My earliest memories of watching television are of baseball games with my dad.
But after that, here are the shows I remembering loving most when I was a kid:
“The Roy Rogers Show” - By the time I was watching TV, The King of the Cowboys was already in reruns on Saturdays. (”Happy trails to you, until we meet again . . . .”) Whenever we played Cowboys, I always insisted on being Roy Rogers — what with Trigger and Bullet and all — while my little brother had to be Gene Autrey.
“The Andy Griffith Show” - I still hear the whistling in my mind. Barney Fife was one of the great comedic characters ever.
“Lassie” - Again, the whistling. A young boy and his collie, constant danger, weekly heroism. What could be better.
“Flipper” - Sandy and Bud were so lucky.
“Daniel Boone” - Fess Parker and that great coonskin cap. (”What a Boone, what a do-er, what a dream-come-a-truer was he.”)
“The Ranger Ed Show.” I doubt this will be on anyone else’s list. It was a local program. But my cousin and I were addicted. We were official members of the Ranger Ed Club. (I still have my badge.) Once he said he’d give a horse away to the viewer who could send in the best name for the horse. My cousin sent in “Ride-A-Lot” . . . and won. That raised the question of what to do when you win a horse and you live in a neighborhood in town. But they found a place to keep him.
No “Bonanza” for us, since it was on Sunday evenings, when we WERE IN CHURCH!
I’m sure there were others that will come back to me as others who are about my age comment — but these are the ones I can remember. (A little later came “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Gilligan’s Island.”)
How about you — earliest TV memories?
Dragnet, Andy Griffith, and Daniel Boone were three I remember. The Lone Ranger was an early one too.
“The Bozo Show” (local to Chicago on WGN before going national)
I also watched a lot of shows in syndication at my Grandma’s house, including: “I Love Lucy”, “The Andy Griffith Show”, “The Munsters”, “The Brady Bunch”, and “Gilligan’s Island”
Some other early favorites: “The Incredible Hulk”, “Courtship of Eddie’s Father”, “Charlie’s Angels”, and “Dukes of Hazzard”!!!
Flipper was definately my favorite. We would all gather in front of the big tv and watch that big sweet dolphin save the day.
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Jim was the original croc hunter.
I hate to admit it but Hee Haw was a memorable show for me. I grew up with a black and white TV and just before my dad was sent to serve in Vietnam for a second year he bought the family a color TV. The show was incredibly vivid with all the colors in the clothing and set design.
Mike - if you ever have a chance to go to a Shawn McDonald concert - Go! Awesome! Think MTV unplugged X ten.
For some odd reason, I remember the ‘68 Olympics in Mexico City - Tommy Smith holding up a defiant, gloved fist on the podium. And, I was allowed to watch the intro. song/credits to the Mod Squad before my 9 pm bedtime - they were beyond cool.
Voyage to th eBottom of the Sea (loved the Flying Sub, and the omnipresent sonar sound effects), 12 O’Clock High, Time Tunnel, Soupy Sales Show, Batman, Star Trek, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Mr. Ed, My Favorite Martian…
I remember coming home from a visit to my grandparents in Tennessee, to discover my father had bought the family’s first color TV. Three generations sat down together to watch Roadrunner.
Two shows whose opening themes would instantly send me scurrying from the room: Twilight Zone, and Outter Limits.
Lost in Space, Star Trek, Bewitched, the last half of Walt Disney (after church on Sunday nights), Popeye, The Flintstones, The Jetsons. I don’t remember what shows were on Friday nights but every Friday night my family (mom & 5 kids)would stay up late, watch TV, eat popcorn and drink kool-ade. Great memories.
I remember my mom washing my hair on Saturday nights and rolling it up in those pink sponge rollers while we watched Lawrence Welk. I would have been about three. I had my favorite singers picked out. A few years later we started going to Sing Song at ACU and I thought, “Hey! It’s like Lawrence Welk… live!”
Roger, I had to check to see if you were the same Roger Brown who was my banquet date at Camp WaMaVa and you are. So good to hear your voice.
Romper Room, Bewitched, Red Skelton
I loved Little House on the Prairie (the books too). Still love watching when I have the chance.
Gumby
“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood…”
Mr. Rogers all the way. I was also a big Reading Rainbow fan.
Being a girl & all, my two sisters & I loved “Gidget”(the one with Sally Field–great clothes that we LONGED to have, but alas no money at the Lawyer household), “That Girl” with Marlo Thomas–same reason as mentioned above, “Dr Kildare”—swooned over Richard Chamberlain(way long before he came out) One show featured a nun in the story, & I asked my mom at bedtime prayers if it was possible for me to become one. I was only about 6, but still remember the look on her face trying not to laugh! We loved Gunsmoke because Daddy did. Also, Mom & Dad loved Lawrence Welk, so us three little girls watched it too, & longed again to be the Lennon Sisters minus one.
I grew up watching Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel on Saturday nights. Every Saturday night, without exception, my family would trek across town to an uncle’s house for supper, or prepare at our house while every one came there. We would cook out or have potluck and everyone would sit around TV (B&W, of course) and watch these two shows.
Have Gun Will Travel starred Richard Boone as Paladin. He was a “fast gun for hire” and went around sovling people’s problems. Pretty classy show and I loved the theme song played at the end of the show. The writers of the song were Pat Boone, Jimmy Western and Richard Boone, who helped. Jimmy Western sang the song.
When at one uncle’s house, the kids would all go to my cousin’s room and read funny books. He had a box in the corner of his room filled with them and we would all sit around and read. (The cousin, by the way, is Toby Christian and Ryan’s Christian’s father!)
Special and fun times these memories bring to me.
Julie email me when you get a chance. roger@denbigh.org
I remember thinking it was really funny that there was a show called “The Bald Ones.” Of course, it was “The Bold Ones.” Didn’t realize at the time that the joke would eventually be on me.
A few years later, The Brady Bunch, still in production at the time, (Friday nights at 7:00) was a high point of my week. Then, I’d usually drink enough Coke to stay awake for The Midnight Special. That was the best.
Captain Kangaroo!
Oh my! I was almost an adult before television came to Abilene. Some of my favorites were the Ed Sullivan show, Dinah Shore’s show, and the one hosted by Loretta Young. My fun times as a kid were listening to the radio…Let’s Pretend, Sky King, One Man’s Family, Inner Sanctum, The Shadow, etc.! Most old folks will tell you we enjoyed radio dramas more than TV dramas. We had to use our imagination to picture the characters and scenes. Wow! What an imagination I had!
We watched Andy Griffith on Monday nights and The Red Skelton Show on Tuesday nights. Then there was….”Out of the Western sky comes…..Sky King!!”
Just a bit more. We, too, watched baseball games. Between every inning there was a beer commercial. Since these were the days before remote controls, we had to get up and turn the sound down during the commercials. Ah, what memories!
One show that has not been mentioned that we watched as a kid was Hawii 5 0. My dad was big on detective shows like that and Dragnet.
I still remember the old Micky Mouse Club and having a crush on Annette. Then at night, Red Skelton and all the game shows such as Truth or Consequences, I’ve Got a Secret and What’s My Line.
Hawaii Five-O (”book em’ Danno” was the coolest TV line ever)
Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans
Hee Haw (”gloom, despair and agony on me, OH!!!”)
The Rifleman
I wonder what this conversation will look like in 30 or 40 years with our children. “Oh man, I remember back in the good ole’ days when shows were decent, like Nip/Tuck, The Girls Next Door, Blade, Wild On. Man, they just don’t make em’ like that anymore.”
Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Fugitive. Besides Andy Griffith (and I agree that Don Knotts was the best), the early Leave It To Beaver’s were great comedy. Wally absolutely cracks me up!
The Saturday N.F.L highlights show, with the signature music for each game and the voice of the announcer. Made every game seem like the most important game ever played. Also, the Sunday afternoon college football highlight show with either Keith Jackson or Chris Schenkel doing the narration. These were usually the only highlights we could get of games. The college show would do a Pac-8game of the week, Big-8, Southwest conference,SEC,and of course, whoever Notre Dame was playing.
I tell my son all the time how lucky he and his friends are to have ESPN and other news outlets that show every highlight available, and he just looks at me like I am from the stone ages!
I hate to say it but Pee-Wee Herman was one of the first shows I remember as a kid. Also, Transformers and Punky Brewster. What a list!
Dukes of Hazard, Gunsmoke, and Houston Astro games
From 1958 – 1962 we (my Dad) were stationed in Germany. I remember seeing T.V. while we were in Germany but at the time there wasn’t an “Armed Forces T.V. Station” so it was in German.
I remember the day we moved into base housing when we returned stateside at Ft. Stewart, GA. My dad bought a black and white T.V. and when he had adjusted the rabbit ears, the first show I saw in English was “The Flintstones.”
“Wilma!”
Bugs Bunny, Road Runner & friends on Saturday mornings. Where are they now?
Sky King. Wanted to be a pilot for years.
I think I liked it better when there was the baseball game of the week, rather than several to choose from each day. Too much of a good thing.
All right. You’re jogging my memories. How could I have omitted “Sky King” reruns and “Gunsmoke”? “Batman” came a bit later, but of course that was a staple.
Buzz - Annette? Ha!
Charlie - No kiddin’. This is all pre-ESPN. I think someday Chris will list “Baseball Tonight.”
Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, The A-Team, and of course, Miami Vice. I also remember after school coming home and watching He-Man. Saturday morings watching: H&R Puff and Stuff, Bananna Splits, Smurfs, Pac-Man, Super Friends, and Looney Tunes.
When we got a VCR (I was 12), we finally got to watch the Wonderful World of Disney. When I got to be a “big kid,” I got to stay up late and watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I knew I had arrived at adult-hood when I got to watch the 10 o’clock news and then Johnny’s monologue every night!
I was out of college and teaching b/4 my parents bought a TV…at a garage sale for $3.00! However, our radio gave us a vivid imagination…Fibber McGee’s closet that always dumped everything out when it was opened, Molly McGee calling out “McGee” and providing the voices for more than her own character, Don McNiel’s Breakfast Table (I remember as a pre-schooler marching around our breakfast table when they sang the song), One Man’s Family…and, listening to George Bailey on early Herald of Truth programs, my dad on the local radio station, and, of course, Paul Harvey who still can paint word pictures in vivid colors!
My first tv memories both occurred when I was about 7
Watching Nixon walk on to the airplane after he resigned (don’t know why this stands out but it does)
Watching Hank Aaron’s 715 fly out of Fulton County Stadium.
As for TV show memories. Growing up, my parents did Weight Watcher’s and Monday night was weigh in night. After weigh in, gain or lose, they would get pizza and we would watch the Monday night line up on NBC. Little House, and Alf are the two shows I associate with that memory.
I remember watching many Saturday football games in the TV section of my parent’s Western Auto store in Auburn and later Opelika. It was cool to have multiple sets showing the games. They would only let me have the sound up on one though.
I also remember that Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere where the first “grown up” shows I got to watch with my dad who loved them both.
I also remember watching You Can’t Do That On Television and Nick Rocks because we didn’t have MTV yet.
I was 9 when Laugh In started. I remember Goldie Hawn and her body painting and Tiny Tim “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”
Bozo the Clown, Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo. Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers. Mom watched some soaps during the day while I was at home with her before kindergarten. After dinner it was the evening news on channel 2 in Detroit with Joe Glover and Sonny Elliot. Later channel 7 with Bill Bonds. Walter Cronkite. The Muppet Show, Lawrence Welk, Carol Burnett and Tim Conway. Charlie Brown holiday specials. Sports was Tigers and Lions and Wolverines, oh my! And of course the Wings and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC 9.
Remember the days before 24/7 programming, when they’d show a flag and play the national anthem every morning to get the day started?
Three shows:
“Looney Tunes” on Saturday mornings. I agree with the above poster: where are they now???
“HeeHaw”. This was required watching in my house.
One you will have only heard of if you grew up in Memphis, but EVERYBODY watched: “Magicland with Dick Williams”. This was just a guy with a local magic show, and he ended every broadcast with his “spocklike” four-finger trick (split them outward in pairs into a Mr. Spock “live long and prosper” greeting, and then keep the middle two together while the index and pinkie split outward…try it…it’s not that easy to do 70 times in a row…with both hands…). Anyway, Dick Williams is in the Guinness Book for the longest running television magic show. He was on the air in Memphis for about 30 years.
My 3rd example is somewhat sad, because it seems like local tv is just dead, except for the news. It doesn’t matter where you are, if you turn on the tv, you get the same thing.
Lost in Space, Star Trek, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Twilight Zone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Rifleman, Big Valley, The Lone Ranger, Andy Griffith.
I guess the very earliest shows I remember, though, would be Bugs Bunny/Road Runner and Romper Room (local, I think).
Mike,
Now I really feel old reading all of these shows. So old that I can remember when MTV started (all music, no commercials!), and when ESPN started (reruns of college football games on Monday and Tuesday).
My parents hated MTV. It was all that we would watch when we came home for summer during college. To get back at them, my sister gave my dad an “I Want My MTV” T-shirt for Christmas. Still has it. Never worn it!
Mike,
Do you remember watching the old Saturday Game of the Week with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese? Listening to ol’ Diz butcher the English language? As I recall it was pretty much the only baseball on TV until the World Series,which was still played in the daytime.We begged our school teacher to turn on the old protable TV’s to watch the daytime Series games,inlcuding those classic Cardinals-Tigers games in 68.
By the way,Andy Griffith for me.I think Barney Fife is the greatest TV character of all time.
Tim, Sky King always made me want to be a pilot, too. That reminded me of another show… Sea Hunt.
I remember lots of Saturday afternoons, sitting with my great-grandfather (a veteran of BOTH World Wars), watching a documentary-type series about US submarines in WWII, called “The Silent Service.”
When that show was over, he’d either try to find a baseball game on TV (Cardinals was the closest pro team) or we’d walk up the road and I’d watch him and his best friend play dominoes.
I get the feeling that Romper Room was one of those shows that was done locally in a lot of different areas.
“I see Timmy, and Suzy, and…”
Saved by the Bell
I Love Lucy
Andy Griffith Show
MTV Summer Party
That lady who had a lamb as a sock puppet
“That lady who had a lamb as a sock puppet ”
And the Childrens World Film Festival with Kookla, Fran, and Ollie…
ftwskies stole mine: Hockey Night In Canada, eh? There was nothing else worth watching then for me. Except I had to go to bed after the first period. Also, our TV’s horizontal hold used to let go every time the camera moved too close to the crowd and it would flip until my dad pounded on top of the TV!
I do have memories of coming home from school and watching “old” movies (30’s and 40’s) with my mother. One station in Canada played them every afternoon. I think I knew who Ingrid Bergman was before anyone that was my age… crush on her!
As a very young kid, it was Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. A little later, it was Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. But TV wasn’t great until Michael J. Fox and Family Ties. And I’ve been watching my Dallas Cowboys since before I could say “football.”
Mike,
Bonanza– (I think we got home from church before you did.
77 Sunset Strip–
Perry Mason–
The Untouchables–
Andy Griffin–By far, Barney Fife was my favorite character of all.
My goodness, the memories you guys are stirring up. You’re mentioning shows I haven’t thought of in decades! Romper Room (I always hoped that the host would see ME in her mirror–or was it her pin-wheel?), Captain Kangaroo, Mickie Mouse Club, The Flying Nun, Laugh-in, The Ed Sullivan Show….
Julie, since you mentioned WaMaVa, it sounds like you were in the DC area as a kid. Do you remember a show called The Bill Gormley Show (& later “Countdown Carnival)? The show ran in the mid-60s. You may not be OLD enough to remember it.
It was an after school show and he would encourage kids to have “Carnivals for Dystrophy” . In the summer, kids would host these “carnivals” in back yards or empty lots. There would be games, contests, etc. and all proceeds would be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Mr. Gormley would invite kids to come on the show and tell about their carnival and how much they had raised.
Anyway, that’s another one we watched faithfully.
Mike, I sure am enjoying this trip “down memory lane”.
Janey
Jamie B,
Have you ever heard the Bob Newhart routine “The Cruise of the U.S.S. Codfish”, based on “The Silent Service” television show? Absolutely hilarious.
“The Codfish holds the record for the most Japanese tonnage sunk…unfortunately, this was in 1954. It stands, however, as the largest peacetime tonnage ever sunk.”
“I think our firing on Miami Beach can be termed, at best, ‘Ill timed’. It was what they call in the press a ’slow news day’”.
“Looking back on the mutiny…”
“The door to my office is always open…I think you know why…I’d like that returned to me also…”
I remember HeeHaw of course, but I would want to race home after church to see Manix (sp?).
Carol Burnette and All in the Family were ones I remember early on as well.
I’m going to second “Preacherman’s” list… with the exclusion of Miami Vice, and all but one of the cartoons - that being super friends (man did they rock). I also remember loving Night Rider, Air Wolf (does anyone remember that show? One of the main characters was in a lot of old westerns), McGuyver, Transformers, and GI Joe. There is also an obscure memory of another cartoon called “Pole Possition” maybe?
Looking back I now see clearly that Wonder Woman, and Daisy Duke had a significant impact on my picture of the perfect woman. Sure, I dated blondes, but I married a brunette
Janey and Julie,
Do either of you remember Captain Tug?
Ladies, ladies, how could we forget Dr. Ben Casey?
My dad bought their first b/w tv after I was away from home. But when I did begin to watch TV the must see shows were
Ed Sullivan
Red Skelton
Twilight Zone
What’s My Line
This Is Your Life
The Flying Nun
Gunsmoke
Bonanza
ABC Wide World of Sports
Many others but too many to list here, but again as mentioned above, Ben Casey was a must see too.
Did anyone’s mom let them watch “Where The Action Is?” It was on after school, & we would get home before our mom, who was a teacher at another school, & didn’t get to come home as early as us girls. She didn’t like us watching it too much, because we were always rockin’ out to “Paul Revere & The Raiders”, & DANCING like the girls on the beach who listened to the Raiders! She laughs now, & said the dancing didn’t bother her—it’s that we weren’t doing our homework or chores we were assigned every day! We just thought she was being a “Mom” & watching out that we didn’t sin.
It’s pretty cool to guess how old everyone is by the list they provide. Mike, you’ve got a diverse audience.
My first recollection of something specific on TV was watching the election returns come in for Jimmy Carter defeating Gerald Ford. My dad was a high school government teacher, so elections were important at our house.
On Saturday mornings, more than the tv shows, I remember the short story School House Rocks. “I’m Just a Bill, “Conjunction Junction,” and “Mush Mouth” are three that I can still sing.
During the week, MASH and Happy Days were standbys. Like someone else said, Hill Street Blues was the first “adult show” I remember watching (although I think MASH and Happy Days are more “adult” than I like my kids watching).
And Sunday’s, we never saw the end of an afternoon football game because we had to leave for church at 5:25.
Now, how old am I?
The “lady with the sock puppet” was Shari Lewis.
All these shows brought back a lot of memories, but no one said “Howdy Doody” or “Kukla, Fran and Ollie”. I must be a little older.
I’m much younger than most who post on here, so my earliest memories are of “Rainbow Bright” and “My Little Ponies”. I loved those shows!!
And the sock puppet was named “Lamb Chop”. I had one. And, I remember my OLDER sister watching “Howdy Doody”.
Val, you make me laugh. Yes, I am older than you but I do know who Rainbow Brite is and I was a little too old for My Little Ponies when they came out.
Serena and Janie, I don’t remember any of the shows that you are talking about but I do remember a local show in the DC area called Claire and Coco. Coco was a poodle. I loved that show.
There is a pic of my dad and I watching Star Trek together (the original.) and eating chocolate chips.
I remember loving Alf (now I don’t know why!) Airwolf, Knight Rider, Incredible Hulk, a western called Wanted: Dead or Alive, Hee-Haw, and later on Perfect Strangers, Full House (you know you watched it, too!!) Saved By the Bell and Urkel on Family Matters.
Yes, I was a TV head!
Serena: I DIDN’T remember “Cap’n Tugg” but I found a web-site http://kidshow.dcmemories.com/ and when I clicked on the link to info from his show and it all flooded back. Plus that web-site reminded me of several other shows I loved when I was a young kid…Bozo the Clown, Speedracer, Astro Boy, The Lone Ranger, Petticoat Junction
Brain: The Carter/Ford election was the first one I was old enough to vote in. :o)
I remember my parents not letting us watch Bewitched — we had to go to bed when it came on. I don’t have a clue how old I was, but I always thought it must have been a “grown-up” show that we were too little for.
Jaimie B: Twilight Zone was one I could watch and usually enjoy, but Outer Limits scared me to death and I would not watch it. You mentioned Romper Room…you might enjoy looking at the Romper Room link at the DC Memories site I mention above.
Kathy: I agree with you…How could I have forgotten Dr. Ben Casey?
Jason: My husband and I used to watch Air Wolf, McGyver, and Night Rider. Those, plus A-Team.. all “action” shows were “must see” for us.
Wow this has been fun.
Julie, go to that DC memories site…it has a section on Claire & Co Co
The first show I remember watching was Sesame Street. I always caught the beginning of the Electric Company (which immediately followed SS) and begged my parents to let me watch it…but don’t think I ever did. And then of course there was Little House on the Prairie. I was only allowed one hour of TV a week, so my viewing was pretty limited.
Terry, I remembered Kukla, Fran & Ollie, I just couldn’t spell Kukla.
Speed Racer, Astro Boy… don’t forget: Under Dog, Tennessee Tuxedo, Clutch Cargo, and Johnny Quest.
Kerry, I never heard that particular Bob Newhart routine, but it sounds great.
Janey, that’s a great website.
Before there was an A-Team, there were The Bearcats! with Rod Taylor.
Land of the Giants, hooh boy, and The Land of the Lost…
and, The Bananna Splits, and H.R. Puffenstuff…
Oh, I forgot Speed Racers!
That was pretty cool too.
Kookla, Fran & Ollie
HOWDY DOODY!! With Buffalo Bob Smith, Phineas T. (Mr.) Bluster, Princess Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring and Clarabelle the Clown.
John Cameron Swayze with the Timex that “took a lickin’, but kept on tickin’”
I remember Hearld of Truth on Sunday nights and going downtown St. Louis to the radio studio with my mom & dad to do something for it.
My mom’s cousin was career Army and brought them a little about 3″ screen TV in a big wooden case (or small cabinet) in about 1949. I can remember very well in St. Louis the 1952 presidential campaigns and Ike being nominated to run by the Republican party. I remember the balloons and signs waving all on our “big” black & white TV we had then.
TV didn’t come on until early afternoon and after school I’d sit and hold my baby brother while we watched children’s shows and then news and Jackie Gleason and Red Skelton and Milton Berle, etc.
Remember the Saturday night weekly live show “The Hit Parade” anyone? Seeing the greatest singers ever featured sometimes, along with the regulars as they counted down the Top 10 hits of the week. Blueberry Hill, True Love. Pat Boone, Andrews Sisters, etc.
Those were the days all right.
Happy Days, The A Team, Brady Bunch, Dukes of Hazzard, Little House On The Prairie…. I still laugh at the fact that when Grant and I were first dating and we talked about things like “what shows we liked as a kid”, he said he hadn’t been allowed to watch Happy Days because it had “too much kissing” or Dukes Of Hazzard because it was a “good ole boys” show! What does that even mean? A good ole boys show? Who knows!!!!
I supposedly liked Flipper and Gumby and Pokey; thing is, I don’t remember any of the shows. My mother made me a stuffed Flipper. I know I had the Gumby and Pokey action figures because I bit on one and the wire went through my tongue!
I remember Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Bold Ones, Love, American Style; Room 222, Sanford and Son . . . the first news event I remember really paying attention to was the 1972 Olympics. I remember how strange it looked seeing the coffins carried into the stadium draped with the Israeli flag. Up until then, the only time I’d ever seen anything like that was with the American flag. I would have been eight going on nine at the time.
I remember Nixon’s re-election, the first time I ever saw an all-caps newspaper headline: “Nixon Sweeps Nation For Record Landslide”.
To further age me, I can remember a time when we didn’t even HAVE cable to pick from!!
We bought a color television about 20 years ago. Up to the late ’80s, we watched a large black and white TV on a gold stand with rollers. Our teens said, “We must be the most backwards family in Montgomery County.” My dear hubby told them a black and white television was good for their imagination. Sold the thing in a garage sale–like the watch it was still tickin’.
Our son’s favorite show to watch on the black and white in 1979 when he was 9: Emergency.
The Adventures of Spin and Marty, Captain Midnight, Sky King, Rin Tin Tin, Ed Sullivan, Gunsmoke, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, Boston Blackie, Dragnet, Andy Williams Show, Wonderful World of Disney
When TV first came out, my mom and I would go down to the local appliance store on Wednesday nights and watch - Arthur Godfrey - on their tiny black and white TV.
My earliest TV memories are of my grandfather and uncle watching MASH (and I remember in high school they canceled All-City Choir rehearsal for the MASH finale) and then All in the Family. My grandmother used to watch Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights (I still watch it sometimes, for old times’ sake) followed by Hee-Haw and The Donnie and Marie Show. I loved Donnie and Marie, but I rarely got to see it because my grandmother hated all the dancing (but Lawrence Welk dancing was ok). I spent many summer evenings with my great-grandmother, one of the most pious, church-going women you would ever have met, watching her favorite show “The Love Connection” with Chuck Woolery.
We might as well all be waving signs with our age plastered on them!
Lone Ranger, Rifleman, Bonanza, Johnny Yuma was a Rebel, Have Gun Will Travel, The Cisco Kid, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Cheyenne, The Wild Wild West…..get the picture? COWBOYS were the theme of my TV watching.
Other show I liked were Leave it to Beaver, Flinstones, The Monkees,
Combat, 12 O’clock High, Johnny Quest, and of course Andy Griffith.
Do you Memphis folks remember Happy Hal? I got on his show once and he asked me a question that caught me off guard ( I think I was 6 or 7) and I told some lie………….my cousins looked at me like I just had signed my soul over to Satan and was bound to Hell for eternity.
“yes, counselor………that is when it ALL started downhill”.
DU
I thought of a few more to add to my list…
Doogie Howser, MD.
Simon and Simon
Magnum PI
Charlie’s Angels
Charles in Charge
The Cosby Show
And some sitcom show I can’t remember the name, but it had Jason Bateman in it?
Not the earliest shows I remember, but definately additions to my list of most watched…
Who remembers sneaking a peak at “Love American Style” on Friday nights……… and trying not to get caught?
anne elliott
Anybody else remember Johnny Sakko? Ultraman? These were both campy old Japenese sci-fi shows from the Godzilla genre. Usually came on on Saturday afternoons after cartoons.
Oh yeah, and the old ’70s WWII series based on Pappy Boyington’s flying adventures, “Baa Baa Black Sheep”.
Lots have mentioned Happy Days but not too many have said Laverne & Shirley…
..and other sitcoms: One Day at a Time, Eight is Enough, Soap, Taxi, etc.
We had, by my count, eight channels when I was growing up: 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 7 (ABC), 9 (CBC), 20 (Local), 50 (Local), 56 (PBS), and 62 (Local). And I was a happy little critter.
Today I’ve got 400+ dish channels and aside from football and HGTV, I can never find anything on.
More =/= Better, imho.
Would have loved to watch The Wonderful World Of Disney on Sunday nights…but church. I liked Baa Baa Black Sheep, Hulk, and The Dukes of Hazard
Yeah! Lost in Space!!!
Danger Will Robinson! Danger!
I just read all the comments and I don’t believe it but two of my favorites were left out. The Ozzie and Harriet Show - I loved Ricky Nelson and American Bandstand - the one from Philadelphia when the same kids danced everyday and you knew who was dating who. (or whom)
Does anyone remember
“The Rifleman”?
Oh, and by the way, for you Hee Haw fans, I grew up in the town where the storyteller John Henry Faulk lived, and Peavine Jefferies was a REAL person, and most of the stories about him were more fact than fiction!
This is proof I grew up in the country, I know!
Bat Masterson
Maverick
Wagon Train
My Friend Flicka
Circus Boy
Fury
and in upstate NY - The Magic Toyshop with Miss Merrilee, Eddie Flumnum and Mr. Trolley
What about American Band Stand, Solid Gold, or MTV Dance Party? Any of your CofC’s watch the dancing shows?
Games shows: Name that tune, Let’s Make A Deal and the Dating Game.
Sitcoms’ I remember: Different Strokes, Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Alice, & Mork and Mindy.
I just read about Miss Connie. She was the host for Romper Room in the DC area. She was found dead at the age of 40. They think she drank too much alcohol. Coroner called it an accident. That made me sad.
Captain Kangaroo
Felix the Cat
Slam Bang Theatre with Iggy Twirp
Sumthin Else
Red Skelton
I’ve Got a Secret
Gary Moore
Gosh, I am OLD!
David U,
Do I ever remember “Happy Hal.” He had a contest called “The Secret Toy Contest.” They would call you and ask you if you knew the secret toy. They called me one day and I kew the correct answer. It was a model. I got to go to the store and pick out any model I wanted. The greedy kid that I was I picked out the most expensive model in the store. It was a model tank that a PhD couldn’t put together. I just couldn’t believe I won. I was like so many others who never watched anything on Sunday or Wednesday nights, but I was taught a much better lesson. Going to church was never forced down my throat. We just went, and I got to be with my friends, and I learned to love the Lord. I will say that in my opinion they don’t make TV shows like they used to. David, thanks for the great memory. I had long since forgotten Happy Hal.
He-Man, Carebears, Thundercats, Scooby-Doo.
I liked Dukes of Hazzard and watched it so much that every time I drive west past Roscoe I still say Roscoooo P Coltrain
We stillbuythe old DVD sets for the kids to watch.My boys love the Andy Griffith Shows and Bonanza. One of my kids loves to act like Ernest T Bass! It’s funny.
Not everyone would remember Supercar, since it was a syndicated British puppet feature … as were Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds and Stingray.
I kinda liked Whirlybird (helicopter version of Sky King). And the limited-animation cartoons Hercules, Space Angel, and Clutch Cargo. Not that they could hold a laser sight next to Jonny Quest, of course. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. satisfied my spy series thirst, and there was a long dry spell after it left the airwaves … until Mission: Impossible deployed.
And on into high school, I liked the two-season run of Search - those clever guys with the tiny video camera/transmitters who worked for P.R.O.B.E.
It would have been about 1954 when we got our first TV.
Tennessee Ernie Ford show with Mollie Bee and Dreft commercials.
The Lone Ranger. Maybe it is why I still have a love for classical music.
The Howdy Doody Show.
The Masquerade Show with Katchaturian’s Saber Dance as the intro music. The music thrilled me. I still love that piece.
What’s My Line.
Ovaltine commercials.
A show set in India with a string of porters always singing “Aughtie Aughtie Ay”. Don’t know the title, haven’t seen it in fifty years.
Crunch and Dez
Yancy Derringer
Lash LaRue
Captain Kangaroo
Mickey Mouse Club (Zorro, Spin & Marty)
Howdy Doody
Wonderful World of Disney (Davy Crockett)
Have Gun Will Travel
Red Skelton/Jackie Gleason (Honeymooners)
ShinDig, Hullabaloo
I was doing a search on Google for Dick Williams and Magicland and came across this blog! How cool is that?
I remember many of those shows mentioned. Do any of you Memphis folk remember when Dave Brown hosted Dialing for Dollars? He would randomly pick a phone number out of the phone book and call someone’s house and if they answered the phone and were watching the movie, they would win money.
And what about Big Star’s Horse Racing Game that came on TV on Saturdays? You got the card at the Big Star and then scratched the card to find the number of your horse and if your horse won, you won, too.
Do any of you know if Dick Williams has produced any of his Magicland shows on DVD?
RERUNS OF OUR GANG- LITTLE RASCALS