Television is like a historical time-line for most of us now. I grew up with television as did most Americans, and can plot my ages and other events along that time-line.
Back when I was small of course, it wasn’t so important, and a lot of what I watched was syndicated stuff that had already been on for twenty years. There are only a few shows that I remember from my early childhood. Anyone remember Romper Room? That crazy lady with the mirror? I don’t remember a heck of a lot about it, but it is still in my head somewhere. Of course Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, and Mr Rogers were all part of it. Mr Rogers is dead, as is Captain Kangaroo. Sesame Street of course, is STILL on after all of these years. The people are all different and there are some new Muppet’s on there.
During the first couple of years of elementary school my after school staples were of course, old cartoons and the Mickey Mouse Club. The syndicated black and white version with Annette and the gang, not that crap they put on in the eighties. I remember the serials that were on there. Tripods, the Boy Scouts thing, and a couple of others. I watched them on a crappy old UHF channel local to Atlanta, channel 17. Owned and operated by Ted Turner himself. We all know about WTBS, and then CNN and what happened next. When I was young they showed the Friday Night Frights, horror movies. Man, I loved those.
In the seventies and early eighties it was all about sitcoms. My brother and I would watch TV with our parents from seven in the evening until bedtime. Occasionally we got to stay up late. Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, McMillan & Wife, Laverne & Shirley, Three’s Company,WKRP in Cincinnati. BJ and the Bear, the Dukes of Hazzard. My little brother and I were glued to the damn thing in the evenings.
Also back in the eighties came the show that changed everything. Miami Vice. Man, Crockett and Tubbs kicked ass. I was in my mid teens when that came out, and by the time the series had evolved and had finished I had been through my dark drug induced days, spent six months in a treatment center and come out the other side. I still like watching Miami Vice on cable occasionally. The A-Team, Dallas, Little House on the Prairie, Facts of Life, Mork from Ork were all staples. Knight Rider was big as was Night Court. Magnum P.I. was also one of my favorites. My mom and I watched this one.
In the mid eighties I did watch too much TV at all. I hung with my friends and had a good time. By the time I started watching it again, I was 20 and married and my son was on his way. I was managing restaurants and that took up a lot of time but I remember living in a little apartment in Atlanta and my wife and I lying in bed watching the X-Files until I had to go in to oversee shift change. Want some 80’s TV trivia? There are 197 questions below the fold to check out. The answers will be underneath.
By the time the late nineties rolled around I had spent a couple of years in college, was back in restaurant management for the second time, and had another child on the way. Still watching the X-Files and a new addition for awhile, Millennium. I still like Millennium so much that I rented the DVDs for all three seasons recently. We watched a lot of the USA Network. Reruns of Miami Vice and the Hitchhiker. Lots of made for cable movies with Brian Dennehy playing spies and cops. By this time we had a VCR and I record the stuff that I really wanted to watch but might be at work when it came on.
Now that we are in a new millennium for real, my TV watching habits have changed immensely. I only watch TV every once in a while and it is on my schedule. I have three TV tuners in my computer and BeyondTV records movies and shows that I want to watch. I cut the commercials out and shrink them down to a decent size and watch when I want. I keep the ones that I like and delete the rest. Lost, 24, Grey’s Anatomy, Battlestar Galactica, and the Sopranos are the shows I watch. Jericho is also cool. Last year I really like Invasion, but they unfortunately pulled that one. I also loved Farscape and have every episode on my hard drive along with the mini-series that finished it out after the show was canceled. Night Stalker was on for awhile last year or the year before, a remake of the show from the 1960’s and very well done. I downloaded them from iTunes last year, along with the first season of Dora the Explorer for my four year old, who loves Dora and Diego.
Even though the medium has changed over the years it still stays the same. Entertaining, riveting, well created shows spark my interest and keep me watching and I ignore the rest.
Oh, BTW, can’t forget about my secret love from the early and mid seventies. Many and evening was spent with my little brother and I pretending we were Moondog or Mr Wrestling #2 and kicking each others butts. You guys know what I am talking about.
What shows did you watch growing up and what do you watch now?
This is my open trackback post for the rest of the weekend of March 16th-18th as well as my submission for the Carnival of Posties for March 19th.
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Virtuous Republic, 123beta, Adam’s Blog, Maggie’s Notebook, basil’s blog, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Jo’s Cafe, Conservative Thoughts, Sujet- Celebrities, Rightlinx, third world county, Faultline USA, Right Celebrity, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, , stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Overtaken by Events, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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