MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > My thoughts when hearing younger generat...

My thoughts when hearing younger generations whine about current quality in programs/movies...

posted 19 days ago by TruMovieFan (1969)
10 replies | jump to latest

I suggest they go back and watch the kind of crap I had when I was growing up.

The other day someone posted a comment about NBC's weekly show Riptide from the 8os. I watched that show and it was pure crap and that is what we had back in the 70s & 80s and even before that.

Streaming has opened up the world when it comes to entertainment and if one takes the time, quality programs are endless out there, unlike what we had as kids. And this doesn't even include special effects.

[–] capuchin (2672) 19 days ago

Oh, younger, older or somewhere in between, whenever I hear anybody complaining about the quality of current films or television, I just think 'Change your subscriptions, matey. You're clearly watching the wrong stuff. There's so much being made now, you must be able to find something that suits your tastes.'

Personally, I don't hear it much from younger people. I hear it from slightly older people. In my experience, they're often people who used to engage with films but life got in the way and they lost track of the hobby. Now, they mostly allow themselves to be spoon-fed by algorithms or are somehow only aware of the most heavily-marketed, mega-budget Hollywood pop culture stuff. And they've kind of grown out of it without quite realising the fact.

I have a friend who is exactly like this. He endlessly complains that everything is terrible these days. But he doesn't actually watch much of anything. So you do think 'How do you know?'

[–] Kowalski (58756) 19 days ago

ABSOLUTELY....💯

[–] Skavau (9421) 19 days ago

Yeah TV in the 80s and 90s was mostly just generic cop/legal/medical/detective shows or family sitcoms.

This continued on deep in the 00s until streaming took off.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (72029) 19 days ago

As a kid I lived for The Dukes Of Hazzard, All In The Family, The Muppet Show and Magnum P.I. way back when. I still love my classic favorites but nowadays there are still terrific movies and shows every year and with streaming services it's impossible NOT to find something worth an hour or two of your time.

I think a lot of the trendy entertainment-bashing is just hipster flexing nonsense, a way to say 'you like Marvel or John Wick and I watch sixty year old French movies so I am way better than you!'

Entertainment should just be entertaining to the person watching, it's not a pissing contest.

[–] TruMovieFan (1969) 19 days ago

Maybe I didn't make my main point clear, but I'm not trying to create a generational pissing match, but instead, trying to focus on the point that there is a TON of high-quality entertainment out there that is so readily available today and that it simply did not exist back decades ago. People growing up today have no clue how lucky they are to be starting their viewing during this time in the world and especially in relative terms. It is like there is a missing frame of reference.

On top of that, I think the next benchmark will be people will no longer be able to tell visual entertainment media from the created when compared to the actual. In some ways, I think we are already there, but the next step will be an incorporation of all senses when it comes to entertainment.

It's like grocery shopping nowadays - you can go into a grocery store and find countless brands of cola soda or cereal, but when I was a kid, so many choices didn't exist.

I was a huge comic fan of the '60s, '70s, and some into the 80s and was so excited when Spider-man appeared on PBS's Electric Company and then had its own show. The same with the Hulk and the Captain America TV movies and to be honest, in ways, even at the time when aired, they were horrible, but relative to the time, they were amazing. We had not yet seen any sort of that stuff other than the campy Batman series (I loved that, too).

Lastly, I think if programming of today was compared to programming of the 70s - including film and TV - that the percentage of hokey, pure horrible stuff would be much greater than what is put out today.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (72029) 19 days ago

I agree with you.

[–] Kowalski (58756) 19 days ago

I ALSO AGREE WITH YOU.

WANNA WATCH A MOVIE?....MOVIECHAT MOVIE CLUB IS TOMORROW NIGHT!@!@!@!....YOU ARE SUPER DUPER INVITED!@

[–] parkerbot (5441) 19 days ago

I liked Riptide. And Simon and Simon and Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

There will always be shit but we just have more of it now.

[–] TruMovieFan (1969) 19 days ago

Oh, I loved my Thursday TV - like you, first it was Simon and Simon, then Magnum P.I., then the cream of the crop, Hill Street Blues. One thing I found interesting was how in both S&S and M.P.I. was how during one point both started airing decent drama filled episodes. It was like they got new writers that emphasized quality over babes, shootouts and car chases.

Ps....and I'm a fan of Perry King, too. Loved his dark somber portrayal of a damaged cop in The Choirboys.

[–] M1sterDoct0r (3889) 18 days ago

Right? People nowadays have so much variety & options. From shows to anime & films. They have a diverse set of offerings.

Growing up in the late 90s to early 2000s, entertainment was kinda rough. Especially tv shows, were so shite!

It wasn't until the end of the 2000s & the start of the 2010s when that we started to get some amazing shit.