__________ is/are overrated.

[roadman65]

TV shows or movies that you have fond memories of from your childhood.  Almost without fail, if you go back and watch them now, you wonder how you ever thought they were so great.

Prime example for me:  the movie Milo and Otis

Honorable mention:  the series Gilligan's Island

I didn't think Gilligan's Island was that funny when I was a kid.

No they exaggerated way too much. Like Gilligan's naive nature when a helicopter came and landed on the island instead of a boat to pick up that guy who was part of a radio contest to see if he could live on a deserted island for days. Of course telling the world the castaways was alive would end his claim for the big prize that they were offering him, so he didn't tell anyone.

When the castaways all found out, they tried to intercept the boat that they thought would pick up the contest participant. However a chopper came and Gilligan was the only one other than the contestant to actually see it where Gilligan had no reaction to it as per instructions the Skipper told him: "say something when you see a boat come ashore." Of course any human, especially Gilligan, should have common sense enough to know that helicopter was the means to get a crooked radio contestant off the island.

Basically Gilligan's naiveitivity was overrated and it wasn't all that funny at times.

[GaryV]

I can still sing, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be ..."

We watched Gilligan every afternoon after school. It got to be a contest to see who could identify the episode first.

And did every episode start with Gilligan yelling, "Skipper!" or the Skipper yelling, "Gilligan!"?

[roadman65]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

[kkt]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

Pretty sure Mrs. Howell called her husband Thurston, at least some of the time.

The Professor didn't have a last name.

[roadman65]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

Pretty sure Mrs. Howell called her husband Thurston, at least some of the time.

The Professor didn't have a last name.

Yes it was Hinkley. Plus the Skipper was Jonas Grumsby. Both were mentioned in some episodes. Also Lovey Howell was actually Eunice Howell and Maryann was Maryann Summers revealed in an episode.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

TV shows or movies that you have fond memories of from your childhood.  Almost without fail, if you go back and watch them now, you wonder how you ever thought they were so great.

Prime example for me:  the movie Milo and Otis

Honorable mention:  the series Gilligan's Island

Rocko's Modern Life was this for me once I was old enough to understand the entendres. Not particularly amusing and the show was just not interesting.

[dlsterner]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

Pretty sure Mrs. Howell called her husband Thurston, at least some of the time.

The Professor didn't have a last name.

Yes it was Hinkley. Plus the Skipper was Jonas Grumsby. Both were mentioned in some episodes. Also Lovey Howell was actually Eunice Howell and Maryann was Maryann Summers revealed in an episode.

The Professor also has a first name - Roy.  I've also hear stories (not sure if true or not) that if a first name were to be revealed for Gilligan, it would be Willie.  But that never happened in any episode.

[kphoger]

Pretty sure Mrs. Howell called her husband Thurston, at least some of the time.

Yep.  One of our sons has the unusual middle name of Torsten.  When people ask about it, I explain that it's the Norse origin of the more-common names Dustin and Thurston.  If they then seem puzzled about the name Thurston, I refer them to Gilligan's Island and Thurston Howell III.

[wanderer2575]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

The one I find most unusual is Philip K. Fish (portrayed by Abe Vigoda) on Barney Miller.  Everyone, including his wife, called him Fish.  I can see his coworkers doing that.  But his wife?

[kphoger]

The one I find most unusual is Philip K. Fish (portrayed by Abe Vigoda) on Barney Miller.  Everyone, including his wife, called him Fish.  I can see his coworkers doing that.  But his wife?

Heck, I rarely ever call my wife by her own first name!  It's almost always Sweetie, or Honey, or whatever.  (I don't call her Whatever.)

[webny99]

The one I find most unusual is Philip K. Fish (portrayed by Abe Vigoda) on Barney Miller.  Everyone, including his wife, called him Fish.  I can see his coworkers doing that.  But his wife?

Heck, I rarely ever call my wife by her own first name!  It's almost always Sweetie, or Honey, or whatever.  (I don't call her Whatever.)

That's thoughtful of you to use a common noun when calling her whatever.

[Rothman]

Another note of interest. Gilligan is in the same category as Quincy and McGyver. All are called by their surnames and no reference to their first names, although McGyver was later revealed to be Angus like later Seinfeld revealed Kramer to be Cosmo.

However, like Jack Klugmans ME character, people treated his last name as his first.

The one I find most unusual is Philip K. Fish (portrayed by Abe Vigoda) on Barney Miller.  Everyone, including his wife, called him Fish.  I can see his coworkers doing that.  But his wife?

"The Fish TV show
You know, with Abe Vigoda..."

(Fish was a spinoff...)

[hbelkins]

Hmm, I always thought Gilligan was his first name.

[kphoger]

You do realize Christmas technically goes past the 25th?  My wife lost her shit one year when I started taking decorations down before the Epiphany. 

I saw a discussion earlier this month on another forum about when the Christmas season begins. My response: December 25. The four weeks prior that day are the Advent season.

Right, and to someone like my wife who also happens to be traditionally Catholic that actually means something to her.

Regarding MMM's statement about the emergency of decorations.  The change over usually occurs right as I'm taking Halloween decor down.  It's convenient for me to put the Christmas stuff up as the Halloween stuff goes back into storage, why work two days outside when I do everything at once?  Also, putting up the Christmas decor makes my wife happy given she enjoys the season.  This might actually shock the likes of MMM, but I actually do enjoy putting effort into things I know will make my wife happy. 

Ugh...  Hopefully this doesn't come to any ugliness:

My wife posted on Facebook the other day about how we celebrate Epiphany on January 6.  One of her customers who is very proudly Roman Catholic commented (maybe a little snarkily) that the Epiphany of the Lord is on January 7, not January 6.  Apparently, going by some cursory research I've just done, this goes back to 1970, when Latin Rite Catholics moved the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (the liturgical feast day) to the first Sunday after January 1.  Last year that put the Solemnity on January 2, this year on January 7.

We're not Catholics of any variety.  Most people in our congregation don't even know what Epiphany is to begin with.  I just choose to observe all twelve days and then Epiphany on day thirteen.

So, out of curiosity, when does your wife think it's OK to take down the decorations?  January 6, or the first Sunday after January 1?

[Rothman]

Pentatonix is overrated.

[SectorZ]

Pentatonix is overrated.

I'm impressed by any musical act that can rip off both Jerry Lee Lewis and Led Zeppelin in a manner of seconds in a song not even a minute long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrruJptmbKU

[kkt]

You do realize Christmas technically goes past the 25th?  My wife lost her shit one year when I started taking decorations down before the Epiphany. 

I saw a discussion earlier this month on another forum about when the Christmas season begins. My response: December 25. The four weeks prior that day are the Advent season.

Right, and to someone like my wife who also happens to be traditionally Catholic that actually means something to her.

Regarding MMM's statement about the emergency of decorations.  The change over usually occurs right as I'm taking Halloween decor down.  It's convenient for me to put the Christmas stuff up as the Halloween stuff goes back into storage, why work two days outside when I do everything at once?  Also, putting up the Christmas decor makes my wife happy given she enjoys the season.  This might actually shock the likes of MMM, but I actually do enjoy putting effort into things I know will make my wife happy. 

Ugh...  Hopefully this doesn't come to any ugliness:

My wife posted on Facebook the other day about how we celebrate Epiphany on January 6.  One of her customers who is very proudly Roman Catholic commented (maybe a little snarkily) that the Epiphany of the Lord is on January 7, not January 6.  Apparently, going by some cursory research I've just done, this goes back to 1970, when Latin Rite Catholics moved the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (the liturgical feast day) to the first Sunday after January 1.  Last year that put the Solemnity on January 2, this year on January 7.

We're not Catholics of any variety.  Most people in our congregation don't even know what Epiphany is to begin with.  I just choose to observe all twelve days and then Epiphany on day thirteen.

So, out of curiosity, when does your wife think it's OK to take down the decorations?  January 6, or the first Sunday after January 1?

When I was a kid, in my family and my grandparents' family it was January 6.  But this year I wanted the help of my child who's going back to college this weekend, so we're taking them down early.

We follow some of the Christian traditions because they're pretty, not because we are true believers.

[1995hoo]

Most years, we leave the Christmas stuff up and lit through and including January 6, the traditional date of the Epiphany (even though on the Catholic liturgical calendar in the US it seldom falls on that date now, as kphoger noted—BTW, I'm Catholic and my wife is Episcopalian). We may not take it down immediately—usually that happens when we have time, which is usually over Martin Luther King weekend—but it is not lit after January 6. The tree is on a timer. Sometimes we will unplug it early if we go out of town for a week, but it seldom gets taken down before MLK weekend.

We didn't put up any outside lights this year because we simply didn't get around to it. Our community rules say that any outdoor holiday decorations must be taken down within two weeks after said holiday except that outdoor "December holiday decorations" must be taken down by January 15. I'm always tempted to leave the outdoor Christmas lights up, and lit, through January 21 and then, if they complain, tell them that the lights are for Orthodox Christmas, which is on January 7, and therefore the lights are within the rules. But I've never bothered.

[bing101]

Anyplace that has more tourists than locals is a warning sign that it's over rated as seen here.

[GaryV]

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

[kphoger]

Our community rules say that any outdoor holiday decorations must be taken down within two weeks after said holiday except that outdoor "December holiday decorations" must be taken down by January 15. I'm always tempted to leave the outdoor Christmas lights up, and lit, through January 21 and then, if they complain, tell them that the lights are for Orthodox Christmas, which is on January 7, and therefore the lights are within the rules. But I've never bothered.

Leave them up till January 29, and just tell the HOA that they're Martin Luther King Jr Day lights.  Prove me wrong! 

[1995hoo]

Our community rules say that any outdoor holiday decorations must be taken down within two weeks after said holiday except that outdoor "December holiday decorations" must be taken down by January 15. I'm always tempted to leave the outdoor Christmas lights up, and lit, through January 21 and then, if they complain, tell them that the lights are for Orthodox Christmas, which is on January 7, and therefore the lights are within the rules. But I've never bothered.

Leave them up till January 29, and just tell the HOA that they're Martin Luther King Jr Day lights.  Prove me wrong! 

I'm tempted to make a joke about how the outside lights are white lights, but that might be in poor taste.

[kphoger]

I'm tempted to make a joke about how the outside lights are white lights, but that might be in poor taste.

At least they aren't colored.

[Rothman]

The Parallax View

[Rothman]

19th-Century American rugged individualism.