Little things you miss about 70's/80s culture

[HardyGirl]

You know, thinking about this (TV shows with self-contained episodes)... perhaps it was a necessity of the time. This was in the days before VCRs. Families used to pore through TV Guide and make a note of what to watch, because if you missed a show- that's it. It's gone and the moment had passed. Oh, maybe in a few years, the show might land in syndication, but a lot of shows (pre-VHS/DVD boxed set era) would not be rebroadcast. So, it made sense for a TV show to have self-contained episodes so if you missed an episode or two (family went on vacation), you could just pick up with next week's episode.

It's hard to explain to the youngest Gen X'ers or Millennials about what life was like in the 70's. They've always seen computers in the house, and cable TV, Internet, VCRS and DVDs and phones you take with you everywhere. They can hardly imagine what life was like before those things existed

There were summer reruns in the 70s, (my mom always called them repeats, probably b/c the TV guide did too). Sometimes you'd get the summer replacement shows, though. After all, TV actors had vacations too.

[Klosterheim]

If there is one thing I truly miss is all the different toy stores. Every place was selling toys, from hardware stores to department stores to hobby shops to grocery stores to pharmacies, etc. Nowadays the only big toy store standing is TRU. Apart from that, Walmart and Target are really the retailers nationwide. Of course there are comic book stores selling figures but they are generally scalpers.

Yeah. In addition to that, Hasbro and other toy companies won't give wholesale prices to individuals buying bulk or to small businesses.

Plus many business licences today limit stores, they only allow shops to sell one type of goods or items or it costs more, or simply not permitted at all.

Mostly only antique shops would carry a larger variety of items, and then they are priced at maximum, so it cuts down on that kind of fun in stumbling across things.

[ZMOQ]

I totally agree with everything said here...

You know, thinking about this (TV shows with self-contained episodes)... perhaps it was a necessity of the time. This was in the days before VCRs. Families used to pore through TV Guide and make a note of what to watch, because if you missed a show- that's it. It's gone and the moment had passed. Oh, maybe in a few years, the show might land in syndication, but a lot of shows (pre-VHS/DVD boxed set era) would not be rebroadcast. So, it made sense for a TV show to have self-contained episodes so if you missed an episode or two (family went on vacation), you could just pick up with next week's episode.

It's hard to explain to the youngest Gen X'ers or Millennials about what life was like in the 70's. They've always seen computers in the house, and cable TV, Internet, VCRS and DVDs and phones you take with you everywhere. They can hardly imagine what life was like before those things existed

[apes3978]

I miss TV shows having self contained episodes.

With Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, etc. every week you would get a brand new adventure. Yeah, there was the occasional two parter but other than that you could expect a brand new story the next week.

Now everything is like soap opera that drags single storylines over multiple seasons and if you miss one episode, you are totally out of the loop. I just don't have the time or patience for that.

I totally agree with everything said here...

[knight errant00]

I miss TV shows having self contained episodes.

With Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, etc. every week you would get a brand new adventure. Yeah, there was the occasional two parter but other than that you could expect a brand new story the next week.

Now everything is like soap opera that drags single storylines over multiple seasons and if you miss one episode, you are totally out of the loop. I just don't have the time or patience for that.

Yes. But I think the neverending standstill "character-driven" plot is more a 2000s development that took hold with Lost and then was popularized by the Netflix bingewatching audience.

[acrovader]

If there is one thing I truly miss is all the different toy stores. Every place was selling toys, from hardware stores to department stores to hobby shops to grocery stores to pharmacies, etc. Nowadays the only big toy store standing is TRU. Apart from that, Walmart and Target are really the retailers nationwide. Of course there are comic book stores selling figures but they are generally scalpers.

[Hedji]

I miss TV shows having self contained episodes.

With Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, etc. every week you would get a brand new adventure. Yeah, there was the occasional two parter but other than that you could expect a brand new story the next week.

Now everything is like soap opera that drags single storylines over multiple seasons and if you miss one episode, you are totally out of the loop. I just don't have the time or patience for that.

I agree. Now, more than ever, shows like Walking Dead just tread water until the season finale. It used to be every episode of a show was just as exciting with as much effort put into it as the next.

A show like "V" did it really well, where there was a story that progressed, but each episode was for the most part, pretty self contained.

[knight errant00]

Surprises. Whether it was flipping channels and stumbling on to a movie you didn't know was on to seeing a new book or toy in the store you didn't know was coming out to movie and TV plots. Especially that last one. No surprise guest stars or plot revelations because they advertise and hype everything. The first time on a long time I had that kind of surprise was Tom Baker's guest appearance on the last Doctor Who anniversary special.

[HardyGirl]

TV jingles are another thing I miss.

That's funny...I was going to post a thread of your favorite TV jingles , but I posted This Or That first. Great minds think alike!

[jwyblejr]

TV jingles are another thing I miss.

[Werewolf]

I miss TV shows having self contained episodes.

With Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, etc. every week you would get a brand new adventure. Yeah, there was the occasional two parter but other than that you could expect a brand new story the next week.

Now everything is like soap opera that drags single storylines over multiple seasons and if you miss one episode, you are totally out of the loop. I just don't have the time or patience for that.

[ZMOQ]

• Gold Key comics
• Actually, any 70's era comic that had classic illustration styles and self-contained stories
• Candy that came in little functional plastic coffins and plastic garbage cans
• Independent toy stores
• Spooky Kooky jigglers
• Creepy Crawlers that had the heavy metal molds
• Action figures that had real cloth clothing (e.g. Action Jackson)
• Disneyland of the 70's and the awesome souvenirs they used to sell there
• The heyday of 1/16 scale wooden stagecoach, covered wagon kits, with carved wooden mule and oxen teams
• The original Kiss Army (lots of stuff for your $5!)
• Bands like Kiss, the Eagles, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Peter Frampton, Journey, Heart, Styx, Cheap Trick in their prime (not old dudes with a bunch of substitute players)
• Gumball machines that used to dispense prizes (sometimes) for 5 cents, or always for 10 cents or dispensing the truly cool prizes for 25 cents
• Actually being able to buy penny candy for a penny
• Cracker Jack prizes when they were great... like plastic pinball machines, or assemble-it-yourself telescopes
• The model kits! Aurora Monster Scenes, MPC Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion... all for $2 or $3 each!!!!
  

[apes3978]

tv stations signing off at night...

That's one thing I'll never miss... I've always been a night-owl, and hated when TV would go off the air (no cable where I lived)... Luckily an independent UHF station came along and they broadcast all night, and there was a local affiliate that would play all night movies on weekends after the network programs were over...

[tmthor]

Also we had a lot of playsets for our action figures

[HardyGirl]

Yes!

Also toy box art.

Remember all the awesome hand painted art toys packages used to have? Mad Monsters, GI JOE Adventure Team and RAH, MOTU etc. Things of beauty. You just don't see that anymore. And not just the painted art too. Packages just used to really POP on the store shelves. Hasbro has never topped or created anything as iconic or memorable as Kenner's original SW card backs and boxes.

And the Action Jackson art. I used to wish I could get trading cards of those. And while we're on the subject, I miss bubblegum cards!