Shows you forget were on at the same time

[DRW50]

There is often an idea that TV moves into different eras. Is there ever a time when, in your head, you just can't remember that certain shows intersected?

For me, it's stuff like Beverly Hillbillies and All in the Family. Of course, they were only on together for a very brief amount of time, but I'd still love to go back to early 1971 and see if these shows shared any fans whatsoever.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek. Though both shows premiered in the same decade, I often forget that they were on at the same time for a few years - especially since they were both marketed as teen shows when they'd each debuted.

[Khan]

Wasn't the final season of "That Girl" running simultaneously with the first season of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"? I'll bet viewers (and young female viewers, at that) took one look at the latter show and realized right away what had been missing on the former.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Yes they did. That's a good point.

I'd say any of the 60s escapist comedies next to the Lear stuff. So, for example, Bewitched and All in the Family, Family Affair and All in the Family (FA's last season was concurrent with AITF's last season), and The Brady Bunch and Sanford & Son (the latter knocked the former off the air after BB's 5th season by regularly beating it in its' time slot).

Could I just say the names Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Hee Haw Law & Order (the Mothership), and ER against pretty much any other show they were on against at the end of their runs and have it pretty obvious what their common link is?

[All My Shadows]

Little House on the Prairie and Cheers.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Murder She Wrote and Friends--the latter knocked the former off the air when MSW was moved from Sundays to Thursdays for its' 12th and final season.

[Gray Bunny]

Granted, I was younger and never watched it, but I was very surprised when I later learned that Knots Landing last through 1993, 3 years into the 90's while the other 80's prime time soaps were long gone. 90210 was already graduating high school and Amanda & Alison were fighting over Billy on Melrose.

[DRW50]

Totally right about MSW and Friends. I don't think I would remember that if not for the highly publicized move of Les Moonves throwing MSW to the wolves to kill it off.

Also true about Knots and the Fox soaps. To Knots' credit, they managed to adapt surprisingly well.

This is another example. I can't quite process shows like Love Boat being on at the same time as Moonlighting. Of course this was the last season for Love Boat, and I think Benson too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWDNugYl_N8

[Khan]

That's one of the many qualities about KNOTS LANDING that I love most -- its durability.

[JackPeyton]

MSW is one of the only shows I buy the "network wanted it dead" argument for.

Golden girls feels very 90s to me while facts of life feel very 80s.

[SFK]

To me, The Golden Girls feels very '80s and very early '90s. There are three distinct eras/tones of the show: the darker teleplay-like first year, the campy middle years, and the early '90s ironic/sardonic final years. TGG and 227 debuted on the same night when I was in the first grade and my family never missed Saturday night NBC. The '90s episodes were so hilarious when they first aired and through the first few rounds of syndication, but I don't think they've aged as well as the earlier episodes. That early '90s humor that Cherry brought to the show has a very dated ring to it. The humor of the earlier seasons is more timeless.

FOL debuted within days of my birth and it's one of the few shows I remember watching first run and in syndication at the same time. It feels '80s all around, but Over Our Heads is especially late '80s. The Max on Saved by the Bell used to remind me of that set.

Antenna TV ran a Bewitched marathon on Halloween eve. When they showed the dates of production, it dawned on me

[SFK]

that promos of episodes in its last four/two seasons probably aired during commercial breaks of early OLTL and AMC.

[SFK]

I didn't watch MSW but my friend in high school did and I remember her telling me about the last episode that involved a mystery on a Friends-like sitcom set. She said the episode was really good, particularly Jessica's epilogue.

[SFK]

I also sometimes forget about Knots lasting until '93 because while my parents watched regularly, I did knot. I got into it in syndication on TNT which started practically immediately after the show went off the air, if knot sooner (I promise that's the last time). So seeing those '79 and '80s episodes made me feel like the show had been gone longer than it really was. I was at my friend's house and we were watching a movie she had recorded on CBS and I was surprised to see Michele Lee in this longish CBS stars holiday greeting. This was around '97, so the show hadn't been gone long at all.

[DRW50]

No pun intended.

I think the only real way you can tell the show was still on at that point is the fashions and the weird mix of minimalism and clinging to camp that was early 90s TV. I do wish they'd gotten a little more time to see how they would have moved out of the Sumner Group era, but I think it might have been time to go.

I vastly prefer the first few Golden Girls years to anything after. The later seasons lost the earnestness and became very broad, while still trying for sentiment. Doesn't work for me.

I always forget how long Dukes of Hazzard lasted.