...your White Trash Johnny Webb. The filmographies of these outstanding thespians can be found here, here, and here, respectively. Any of them ring a bell?

As far as ripping off plots and so forth, this generation is far from the first to do that. There really are only seven plots in all of literature. When entertainment became an industry, there was bound to be a lot of repetition.

The good news is two-fold.

1: Even though it annoys you that so many of the things you remember are being ripped off today, they were likely ripped off from something else you're too young to remember. The kids watching these things are seeing them for the first time, are enjoying them, and as they approach fogeyhood will begin to experience the same annoyance with "the things kids watch today" as you are experiencing now.

2: Some of it, though not anything like most, will be better in its new incarnation than it was before. When Shakespeare took an obscure tale of tragic romance from an Italian source, it became immortal. "What light from yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun." Genius will out. It's always there, in every generation, some lesser, some greater. Opals will always catch the fire no matter how many other rocks they lay among. Look for them and enjoy their beauty.

Regards--
Mary Anne