Wow, Shows Celebrating their 50th Anniversary Helped Shape Media Today!

I happened to notice just a few weeks ago just how many great, memorable, and iconic television shows debuted 50 years ago.  I’ll be discussing three in detail, but there are more shows out there that we can definitely give a mentioning to.  Surprisingly, all three of these shows have modern day interpretations and all three shaped movies and TV going forward.  These three are Dark Shadows (1966-1971), Mission: Impossible (1966-1973) and Star Trek (1966-1969).  Oh, and a little show called Batman (1966-1968), we’ll mention that one as well.  In addition, let’s mention daytime game shows The Newlywed Game and Hollywood Squares, which are great and have continued through the decades since their conception.  Now let’s get into what makes the other four shows game changers.

Batman-

I have a soft spot for the Adam West Batman.  As a matter of fact, Batman: The Movie (1966) was my favorite Batman film until The Dark Knight (2008).  So it pains me to see fans of the character act like the show was the worst moment in the history of Batman, when they should be painfully admitting that before the Batman series, he was strictly comic book fans only.  Without Adam West, Batman likely would have died off decades ago.  And after a certain pair of European producers saw the popularity of the TV show, they tried to make a movie about a certain other DC superhero.  Ever hear of them?  They’re called the Salkinds, and they brought Superman to the big screen.  And for me personally, Superman: The Movie (1978) remains the best comic book movie ever made.  And some continue to say the original Batman and Superman movies helped start the modern-day superhero movie explosion.  So there you go, Marvel-heads.  Without Adam West and the 60’s Batman no Iron Man, no Avengers, no Captain America.  Plus look at the WB shows with Green Arrow, the Flash, and the Legends of Tomorrow plus CBS’ Supergirl.  Adam West, we salute you, we being fans of superhero content and also we being the current actors and creators of superhero content.

Dark Shadows-

I hate to bring it up, but Twilight (2008) and the other YA adaptations were a big market at one time.  While a majority of film fans despise these films, we have to mention where this originated.  No, beyond just the book series, let’s mention the first TV show involving vampires and romance, Dark Shadows.  True, there was a film adaptation in 2012 that tried to cash in on the Twilight success, but that isn’t exactly what the original series was.  I’ve actually been watching the original series, starting with Episode 1 and I’ve made it to 230 or so.  Trust me, it’s been a chore at times, but you should treat yourself and look up Dark Shadows Bloopers on Youtube to see how the live-to-tape soap operas worked back in the day.  However, the part of the original series that fans caught onto was Barnabas Collins, a vampire whose life is basically a sad, pathetic, loveless story.  Hmm, reminds me of a certain Robert Pattinson performance.  Anyways, it was also a successful soap opera for the time, especially when Barnabas was involved and also with the time travel elements and more supernatural elements.  While I definitely would recommend the original show to fans of slow burn shows, it’s safe to say that the success it brought and the way teenaged girls in particular swore by it planted the seeds that sprouted in pop culture in the late 2000’s.

Mission: Impossible-

Yet again another example of a series that is still strong today, Tom Cruise’s series again owes its success to the original series with that pilot from Airplane! (1980), Peter Graves.  While there were similar shows out there with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968) being a leading example, the extended success of the series paved the way for more action shows in the 70’s and 80’s and also fueled the fire for action films moving forward as well.  True, other spy characters like James Bond had already been established years before the series, but this was a good example of a rotating cast.  Many people forget that Graves wasn’t introduced until Season 2.  Perhaps this helped set the precedent of James Bond being recast every ten years or so.  Again, I have seen a number of episodes of the show, while it was on Netflix, mind you, and despite the fact that every villain was from western Europe I loved watching it and seeing how each character has a different kind of role each week.  While the modern films have more recently been moving toward this type of entertainment (ie Jeremy Renner being a co-lead in Ghost Protocol then a smaller role in Rogue Nation), I would love to see more movies or shows take that approach.

Star Trek-

Of course, where would we be in the sci-fi world in both film and television without Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future where racism is non-existent, on Earth at least, interstellar space travel is just as easy as walking across the street, and all can live long and prosper?  While some were convinced that the brand is at an all-time low with the newest film, Star Trek Beyond‘s first trailer.  While I’ll be the lone wolf who says I didn’t mind it, most fans wanted Justin Lin’s balls removed.  Still, let’s not overlook that the big-budget film adaptations of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Planet of the Apes (1968) would not have gone forward if the science fiction genre was not thriving, and at the time you had two forms of media to turn to: television and novels.  Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” and “I, Robot” series’ were killing it throughout the 50’s and 60’s on the shelves, and Roddenberry’s Star Trek had television audiences hooked.  Of course The Next Generation and the other spinoff shows wouldn’t have happened, but what about the “Trekies” and their ultimate rivals, the Star Wars fans?  Don’t they owe a debt of gratitude to the original series?  The answer is, of course, yes!  Without Trek, there is no Wars, not the way we know and love it, that is.  While I have seen the entirety of The Original Series, I certainly agree that outside of a number of the Season 1 episodes, it’s a rinse-lather-repeat for Season 2 and 3 of different ideas the series had already explored.  Nothing wrong with that; after all, almost every show back then did that, but it is easy to see why it only lasted three years.  No matter how you feel about either franchise, we have to acknowledge what came first and how it paved the way for other sci-fi creators.

Once again, these are just a few great TV shows that helped fuel pop culture and genres going forward.  While the films of 1966 aren’t quite as influential, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary this year of a lot of great content.  Let’s take a look back on Netflix, DVD, streaming platforms, however you watch your shows, and dive into some surprisingly familiar territory.  So the next time you see something and proclaim it “truly original” and it lies in the action, sci-fi, gothic romance, or superhero genre, think back to what came before.  There’s a chance, not a guarantee, but a chance that the originality was explored close to half a century ago.

PlagmanRules

I am a gigantic movie nerd who spends his free time memorizing Oscar winners and nominees and seeing as many good movies as I can. I have always wanted to write about films, review films, and speculate on films, and hope that this site helps me get a couple of people who can agree or disagree with me.