Movies you loved in your youth...

**Rush Cocky** · November 3, 2009

How bout "The Last Starfighter"?

I used to think that was very cool.

**Sonatine** · November 4, 2009

As a Kid of The 70s, I used to love all those disaster movies like Towering Inferno, Earthquake. Airport 75/77/79, Posiedon Adventure etc.

But after watching some of those films 30 years on I think only Inferno and Posiedon still stand out as being any good, while the others are pretty lame at best

**circumstantial tree** · November 4, 2009

QUOTE (Sonatine @ Nov 4 2009, 07:28 AM)

As a Kid of The 70s, I used to love all those disaster movies like Towering Inferno, Earthquake. Airport 75/77/79, Posiedon Adventure etc.

But after watching some of those films 30 years on I think only Inferno and Posiedon still stand out as being any good, while the others are pretty lame at best

I kinda like Earthquake. Since I'm related to Ava Gardner and all, it's interesting that is only one of a few of her movies I'm familiar with.

Seeing Victoria Principal sporting a 'fro is hilarious.

**Cowtothesky** · November 4, 2009

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 2 2009, 11:20 AM)

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Nov 2 2009, 09:41 AM)

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 2 2009, 08:51 AM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 2 2009, 07:56 AM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 1 2009, 06:18 PM)

Of the MASH, TAXI, etc. group I'd put All In The Family at the top of it. At it's best, I think it defined cutting edge. It did continue a few too many years though. But I guess I can say that for a lot of shows (including Family Ties).
Cheers & Wonder Years are the only long-lasting sitcoms I can think of that continued to be good from the 1st season to the end.

Some shows just don't know when to call it a day and they hold on way too long. Some sitcoms in their last year or two (Family Ties being an excellent example) start to become parodies of themselves, with their character attributes greatly exaggerated and too over the top. Other times actors playing major roles leave and the people they get as replacement characters to fill in the gaps don't work anywhere near as well. Shows rarely last for too long when the quality takes a nosedive.

All in the Family should never have branched into Archie Bunker's Place and the short-lived Gloria, where a now-single Gloria Stivic and her son Joey work and live with a veterinarian played by Burgess Meredith.

As for those other family sitcoms that lasted a couple years too long... I personally think every one of them screwed themselves by suddenly adding a cute toddler. In some cases, like in The Cosby Show, it was obviously a cynical attempt to replace a former "cute toddler" in the family who had grown too old. How about simply retiring the show, or continuing but without a cute toddler?? The TV execs wouldn't hear of it.

That's one of the reasons the Brady Bunch suffered was because the added Cousin Oliver to put the "cute" back into the series.

I know that's a common explanation for the demise of Brady Bunch - blame it on cousin Oliver - but as a BB devotee, you of all people should know better. Oliver was only in the final six episodes of the show; can we really blame him for the show's cancellation? According to tvsqaud.com, and repeated on WikiPedia, "the cancellation at that point was inevitable and the Oliver character did not cause it."

But this phenomena - adding a precocious little kid to a faltering show, replacing grown-up child stars, in hopes of a ratings rebound - has become known, not inappropriately, as "Cousin Oliver Syndrome." It's been tried on The Partridge Family, The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Step By Step, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, Married With Children, and George Lopez.

They should have just retired the Brady Bunch family and started with a completely new family that was young and call it the Smith Bunch (or whatever their last name would be). I think that when the Brady kids got older, the show lost its appeal. I don't think it had anything to do with that new kid.

**Mara** · November 4, 2009

Has anyone here ever visited the once-popular site jumptheshark.com? You could look up pretty much any TV series ever aired, and post your opinion as to when you thought the show started to slip quality-wise. Some of the comments were hilarious. And some would make you groan with despair over the utter stupidity.

Sadly, TV Guide purchased Jump The Shark and it turned into one big TV Guide advertising site. Now they've pretty much let it die.

**JohnnyBlaze** · November 5, 2009

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.

It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

**Mara** · November 5, 2009

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

There's the inevitable "very special" labor and delivery episode.

Followed by the episode in which the baby cries incessantly for 4/5ths of the show while various cast members hand it around wondering why it's crying.

Later, there's sibling rivalry, if there are kids already on the show.

The only show I ever thought really did kids well was "Scrubs."

**JohnnyBlaze** · November 5, 2009

QUOTE (Mara @ Nov 5 2009, 01:37 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

There's the inevitable "very special" labor and delivery episode.

Followed by the episode in which the baby cries incessantly for 4/5ths of the show while various cast members hand it around wondering why it's crying.

Later, there's sibling rivalry, if there are kids already on the show.

The only show I ever thought really did kids well was "Scrubs."

I've never seen Scrubs.

In the first few years of The Wonder Years I think Kevin, Winnie, and Paul were done pretty well. And they weren't quite yet teens then.

In general, I think it isn't easy portraying kids on tv shows or films.

Films with kids that I thought were done pretty well (though some of them aren't necessarily from my youth):

Goonies

The Sandlot

Stand By Me

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys...although in this film they're 'older' kids of around 14 or 15

**Stormtron** · November 5, 2009

QUOTE (Rushman14 @ Nov 2 2009, 05:29 PM)

I used to love this movie. then I recently caught it on cable and hoo-boy, it didnt age very well.

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/image-files/night-of-the-comet-movie-poster.jpg

I still love that one.

**Rushman14** · November 5, 2009

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

http://images.pricecanada.com/images/products/386/l386293.jpg

**circumstantial tree** · November 5, 2009

QUOTE (Mara @ Nov 4 2009, 11:37 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

There's the inevitable "very special" labor and delivery episode.

Followed by the episode in which the baby cries incessantly for 4/5ths of the show while various cast members hand it around wondering why it's crying.

Later, there's sibling rivalry, if there are kids already on the show.

The only show I ever thought really did kids well was "Scrubs."

Also, because Lucy had a baby on "I Love Lucy", it's an automatic ratings hit since it worked on that show.

**JimboGames** · November 5, 2009

http://www.impawards.com/1982/posters/beastmaster.jpg

**GeddyRulz** · November 6, 2009

QUOTE (Mara @ Nov 4 2009, 11:37 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

Too Close For Comfort was an especially egregious example of this, since the expectant parents, Henry (Ted Knight) and Muriel Rush (Nancy Dussault), were each about 50-years-old. Not too realistic for them to be cranking out another kid, more than 20 years after their daughters were born.

**rushgoober** · November 6, 2009

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 5 2009, 06:47 PM)

QUOTE (Mara @ Nov 4 2009, 11:37 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

Too Close For Comfort was an especially egregious example of this, since the expectant parents, Henry (Ted Knight) and Muriel Rush (Nancy Dussault), were each about 50-years-old. Not too realistic for them to be cranking out another kid, more than 20 years after their daughters were born.

I remember being a fan of Too Close For Comfort when I was a kid, but I don't remember a lot of detail or especially any particular story arcs or character changes. I always thought this is one of those shows that if I went back and revisited I'd be really disappointed by as an adult, but maybe I'd still like it.

Anyway, it's not like I'm likely to get the chance to see it again. And for some reason, even if I do come across some of these classic 70's and 80's shows I watched in my youth on TV, I seem to pass it right by. I guess I don't want my fond memories messed with, or it just seems like something from another era that I'd just as soon leave in the past. Obviously I don't feel that way about music.

**goose** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (Rushman14 @ Nov 5 2009, 12:18 PM)

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

http://images.pricecanada.com/images/products/386/l386293.jpg

Me, too. Along with War of the Gargantuans

**softfilter** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (vital signz @ Oct 29 2009, 07:49 PM)

Hey guys, remember this? I wanted to see this so bad, and my dad took me. I thought it was the best, scary movie ever. Now I can't stop laughing!

http://www.smitheeawards.com/images/covers/TheCar.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWea3Eu97E

Ohhhh yes!

Remember seeing this at the drive in, "The Car" had some kind of red cellophane sheet over the wind shield, and on some scenes you can clearly see the driver behind the steering wheel. If I remember right "The Car" is suppose to be possessed drives itself killing the innocent. Maybe Stephen King got the idea for Christine from this?

Agree with Goober, hard to watch The Wall now, although some parts of the movie still hold up well.

Can't watch at all "Heavy Metal" during my youth seen this about four or five times. Tried to watch couple years ago ....

**Xanadoood** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 6 2009, 07:34 AM)

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 5 2009, 06:47 PM)

QUOTE (Mara @ Nov 4 2009, 11:37 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Nov 5 2009, 12:24 AM)

Too Close For Comfort got bad after Henry

stopped drawing Cosmic Cow. That show also added a baby and named him Andy

just like Family Ties when they had already turned to shit.
It's too bad because I liked a bunch of those earlier episodes.

Oh, whenever the main characters have a baby, it's a sign things are going downhill fast in the creativity department.

Too Close For Comfort was an especially egregious example of this, since the expectant parents, Henry (Ted Knight) and Muriel Rush (Nancy Dussault), were each about 50-years-old. Not too realistic for them to be cranking out another kid, more than 20 years after their daughters were born.

I remember being a fan of Too Close For Comfort when I was a kid, but I don't remember a lot of detail or especially any particular story arcs or character changes. I always thought this is one of those shows that if I went back and revisited I'd be really disappointed by as an adult, but maybe I'd still like it.

Anyway, it's not like I'm likely to get the chance to see it again. And for some reason, even if I do come across some of these classic 70's and 80's shows I watched in my youth on TV, I seem to pass it right by. I guess I don't want my fond memories messed with, or it just seems like something from another era that I'd just as soon leave in the past. Obviously I don't feel that way about music.

Monroe was a real crazy bastard. And a junkie !

**udanax** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (softfilter @ Nov 9 2009, 01:28 PM)

QUOTE (vital signz @ Oct 29 2009, 07:49 PM)

Hey guys, remember this? I wanted to see this so bad, and my dad took me. I thought it was the best, scary movie ever. Now I can't stop laughing!

http://www.smitheeawards.com/images/covers/TheCar.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWea3Eu97E

Ohhhh yes!

Remember seeing this at the drive in, "The Car" had some kind of red cellophane sheet over the wind shield, and on some scenes you can clearly see the driver behind the steering wheel. If I remember right "The Car" is suppose to be possessed drives itself killing the innocent. Maybe Stephen King got the idea for Christine from this?

Agree with Goober, hard to watch The Wall now, although some parts of the movie still hold up well.

Can't watch at all "Heavy Metal" during my youth seen this about four or five times. Tried to watch couple years ago ....

Although I never saw Heavy Metal, my mom talks about it all of the time.

As for me, when I was like 7 and 8, I used to love The Labyrinth with David Bowie... I've seen it recently... David Bowie's pants are too tight.

Also the Goonies was pretty good and.... hmm.... I always liked The Nightmare Before Christmas... Otherwise I was pretty much your typical Disney loving kid.

Cartoons I grew up watching included Hey Arnold, The Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, The Wild Thornberries, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, reruns of Speed Racer ect.

Another one I hear about from my parents is H.R. Puff'n'Stuff... At least I think thats what it's called... I've seen clips.... trippy

**Rushman14** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (goose @ Nov 9 2009, 12:18 AM)

QUOTE (Rushman14 @ Nov 5 2009, 12:18 PM)

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

http://images.pricecanada.com/images/products/386/l386293.jpg

Me, too. Along with War of the Gargantuans

another one of my favs!! especially when the green gargantua eats the woman at the airport.

http://www.henshinonline.com/images/tamblyn_interview_03.jpg

**Rushman14** · November 9, 2009

http://wellmedicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fantastic_voyage.jpg Edited November 9, 2009 by Rushman14

**udanax** · November 9, 2009

QUOTE (udanax @ Nov 9 2009, 02:16 PM)