However, there were three TV Shows that I couldn't live without growing up. As I got older, the business of releasing old television shows onto DVD began to grow. Soon, it wasn't long before my "big three" were put onto DVD. I purchased them immediately, anxious to relive my childhood. Viewing them as an adult was an eye opening experience. Much like seducing an old girlfriend with a bottle of Vodka and a Barry White CD, perhaps some things are better left buried in the past.
The Dukes Of Hazzard
1979 - 1985
Then: Next to Star Wars, The Dukes Of Hazzard was LIFE to me. Every week at 8pm on CBS, the Duke Boys would do battle with the evil forces of Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg, and his inept sheriff Roscoe P. Coletrane. Television entertainment just didn't GET any better than this. In my younger days, my main draw to the show was it's most popular and enduring symbol, The General Lee. Back then I was convinced that when I grew up, I do would own a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger and enjoy the sort of river-jumping fun that the Dukes did on a weekly basis. Running from the cops wasn't a felony, it was just how Things Got Done. Once I got to be around 10 years old, my interest in the show faded away from The General Lee and more onto the Dukes hottie little cousin Daisy. Oh if only I could have met a woman who looked like that back then I....well....I wouldn't have known what to do with it.
Now: I have all but the final season of The Dukes Of Hazzard on DVD. I'm not ashamed to admit, I still enjoy this show very much. No, maybe not quite as much as I did when I was a boy. The plots are all almost identical (Boss Hogg hires two out-of-towners in bad tweed jackets to rob the local bank, frame the Duke Boys, and sieze the family farm. Bad Guys double-cross Boss, he ends up in a fight to save his life, and must count on The Dukes to save him). Rather than being indestructable, bad cuts and edits make it very clear that a 1969 Dodge Charger can NOT jump a river and continue down the road. However, I think I can make it work with a 2006 Charger. I'll be sure to blog the results of that. Overall, I think the show survives quite well to this day for what it was. An innocent bunch of Friday Night Fluff that is just as much fun today as it was in 1983.
Knight Rider
1982 - 1986
Then: If the Dukes Of Hazzard was real-life, then Knight Rider was just a Science Fiction Version. But nevertheless, my pre-teen brain was just convinced that somewhere out there a group of scientists had developed a Super Car along the lines of the Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.) as he was known in the show. I still remember seeing commercials on TV for when the show first started, and telling my dad that I just HAD to watch this show. He grabbed the TV Guide, checked Sunday night and got as far into the description as "Talking Crime-Fighting Trans-Am" before shaking his head and contemplating a paternity test. In the end, he relented, and I was instantly hooked.
Now: Lets face it, there is a mathematic formula to creating a hit TV Show, and of all the variables in that formula, none of them should be equal to "Talking Trans-Am", "Fighting Crime", or "David Hasselhoff". I couldn't wait to pop the first season of this show into my DVD player. Now that I'm older, I know about cars, and I know about crime and law, surely this show will mean even more to me now. However, by the fourth episode of season one, I came to realize much like wearing Atomic Underwear, this thought-process was inherently flawed. This show is so horrible, I feel like I owe my entire family an apology for making them sit through this every Sunday night. In fact, now that I look back on it, it was at about this same time that my parents bought a second television for their bedroom. At the time I wondered "Why?", but now I realize; in a very painful way do I finally realize the truth. Mom and Dad bought a second television to avoid Knight Rider at ALL COSTS. I am so so so very sorry for making them sit through this. Please forgive me, I was but a mere child at the time.
1984 - 1989
Then:Miami Vice wasn't so much "my show" as it was my father's show. He watched this every Friday Night that he was home. I often got lost on the plots, but nevertheless watched for because of the cars, the music, and the cool clothes. As I got a bit older and entered Junior High, the plots began to make more sense to me, and I became even more of a fan of the show. Above all other TV Shows, I think Miami Vice was the most stereotypical 1980's Crime Drama. And there isn't a person alive my age who doesn't consider this to be one of the most memorable scenes in television history:
Now: Amazingly enough, for as stereotypical 1980's as this show was with it's fashion and music, the plots for each episode carry over very well. I have the first 2 seasons on DVD and will soon be purchasing the rest of the shows run. If you have the chance to go back and re-visit this show, I strongly suggest you do it. It was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the 2006 Miami Vice movie, and being that it was created by Michael Mann, the creator of the original series, it did not disappoint, and become one of my favorite movies of that year to be released.
While the 2006 Theatrical Movie bared little resemblance to the original TV show, in a nod to the fans from the 1980's, the lead-in to the final gunfight featured a remakes of "In The Air Tonight"
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