Page 48 - Seniorstoday January 2024 Issue

Television

10 vintage TV shows

Before the streaming platforms took centrestage, Doordarshan and a

host of satellite TV channels presented a slew of very watchable shows,
writes Deepa Gahlot

It may be hazy, but there was a time Dekh Bhai Dekh:
before streaming platforms when the
entertainment was provided by TV
channels, first Doordarshan and then
the host of satellite networks that had
audiences hooked to their screens. There
was Chhayageet and Chitrahaar, Krishi
Darshan and Santa Kukdi, Flash Gordon
and Star Trek; then came the best years
of DD with epics like Ramayan and
Mahabharat, comedies like Yeh Jo Hai Anand Mahendroo’s sitcom that
Zindagi, family dramas like Hum Log premiered on DD Metro in May 1993, is
and Buniyaad, Detective Karamchand still the template for family comedies. The
solving crimes and Rajni dealing with uproariously funny series was about three
social problems. The West was enjoying generations of the Diwan family living in
Remington Steele, ER, Friends, Sex and their large bungalow in Mumbai. Starring
The City, Boston Legal, The Sopranos. Navin Nischol, Shekar Suman, Farida
A pick of 10 vintage TV shows, that turn Jalal, Bhavana Balsaver, Sushma Seth and
up on streaming platforms occasionally or a cast of fine comic actors, the plots were
can be glimpsed on YouTube, and are still simple and the laughter generated by the
worth watching: interactions between the characters, their

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