Northern Exposure, Quantum Leap, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, Mary Tyler Moore, Journeyman (what were they THINKING when they canceled this great show?)

Northern Exposure, West Wing, Star Trek Voyager, anything with Tyne Daly, Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Gunsmoke.

Soap was one of the first that came to mind. Taxi and Cheers - I know there are re-runs probably, but I never see them. But one of the best I miss is The Little Rascals. Designing Women, Murphy Brown. Too many. Seinfeld, Quantum Leap, Northern Exposure.

Any of the old shows that relied more on solid script-writing and acting, as opposed to the special effects, laugh tracks, sex and vulgarity that are so prevalent today. There were laugh tracks back in the day, too, but they were more subtle and complemented - rather than dominated - the show. As a child, I remember it was a party night any time ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ came on the tube. A huge batch of popcorn was made and scads of adults and kids alike would gather ‘round to watch and laugh. It wasn’t a show, it was an event. A poster above cited ‘That Girl’ as an old favorite. Marlo Thomas and Lew Parker were absolutely made for their roles as daughter & father on that show. Marlo’s got one of the all-time great speaking/reading voices. I feel that vocal training was much better in those days (many actors honed their early skills on stage or in radio), and a hidden reason behind the success of many stars. Think back to the distinctive voices of James Arness on ‘Gunsmoke’, Peter Graves on ‘Mission Impossible’, Jean Stapleton’s scratchy voice on ‘All in the Family’, etcetera. Off hand, I really enjoyed ‘The Six-Million-Dollar Man’ (and ‘Bionic Woman’), the original ‘Star Trek’, and the vocal styles of news/sportscasters such as Walter Cronkite, Dick Enberg, even Howard Cosell.