Meh. A sitcom aging well is the exception, not the rule, and I'd say Home Improvement holds up.
Lost did not age poorly. It turned to shit when it was current. A common problem facing US shows is a need to get good ratings for a season, or even half a season. What will often happen is that when it gets dicey, they'll start going a bit crazy, with the writing, and/or revert to formulaic writing so safe that it doesn't use the characters well, and/or stops character growth. Likewise, shows that get too much success may have trouble extending a plot that was only conceived of for 1-3 seasons. Lost was the latter. But, then, it also was going on right as early streaming was getting popular, and ironically, lost direction.
Hercules, and by extension Xena, are still alright. The visual quality of early Herc makes worn VHS look good, though. The author is clearly a leftist, by the big problem here, alone. Making the viewer care, and be engaged, while not making the content serious, was kind of Sam Raimi's thing. I imagine the author would have big problems with Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, as well. Now I'll have to go rewatch it, anticipating every Ted Raimi appearance!
Heroes, like Lost, went downhill while it was still current. I loved the show, and was sad to see the way it went down.
I only saw Scrubs as reruns, and liked it. So, there.
Not a big DBZ fan (original Dragon Ball, I've read and watched dozens of times, and love it to death), but the slow pace is a martial arts a manga/anime thing, in general, not anything to do with them vs now.
Beavis and Butthead I'll straight up give them. It was an edgy time capsule of MTV, before modern suits had fully taken over.
A few not mentioned:
Buffy (all) and Angel (S1&2). Rewatching, there's a lot more subtle character development than I recalled when it was current, with consequences, and not all of it for the better. On rewatching, though, Angel starts off strong, but falls flat in the 3rd season.
The Hitchiker. Dark episodic tales. Easy to find for streaming or download, and many are great. But, it seems to have fallen into pop culture obscurity.
The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Ray Bradbury Theater, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. All similar in type and format. The original B&W are better, for tTZ and tOL, but the modern reprisals aren't half bad.
Babylon 5. You're going to need to suspend disbelief for the accidental used future, and anachronisms, as much as humanoid aliens. But, it tried to get the science basics right, it was planned out for all 5 seasons from the start, the writing is generally very good, and quite a few of the actors punched way above their syndicated scifi weight. I also like the little continuity bits, where even characters that are not named, like lower-rank security guards, stay the same, across time. Also, many set pieces have that look of having been broken, fixed, and repainted, like an actual large housing building ends up - a great deal of care went into it. It's also kind of funny to see scenes that were then cutting edge CGI, in 1995, that we would not accept from an indie video game, today.
Stargate SG-1. Like above, in many ways, but mostly episodic, and a bit cheesy. It has a high percentage of very well-written episodes. I did not watch it, when it was current, either.
Farscape. Sadly, it killed Lexx, as Sci-fi didn't want them competing, and this was a runaway success. Everything you could want from a scifi action show, with Muppets.
Kolchak: the Night Stalker. If you like Hammer films, this will be right up your alley.
Dinosaurs. A sitcom from long, long ago. It does do some lampooning if current events, but not to obvious as to horribly date it, usually. Pro-family messaging is probably the most dated part of the writing, really. Gags are timed well. And, it has the best finale episode of any sitcom since prehistory.
Meh. A sitcom aging well is the exception, not the rule, and I'd say Home Improvement holds up.
Lost did not age poorly. It turned to shit when it was current. A common problem facing US shows is a need to get good ratings for a season, or even half a season. What will often happen is that when it gets dicey, they'll start going a bit crazy, with the writing, and/or revert to formulaic writing so safe that it doesn't use the characters well, and/or stops character growth. Likewise, shows that get too much success may have trouble extending a plot that was only conceived of for 1-3 seasons. Lost was the latter. But, then, it also was going on right as early streaming was getting popular, and ironically, lost direction.
Hercules, and by extension Xena, are still alright. The visual quality of early Herc makes worn VHS look good, though. The author is clearly a leftist, by the big problem here, alone. Making the viewer care, and be engaged, while not making the content serious, was kind of Sam Raimi's thing. I imagine the author would have big problems with Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, as well. Now I'll have to go rewatch it, anticipating every Ted Raimi appearance!
Heroes, like Lost, went downhill while it was still current. I loved the show, and was sad to see the way it went down.
I only saw Scrubs as reruns, and liked it. So, there.
Not a big DBZ fan (original Dragon Ball, I've read and watched dozens of times, and love it to death), but the slow pace is a martial arts a manga/anime thing, in general, not anything to do with them vs now.
Beavis and Butthead I'll straight up give them. It was an edgy time capsule of MTV, before modern suits had fully taken over.
A few not mentioned:
Buffy (all) and Angel (S1&2). Rewatching, there's a lot more subtle character development than I recalled when it was current, with consequences, and not all of it for the better. On rewatching, though, Angel starts off strong, but falls flat in the 3rd season.
The Hitchiker. Dark episodic tales. Easy to find for streaming or download, and many are great. But, it seems to have fallen into pop culture obscurity.
The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Ray Bradbury Theater, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. All similar in type and format. The original B&W are better, for tTZ and tOL, but the modern reprisals aren't half bad.
Babylon 5. You're going to need to suspend disbelief for the accidental used future, and anachronisms, as much as humanoid aliens. But, it tried to get the science basics right, it was planned out for all 5 seasons from the start, the writing is generally very good, and quite a few of the actors punched way above their syndicated scifi weight. I also like the little continuity bits, where even characters that are not named, like lower-rank security guards, stay the same, across time. Also, many set pieces have that look of having been broken, fixed, and repainted, like an actual large housing building ends up - a great deal of care went into it. It's also kind of funny to see scenes that were then cutting edge CGI, in 1995, that we would not accept from an indie video game, today.
Stargate SG-1. Like above, in many ways, but mostly episodic, and a bit cheesy. It has a high percentage of very well-written episodes. I did not watch it, when it was current, either.
Farscape. Sadly, it killed Lexx, as Sci-fi didn't want them competing, and this was a runaway success. Everything you could want from a scifi action show, with Muppets.
Kolchak: the Night Stalker. If you like Hammer films, this will be right up your alley.
Dinosaurs. A sitcom from long, long ago. It does do some lampooning if current events, but not to obvious as to horribly date it, usually. Pro-family messaging is probably the most dated part of the writing, really. Gags are timed well. And, it has the best finale episode of any sitcom since prehistory.
Dinosaurs! is honestly Jim Henson's best work, and is one of the best shows on television at the time, and since.