I haven't seen Mod Squad since it was first on, and as a kid I loved it.
Now, watching the episode on MeTV (set in a circus, with Ed Asner guest starring) it's so, so terrible! Linc has a stare-off with a lion that is just hilarious, and it lasts for, like, 10 minutes, with the same close-up of the lion growling repeated over and over.
And all the acting was so wooden. Guess I should have left this show in my memory.
A lot of these series look bad when you are older. For example, I used to watch Marcus Welby, M.D. as a child. When I got older and started watching the show again I realized how preachy and moralizing the character was. No doctor gets that personally involved with patients.
shareI know. I used to LOVE Remington Steele when it premiered in 1982. Now, I can't even watch it. Same with most of the old shows, like The Man From UNCLE (ouch). For me, the only one that really stands up is The Streets of San Francisco. Maybe it's just me salivating over a young Michael Douglas...
shareJust watched it. Linc has all that meat with him yet it takes a drunk to tell him to throw some into the cage. Maybe he was trying to hypnotize him.
shareI know exactly what you mean. I'm over 50 now and I'd like to think I'm much wiser than I was when I was a kid.
I'm a fan of MeTV and they like to show older series. Some of those shows were terrific when I was a kid but not so much now.
As I said, I like MeTV because they do show older episodes many of which are timeless; Gunsmoke and Andy Griffith, just to name a couple.
Unfortunately, some of the shows like MS just don't stand up to the ole' litmus test! I guess I still watch it (not intently I must add) just to laugh at how ridiculous everything about it is.
Sorry about the long-winded reply but I wanted you to know that you're not alone in your, umm, "change of heart". I, too, find myself shaking my head at how bad something is. Shows that I once thought were terrific...
Ohh to be young again!👶
"Sure I've heard of grits. I just never actually *seen* a grit before."
Vinny Gambini
Oh, I'm sure we are all older and wiser than we were in the 1960s....including the people on the show.
But, it's fun...for nostalgia's sake. I watched the entire series just for fun...to return to my childhood a little bit.
some shows holf up after many years, some dont.
I havent seen this show since it aired back then, it is on a local channel now so I am going to watch one today.
http://tvtalk-your-show.forumotion.com/
I've never seen the lion episode but I'll sill go with the "Rhino" scene for sheer brillance/stupidity, a giant rhino is chasing Linc and Pete for their lives for minutes on end and Julie just stares blankly (as only she can do) at them with nary a trace of emotion.
Brilliant!
I was a preteen when The Mod Squad was on and as I wasn't allowed to watch tv during the week I never saw it then (and really wanted to). I have been watching the reruns on MeTV, too. Basically, it's just a rather mundane cop show dressed up with cool kids. But most episodes have a similar format. Usually the pasty faced white guy Pete is the lead. I find Michael Cole really dull as an actor but I guess then (as now) white guys prevail. The more I watch the show, the more I realize Linc was really the best character. Not only is Clarence Williams III a good actor but Linc is really the smart one. He always thinks really hard about connections and solves most of the mysteries. He was also the toughest one - hanging on to cars, swinging from ropes, doing the most dangerous physical things. Julie (the idol of what I wanted to look like then and even now), is basically arm candy. She rarely has more than 20 lines in any episode. I also think her look was modeled on Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. Still, I'm enjoying the reruns and finding I got back a bit of my youth.
shareThis circus episode recycled into a Charlie's Angel episode, where a father and son (played by James Darren), were having accidents and someone was sabotaging their acts.
shareCharlie's Angels re-did this, too?
Spelling liked to recycle his episodes. There are several that I know of that CA used, that were originally from his previous shows.