RetroFed Forum
Your home away from modern life.
What is the most horribly aged tv show of the 2000s?
Post Reply
AuthorMessage
SwissArmyKazoo lemmy.world SwissArmyKazoo@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-06-01
(edited) Quote

91   Original
🇵🇸antifa_ceo lemmy.ml antifa_ceo@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2025-09-20
#2 · Quote Reply

Glee has gotta be up there right?

14
LouNeko lemmy.world LouNeko@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-14
#3 · Quote Reply

Not quite 2000s rather early 2010s, but House of Cards has to be up there.

19
SacredHeartAttack lemmy.world SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#4 · Quote Reply

Some friend and I were discussing how poorly 24 has aged, but also how different the world views its subject matter now.

47
mastertigurius lemmy.world mastertigurius@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-04-17
#5 · Quote Reply

Some friend and I were discussing how poorly 24 has aged, but also how different the world views its subject matter now.

24 was insanely good when it was a new thing and then quickly devolved into "wait, you're torturing a teenager on a hunch and that's okay?". Not worth the rewatch.

50
kbal fedia.io kbal@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-11-03
#6 · Quote Reply

NBC Nightly News

17
fireweed lemmy.world fireweed@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#7 · (edited) Quote Reply

I tried rewatching How I Met Your Mother and couldn't get more than a few episodes in because I was so bored. I'm sure my getting older is partly to blame (not as engaged by the unrealistic exploits of some mid 20-somethings), but also Friends-style comedy feels outdated now.

48
Granbo's Holy Hotrod lemmy.world uberdroog@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#8 · Quote Reply

The Man Show

58
wjrii lemmy.world wjrii@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-02-15
#9 · Quote Reply

Scrolling through this, a few thoughts come to mind:

  1. I forgot how deep into the decade Friends went, and it was definitely well past its sell-by date several seasons before it ended.
  2. Will & Grace probably best fits as a show that aged poorly, though it was groundbreaking in putting gay characters front and center at all.
  3. As shows that won’t be remembered as fondly because they’re cringey relics of their era, it’s a dead heat between Sex and the City and Entourage. Entourage is worse, but I think contemporary viewers already knew that.
  4. Honorable mention to Joss Whedon and Ricky Gervais personally making their classic shows a lot harder to enjoy.
51
toiletobserver lemmy.world toiletobserver@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-08
#10 · Quote Reply

The Man Show

And now, girls jumping on trampolines

31
kbal fedia.io kbal@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-11-03
#11 · Quote Reply

Not quite 2000s rather early 2010s, but House of Cards has to be up there.

The 1990 House of Cards is the one that deserves to be remembered.

8
sic_semper_tyrannis lemmy.today sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today
Joined: 2024-03-28
#12 · Quote Reply

Some friend and I were discussing how poorly 24 has aged, but also how different the world views its subject matter now.

Loved it as a kid and now see it as propaganda to normalize government surveillance

35
r0ertel lemmy.world r0ertel@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-27
#13 · Quote Reply

Cops. To see how they just pummel people to the ground or pull their guns for the smallest of things is unsettling to watch. Also, the treatment of female officers.

96
Tiral lemmy.world Tiral@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-08
#14 · Quote Reply

Some friend and I were discussing how poorly 24 has aged, but also how different the world views its subject matter now.

My favorite part of that is when he has to drive across the city. It would be like an entire episode of him sitting in traffic. They neglect it entirely.

14
schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#15 · (edited) Quote Reply

Scrolling through this, a few thoughts come to mind: I forgot how deep into the decade Friends went, and it was definitely well past its sell-by date several seasons before it ended. Will & Grace probably best fits as a show that aged poorly, though it was groundbreaking in putting gay characters front and center at all. As shows that won’t be remembered as fondly because they’re cringey re...

What are your thoughts on SaTC? I'm sporadically re-watching it and it seems pretty solid. Maybe comically conservative for such an "edgy" show, but nothing horrible. The writing, directing, and acting is top notch. I'm just in Season 3 at the end of the affair with Big (Mrs. Big falls down the stairs chasing Carrie).

From what I understand, Carrie completely goes off the rail in the movies, and the writing doesn't call her out, but I don't know why that should retroactively condemn the entire series; so far, I'm leaning towards the youtube media pundit set wanting morality tales instead of deeply flawed and interesting characters.

6
schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#16 · Quote Reply

The 1990 House of Cards is the one that deserves to be remembered.

1990 House of Cards

I haven't seen this, but as far as politics go, I think West Wing is probably on list of Aged Poorly in how massively naive it was about American politics; whereas as Veep is chef's kiss.

10
schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#17 · Quote Reply

Glee has gotta be up there right?

Write some original songs!

3
lemmylump lemmy.world lemmylump@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-04-14
#18 · Quote Reply

Oprah.

That cunt gave the anti vaccine idiots a platform and two charlatans a stage.

Fuck Oprah, fuck "dr." Phil and especially fuck dr. Oz!

Oh and The Apprentice

150
CultLeader4Hire lemmy.world CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-03-28
#19 · Quote Reply

Cops. To see how they just pummel people to the ground or pull their guns for the smallest of things is unsettling to watch. Also, the treatment of female officers.

A ton of COPS was filmed in pierce county Washington, where I grew up, I still think about how that undoubtedly changed my life in likely imperceptible ways to this day

27
showmeyourkizinti startrek.website showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website
Joined: 2023-09-13
#20 · Quote Reply

I tried rewatching How I Met Your Mother and couldn't get more than a few episodes in because I was so bored. I'm sure my getting older is partly to blame (not as engaged by the unrealistic exploits of some mid 20-somethings), but also Friends-style comedy feels outdated now.

How I Met Your Mother is such a strange combination Aughts tropes. I mean its Friends but everyone pretty quickly becomes not good people like Seinfeld. It’s a sitcom but it’s also a puzzle box mystery like Lost. The lead, Josh Radnor, is an obvious Timu version of Zac Braff.
And yet it was huge at the time. Ran for nine seasons, completely reignited Neil Patrick Harris’s career, second staged Jason Segel in to not just that guy from Freaks and Geeks, but a legit movie star. Broke open Cobie Smulders in to another movie star. And yet it’s almost completely forgotten about. Until you mentioned it I think it’s more then one or two times on Lemmy, you never see gifs or memes from it. It’s like it was completely forgotten for our shared cultural landscape almost as soon as it was over. I think the only thing it was remembered for was how bad they fucked up the ending and Game of Thrones has taken that from them even.

30
plaztek piefed.ca plaztek@piefed.ca
Joined: 2026-06-21
#21 · Quote Reply

My favorite part of that is when he has to drive across the city. It would be like an entire episode of him sitting in traffic. They neglect it entirely.

How fast he travels is what killed the show for me. It's been quite a while, but I seem to remember him traveling across the country/world multiple times in a 24 hour span.

7
kersploosh sh.itjust.works kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-09
#22 · Quote Reply

How I Met Your Mother is such a strange combination Aughts tropes. I mean its Friends but everyone pretty quickly becomes not good people like Seinfeld. It’s a sitcom but it’s also a puzzle box mystery like Lost. The lead, Josh Radnor, is an obvious Timu version of Zac Braff. And yet it was huge at the time. Ran for nine seasons, completely reignited Neil Patrick Harris’s career, second staged ...

The show expertly targeted young Millennials transitioning into adulthood. But the audience grew up and matured. Watching HIMYM now is like time warping back to your first apartment after college and being a little embarrassed at the way you and your old friends used to be.

16
🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#23 · (edited) Quote Reply

Cops. To see how they just pummel people to the ground or pull their guns for the smallest of things is unsettling to watch. Also, the treatment of female officers.

The one that always stuck with me was when they harassed a dude just walking down the street because he was in drag. But it was in, like, Plano, TX or something so that made it "suspicious."

Another one I can't remember was on COPS or just some bodycam footage of a gay teen who was beaten by his parents and kicked out getting arrested becsuse they claimed he assaulted them; despite being the only one completely battered and bruised and the neighbors defending the kid having witnessed him getting beaten by his father.

36
andyburke fedia.io andyburke@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-06-16
#24 · Quote Reply

1990 House of Cards I haven't seen this, but as far as politics go, I think West Wing is probably on list of Aged Poorly in how massively naive it was about American politics; whereas as Veep is chef's kiss.

West Wing is competency porn.

Like Star Trek.

19
kender242 lemmy.world kender242@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#25 · (edited) Quote Reply

My favorite part of that is when he has to drive across the city. It would be like an entire episode of him sitting in traffic. They neglect it entirely.

Most everything in 24 could be solved with a text message. Later seasons they had to get creative just to explain why cell phones were out of the picture.

6
Andy slrpnk.net andrewrgross@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2023-06-19
#26 · (edited) Quote Reply

How I Met Your Mother is such a strange combination Aughts tropes. I mean its Friends but everyone pretty quickly becomes not good people like Seinfeld. It’s a sitcom but it’s also a puzzle box mystery like Lost. The lead, Josh Radnor, is an obvious Timu version of Zac Braff. And yet it was huge at the time. Ran for nine seasons, completely reignited Neil Patrick Harris’s career, second staged ...

Weirdly, though, Friends seems to hold up better.

Despite being much older, I recall walking through a room where a friend's roommates were watching Friends around 2016. I was stuck by two things:

First, that I'd noticed that a bunch of people seemed to be getting into Friends for the first time. I think it had just come to Netflix, and in addition to folks nostalgia watching, Gen z and younger millennials were discovering it. Which was why it was on.

Second, it was really watchable. I immediately paused to join them, and the jokes were landing. It had been a very long time since I'd watched a show with a laugh track, but it worked. The show was solidly entertaining.

13
baines lemmy.cafe baines@lemmy.cafe
Joined: 2024-10-26
#27 · Quote Reply

Oprah. That cunt gave the anti vaccine idiots a platform and two charlatans a stage. Fuck Oprah, fuck "dr." Phil and especially fuck dr. Oz! Oh and The Apprentice

plus she wasnt she predator adjacent?

16
corsicanguppy lemmy.ca corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#28 · Quote Reply

Scrolling through this, a few thoughts come to mind: I forgot how deep into the decade Friends went, and it was definitely well past its sell-by date several seasons before it ended. Will & Grace probably best fits as a show that aged poorly, though it was groundbreaking in putting gay characters front and center at all. As shows that won’t be remembered as fondly because they’re cringey re...

I forgot why I must hate Ricky Gervais.

16
thiscat lemmy.blahaj.zone thiscat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2026-03-10
#29 · (edited) Quote Reply

Dora the Explorer

-3
showmeyourkizinti startrek.website showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website
Joined: 2023-09-13
#30 · (edited) Quote Reply

Weirdly, though, Friends seems to hold up better. Despite being much older, I recall walking through a room where a friend's roommates were watching Friends around 2016. I was stuck by two things: First, that I'd noticed that a bunch of people seemed to be getting into Friends for the first time. I think it had just come to Netflix, and in addition to folks nostalgia watching, Gen z and younger...

Yeah Friends is just a better show I’m sure. It definitely had a deeper bench on screen. Lisa Kudro is probably the best ‘dumb blonde’ of the last 30 years and that kind of part isn’t easy. Cortney Cox and Matthew Perry were really good comic actors and David Schwimmer is good actor if not a good comic actor. And Jenn Aniston and Matt LeBlanc sure were good looking.
Put that up against any other cast in any other sitcom and I think you’d have to go back to I Love Lucy to find a better one.

3
mursejoy lemmy.zip mursejoy@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-05-23
#31 · Quote Reply

Oprah. That cunt gave the anti vaccine idiots a platform and two charlatans a stage. Fuck Oprah, fuck "dr." Phil and especially fuck dr. Oz! Oh and The Apprentice

She has such a bullshit rags to riches story that immediately falls apart because she’s a class traitor. She gave Oz a platform which has a direct through line to people like RFK/Joe Rogan. I’d argue she had a direct hand in the large movement of housewives that don’t believe in western medicine because she sells snake oil just like Oz and Phil.

47
showmeyourkizinti startrek.website showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website
Joined: 2023-09-13
#32 · Quote Reply

The show expertly targeted young Millennials transitioning into adulthood. But the audience grew up and matured. Watching HIMYM now is like time warping back to your first apartment after college and being a little embarrassed at the way you and your old friends used to be.

I don’t know, Friends did the same for pre-9/11 20somethings and I don’t mind watching rewatching the early seasons of that. And look how many memes there are from friends. I think there’s more to it then just the cringe factor of looking back.
My working theory is that puzzle box shows like HIMYM and Lost don’t hold up on rewatching because you get invested in the mystery (who’s the mother - what’s going on with this island) and now you know so the shows kind of lost.

6
YappyMonotheist lemmy.world ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-04-26
#33 · (edited) Quote Reply

What are your thoughts on SaTC? I'm sporadically re-watching it and it seems pretty solid. Maybe comically conservative for such an "edgy" show, but nothing horrible. The writing, directing, and acting is top notch. I'm just in Season 3 at the end of the affair with Big (Mrs. Big falls down the stairs chasing Carrie). From what I understand, Carrie completely goes off the rail in the movies, an...

Deeply flawed and vapid, but sure. The problem is they don't get their comeuppance and their worst traits are not even played for comedy, unlike Sunny, Seinfeld, Curb, Arrested Development... It always left a bad taste in my mouth, but I didn't watch much (my mom watched it some times, those are the only times I caught it) so maybe the more problematic ones had good arcs and developed into more likeable characters. TBF, I also didn't like Breaking Bad because a terminal cancer diagnosis does not morally allow one to become a murderous drug lord, lol, and I don't wanna follow a character I can only hate. 🤷‍♂️

3
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#34 · Quote Reply

House, MD is a top contender.

A lot of his edgy jokes were made in a time where being politically incorrect was daring and spicy, but now it just makes him come across as a bigot

19
schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#35 · Quote Reply

I forgot why I must hate Ricky Gervais.

He makes you regret sharing his views, I think, but I'm a little fuzzy on him myself; he was relevant for a hot second.

5
KulunkelBoom lemmus.org KulunkelBoom@lemmus.org
Joined: 2025-10-02
#36 · Quote Reply

The 'you're fired' show starring donny dump.

35
schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#37 · (edited) Quote Reply

West Wing is competency porn. Like Star Trek.

Not like Star Trek because I don't know whether inverting the phase array frequencies would reverse the tachyon field polarity, but I sure as shit know the American public doesn't pick the intellectual, competent candidate over the folksy, charismatic one.

4
Michael Douglass thelemmy.club MichaeleanDouglasse@thelemmy.club
Joined: 2026-09-15
#38 · Quote Reply

Dora the Explorer

Why?

6
Trail lemmy.world Trail@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-11
#39 · Quote Reply

I don’t know, Friends did the same for pre-9/11 20somethings and I don’t mind watching rewatching the early seasons of that. And look how many memes there are from friends. I think there’s more to it then just the cringe factor of looking back. My working theory is that puzzle box shows like HIMYM and Lost don’t hold up on rewatching because you get invested in the mystery (who’s the mother - w...

I don't thing anyone watched HIMYM for learning who the mother was.

7
IronBird lemmy.world IronBird@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-09-06
#40 · Quote Reply

She has such a bullshit rags to riches story that immediately falls apart because she’s a class traitor. She gave Oz a platform which has a direct through line to people like RFK/Joe Rogan. I’d argue she had a direct hand in the large movement of housewives that don’t believe in western medicine because she sells snake oil just like Oz and Phil.

she was just jerry springer for liberals

17
IronBird lemmy.world IronBird@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-09-06
#41 · Quote Reply

plus she wasnt she predator adjacent?

certainly looks like it, probably had a qouta to meet

18
applebusch (she/her) lemmy.blahaj.zone applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2024-11-11
#42 · Quote Reply

[deleted]
25
jobbies lemmy.zip jobbies@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-21
#43 · (edited) Quote Reply

I've tried to re-watch Sex and the City but its impossible. I loved it back in the day.

Also the West Wing - I'm sure its still good but the current state of politics makes it look like satire.

22
DrSleepless lemmy.world DrSleepless@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-09
#44 · Quote Reply

Anything with a laugh track

26
MimicJar lemmy.world MimicJar@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-05
#45 · Quote Reply

I've tried to re-watch Sex and the City but its impossible. I loved it back in the day. Also the West Wing - I'm sure its still good but the current state of politics makes it look like satire.

The West Wing is a fantasy show about how you wish politics worked. Then we got Veep, which is how we thought politics really worked. Now we realize Veep was also a fantasy.

20
SpacemanSpiff lemmy.zip SpacemanSpiff@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-02
#46 · Quote Reply

Weirdly, though, Friends seems to hold up better. Despite being much older, I recall walking through a room where a friend's roommates were watching Friends around 2016. I was stuck by two things: First, that I'd noticed that a bunch of people seemed to be getting into Friends for the first time. I think it had just come to Netflix, and in addition to folks nostalgia watching, Gen z and younger...

Friends probably holds up better because the Barney character just doesn't work today. So much of his humour is just cringe. Friends' PG-quality ironically makes it more suitable since there are no characters reveling in sexual assault.

8
jela lemmy.today Jela@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-08-12
#47 · Quote Reply

I feel like That 70's Show would apply here.. maybe not as poorly aged as some of the others mentioned but definitely in the running

14
myyass lemmy.world myyass@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-02
#48 · Quote Reply

House, MD is a top contender. A lot of his edgy jokes were made in a time where being politically incorrect was daring and spicy, but now it just makes him come across as a bigot

I think they put the focus on everything that wasn't the premises of the show. I remember reading that they changed the plot because they test audience didn't like that well they got sick and they ded.

2
kindnesskills literature.cafe kindnesskills@literature.cafe
Joined: 2025-12-24
#49 · Quote Reply

Glee has gotta be up there right?

I dunno... Glee established itself from episode 1 to be about terrible people doing and saying terrible things. I think they hold true to that premise even moreso today.

Big Bang Theory on the other hand kept pretending their protagonist was a good person just doing "geeky" things. That aged poorly for sure.

7
db0 lemmy.dbzer0.com db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-09
#50 · Quote Reply

I tried rewatching How I Met Your Mother and couldn't get more than a few episodes in because I was so bored. I'm sure my getting older is partly to blame (not as engaged by the unrealistic exploits of some mid 20-somethings), but also Friends-style comedy feels outdated now.

I tried watching it for the first time like 5 years ago because of all the memes and to understand why people kept mentioning it and I couldn't last one episode.

3
DFX4509B lemmy.wtf DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf
Joined: 2025-08-08
#51 · (edited) Quote Reply

Anything made by Dan Schneider, because he was outed as a huge creep. And even if he hadn't been outed as a huge creep, the content in most of his shows, especially the foot stuff, is really inappropriate at times in hindsight given those shows were aimed at tweens and teens.

Like, really, Dirty Dan? You think your freaky stuff is appropriate viewing for people who are still in grade school in some cases? No wonder that guy was outed as a creep. And I thought some of his stuff was funny when I was still in his target demo and didn't even know of the creepy on-set behavior until after I had been aged out of his shows for 20+ years.... -sigh- Hindsight sucks.

Also, the guy was really bad about recycling plots from his other properties, eg. iCarly's plot, being that the older sibling is left to take the place of an absentee parent and care for the younger sibling in their absence, is recycled from What I Like About You, it just replaces the older sister from that property with an older brother, but that's neither here nor there, I'm just pointing out a lack of originality with that.

Although tbf, Dirty Dan is just a symptom of a far bigger problem in Hollywood. That doesn't diminish his behavior in any way though, it just points towards deeper systemic rot that he was a result of. His on-set abuse was still awful, but he's a symptom of Hollywood's abusive culture, and not the root cause.

The root cause for his behavior is decades of systemic industry-wide unmitigated rot that effectively allows those types of environments, and people like Dirty Dan, to exist in that industry.

Manswers and 1000 Ways to Die are also kinda cringe trash in hindsight as well. Hell, that can be said for basically all of the former Spike TV's library.

13
Post Reply Page 1 of 2   Goto page 1, 2 Last »
Back to top