Ash has already answered you, but since you bring it up I'll chime in about the series itself. I watched it for the 2011 Historical Appreciation Challenge and overall, I enjoyed it. Some of the footage is breath taking, and there's even some footage of the Axis powers that's particularly interesting.

I did have a couple of problems with it, though. The episodes are organized thematically, which makes them easier to process and follow, but within some episodes they jump around across the globe and time. There aren't many visual cues about such things so it can be jarring to realize that you've just leaped forward eighteen months or more from one scene to the next.

The score is terrific, and I can easily see why it warranted its own soundtrack album release back in the day (to say nothing of all the re-recordings over the years). However, there were more than a few instances where I felt the music was wholly incongruous with the on-screen visuals. I remember vividly one episode where triumphant music is playing over footage of the aftermath of a battle, where we see American casualties.

Gonna say "No" on this since the Popeye shorts in question weren't produced for TV. In this instance, it's the production - not the continuity - that matters.

I'm gonna be honest: I didn't even look at the checklist. I just copied and pasted from last year and assumed that whatever kinks were there had been resolved. The 1930s really should be optional, or maybe not even on the list at all since there were so very few programs from then and even fewer are available at all.

This is the kind of thing I should have caught before we started, but here's a retroactive checklist change:

Watch a TV Show from 1930s is "optional".

Moonlighting is to "Will they or won't they?" as Batman: The Animated Series is to "Animated Show about Batman".

I finished S4 of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea earlier today. Of the last 6 episodes *3* were about alien/alien invasion, 2 were time travel, and 1 (also one of the best of the season) harkened back to the spy/political/action feel of S1. It literally went out with a bang as the Seaview was blown up in the first minute of the last episode. I'll leave it to you to watch that episode to see if everything worked out OK.

I moved on to The Starlost, a Canadian sci-fi production from 1973. Other than watching about 15 minutes of a random episode online to see if I wanted to make a blind buy I've never seen this series before today. It's about "The Ark" carrying the remains of the human race to a safer world after they discover the Earth will be destroyed in the future. A accident early in the journey killed the crew, sealed the biospheres, and threw the ship off course where it's not headed toward a collision with a star. A trio managed to "escape" one of the biospheres (each of which protects a different lifestyle/population segment), discover the accident, and set off to see if they can get it corrected before the impending disaster kills everyone.

The series was created by Harlan Ellison... er... Cordwainer Bird who also received writing credits. From what I've read Ellison deemed it so bad he disowned the project before the first episode aired. Scripts for the first few episodes are not too bad but the production was *really* done cheaply. It was produced on video tape much like a stage play so it's like watching early Dr. Who episodes or a soap opera. Almost all backgrounds were miniatures and very liberal use of Blue Screen was used. Because of this it's a very "static" show as the camera can not move during any Blue Screen based scenes. I've read that the scripts become worse as the series progresses. So far it's not as bad as I'd feared based on reading a few reviews. I'm enjoying it in spite of the cheap production values.

That checklist item is already taken care of. The challenge is: Watch shows from at least 5 distinct decades. So, you're already covered! It starts with the 30s, goes till now with 9 decades to chose from.

As for your quote about Moonlighting...love it! I haven't watched Moonlighting in years, but that's about all I remember from it!

A few weeks ago, I turned up The Dukes of Hazzard Two-Movie Collection in the $5 bin at Walmart. I watched The Complete First Season in 2011 for this challenge, but I don't own any of the rest of the series. I decided to go ahead and re-watch the TV movies anyway. I finished The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! a little while ago. Here's my review, as posted in my Letterboxd diary:

Who's responsible for putting a sticky on the list thread?

We go through this with every challenge. You can request a sticky yourself. Not in the discussion thread, but by reporting any post in the thread to a moderator. Just click the triangle icon with the exclamation point. It's that easy, and unlike complaining in the discussion thread, it actually gets something done.

I'm the host, but I'm not a moderator. I have no more power to make this sticky than you do.

While I've seen some shows age quite well, as I have fond memries of a lot of shows I grew up with in the 80s and still enjoy watching them. However, maybe it was just because I wasn't really in the mood to watch something after all, but I tried watching an episode of Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers on Hulu, and I just couldn't get into it, and ended up turning it off. Is it just me not being in the mood, or has that show not aged well at all?

Ash asks the same question for every challenge

Fixed.

I nominate Ash as the official "Report List Thread to Moderator for a Sticky" guy for every challenge. I bet he'd be more effective and efficient than any of the rest of us.

You'd think. Alas, he only ever complains in the discussion thread instead of, you know, reporting to moderators.

I've been trying to power through The Kids in the Hall, season 5. I finished off season 4 a few days ago and am almost half way through 5 now. I've had it for a few years and while I managed to get through a couple seasons, the comedy challenge and now the TV challenge has definitely helped motivate me to finish them off.

I have to say, some of the skits have aged well, others-not so much. So far, the majority of them I have watched on reruns many times up until the last season where most of them seem new, though I know I had to have watched them at one point or another.

I am surprised in season 5, this is in 1994 remember, on how many of their skits are based on homosexuality. I think most of them are funny-the "Steps" skits are the best-but remembering the culture in that time period, this had to have been pretty risky for the Kids. I'm glad they did, I'm complaining about it or anything, just surprised; I'm sure that this is probably one of the first mainstream (as well as a cable show could be in those days) shows to have that subject matter. I have a feeling it's why this season didn't get aired many times in repeats.

I have about a disc and a half left to go-maybe if I power through it I'll finish tonight or tomorrow. Then, off to pick the next series. I'm leaning, right now, towards Firefly. I have it and Serenity but I have not watched either. Not sure why, love sci-fi, love Joss Whedon, know it has great reviews...but just never watched it. It doesn't seem that long, 14 episodes it looks like plus the movie, so now would be a good time to pop it in.

A lot of Criterion DVDs have related TV bonus material, usually TV interviews or documentaries, which may be just excerpts that relate to the feature title on the DVD, rather than the complete program. A good example of this is the conversation between Eric Rohmer and Jean Douchet from Cinéastes de Notre Temps on Boudu Saved from Drowning, which is useful in appreciating the movie, but of limited interest for stand-alone viewing.

Three of my favorite Criterion extras are TV movies by the same director as the main feature: Cathy Come Home on Kes (Ken Loach); Rupa u Dusi (Hole in the Soul) on W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (Dušan Makavejev); and La Cotta (The Crush) (Ermanno Olmi).

Should I add it to the list?

I've added the first two, but Criterion.com characterizes La Cotta as a short film, without designating that it was produced for TV. Do you have any specific information about that as TV content?

So that's what the little red triangle with the black line in it is for.

Well, I tried it. We'll see if it works.

Go Ash! Go Ash!

Decided to give Lost Girl a try and I'm enjoying after 7 episodes. My friend's review of the show was "LOTS of hot girls kissing!" I felt like a snob when I asked if the show was good though.

I ended up marathoning episodes of Gilmore Girls and Get Smart while getting my syllabi and policy statements together for the coming semester. Both are favorites of mine.

Just finished the 2-part pilot episode of Knight Rider. I recall seeing the show many times as a kid, but I'd never seen thie pilot and therefore had no knowledge of the origin of the Michael Knight character.

I bought myself a blu ray player, my first, with Christmas money/gift cards. I have only watched a couple movies on it, mostly DVDs so wanted to put in a good BR. Popped in Stargate the movie and about half way through, I remembered it counted for the challenge! Whoo hoo!

I do have a checklist question-for the actors changing but the characters staying the same, does this count between a movie/TV show combo or does it have to be a TV show only? Thanks!

I own Seasons 1-3 of Knight Rider. Thinking of watching some of the show during the challenge myself.

"Whoo hoo!" indeed!

Hmm. I think it needs to be within the TV version, unless it's a case where the majority of the movie and TV cast is the same. The only thing I can think of offhand would be My Big Fat Greek Wedding and My Big Fat Greek Life, where everyone from the movie came back for the show except John Corbett. (Technically, Nia Vardalos's character was also renamed, but whatevs.)

I had a "blah" weekend, health-wise. It's been more than a year since I last flaked out with TV for any kind of marathon, but I just watched every episode of Burn Notice Season One.

I didn't set out to make it a marathon session. I really just planned to start with Disc 1. I finished that around 8-ish, though, and had plenty of time left for Disc 2, which took me a little past midnight. Having been in and out of bed and the bathroom the last few days, I was wide awake and just kept going until I'd finished all eleven episodes.

One of the brilliant things about Burn Notice is that each episode has two plots: the job-for-hire, and Michael Westen's progress on tracking back the origin of his burn notice. When viewed weekly, the job-for-hire dominates, with the burn notice investigation more of an ongoing background thing that gives the series its structure. However, when viewed in marathon form, the burn notice plot appears instead as the through-story, with the jobs-for-hire serving more as side quests. The dual structure serves both viewing styles nicely.

Of course, there are some knocks on Burn Notice - not the least of which is that we're in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero territory where virtually no one is ever actually shot and there's always a parachute to show people escaping safely. It's not particularly plausible for all these encounters with such ruthless people to end so neatly, but that's the milieu of the series. Sometimes it does add to the suspense: "How is Michael going to get out of this one without killing anyone?" Mostly, though, it creates a very "safe" environment that makes it hard to worry about any of the characters - even the guests.

There are plenty of other series to offer gritty violence and moral ambiguity. Burn Notice is a direct descendant of 1980s action series like Magnum, P.I. and as someone who grew up in that era, I get it. The real focus is on the camaraderie between the main cast, and that works magnificently. Jeffrey Donovan plays well with Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless and Gabrielle Anwar. I grew up watching Gless on Cagney & Lacey; I had a bit of a crush on her, to be honest. I was apprehensive at first about her character here, worrying that she'd be a groan-inducing distraction, but they handled Madeline well.

More cynical viewers may scoff at Burn Notice for being too lightweight and it's probably a fair criticism. I think they're missing the fun, though, and even though I felt miserable while watching again tonight, it was a treat to go back to the beginning and revisit the show.

Think I am going to get some good tv viewing in today, as I have a headache today. Perfect chance to veg in front of the tv, and watch whatever is on, or looking for a good DVD to watch if I can't find anything on Dish.

I was pretty excited!

Hmm, glad you mentioned that as I have both the movie and the TV series...hmm, what to do, what to do...Firefly or My Big Fat Greek Life? Hmm...