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.
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?'
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.
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.
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.