Late To The Party: Obvious Things About Shows You Realized Embarrasingly Late

[Oosala]

On 2/14/2019 at 6:56 AM, MissAlmond said:

It took adulthood to realize how ultra shady "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" is.

I realized it when Margaret Fucking Thatcher died and that song title was written on placards everywhere across the pond.

[Kel Varnsen]

8 hours ago, Crs97 said:

Really?  I thought the Friends group was a much better group of people.  I’d love to hear more of your thoughts.

My UO: I didn’t like Seinfeld at all and didn’t think it was very funny.  Ended up watching more of it than I wanted because my roommate and friends loved it.  I was very meh.

I think the friends were just as big of assholes as Jerry and his friends. But I appreciated that on Seinfeld both the characters and obviously the writers owned their assholness. While on Friends they played them up as good people but they seem like bigger jerks in retrospect.

[Oosala]

On 11/4/2019 at 11:09 AM, kariyaki said:

It didn't help that the Bewitched credits said that Serena was played by Pandora Spocks. How's a kid supposed to figure that out?

I'm a 63-year-old adult and I can't figure it out.  I know who Pandora is but what's Spocks?

[auntlada]

45 minutes ago, Oosala said:

I'm a 63-year-old adult and I can't figure it out.  I know who Pandora is but what's Spocks?

If you say it out loud, it sounds like Pandora's box.

[kieyra]

That “House” was based heavily on Sherlock Holmes. Years, it took me. 

[Blergh]

19 hours ago, Crs97 said:

Really?  I thought the Friends group was a much better group of people.  I’d love to hear more of your thoughts.

My UO: I didn’t like Seinfeld at all and didn’t think it was very funny.  Ended up watching more of it than I wanted because my roommate and friends loved it.  I was very meh.

I've put quite a few of my thoughts re Friends onto these Forums down the years. However, IMO I prefer [barely] prefer the Seinfeld clique to the literally and figuratively entitled Friends mainly because the former actually wind up being nicer folks to each other and outsiders despite not truly wanting others to think they are while the Friends wind up being meaner, more entitled and backbiting to each other and outsiders despite claiming to  nicer and cooler but ultimately aren't!  Regardless,, if I never see another moment of either series again, it will be too soon! 

[BookWoman56]

23 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

Master of My Domain was funny, imo, as was the one where they went to the beach house, right up to the point where George put shell fish in the Jewish woman's food (or claimed he did). I didn't find that amusing at all.

If he did that intentionally and knowing that the woman observed dietary laws, then George can go fuck right off. That's not only not amusing; it's disgusting and inexcusable. 

[Katy M]

7 minutes ago, BookWoman56 said:

If he did that intentionally and knowing that the woman observed dietary laws, then George can go fuck right off. That's not only not amusing; it's disgusting and inexcusable. 

IIRC, he was mad at her because she saw him naked and told his girlfriend that he had a small penis.  So, yes, he did it on purpose.

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, BookWoman56 said:

If he did that intentionally and knowing that the woman observed dietary laws, then George can go fuck right off. That's not only not amusing; it's disgusting and inexcusable. 

I thought it was pretty funny, mostly funny in a way that you are laughing at how terrible of a person George is. I mean in the previous episode he was in a house where there was a small kitchen fire, and in order to escape he pushed an old lady in a walker out of the way. In later episodes he made up a fake charity to get out of buying Christmas presents and fakes being disabled to get a job.

[BookWoman56]

4 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I thought it was pretty funny, mostly funny in a way that you are laughing at how terrible of a person George is. I mean in the previous episode he was in a house where there was a small kitchen fire, and in order to escape he pushed an old lady in a walker out of the way. In later episodes he made up a fake charity to get out of buying Christmas presents and fakes being disabled to get a job.

The shellfish thing is a trigger for me. A friend ended up in the ER and was extremely sick for a couple of days because some "George" thought it would be funny to disregard her statement that she couldn't eat shellfish, and gave her something that had shellfish in it. In her case, it was being allergic to shellfish, not a personal preference based on religious beliefs. While I can see that the action on a TV show might seem humorous because you can laugh at how terrible George is, that sort of shit in real life speaks to someone who has zero regard for other people. 

[Picture It. Sicily]

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher. It was one of those things that seems so obvious now that I was embarrassed I didn't catch it right away.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Picture It. Sicily

[Bastet]

46 minutes ago, Picture It. Sicily said:

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher. It was one of those things that seems so obvious now that I was embarrassed I didn't catch it right away.

Well, I didn't know until you posted, so you're several years ahead of me (I never watched the show, but I heard his name).

[Oosala]

57 minutes ago, Picture It. Sicily said:

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher.

Like Liam is short for William.  William John Paul Gallagher (he got the Beatles names).  Oasis reference.

Topic?  At first I didn't want my son to watch the Simpsons because there was an article in the paper about this new show that was kind of filthy and could be a bad influence on young kids.  We still laugh at that.  I don't THINK my son did Bart Simpson stuff but the world may never know.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Oosala

[festivus]

51 minutes ago, Picture It. Sicily said:

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher. It was one of those things that seems so obvious now that I was embarrassed I didn't catch it right away.

Same. It just dawned on me about a month ago that Will and Jada Smith's kids are named after them. Willow and Jaden.

[Bort]

33 minutes ago, Oosala said:

Topic?  At first I didn't want my son to watch the Simpsons because there was an article in the paper about this new show that was kind of filthy and could be a bad influence on young kids.  We still laugh at that.  I don't THINK my son did Bart Simpson stuff but the world may never know.

We weren’t allowed to wear Simpson’s paraphernalia in high school because of the “bad influence” blah that had gone around. 🙄

[magicdog]

On 9/24/2019 at 11:38 PM, SmithW6079 said:

I didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

I knew fairly early on.  Everyone around me kept telling me what an awesome show this was (this was about Season 1 of the show first run).  I decided to give it a try.  IIRC, the first episode I saw was the one about George being bitter about losing out over a primo apartment.  I remember thinking this isn't funny or entertaining.  I tried one more episode the following week but couldn't get past the first act and left it behind.  With all due respect to fans, I still don't get the hype.

 

Quote

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher

Don't feel bad - neither did I!

It wasn't until Laura Prepon mentioned it in an interview that Grace would correct people who would call him, "Chris" and he would correct them by adding, "topher" to it!  At least it gave him a unique stage name.

Edited September 27, 2020 by magicdog

[Annber03]

It took me far, FAR too long to realize that the title of the show "ALF" was supposed to be the abbreviation for "Alien Life Form". 

The show was about an alien. Duh, self. 

[Katy M]

On 7/23/2020 at 1:59 PM, Picture It. Sicily said:

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher. It was one of those things that seems so obvious now that I was embarrassed I didn't catch it right away.

I actually knew a Topher back when I was in HS.

[DrSpaceman73]

On 7/23/2020 at 2:55 PM, Oosala said:

Like Liam is short for William.  William John Paul Gallagher (he got the Beatles names).  Oasis reference.

Topic?  At first I didn't want my son to watch the Simpsons because there was an article in the paper about this new show that was kind of filthy and could be a bad influence on young kids.  We still laugh at that.  I don't THINK my son did Bart Simpson stuff but the world may never know.

Yes the amazing history of Bart and the Simpsons being a horrible influence on everyone, hated by right wing media/ people as a bad influence.   

It was a different era of course when this show started  but that idea was always ridiculous.   Could write a book on this.  I think books have been written on this.  South park has done parodies of it.  The simpsons parodied themselves with it even in two bad neighbors. 

I'll just mention for starters that the simpsons and bart go to church more than anyone on tv.  Again, the simpsons even did an episode on homer skipping church.  Yet the right wing hated this show when it started.  Not saying that's you but just the of the show in the late 80s early 90s was so different at the time. 

But then the left had never been left out either.  One episode they have bill clinton saying he has sex with pigs.  

Also Matt groening has been asked how he responds to people who claim bart is a bad influence.  His perfect response is if you don't want to raise a bart simpsin then be a better dad than homer simpson. 

[Raja]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:59 AM, Picture It. Sicily said:

It was three seasons into That 70s Show when it finally dawned on me that Topher is short for Christopher. It was one of those things that seems so obvious now that I was embarrassed I didn't catch it right away.

It was until an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer where they all loss their memories that I realized, when they told us,  that Xander was short for Alexander instead of  Alex as it had always been used in my community

Edited September 27, 2020 by Raja

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, Katy M said:

I actually knew a Topher back when I was in HS.

So did I.

[SVNBob]

8 hours ago, Annber03 said:

It took me far, FAR too long to realize that the title of the show "ALF" was supposed to be the abbreviation for "Alien Life Form". 

The show was about an alien. Duh, self. 

It's actually explained in the pilot episode.  It's kind of a throwaway line, but it is there.

 

[Annber03]

Ah, okay. I don't know if I ever saw the pilot episode. I know I watched the show on occasion when I was little, but that's about it-I can't recall a whole lot about it in general. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎07‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 11:57 AM, Shannon L. said:

Agreed.  I mentioned this a couple of years ago in the UO thread.  If a comedy makes me laugh out loud, then that's just the icing on the cake, but simply amusing/cute is good enough for me.

Amusing is still funny.  But I never found Seinfeld the least bit funny, amusing or cute.  Just annoying.

On ‎07‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 12:38 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I thought it was pretty funny, mostly funny in a way that you are laughing at how terrible of a person George is. I mean in the previous episode he was in a house where there was a small kitchen fire, and in order to escape he pushed an old lady in a walker out of the way. In later episodes he made up a fake charity to get out of buying Christmas presents and fakes being disabled to get a job.

See, I don't find any of that funny at all.

[Blergh]

On 9/27/2020 at 11:49 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

 

Also Matt groening has been asked how he responds to people who claim bart is a bad influence.  His perfect response is if you don't want to raise a bart simpsin then be a better dad than homer simpson. 

Well, Bart Simpson's personality was created by Mr. Groening instead of Mr. Simpson- and as a longtime TV personality, said personality DOES have the potential to be an influence on minor viewers so it's entirely on Mr. Groening's head that he hasn't made Bart a more positive influence rather than the fictional Mr. Simpson. 

[Katy M]

6 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Well, Bart Simpson's personality was created by Mr. Groening instead of Mr. Simpson- and as a longtime TV personality, said personality DOES have the potential to be an influence on minor viewers so it's entirely on Mr. Groening's head that he hasn't made Bart a more positive influence rather than the fictional Mr. Simpson. 

I don't really think of The Simpsons as a children's show, though.  So, it's kind of on the parents to find better stuff for their kids to watch on TV.

[kieyra]

That House was based on Sherlock Holmes. 

[Blergh]

On 10/1/2020 at 12:45 PM, Katy M said:

I don't really think of The Simpsons as a children's show, though.  So, it's kind of on the parents to find better stuff for their kids to watch on TV.

Actually, it's on the parents to monitor the kids' TVs, 'puters and Smartphones,etc. as well as talk to the kids about why Bart may not be the best role model out there so even if the kids see via it  other folks' devises, they will at least not be entirely 'round heeled' re getting enthralled via that TV show and character. 

 

OK, to keep this relevant to the thread, I watched the show for a few years since I had liked Marge's voice's performer Julie Kavner in Rhoda and kept hoping that somehow they'd have Valerie Harper pop up as Marge's longlost sister. However, after I realized that this would never have happened, I gave up on the show. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Blergh

[Madding crowd]

On 7/22/2020 at 6:44 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I think the friends were just as big of assholes as Jerry and his friends. But I appreciated that on Seinfeld both the characters and obviously the writers owned their assholness. While on Friends they played them up as good people but they seem like bigger jerks in retrospect.

I appreciated Friends because they seemed like real people to me. People aren’t perfect, they make mistakes they argue with their loved ones they act selfish at times. None of them were rapists, murderers or criminals.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

On 7/24/2020 at 2:38 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

I thought it was pretty funny, mostly funny in a way that you are laughing at how terrible of a person George is. I mean in the previous episode he was in a house where there was a small kitchen fire, and in order to escape he pushed an old lady in a walker out of the way. In later episodes he made up a fake charity to get out of buying Christmas presents and fakes being disabled to get a job.

And because you know he's not going to get away with it so it's fun to watch him try.

[MissAlmond]

Unlike Telly Savalas who paid the ultimate price in Living Doll for not being nice to Talky Tina, the wiser Juanita Moore in Where the Woodbine Twineth double checked all was cool between her, Eva, and Numa. 

[MissAlmond]

Hermey was a badass before his time.  

🎵 You can't fire me, I quit! 🎵

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I don't know that this is embarrassing exactly, but I've been watching Original Recipe One Day at a Time and it turns out that Barbara's romance with Cliff, only really aired on 4 episodes between the second and third season! 

For some reason, when I watched it during its original run, it seemed to me, they had been dating much longer. But really, his final episode, was really the second one where they were an actual couple. The one where Cliff found out that the baby he'd fathered hadn't been given up for adoption like Sally (baby's mother) had said she decided she would do.

To be fair to Cliff--Sally did say he'd offered to marry her; when she'd nixed that, he'd offered to give her money for an abortion--but she found she couldn't go through with it and kept the baby. This is horrible of me, but the actress who played Sally--who was supposed to be 17, looked at least 10 years older!

I really liked how Ann gave Cliff the benefit of the doubt, as opposed to Barbara, who thought he'd cheated on her (he hadn't; they weren't even dating when he and Sally had their one night fling at the lake), and acted like he was the worst monster ever.

I won't lie--I got teary when Cliff cried at the end about never knowing what would happen to his son, or how he'd turn out--because Sally decided for baby Mikey's best interest, to put him up for adoption.

But I swear, as a kid, that Cliff and Barbara had dated a lot longer! But the first couple of episodes--he didn't know she existed and Barbara took his binder so he'd notice her; then the second episode, he was trying to ask her out, but another girl was convinced Cliff was in love with her, etc.

Just weird.

But I really liked Cliff/the actor.

 

[MissAlmond]

I have previously seen the movie The Miracle Worker and the TV show Benson. But until this weekend during TCM's 31 Days of Oscar, it never dawned on me Inga Swenson played both Kate Keller (Helen's mother) and Gretchen Kraus.  

Edited April 19, 2021 by MissAlmond

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

I have previously seen the movie The Miracle Worker and the TV show Benson. But until this weekend during TCM's 31 Days of Oscar, it never dawned on me Inga Swenson played both Kate Keller (Helen's mother) and Gretchen Kraus.  

Let's also not forget that she portrayed Baby Hoss's doomed Swedish mother Inger  on Bonanza who was easily the friendliest of Ben's three wives and the more sympathetic   stepmother to young Adam.   . Of course, even though she was taller than average, she was by no means hulking so where Hoss got his imposing stature from never got explained (and it sure wasn't from Ben). 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Blergh

[MissAlmond]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

Let's also not forget that she portrayed Baby Hoss's doomed Swedish mother Inger  on Bonanza who was easily the friendliest of Ben's three wives and the more sympathetic   stepmother to young Adam.   . Of course, even though she was taller than average, she was by no means hulking so where Hoss got his imposing stature from never got explained (and it sure wasn't from Ben). 

NO!  Of course, I didn't know episodes with Ben Cartwright's three wives even existed before TV Land came along.

Edited April 19, 2021 by MissAlmond

[Katy M]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

Let's also not forget that she portrayed Baby Hoss's doomed Swedish mother Inger  on Bonanza who was easily the friendliest of Ben's three wives and the more sympathetic   stepmother to young Adam.   . Of course, even though she was taller than average, she was by no means hulking so where Hoss got his imposing stature from never got explained (and it sure wasn't from Ben). 

Didn't she say something about her brothers being big?

[Zella]

23 hours ago, Katy M said:

Didn't she say something about her brothers being big?

Yeah it can still be in the genes without showing up in the mom. Though my dad and uncle both credit their impressive leg muscles to their mom! :D I inherited the same gams and linebacker build. My brother did not, but if he had a kid who was rocking calf muscles bigger than most men's biceps and linebacker shoulders, we'd know it was from our side of the family. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Zella

[VCRTracking]

I was watching shows at a young age I had no business watching because they aired at 5 o'clock after cartoons on weekdays. I just kept on watching, took a break for dinner, went back to watching it until I had to go to bed!

ETA: (Six year old me) "What does 'gay' mean and why does Jack have to pretend to be it when Mr. Roper is around?"

Edited May 13, 2021 by VCRTracking

[Ohiopirate02]

7 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I was watching shows at a young age I had no business watching because they aired at 5 o'clock after cartoons on weekdays. I just kept on watching, took a break for dinner, went back to watching it until I had to go to bed!

 

I grew up in a home where my dad watched what he wanted to watch, and we only had one TV.  That was back in the day where Disney Channel was a premium channel, and my dad wasn't paying for that.  He did spring for HBO so I got to watch Fraggle Rock as well as whatever movie HBO was showing at 8pm.  Poltergeist, Predator and every other R rated flick dad wanted to watch.  We learned to self-censor at an early age.  

Watching the Golden Girls back in the day, and I had no idea how filthy that show was.  It was only as a college student when I watched reruns that I learned how much the NBC censors allowed.  

[VCRTracking]

1 minute ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I grew up in a home where my dad watched what he wanted to watch, and we only had one TV.  That was back in the day where Disney Channel was a premium channel, and my dad wasn't paying for that.  He did spring for HBO so I got to watch Fraggle Rock as well as whatever movie HBO was showing at 8pm.  Poltergeist, Predator and every other R rated flick dad wanted to watch.  We learned to self-censor at an early age.  

Watching the Golden Girls back in the day, and I had no idea how filthy that show was.  It was only as a college student when I watched reruns that I learned how much the NBC censors allowed.  

We didn't get cable until I was in middle school and local stations played reruns of ten year old shows in the daytime that used to be allowed only to air at night because it had mild violent and sexual content. Stations needed time to fill and so did bored kids!

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

ETA: (Six year old me) "What does 'gay' mean and why does Jack have to pretend to be it when Mr. Roper is around?"

That show does *not* hold up. I kind of knew what gay vaguely was, but I didn't understand why Jack couldn't live with the two women. 

54 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Watching the Golden Girls back in the day, and I had no idea how filthy that show was. 

Kind of the same. I caught some of it. Blanche - So I waved at him with my foot that was draped over Mr. Smith's shoulder. I kind of got where his face would have been. Though I wasn't entirely sure what he would be doing there. 

It's weird though. It's Wednesday. These are the shows you can watch. If you wanted to watch one that was on the same time as the other, too bad. 

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

I was watching shows at a young age I had no business watching because they aired at 5 o'clock after cartoons on weekdays. I just kept on watching, took a break for dinner, went back to watching it until I had to go to bed!

ETA: (Six year old me) "What does 'gay' mean and why does Jack have to pretend to be it when Mr. Roper is around?"

I think I am the same. When I was probably around grade 3 or 4 my mom worked so my grandparents would pick me up from school and I would go to their house and watch TV. This was the mid-80's so after school cartoons weren't huge thing I don't think. So I watched a lot of syndicated stuff. Most of it was stuff for kids like Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Diff'rent Strokes and the Monkees. But I also remember watching a ton of Three's Company and WKRP, and looking back now I imagine that most of the stuff in both of those shows went totally over my head.

[WinnieWinkle]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

 

My mother and I were just talking about this the other day when I asked her if she knew why I liked Bonanza as a child.  She reminded me that when you only have 5-6 channels you watch a lot of shows you might never have watched otherwise!

[Crs97]

I was around 11 or 12 when I saw “Same Time Next Year” on cable, and I told everyone my favorite joke about Alan Alda telling the girl their luck was so bad that when they got together for the first time the radio was playing, “If I knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake.”  I did not understand why all the adults gasped or why my mother kept assuring them I didn’t fully understand the joke.  
 

I somehow had not realized until years later that they were having an adulterous relationship, he was talking about their first time having sex, and the song title was much more descriptive than I originally understood.

[Annber03]

I grew up on Nick at Nite programming-my parents would watch the stuff they aired on there, so I'd just watch it with them :). A lot of the shows I wound up liking myself as well, but yeah, there were some that probably didn't grab me much, either, but I just watched them 'cause hey, nothing else on. 

For me, I think when it came to raunchy stuff that went over my head, most of that came from movies for me. I remember seeing the movie Look Who's Talking a lot as a kid and there was a lot of stuff they talked about in there that I didn't understand at the time. 

Course, even with the cartoons I watched back then, some of them had jokes and scenes that I didn't get until I was older. "Rocko's Modern Life" is a classic example of that. And then there's "Ren & Stimpy"-I caught a couple episodes of that as an adult a few years back and I'm stunned that show was even on Nickelodeon to begin with, 'cause, uhhhhh, yeah. I really don't think it was ever truly intended for kids. At all. And given some of the stuff that's come out about the creator of that show since then, it makes some aspects of that show a little creepier. 

It is interesting, though, to look back at some of the shows I watched as a kid, be they for my age range or not-I feel some of that explains my sense of humor/taste in current shows to some degree :p. 

ETA: Ooh, yes, Same Time Next Year is definitely another one on my list, too. My mom loves that movie and I saw that one a lot as a kid, too, and I had pretty much the same reaction to a lot of the stuff in there :p.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Annber03

[DoctorAtomic]

That cake joke is flat out brilliant. I love the one line BAM comedy. 

My wife called me at work. She said, 'come on over, no one is home.' She was right. I went home. No one was there. 

 

[MissAlmond]

Pffft.  These shows are nothing.  My after school TV watching consisted of Bad Ronald and Picture Mommy Dead.  You know.  Wholesome fare.  I first knew of John Hurt because Ten Rillington Place aired during these hours.  A kid friendly, based on the true story movie about a serial killer who buried women in his house and backyard.  Adults were oblivious to the offerings and the local TV stations that aired them didn't care.   

The worms crawl in. The worms crawl out. In your stomach and out your mouth.  Have you ever seen a hearse go by?  Did you ever think you were going to die?    

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by MissAlmond

[DrSpaceman73]

My grandparents would not let us watch the love boat as kids.  Too much sex!  Or you know sexual inuendo.  

Im not sure which is worse if you watched these shows and didn't realize the sexual nature of the shows or if you did and knew at 8 years old or so everything they were talking About.  Not the love boat but the other shows mentioned.  I pretty well knew and looking back at these and some other stuff my parents, who were in all other ways conservative more strict parents, let me watched, I wonder what they were thinking. 

 

Watch fast times at ridgemont high as an adult.....where on earth were the parents?  

 

Also I mentioned before a few years ago but worth mentioning again.....mr roper was a closeted gay guy on three's company.  That I didn't get as a kid. 

Im surprised in the remake area no one has redone fantasy island.  It would be a natural and easy thing to bring back with a new host/hosts.  And so many more story lines to explore with a black mirror and westworkd like tilt to them. 

Edited May 13, 2021 by DrSpaceman73

[DoctorAtomic]

All I knew from the Love Boat was that Charo was a whore. 

Wasn't Fantasy Island rebooted for a short stint?