Television-Now and Then!

I am taking the Summer off from TV, too many reruns and too expensive. Comcast wants $60+ just to hook it up. I will wait until the Fall Season starts.

Imagine this, in the olden days, once you bought a TV, then watching the TV was free!! My dad use to say that buying a good TV was the best and cheapest form of entertainment. Before he died cable started and it was $9 a month and he had a fit. Before that it was TV antennas on the roof. I can still remember when a storm would blow the antenna around and my dad would crawl up on the roof and he would twist and turn it while we would yell up the fireplace to him when the reception got good again on the TV. It was then he could stop and come down. HA! The good ole' days.

I started to think about my TV viewing habits that I have had all my life and half I can remember and half I can't, but long running shows during the years that I always watched are as follows in no particular order, to me, they were "must see TV" at the time:

Trapper John
Marcus Welby, M.D.
St. Elsewhere
Dr. Kildare
Ben Casey
ER
Cagney and Lacey
Sonny and Cher
The Lennon Sisters Variety Hour with Jimmy Durante
Carol Burnett Show
Saturday Night Live (in the early years only)
Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (I so miss this show!)
Merv Griffin Show
Mike Douglas Show
Dinah Shore Show
Roseanne
I Love Lucy
The Brady Bunch
Friends
The Andy Griffiths Show
Mary Tyler Moore
Rhoda
Honeymooners
Burns and Allen
The Patty Duke Show
The Donna Reed Show
Father Knows Best
The Beverly Hillbillies
Alfred Hitchcock
The Twilight Zone
Art Linkletter Show (loved the kids)
Queen For A Day (thinking back, what a sick show!)
Match Game
Tattletales (fav were the Newharts and the Martins)
Password (the original)
Family Feud (the original)
The Jack Benny Show
Dean Martin Variety Hour
Ed Sullivan
American Bandstand
Bob Newhart Show (both)
Twin Peaks
Thirty Something
Howdy Doody
Micky Mouse Club
Leave It To Beaver
Ozzie and Harriet
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (with the kids)
Sesame Street (with the kids)
The Electic Company (with the kids)
TV Movies Of The Week (early ones on Tuesdays)
The Sunday Night Movie Of The Week (theater movies)
American Idol
Ugly Betty
So You Think You Can Dance
Dancing With The Stars
Criminal Minds
Brothers and Sisters
Deadliest Catch
Glee
Cold Case
Design Star
Food Network Star
All documentaries on PBS and other channels


Shows that were very popular but somehow I didn't watch, don't know why:

I Dream Of Jeanie
Hogans Heros
Chicago Hope
MASH
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
Sopranos (no HBO)
Sex and The City ( subject matter offensive)

No matter what, the old shows were the best, the old commercials were the best, the black and white shows were great for using your imagination, it was all family oriented and I just loved it all, pure entertainment.

( I am sure I am missing many so I will keep a running tab and edit as I think of them, it is fun to remember the shows that made you smile way back when..)