5 Old, Guilty Pleasure TV Shows To Binge Watch Thanks To The Internet

The internet is sometimes a great thing, especially if that means that you can relive TV shows that you haven’t seen in what feels like forever. Sometimes it’s best that you forget about the shows, or acknowledge the thought many of us have while watching outdated series’ — that pervasive, “wow this bad, but I somehow still love this” feeling. I’m certainly guilty of this, but at least I can admit to it.

So, what are the TV shows that I’m guilty of streaming thanks to the internet? Read on and see if you’re in the same boat.

These are my confessions:

1. “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” (1995)

One day I noticed “Hercules” was on Netflix — I remember seeing Hercules as a kid, but was barely able to remember it. So, as a fan of anything based on Greek mythology (no matter how bad it is), I decided to give it a re-watch.

I didn’t even know that Sam Raimi was part of Hercules, or that Bruce Campbell was an occasional character, but these are certainly major pros. The other pros are the late Kevin Smith, Ares, and I also think that Michael Hurst aka Iolaus is kind of handsome (a strange confession). The cons? Well it’s cheesy beyond hell, but when I can’t sleep, I find myself clicking on the Netflix app on my kindle. They also really take their own liberties with the myths, but hey — it’s a TV show from the 90s, what more can you ask for? I also like the spin-off show, Xena, but haven’t really gave it the binge that it deserves. 

2. “Young Hercules” (1998)

It wasn’t until two days ago that I remembered that “Young Hercules” existed, and that I used to watch repeats of the show on one of the Encore channels or something. Since I watched the original, I also felt compelled to re-watch the ‘young’ version.’ For those who love Ryan Gosling, he was the young half-god in the show. This one is also rather cheesy, but two nights ago I fell victim to a binge.

If you’re looking to get on the Young Hercules train, you can find the episodes on Hulu Plus — you get more episodes with Ares, Discord, and Strife, which is a major bonus! Seriously, I would have loved to see Ares have his own show, even though he was in all the spin-offs (and the original of course.) My favorite episodes thus far have to be “Apollo” or “Ares On Trial.”

3. “Dark Shadows” (1966)

We’re out of Ancient Greece, and onto the 1960s! “Dark Shadows,” is a show that I first got into back in 2012, mostly because my grandmother would always talk about it. I also recall my mom watching the show when Syfy would air old episodes. But I still couldn’t remember much, so I decided to give it another go. I watched it first when Netflix had it, now when I’m hankering to watch it I use Hulu Plus. 

I’m not the biggest fan of Maggie Evans, I think that Barnabas can be a bigger dick than Roger, and I kind of feel sorry for Willie Loomis, even though he was a big jerk in the beginning. He definitely got what was coming to him, but perhaps a little bit more than he really deserved. I’ve fallen in love with Dark Shadows because it has a great cast (Joan Bennett anyone?), and the Gothic tone ignites my love for the show even more. (This is probably better than when I had an Soap obsession over “Young and the Restless.”)

4. “Star Trek: The Animated Series” (1973)

There’s certainly zero guilt about loving the original “Star Trek,” but people might raise their brows at the animated series. I like both. The 1973 animated show lasted for two seasons, both of which you can stream on Netflix.

After seeing all the episodes of “Stark Trek” that I wished to see, I decided to see what the whole animated series was about. Several episodes later I was enthralled by vibrant animation, and the nostalgia simply took me over. I still go back to the show every now and then — I like to fall asleep to it. 

5. “Beastmaster” (1999)

I use to watch this before Syfy decided to re-air any of the old episodes. About a year ago, I found that someone on YouTube was posting the episodes. That same year, my boyfriend bought me the first season to the show.

Like “Hercules,” it has beautiful scenery and a strong hint of cheesiness. That said, there are some pretty great episodes. Dar and animals are connected — you could call him an ancient hippie or Dr. Doolittle. Daniel Goddard played Dar, which I bought up before “Young and the Restless,” As you may have suspected, the show is loosely based on the 1982 “Beastmaster” film.

So guess from reading my picks again, it looks like I might have an obsession with the Greek god of war, old Gothic Soaps, and other not so normal things. For me at least, these older shows are hard to resist — even if they aren’t perfect. As the title readily indicates we’ve all got our guilty pleasures. Now excuse me while I go find some new ones.