So I'm sitting at home today and there is nothing on the boob toob, except old reruns of Miami Vice.  Now when I was growing up in the 80's this was a really cool show.  Now I watch it and think, "wow, this is some really cheesy stuff".  However, I've noticed lately network t.v. is reaching back to the 80's for inspiration on new shows.  I sat there watching and thinking man this is a really bad use of pastels.  Everything was pastel.  The hospital was purple and green pastels, the Vice dept. was pink and green pastel, Crockett's (Don Johnson) clothes were pastels.

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One episode, this was a marathon day on the Centric network, there was even a 7 shot 6 shooter.  Yes, the revolver they used shot 7 times!  I counted.

In another episode, Willie Nelson appears as a washed up Texas Ranger, wearing a green suit with a plaid shirt and a straw hat.  Also in this episode was Steve Buscemi.  Now that was some interesting acting, Steve Buscemi and Willie Nelson in the same episode.

Now another show I watched growing up was T.J. Hooker, with William Shatner and Heather Locklear.  This show has recently been showing  up in reruns as well.  Now this clip below shows Hooker (William Shatner) jumping on the hood of the bad guys car and hanging on (with gun in hand mind you) while the bad guys drive erratically. Totally, believable right?

And of course who could forget Knight Rider.  The show about a man (Michael) who didn't exist and his very personable car-- K.I.T.T (Knight Industries Two-Thousand).  This is the first show that put David Hasselhoff on the map, you youngsters remember him from his second big hit from the 90's, Baywatch.

I look back now and have to laugh at how "awesome" these #1 shows from the 80's were...at the time.  We've come so far with film and t.v. making today that it makes these shows looks very amateur.  But in the 80's these were the best shows on t.v.

Now I'm ragging on these shows a little but they had something we liked.  They were top hits in their day. Today's producers/directors/writers seem to have run out of creativity or maybe they are just lazy.  Reality t.v., where there's no real script, has seemingly taken over the last few years. Now I do have to admit there are some creative shows on some cable networks like USA and TNT.  There's plot to the stories and meat in the scripts. Shows like Covert Affairs, White Collar, Suits, The Closer and Men Of A Certain Age.

Now some networks, including TNT, are even trying to bring back some of the hit shows from the 80's.  Knight Rider was tried, but failed.  Hawaii Five-O, seems to be doing okay.  Now they want to bring back Charlie's Angels, Wonder Woman and Dallas.

ABC has picked up the Charlie's Angels pilot for this Falls schedule.  Check out the latest Angels and what you can expect from this new series.

The newest generation of Ewing's from "Dallas" will hit t.v. next summer on TNT. Sue Ellen, Bobby Ewing and JR himself will all be back with the new generation.

Check out the trailer for yourself! JR seems to still be up to the same "old JR tricks".   Didn't someone shoot him?

I don't know that these shows will ever work again. For me, as cheesy and dramatic as the originals were, I'm just not sure they can be remade. However, I'm also pretty sure I'll be checking them out anyway.

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