YouTube: The Last Bastion of Vintage Television

As an ‘80s/’90s kid, I grew up on the sitcom, that brand of canned comedy marked by tacky laugh tracks and simplistic storytelling. And it’s for these trademark failings that, years later, it’s easy to relegate the situational comedy as little more than an outmoded art form...especially in the wake of streaming services and their focus on long-form entertainment. Venues like Netflix take a quality-over-quantity approach, offering fewer episodes of a given show in exchange for higher budgets and more cinematic, climactic storytelling.

But despite its chintzy, lowest-denominator pretensions, the sitcom was always in a state of perpetual evolution, providing some undeniably prize-winning television in those final decades. Shows like Cheers and The Golden Girls aimed for audiences that didn’t always fit conventional demographics. The Wonder Years snipped the glib and softened the saccharine for stories that felt more real, more genuine. Seinfeld deconstructed the notion of plot altogether, at least in its earlier seasons. The Simpsons used animation to satirize American culture in ways experimental and unique to its medium. And Frasier, if just another superficially safe spin-off on its surface, offered comedy of a rapid-fire sophistication never quite matched again. Indeed, the ‘80s and ‘90s could even be described as a second renaissance for the format, or rather, a glorious last hurrah before its slow decline in the following century.

Today, YouTube has become the great repository for this once ever-pervasive medium. While finding (free) episodes of The Office will result in disappointment, shows of a more obscure or forgotten sort are surprisingly widespread. Want a sitcom about a kid superhero who propels himself through the air by spraying aerosol cans? Want a spiritual successor to the old show Bewitched in which a cute teenager can stop time and “gleep” objects into new, outrageous forms? Want to see the sequel series to Leave it to Beaver wherein Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver is now a single dad struggling with two sons? Then check out My Secret Identity, Out of this World, and The New Leave it to Beaver, respectively.

But the true inspiration for this blog is because of one iconic 1980s show. ALF, the show about that eponymous alien--that alien-life-form--hiding on Earth with an incredulous suburban family. The entire series is now being streamed on YouTube 24-7, but even more interesting is its foreign-language sister channels. Witnessing Alf speak with a gruff Spanish accent or in nasally Japanese is strangely engaging, as is hearing the Tanner family speak in their own dubbed-over, very different voices. Alf was a true world-wide phenomenon back in the day, and it’s nice to see him remembered now in such a global manner. Such is the beauty, and benefit, of YouTube.

In a future post, I might delve deeper into this black cauldron of old television shows, remembered or not. But, in the meantime, I recommend taking a peek at some of these sitcoms dredged up from beyond.

And, in the spirit of ALF, if you’re really curious (or bored)…check out this: Scorch - Pilot_Ep. 1 Part 1 - YouTube

- D

ALF, that iconic 1980s sitcom hit, is now streaming 24/7 on YouTube. And honestly, despite the boilerplate setup (generic suburban family), the show still entertains.

My Secret Identity is another 1980s show that ran for a few years in syndication. It's all but forgotten now...but YouTube has it!

Out of this World cribs from Bewitched, simply replacing the sorcery with arbitrary alien powers. Not a great show but still fine for kids...it had its moments.

The New Leave it to Beaver (or Still the Beaver) has been covered elsewhere on this website. Considering how enduring the original series has proven to be, the obscurity of this four-season followup is confounding.

Watching ALF in Japanese is entertaining, not just for the different take on Alf's own disposition, but for the new voices granted to the Tanner clan. The live YouTube Japanese chat can also prove interesting.