Watching reruns on the retro TV channels in central Iowa has led me to a couple of conclusions. There are your ‘bubblegum’ shows, Gilligan’s Island, Brady Bunch, shows that are just fun. Not Masterpiece Theater, but they stand the test of time. Then you have your shows that didn’t stand the test of time, Night Court, Jefferson’s, Hogan’s Heroes.

Three shows that I didn’t watch when they came out, knocked my socks off in reruns. Police Story, Heat of the Night and the original half hour black and white episodes of Gunsmoke . Only one was a ratings bonanza, Gunsmoke. The other two ran 6 years each. They had respectable ratings, but not “out of this world”.

In the case of Police Story and Heat of the Night I think they had 3 things going for them. The writing, the acting and the location filming (I realize Heat wasn’t filmed in Sparta, Mississippi). Today’s television suffers horribly in comparison. It reminds me of the Star Wars series. George Lucas thought the second set of films were superior because of the whiz bang special effects. How clueless can you be? That’s not why people loved Star Wars.

Is a person’s taste in art at all quantifiable? It’s so subjective. I suppose in the end TV as art can be judged with a real simple test; ratings. Movies on the other hand have always had as their gold standard for worthiness the Academy Awards. Which went after how few people watched, their trophies were handed out by the anointed few, not the masses.

It’s hard to say what’s “good” and what isn’t. Part of it is the barren wasteland of modern TV, the older shows stand out in such contrast. They’ve also done studies that show that what you were exposed to between the ages of 8-15 become your “comfort” shows later in life. No doubt your own demographic plays a large part too. Who knows, its hard to put a number on art. We do know what we like though.

Something changed around ’81 and shows like Hill Street Blues. They took themselves so seriously, they forgot one important point: The characters have to be likeable. Weird, right? Nobody on that show was likeable. I’ve never seen my theory about what makes a movie or TV show watchable proven wrong. You need quality writing, good cinematography and actors that people can empathize with.

You can see which ones were successful at this by which ones from the 80s and 90s are shown in reruns today. Two of the most widely shown reruns of the Police Story genre shown today are Walker Texas Ranger and Magnum PI. Quality production with likeable people. Another thing Police Story had going for it besides that, was the genius in having an entirely new cast every week! It never got stale!