Television was introduced to my area of the world on December the 20 th of 1953 when KID-TV channel 3 came on air with a 100 kw RCA transmitter. My parents were married in 1954 and I was born in 1957. I actually remember when the second station in my area was added for our entertainment… KIFI channel 8 with 160kw first aired on January 3 rd 1961. Life was good then with two channels to choose from.
Some of the first television shows that I still remember watching my first few years of my life were the following:
Lawrence Welk
The Ed Sullivan Show
Wagon Train
The Red Skelton Show
Disneyland
Leave it to Beaver
Alfred Hitchcock
Lassie
Zorro
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
Gunsmoke
Dragnet
The Real McCoy’s
Circus Boy
Death Valley Days
Of those early ones my favorites were: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Alfred Hitchcock, Zorro, Circus Boy, The Real McCoy’s, Leave it to Beaver and Disneyland. It’s a tie between Lassie and Circus Boy as my favorite during that time period.
As a child watching the TV was just part of life. Other shows from 1960 to 1965 which I really enjoyed were:
Captain Kangaroo
The Price is Right
Perry Mason
The Huckleberry Hound Show
Bonanza
The Twilight Zone
The Andy Griffith Show
The Flintstones
Mister Ed
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color
The Beverly Hillbillies
Petti Coat Junction
The Addams Family
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Flipper
Daniel Boone
Gilligan’s Island
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Jonny Quest
My Three Sons
Bewitched
I have too many favorites amongst that list to pick a most favorite.
I was watching TV the day that John F. Kennedy was shot. I was five years old and sitting on the floor alone in front of our black and white set. My older brother was at school and my younger siblings were napping. The news commentator came on and said that our President had been shot and I ran in to the kitchen and told my mother. She didn’t believe me at first but she believed the man on the TV. For me it was very real as my mother began to cry. Television was a very big part of my life.
From 1965 to 1970 my favorite shows were great ones like:
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
Lost in Space
Green acres
The Big Valley
The Wild Wild West
I Dream of Jeannie
Get Smart
Tom and Jerry
Star Trek
The Newlywed Game
The Flying Nun
Hogan’s Heroes
Batman
That Girl
Mission: Impossible
The Johnny Cash Show
The Doris Day Show
Hey Hey Hey Its Fat Albert
McCloud
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Partridge Family
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Hee Haw
The Brady Bunch
The Johnny Cash Show
On the 20 th of July 1969 I watched live as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. It was very real to me then and no one can tell me now that it didn’t happen for I know it did.
From 1970 to 1979 my favorites include:
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
M*A*S*H
The Waltons
Barnaby Jones
Happy Days
The Rockford Files
The Rookies
Little House on the Prairie
Wheel of Fortune
Charlie’s Angels
Columbo
Starsky and Hutch
Quincy, M.E.
CHiPs
Maude
The Six Million Dollar Man
Sanford and Son
Eight is Enough
Kojak
Land of the Lost
Kung Fu
Happy Days
Emergency!
The Incredible Hulk
Three’s Company
Dallas
Diff’rent Strokes
Mork & Mindy
The Dukes of Hazzard
Hart to Hart
Archi Bunker’s Place
Trapper John, M.D.
This Old House
My 1980 to 1989 favorites were:
Magnum, P.I.
Cheers
Knight Rider
The A-Team
The Cosby Show
Highway to Heaven
The Jetsons
Punky Brewster
Family Ties
Miami Vice
Murder, She Wrote
Time Machine
The Golden Girls
MacGyver
Quantum Leap
Alf
Matlock
The Karate Kid
The Young Riders
Family Matters
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Unsolved Mysteries
From 1990 to 1999 the shows I watched most were:
Northern Exposure
The Family Man
Law & Order
JAG
The X-Files
The Nanny
NYPD Blue
ER
Touched by an Angel
Walker, Texas Ranger
Candid Camera
Everybody Loves Raymond
3 rd Rock from the Sun
Stargate SG-1
Star Trek: Voyager
From 2000 to 2011 the ones I’ve found myself watching are:
CSI
CSI: Miami
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Monk
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Myth Busters
NCIS
House
Lost (only the first two years)
Ghost Whisperer
Grey’s Anatomy
Medium
The Mentalist
Unsolved Mysteries
Wipeout
Nanny 911
NCIS: Los Angeles
Shark Tank
Blue Bloods
Person of Interest
This year so far my favorites are: The Mentalist, Person of Interest, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Blue Blood.
Shows have become more and more violent and increasingly more sexual and as they get closer to being R-rated I’m finding myself watching less and less TV. I really miss Little House on the Prairie for I believe it was and is my all time favorite. I feel that we need to have more good wholesome shows that teach the values that are being lost. Did I watch too much television as a child? Probably. Today’s choice of TV entertainment is hardly what was available when I was a child. I watch very little TV anymore. What I do like to do though is to buy a set of my favorite oldies and introduce my children to them now and again. They like Gilligan’s Island and Kung Fu. Their favorite oldie though is Mac Guyver. Sadly though they are not into the Little House on the Prarie series. I wish they were.
