this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
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[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Anything made by Dan Schneider, because he was outed as a huge creep. And even if he hadn't been outed as a huge creep, the content in most of his shows, especially the foot stuff, is really inappropriate at times in hindsight given those shows were aimed at tweens and teens.

Like, really, Dirty Dan? You think your freaky stuff is appropriate viewing for people who are still in grade school in some cases? No wonder that guy was outed as a creep. And I thought some of his stuff was funny when I was still in his target demo and didn't even know of the creepy on-set behavior until after I had been aged out of his shows for 20+ years.... -sigh- Hindsight sucks.

Also, the guy was really bad about recycling plots from his other properties, eg. iCarly's plot, being that the older sibling is left to take the place of an absentee parent and care for the younger sibling in their absence, is recycled from What I Like About You, it just replaces the older sister from that property with an older brother, but that's neither here nor there, I'm just pointing out a lack of originality with that.

Although tbf, Dirty Dan is just a symptom of a far bigger problem in Hollywood. That doesn't diminish his behavior in any way though, it just points towards deeper systemic rot that he was a result of. His on-set abuse was still awful, but he's a symptom of Hollywood's abusive culture, and not the root cause.

The root cause for his behavior is decades of systemic industry-wide unmitigated rot that effectively allows those types of environments, and people like Dirty Dan, to exist in that industry.

Manswers and 1000 Ways to Die are also kinda cringe trash in hindsight as well. Hell, that can be said for basically all of the former Spike TV's library.

[–] CalypsoGirl@lemmy.today 1 points 15 minutes ago

His on-set abuse was still awful

Did he diddle kids? No.

Did he script some things that adults would interpret as inappropriate sexually, but kids wouldn't even notice? Yes.

Had that writing technique been used in children's programming for decades? Yes. Even The Flintstones had sexually inappropriate double-entendres meant to make adults giggle but children wouldn't even notice.

Dan Schneider's Nickelodeon TV shows had excellent writing, acting, and music.

I'm not defending him but I don't understand why people continually lambaste him more than Brian Peck & others who actually DID rape kids?? It makes me sick to think about & talk about but it's all in that documentary An Open Secret.

[–] Jela@lemmy.today 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like That 70's Show would apply here.. maybe not as poorly aged as some of the others mentioned but definitely in the running

[–] Aneb@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I can confirm I re watched it two years ago

[–] DrSleepless@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Anything with a laugh track

[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Watching Friends without the laugh track Is fucking surreal. There’s so much dead time. So many frames of actors just staring at each other lol

[–] CalypsoGirl@lemmy.today 2 points 8 minutes ago

If you mute the sound of the laughter, you also need to delete the long awkward pauses that creates.

[–] jobbies@lemmy.zip 13 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

I've tried to re-watch Sex and the City but its impossible. I loved it back in the day.

Also the West Wing - I'm sure its still good but the current state of politics makes it look like satire.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago

West Wing is still amazing. It continues to upset when compared to reality.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 13 points 5 hours ago

The West Wing is a fantasy show about how you wish politics worked. Then we got Veep, which is how we thought politics really worked. Now we realize Veep was also a fantasy.

[–] applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 9 hours ago

eureka. i tried to rewatch it recently and its... oof. one of the main characters has an autistic son who is a savant and they talk about hopefully finding a cure for autism someday. meanwhile pretty much all the scientists and engineers show actual autistic traits that im sure the writers thought were just quirky smart people traits. meanwhile the sheriffs house is voiced by a male character trying to do a womans voice and haha isnt it funny how its kind of inappropriate towards him constantly because its a dude doing a girl voice? then the constant perpetuation of stereotypes, nerd/jock bullshit, and really bad science thats just magic with a technological paint job.

[–] KulunkelBoom@lemmus.org 21 points 10 hours ago

The 'you're fired' show starring donny dump.

[–] lemmylump@lemmy.world 107 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Oprah.

That cunt gave the anti vaccine idiots a platform and two charlatans a stage.

Fuck Oprah, fuck "dr." Phil and especially fuck dr. Oz!

Oh and The Apprentice

[–] mursejoy@lemmy.zip 28 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

She has such a bullshit rags to riches story that immediately falls apart because she’s a class traitor. She gave Oz a platform which has a direct through line to people like RFK/Joe Rogan. I’d argue she had a direct hand in the large movement of housewives that don’t believe in western medicine because she sells snake oil just like Oz and Phil.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 8 points 9 hours ago

she was just jerry springer for liberals

[–] baines@lemmy.cafe 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

plus she wasnt she predator adjacent?

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 9 points 9 hours ago

certainly looks like it, probably had a qouta to meet

[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 70 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Cops. To see how they just pummel people to the ground or pull their guns for the smallest of things is unsettling to watch. Also, the treatment of female officers.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 30 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

The one that always stuck with me was when they harassed a dude just walking down the street because he was in drag. But it was in, like, Plano, TX or something so that made it "suspicious."

Another one I can't remember was on COPS or just some bodycam footage of a gay teen who was beaten by his parents and kicked out getting arrested becsuse they claimed he assaulted them; despite being the only one completely battered and bruised and the neighbors defending the kid having witnessed him getting beaten by his father.

[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

I guess when I responded to the original question, I was thinking about the 2000's era COPS show and how it seemed to celebrate violence against others. So, by current standards, the old episodes really don't hold up well in that it's really not OK to be promoting this.

I've noticed similar changes to other police drama shows, like NCIS vs something like Tracker. In NCIS, the bad guy is usually taken down in a shootout. In newer shows, like Tracker, most of the time the bad guy is arrested. Hopefully this is a reflection on society changing.

[–] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 23 points 14 hours ago

A ton of COPS was filmed in pierce county Washington, where I grew up, I still think about how that undoubtedly changed my life in likely imperceptible ways to this day

[–] inari@piefed.zip 10 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

House, MD is a top contender.

A lot of his edgy jokes were made in a time where being politically incorrect was daring and spicy, but now it just makes him come across as a bigot

[–] myyass@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

I think they put the focus on everything that wasn't the premises of the show. I remember reading that they changed the plot because they test audience didn't like that well they got sick and they ded.

[–] uberdroog@lemmy.world 40 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 19 points 15 hours ago

And now, girls jumping on trampolines

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 35 points 15 hours ago (7 children)

Scrolling through this, a few thoughts come to mind:

  1. I forgot how deep into the decade Friends went, and it was definitely well past its sell-by date several seasons before it ended.
  2. Will & Grace probably best fits as a show that aged poorly, though it was groundbreaking in putting gay characters front and center at all.
  3. As shows that won’t be remembered as fondly because they’re cringey relics of their era, it’s a dead heat between Sex and the City and Entourage. Entourage is worse, but I think contemporary viewers already knew that.
  4. Honorable mention to Joss Whedon and Ricky Gervais personally making their classic shows a lot harder to enjoy.
[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 10 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I forgot why I must hate Ricky Gervais.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 hours ago

He makes you regret sharing his views, I think, but I'm a little fuzzy on him myself; he was relevant for a hot second.

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[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 35 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

I tried rewatching How I Met Your Mother and couldn't get more than a few episodes in because I was so bored. I'm sure my getting older is partly to blame (not as engaged by the unrealistic exploits of some mid 20-somethings), but also Friends-style comedy feels outdated now.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 hours ago

I tried watching it for the first time like 5 years ago because of all the memes and to understand why people kept mentioning it and I couldn't last one episode.

[–] showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website 29 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

How I Met Your Mother is such a strange combination Aughts tropes. I mean its Friends but everyone pretty quickly becomes not good people like Seinfeld. It’s a sitcom but it’s also a puzzle box mystery like Lost. The lead, Josh Radnor, is an obvious Timu version of Zac Braff.
And yet it was huge at the time. Ran for nine seasons, completely reignited Neil Patrick Harris’s career, second staged Jason Segel in to not just that guy from Freaks and Geeks, but a legit movie star. Broke open Cobie Smulders in to another movie star. And yet it’s almost completely forgotten about. Until you mentioned it I think it’s more then one or two times on Lemmy, you never see gifs or memes from it. It’s like it was completely forgotten for our shared cultural landscape almost as soon as it was over. I think the only thing it was remembered for was how bad they fucked up the ending and Game of Thrones has taken that from them even.

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 10 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

Weirdly, though, Friends seems to hold up better.

Despite being much older, I recall walking through a room where a friend's roommates were watching Friends around 2016. I was stuck by two things:

First, that I'd noticed that a bunch of people seemed to be getting into Friends for the first time. I think it had just come to Netflix, and in addition to folks nostalgia watching, Gen z and younger millennials were discovering it. Which was why it was on.

Second, it was really watchable. I immediately paused to join them, and the jokes were landing. It had been a very long time since I'd watched a show with a laugh track, but it worked. The show was solidly entertaining.

[–] SpacemanSpiff@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 hours ago

Friends probably holds up better because the Barney character just doesn't work today. So much of his humour is just cringe. Friends' PG-quality ironically makes it more suitable since there are no characters reveling in sexual assault.

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[–] kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The show expertly targeted young Millennials transitioning into adulthood. But the audience grew up and matured. Watching HIMYM now is like time warping back to your first apartment after college and being a little embarrassed at the way you and your old friends used to be.

[–] showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t know, Friends did the same for pre-9/11 20somethings and I don’t mind watching rewatching the early seasons of that. And look how many memes there are from friends. I think there’s more to it then just the cringe factor of looking back.
My working theory is that puzzle box shows like HIMYM and Lost don’t hold up on rewatching because you get invested in the mystery (who’s the mother - what’s going on with this island) and now you know so the shows kind of lost.

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

I don't thing anyone watched HIMYM for learning who the mother was.

[–] SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world 38 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Some friend and I were discussing how poorly 24 has aged, but also how different the world views its subject matter now.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 24 points 14 hours ago

Loved it as a kid and now see it as propaganda to normalize government surveillance

[–] mastertigurius@lemmy.world 39 points 16 hours ago

24 was insanely good when it was a new thing and then quickly devolved into "wait, you're torturing a teenager on a hunch and that's okay?". Not worth the rewatch.

[–] Tiral@lemmy.world 13 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

My favorite part of that is when he has to drive across the city. It would be like an entire episode of him sitting in traffic. They neglect it entirely.

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