A few years back, I've watched re-runs of Charles in Charge with Scott Baio and Willie Aames. It's about a college student who takes care of kids while parents are at work.

We've cut back on our weekday tv consumption, spending lots of time outside when the weather is nice. We are still watching TV some on the weekends and we have been watching season 3 of The High Chaparral. But I have been letting the siblings pick episodes from the season instead of watching it in order. It's fun to see which episodes they think sound the most interesting.

SnowAngel

A friend owns a DVD set of the original The Outer Limits series, which aired for almost two seasons in 1963-65. We're re-watching it now.  It's reminiscent of, and compared to, The Twilight Zone which aired around the same time. While I enjoy both series, I'd say Rod Serling's show is superior overall. Unlike Twilight Zone, I don't recall seeing any Outer Limits episodes during its original run.

There are quite a few familiar faces, especially people who would later appear on Star Trek. In fact, William Shatner appears as a NASA astronaut working on Project Vulcan (of all names), a trip to Mars. Leonard Nimoy and Malachi Throne (Commodore Mendez in "The Menagerie" and Romulan Senator Pardek in the TNG episode "Unification") appear.  One episode, "Expanding Human" features 5 Trek actors: James Doohan, Skip Homeier (who appeared in "Patterns of Force" and "The Way to Eden"), Keith Andes (the high priest in "The Apple"), Peter Duryea ("The Cage"), and Jason Wingreen ("The Empath"). We didn't pick up on all of these, but Homeier and Andes have very distinctive voices that we immediately recognized. There are quite a few others.

Vic Perrin, who did the Control Voice ("There is nothing wrong with your television set...") was the voice of Nomad in the Trek episode "The Changeling." While the Nomad voice was altered slightly to make it more mechanical sounding, we could definitely hear Nomad's voice in Perrin's opening or closing narration.

Not too surprisingly, there's also some actors who appeared in multiple episodes of both this series and The Twilight Zone.

@stargazer 

I also have a DVD set of all 49 episodes of The Outer Limits.  I remember seeing some episodes of the series when I was eight years old such as “The Zanti Misfits” and “Second Chances”.  Children during that time were much more easily frightened by simple special effects and bug eyed monsters when the series was made back in 1963.  Whenever I watch the DVD set I feel like I am going back through time.  I like the  show for its haunting old fashioned quality even though some people might think it is too dated. I can forgive the dated special effects, and in fact the vintage artistic photography has a haunting atmosphere about it.  Twilight Zone had more great episodes, but Outer Limits was just as satisfying and nostalgic.  🙂

This is what happens when your witness takes the form of deeds:

EMERGENCY: THE SHOW THAT SAVED YOUR LIFE: 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

AIRS SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022 on COZI-TV (network):

https://www.ems1.com/emergency-continues-to-inspire-medics/articles/emergency-anniversary-special-to-air-saturday-krSpV4gH1CHjlODX/

@the-old-maid 

I remember a series called Rescue 911 which was broadcast in the 1990’s.  It was similar to Emergency, but it was mostly based on real stories of rescues. William Shatner was the host, and the stories were about the people who were involved in dire situations. I think it was a pretty decent show since it was very respectful of those who were in public safety such as police officers and fire fighters. I haven’t seen it in reruns in many years, but it may be available for streaming. It was far better than most of today’s reality shows.

Tonight I watched the 1971 BBC miniseries of The Last of the Mohicans on DVD and thought it was quite good.  It was not a high budget film like the later film version with Daniel Day Lewis, but it offers more of the book since it is in eight half hour episodes. The acting is quite good throughout. I think the series would have been excellent if the filmmakers had more money.

I am rewatching An Age of Kings, which is an old BBC miniseries from 1960.  If you like Shakespeare’s history plays this is an interesting series to watch. It is filmed in black and white, and it does show its age. But the acting is very good and I don’t think condensing the plays for a television broadcast harms them very much. The kings portrayed are Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI.  It was a fine accomplishment for the BBC considering the limited resources that were available at the time. Some of you may remember The Hollow Crown, which was broadcast on PBS about ten years ago. It was another miniseries based on Shakespeare’s history plays, which was very well done, and Patrick Stewart was one of the actors. This newer series, having the advantage of a higher budget, was able to show the time period more realistically. There was also The Shakespeare Plays, which offered all of the Bard’s plays when it aired on PBS during the 1970’s and ‘80’s. So Shakespeare has been broadcast on television a number of times throughout the years with fine productions.

A friend owns the complete DVD set of the original Twilight Zone series, and this time through we're watching it with the special features (usually commentaries, but occasionally including a radio drama adaptation of some episodes).

Some of the commentators are excellent; Billy Mumy comes to mind. I'm almost tempted to find a set of Lost in Space DVDs in case he does commentaries on it.

Another person featured in the extras is Marc Scott Zicree (who also wrote the excellent book The Twilight Zone Companion).  He's an encyclopedia of all things Twilight Zone, and offers excellent comments about how episodes are made - lighting, shot composition, etc. The other night we watched the hour-long season 4 episode "Death Ship" without, and then with, his comments. He added a lot of insight into aspects of the episode I might not have otherwise noticed.

@stargazer 

I have known people who have hated the 1960’s Lost in Space for its campiness, but I cannot dislike that series because I found its quaintness to be rather enjoyable. It is not the best science fiction, and Star Trek is far better quality.  Star Trek had much more intelligent stories and professional acting. But I thought the first season of Lost in Space had an interesting fairy tale quality about it and was much better than the other two seasons.  The character of Dr. Smith can be almost unbearable at times, and that may be the reason why some people hate the show.  But I have to say that episodes like “My Friend, Mr. Nobody” and “The Lost Civilization” are kind of magical, and it is hard not to like them. 

I now have The Twilight Zone Definitive Edition on DVD’s, which is the complete series.  I think it is well worth owning since it has so many bonus features. You can even watch Rod Serling promoting cigarettes, which unfortunately probably caused his death, but other than that the old material was quite interesting and enjoyable.  I especially liked the interview with Mike Wallace, which was about what the series was going to be like. And it was like nothing that had ever been on television before that time.

As a kid, I remember watching Liberty's Kids, and I own a set on DVD. It has a special place in my heart. It has three fictional kids who interact with historical figures set during the American Revolution. I would actually recommend this for homeschoolers for their US History class.

The theme song almost gets stuck in your head (though the rap does seem out of place for a show that takes place during the American Revolution).

@jasmine_tarkheena 

The rap music seems like an anachronism.  Otherwise, it looks like a pretty good cartoon for kids.

I would recommend the 1980’s show Voyagers! for teaching children about history. The series had two time travelers going back in time to correct the errors in historical events.  Although the show lasted for only twenty episodes, it was well received by critics and educators. 

Here is a sample:

I remember seeing some episodes of Liberty's Kids back in the day; my friends' kids liked watching them. One part I liked (and I don't think is included on the DVDs) is the late great news announcer Walter Cronkite giving a quick update of the episode's events and closing with his trademark "and that's the way it is."

@Narnian78, the Definitive Edition is the Twilight Zone DVD set my friend has and the one we're watching now. Last night we watched the hour long episode "Miniature", which includes a brief commentary by William Windom, who appears in 2 TZ episodes but is best known in our household as Commodore Decker in the Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine."

@stargazer 

I own the Twilight Zone set and love the bonus features.  I think it is out of print now, although the seasons are still available separately. Attempts to bring back Twilight Zone and remake some of the episodes have never matched the quality of the original series.

Posted by: @stargazer

I remember seeing some episodes of Liberty's Kids back in the day; my friends' kids liked watching them. One part I liked (and I don't think is included on the DVDs) is the late great news announcer Walter Cronkite giving a quick update of the episode's events and closing with his trademark "and that's the way it is."

Walter Cronkite provided the voice of Benjamin Franklin on the show as well. It had other celebrity guest stars: Billy Crystal as John Adams, Annette Benning as Abigail Adams, Michael Douglas as Patrick Henry, Sylvester Stallone as Paul Revere, Dustin Hoffman as Benedict Arnold, ect.

It's an interesting angle to have three fictional kids (two boys and a girl) to interact with historical figures.