I will free your mind today.thought amnesty. u dont have to think - let me entertain u
Back in the day believe it or not, TV was different. In fact most shows were in black and white and there were only four channels including PBS. Check this, it would go off before mid night with a picture of an Indian in crosshairs and the sound would be a long ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe.
When we did watch it, everybody watched it together. And on that note, I decided to list my favorite TV shows I watched when I was growing up, up to age 10, albeit I never watched more than 6 hrs a week. Here are mine, what were yours (no particular order.
1] Monday Night Football – no explanation.
2] The Red Skelton Show – Sunday nights and classic.
3] The Flip Wilson Show – Geraldine. Time Magazine had him on the Cover, 1st Black Variety Show on TV
4] Lucile Ball show – second funniest woman ever on TV to me.
5] I spy – when Bill Cosby was Black and Proud.
6] Mash – TRUE satire, exceptional writers
7] Dean Martin – drinking and smoking on TV with the first half naked women, years before the music video.
8] Carol Burnett show – Tim Conway was a tight writer and she was the FUNNIEST woman ever on TV.
9] Dennis the Menace – Poor Mr. Mitchell
10] Leave it to Beaver – made me wonder why my life as a young Black Kid was way so different.
11] Little Rascals – the way friends should be (all races). Introduced me to the “He man woman hatter Club.”
48 comments:
OOOOOOWeeee! U sure is old!
:-)
(You know I'm just playing. Considering that I have got a few years up on u)
I was thinking about old school habits the other day.
Our television was on during the hours that Captain Kangaroo was aired in the morning. After that it stayed off until Flippo the Clown came on in the evening. That was a local show that featured cartoons and movies.
The news was on for one hour. Local coverage was thirty minutes, national was too.
During the work week, television signed off the air at 1:00 sharp. All stations played the National Athem to signal it was a wrap until the next day.
On the weekends you could stay up and watch scary movies until 2:00 and then it was a wrap.
I remember being totally amazed that stations could broadcast all night. The first time that happened was during the days after JFK had been assasinated. Once he had been laid to rest it was business as usual.
When I was a little girl, you could tell what day of the week it was by the shows that folks watched.
On Sunday evenings, everybody watched Ed Sullivan~especially if any of the headliners were Black. In fact there would a word of mouth campaign via the telephone to make sure you didn't miss the program.
I maintain that 24/7 365 television is not all it is cracked up to be. A lot of noise and minimal substance. And top heavy with infommericals.
I do not watch television every day. I can't do it.
You're so right. TV has definitely changed. For the worse, I think, except for the occasional gems that pop up on HBO and PBS.
You and I share a couple of "favs" ... here's my Top 10 list (in no particular order, except to say that I think MASH was superb):
MASH
The Mary Tylor Moore Show
Welcome Back Kotter
Good Times
The Little Rascals
The Andy Griffith Show
I Love Lucy
Star Trek
I Love Lucy
The Partridge Family (yeah, yeah, I know gross ... but, hey, give me a break!!!)
Deb
yep i am, but io dont look it, folk age well
Anita
I kept on watching star trek LOL
The only significant difference between TV from the 1950s and 1960s compared with today is volume.
Without movies to fill the hours, there was not enough original programming to fill all 24 hours of the day in the first two full decades of TV.
No one mentioned Amos & Andy, which, despite beliefs to the contrary, presented decent black characters in situations no different than those of white characters in other TV comedies.
There were some excellent TV writers in 50s and 60s. Rod Serling of the Twilight Zone. Paddy Chayevsky (who wrote the movies "Marty" and "Network") and others at Playhouse 90.
Meanwhile, most of the shows recorded on film in those early days are replayed constantly on cable today.
As for the Little Rascals, well, those began as movie shorts and were made before TV existed, like the Three Stooges. They were reruns when they first appeared on TV.
That aside, as always there is some superb writing for TV today. Take your pick of shows. There's good quality in every area, and the documentaries are sometimes astounding.
Being of a later generation (b. 1982), my few of my favorite shows were (no particular order; including cartoons):
1. 227 - Loved the mother.
2. Amen - The old man was hilarious!
3. Heathcliff
4. Inspector Gadget
5. Care Bears - I was a sensitive child.
6. Mama's Family - I lived for "Mama's" humor.
7. Carol Burnett
8. GI Joe
9. Night Rider - Loved the car, didn't care for David.
10. 21 Jump Street - Always a fan of Johnny Depp
11. The Smurfs - Why was there one girl?
12. Golden Girls - Natural born South Floridian, and lived around "Golden Gils". The Blanche and mother were the funniest!
13. Jay Leno
OMGosh, how could I have forgotten Star Trek!! I watched all of the originals all the way through ST: The Next Generation, and ST: Voyager...the rest was garbage. However, the subsequent ST movies remained very well done. Can't wait for the new one coming.
Wow...the only way I saw those shows were on TV Land. I must say in this present day, I still watch Mash...its a great way to put me to sleep :)
Oddly I cannot not remember much of my childhood like my siblings, I had to cheat (crazyabouttv.com
) to pick out my fav shows.
A Team
Airwolf
B.J. and the Bear
Babylon 5
Barnaby Jones
Battlestar Galactica
The Bionic Woman
Charlie's Angels
Dukes of Hazzard
Equalizer
Greatest American Hero
The Incredible Hulk
Knight Rider
MacGyver
Matlock
Quincy, M.E.
Remington Steele
Simon and Simon
Six Million Dollar Man
Star Trek (Next Gen, Voyager, DS9)
Wonder Woman
After making the list above and noticing the categories of the shows: action, superheroes, investigation, CARS/TRUCKS, and sci/fi, I had to laugh. These are the same things my son is into. Hubby prefers comedy like many on your list.
hey honey, hope that you are having a wondeful weekend!!!
9....10....11 i remember watching(maybe reruns) but them other shows....i probably wasnt even thought of!!! lmao
it does definitely show that times have drastically changed...even growing up i didn't have cable so albeit i had more than 4 channels it wasn't that much more...tv watching was still restricted and reading and spending time talking was most important definitely agree that Lucy and Carol are top notch funny as hell!
so telling my age here are mines:
1. Cosby Show
2. A Different World
3. 227
4. Fresh Prince
5. I love Lucy
6. MASH
7. The Jeffersons
8. Amen
9. Roseanne
10. Martin
11. In Living Color
12. The Simpsons
LMBAO
In response to your comment:
Black don't crack! :-)
I was telling my girls the other day that TV used to be in black and white. They looked at me like I was from the stone age.
Flip Wilson
All My Children (when Jessie was on it)
Gilligan's Island
Little Rascal's
Captain Kangaroo
Knight Rider
A Team
Good Times
Jeffersons
Love Boat
Love American Style
Ponderosa
The Andy Griffith Show
The Walton's
I'm sure I could think of more.
as a child, i didn't watch too much tv during the week while growing up. we were outside until it was dinnertime and after dinner it was basically bath and bedtime.
i only got to watch channel 10 in the mornings so i gotta say
sesame street
captain kangaroo
electric company
until channel 24 aired. then it was saturday afternoon CREATURE FEATURE,remember that one?
Very tight limits on the tube in our house...
I was allowed these...
-Captain Kangaroo
-Sesame Street
-The Electric Company (still a big Morgan Freeman fan)
-The Muppet Show
-3-2-1 Contact
-Nova
I enjoyed these on the sly w/my grandpa...
-Quincy, ME
-Kojak
-Baretta
Thanks for the "fluff", it was quite pleasant... *wink*
Some of my favs back in the day are:
Diffrent Strokes
The Brady Bunch
The Flintstones
Solid Gold
Dance Fever (Denny Terrio was HOTT!)
Yo MTV Raps
Dynasty/ The Colbys
and my #1 fav I still watch today is General Hospital (watching since I moved to the US back in 1976!!)
Fun post!
This post is right up my alley. A great list. I had forgotten about The Flip Wilson Show.
One of my faves was Room 222, which I posted on some time back.
I'm a font of classic TV trivia. I was watching reruns of Hogan's Heroes a couple weeks ago and thinking that must have been controversial, poking fun at Nazi Germany only two decades after WWII. But that show was funny.
Too bad Bob Crane, who played Hogan, met his end in such a grisly way in the late 70s. And Ivan Dixon, the black actor who played communications expert Sgt. Kinchloe, died recently. RIP.
Hmm shows I watched as a kid...
Care Bears
The Baby sitters club
Winnie the Pooh
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
A different World
227
The Cosby Show
Ghostbusters
Scooby Doo
Martin
Living Single
This post is really telling of people's ages....
I wasn't allowed to watch tv until I was 9 yrs old. My family was a little ecentric when it came to certain things. We were only allowed to read/write/draw. I was the writer, my sister was the artist, my younger sister was the singer...my brother? well he just like to eat...
When we were finally allowed to watch it...
1. Little House on The Prairie
2. 227
3. Cosby Show
4. Murder She Wrote (my all time favorite, I wanted to be a detective growing up)
5. Benny Hill (I had to sneak to watch that)
6. Benson
7. Different Strokes
My son didn't start watching tv until he was 6...and he's only allowed 1 1/2 a day.
Btw..your daughters hair looks like a smaller version of mine...so cute!
This is an age-revealing post! You were maybe just a tad before my time, huh? Anyway, here's what I watched. I didn't watch much, but what I saw, I LOVED.
1. Love Boat - OMG, I loved the Love Boat. Def my #1 fav back in the day. I was too little for that stuff! What were my parents thinking! LOL!
2. Different Strokes. It was on after school every day, and I totally loved this show, too.
3. Scooby-Doo. I still enjoy Scooby-Doo! Now I get to read the books to my kids.
4. Arsenio Hall Show. I was also too young for that! Do you remember that guy, Arsenio? What ever happened to him? I was IN LOVE with Arsenio. Never mind he was probably old enough to be my dad.
That's about it, nothing much else stands out.
Damn it sounds like we grew up in the same household!!!
"Black and White" you say? Amazing. You forgot to mention how the only time you saw black people in commercials was if the shows were "black". It's true.
I loved the little Rascals. Styme was the man! And not the mention Seaseme Street. I watched that damn show until I was twenty. Don't tell anybody. LOL
Loved
I Spy,
Red Skelton &
Carol Burnett
Our entire family watched these shows together. 0f course the kids had to do their homework first. I don't think families watch tv together now; and some schools don't even give homework.
I watched a lot of these shows but being that im not out my 20's yet it was all in re runs but they were cool none the less.
Great topic Torrance!
Some of my favorite shows (in no particular order because I loved them all were:
Good Times
Whats Happening
Different Strokes
The Jeffersons
227
Electric Company
Zoom
The Facts of Life
Little House on The Prairie
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
A Different World
In the Heat of The Night
Soul Train
Mamas Family
Als Diner
Video Music Box( local video show)
Charlies Angels
many others
Raw Dawg,
Great trip down memory lane. There are many before that, our first television was 13 inches! Age, age........
Wait a minute, wait a minute. I am not going to mention Laugh-in or the Smothers Brothers, I don't want to adjust or reacess your list but you and I are from the same era and you fail to mention Julia? I don't even remember what is was about, but Diahann Caroll playing a nurse proved that there were black people who existed outside of my little world and that they were significant.
And what about Bonanza, a story of family, friendship, honor and justice. Although I only remember the 2 brothers Hoss and little Joe. I didn't know there was a 3rd brother until cable came along.
And finally, the piece de resistance, Batman. Holy cow Torrence, with the world in a turmoil how can you not list a show that probably had more stars and one liners than the rest of TV put together? And also had 2 of the sexiest woman ever, playing Catwoman.
Oh and more thing. Here's Lucy was the Lucille Ball show I knew when I was growing up. Not the funiest out of all her series, but there you are.
who knew! so you know about having to get up on the roof and fix the antenna! LOL! i wanna no if u stood up when the national athem played before they indian in the crosshairs? now ain't that some stuff...indian first then the O man's wife {SMDH}! never thought about that till now! there's another future post idea for you :>)
no_slappz
did u watch or like any of the shows I mentioned.
MacDavid
Thanks for the drive by, and 21 jump street was a trend setter
LOL we all some vulcans at heart
Beautifully.Conjured.Up
LOL at TV land youngin
sista gp
Battlestar Galactica, MacGyver, Quincy, M.E. were classics,
Dreamy
Fine and u hon
The Flyyest
But u here now that’s all that counts hon
T.C.
Moving on up to the east side
To a deluxe apt (not condo) in the sky LOL
Rich
How could I leave out Love American St and
The Walton's good night John Boy I envied their family on that mountain named after them
Sauce
I rember when 24 came on folk
T.Allen-Mercado
Morgan freeman did put it down, now im reminded of mr. rodgers
Sheliza
LOL who shot JR?
profunksticated
Rm 222, with Calvin Lockhart every friday
IntrospectiveGoddess
LOL at the age wise crack
(fŭng'kē) [blak] [chik]
Little house on the prariy great show, didn’t benson come from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartmen?
Waiting for Zufan!
The LOOOOOOVE Boat – loved that song
Candy
LOL
One Man’s Opinion
You know SS had and still has one of the best sound tracks ever “one, two, three, for five”, One of these kids is doing their own thing.” And LuLu is back in town. LOL
MacDaddy
Belive it or not it was for the family, now days they use it as a bay sitter
4GOTTEN1
U saying im old folk.
Kai
Come on a zooom, zooma zoom, loved that song
rainywalker
With two wires out the tope thyat supposedly made reception better. lol
Curious
Laugh-in or the Smothers Brothers were the truth, they were the comedy news before cable
Julia yep, it was in color, singl;e black mom nurse raising her son
LOL
Great taste. Hope I aint date u LOL
SjP
LOL. U silly
Why have I watched every single one of those shows? I'm old!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW You are ANCIENT!! LOL
I really didn't watch tv very much. I was outside making fires,catching bugs and putting them in spiderwebs (lol...but I made my brother catch the bees), building clubhouses and playing tag or playing barbies.
When I did watch I watched:
Cosby's
Who's the Boss (those two came on at like 1am and I'd watch them when I was supposed to be sleeping lol)
Barney (Yes, I watched Barney...all through elementary)
Lambchops
Sonic the Hedgehog
Fresh Prince of BelAir
Everything else is just a blur. Probably was in the room but I wasnt watching. And that's probably why I cant sit and watch tv for hours now. I didnt see a lot of the "classic" Black movies until now lol I just saw Coming to America a month ago ha! The girl Patrice McDowell...that's my name! Paula Patrice McDowell
and I saw the Color Purple all the way through my freshman year of college.
I Love Lucy is so timeless and will still one of the funniest shows on TV 20 years from now.
LOL... you are taking me back (smile). I remember when tv used to just end at night, no 3 am movies, no nothing.You either slept or read a book.
My folks were po as we used to say and we only had one tv, so I was not much of a tv person which has carried over to my adult life.
Only reason we have cable and that is without the movie channels is because my husband and son think its a necessity.
I agree tv has changed, and not at all for the better.
Boy, you look good for someone so old! Carol Burnett show was my #1 - I used to die laughing.
torrance,
TV began broadcasting in color around 1960.
The first presidential nominating convention to appear on TV was the Democratic Convention of 1948 that nominated Harry Truman.
I watched ALL the shows on your list more than once. Of those you listed, I probably enjoyed The Little Rascals the most. Those films were usually shown along with the Three Stooges. Other favorites were the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits. I also watched a lot of baseball, football and hockey along the way.
I used to hate the Lucille Ball show. I thought it promoted antiquated female stereotypes, until I found out that she produced the show. Now, I can stomach it and appreciate it for the comedy.
I loved the Little Rascals. I keep trying to get my niece to sit down and watch it, to which she responds with a thumbs down and a "Boo"
I see other commenters have rattled off old gems of tv shows. No one mentioned:
Fame
A Man Called Hawk
The A Team
Torrance: Thanks for the memories. I still laugh at the Geraldine bit and whenever something goes sideways on me I grab my chest and say "I'm comin', Elizabeth!" In no particular order:
THE ODD COUPLE
THE HONEYMOONERS
HARRY O
MANNIX
F TROOP (the "Hikawis" got there name from an old vaudeville joke about a tribe called the "Fugawi" as in "We're the Fugawi"! Tah-dah!
HOGAN'S HEROES
MASH
(all of Anita's Classics+Twilight Zone -- and, Anita, Spartacus and I ARE Juan Epstein!)
BOB NEWHART
GOOD TIMES (still the only TV sitcom with a bit about OIL ECONOMICS and a bit about poverty that could have come from Jean Genet or Anton Chekhov -- a poor blind lady mistaking roaches for almonds on her vanilla ice cream --geez, that was on a COMEDY show)
NYPD (the original -- imagine if The Wire or Prince Of The City was on regular TV and you'll have a sense of that show.)
GREEN ACRES
PETTICOAT JUNCTION
BEVERLY HILLBILLIES
DALLAS
DYNASTY
PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES
ALL IN THE FAMILY
MAUDE
SANFORD AND SON
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO
THE MUNSTERS
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
GIBBSVILLE (an amazingly faithful series based on the characters in John O'Hara's fiction)
THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER
TENAFLY
THE ROCKFORD FILES
SWITCH
[These may have only been New York things but..."OFFICER JOE BOLTON'S CLUBHOUSE and THE YULE LOG]
And the classic early 1980s joke about TV:
"I was watching 'That's Incredible', you know, and it was really weird. They had these three retards in this glass booth...wait a second...no, I guess that was 'Monday Nite Football.'"
i think people don't realize just how strong Flip Wilson really wuz.. he OWNED the show he did on network TV..at that time that wuz a BIG deal!!! Flip said he banked the money and lived off the interest and the gigs he did in Vegas!
Sir... u don't look old enough in your pics for some of those shows you listed to have been your favorites. You watched the re-runs maybe? lol
here are mine from 80's/90's:
Cosby Show
Different World
Fresh Prince
Bev Hills 90210
Mama's Family
he-man
Smurfs
Magmum PI
In Living Color
Sat Night Live
and my list goes on...
B
Cause u got great taste
BeKinky_Paula
U still love me don’t u folk
Marleaux
She and carol B
blackgirlinmaine
No where for the better except espn and cspan and survival man
NoRegrets
U making me blush folk
no_slappz
point well taken, did u like any of the shows I mentiond slappz?
Luscious Librarian
She and Flip were kindred spirits regarding that
laughing808
They used to jam on fame
KELSO'S NUTS
Ditto and these were after I was 10 though
THE ODD COUPLE
THE HONEYMOONERS
HARRY O
MANNIX
GREEN ACRES
PETTICOAT JUNCTION
PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES
THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER
TENAFLY
THE ROCKFORD FILES
SWITCH
and don’t forget The Night stalker
Anonymous
Flip was the truth if u can read that Time Magazine article
Big Cheekz
U sound like my students who be in class trying to mack teacher 45 folk
Sat night live, was a classic – Mr. Bill
torrance,
Yes, I liked all the shows you mentioned. The Little Rascals movies were probably my favorites.
yo dawg,
I watched Room 222 also, but I'm pretty sure the lead actor was Lloyd Haines, although you could mistake him for Calvin Lockhart.
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