

The rest of my favorites are listed above.

[murielm99]

19. Many of my favorites are listed here.

I would add Perry Mason. I think those have held up well.

[lame54]

20. Take the Money and Run...

saw it in the theater when i was 6

it is still hilarious

[sarge43]

21. The Day the Earth Stood Still holds up very well n/t

TV: Omnibus

[IDemo]

22. The Tracey Ullman Show, Barney Miller, Northern Exposure

[mythology]

23. There isn't much from my actual childhood that stays relevant to me today

Batman the Animated Series, the early years of Law and Order (before it became all about the twist and ripped from the headlines) and Dogma are the ones that spring to mind.

[Zorro]

24. Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres

Both shows are very clever and laugh out loud funny.

[WinkyDink]

29. TV: All of them! 50's and 60's! Movies: The 60's and 70's---most!

[kmla]

30. M*A*S*H

Still funny. Still poignant. Message still relevant.