TV Shows from My Youth

In an earlier post, I wrote about songs that take me back to yesteryear. I also made note that when I was a girl, my dad liked to watch Hee Haw. That got me thinking about the television shows from my childhood that shaped my perception of the world. (Coincidentally, The Today Show has been featuring TV cast reunions this week; I haven't seen any of them yet, but I will probably check them out.)

Here are some of the shows we watched in my house when I was growing up:

• The Mickey Mouse Club - I remember watching this when I got home from school. I also remember my brother, Mark, always being on restriction, so even though he was a teenager, he would be watching along with me.
• I Love Lucy - I was a huge fan of this show and continue to enjoy watching it when I come across it because Lucy still makes me laugh. I can remember so many specific episodes and shenanigans from this show--Vitametavegamin, John Wayne's boots, Ricky's mother coming for a visit, Lucy's cousin Ernie, Lucy and Ethel crushing the wine grapes, Lucy lighting her prosthetic nose on fire, etc.
• Leave It to Beaver - The Beav was just so darned cute. His parents, Ward and June, were so different from my parents (at least that is what I thought back then).
• My Three Sons - I had a crush on the oldest brother, Robbie. I liked Uncle Charley, too, because he was spunky. And the whole idea of a house without a mom was fascinating to me.
• Hogan's Heroes - The characters on this show were all funny, especially Colonel Klink.
• Laugh In - This show was always fun to watch and we all grew fond of the regular characters, like Ruth Buzzie's old lady who wielded a mean purse!
• I Dream of Jeannie - I loved the hi-jinks that Jeannie got into. I also thought it was pretty cool that the star of the show and I had the same first name!
• All in the Family - My dad loved this show; I think he and Archie had a lot in common. I remember thinking Gloria was so cool!
• The Waltons - This was a nice show about a big family, and since I was the youngest of 6, I could relate to some of the family dynamics. There was always a good moral to every story. Of course, I also loved the end when everybody said good night!
• M*A*S*H - Always entertaining, this show was very popular in my house. My family was among the 106 million viewers who watched the final episode.
• Happy Days - I loved watching this show. I liked that Richie was a nice kid and, man, was the Fonz cool or what?
• The Brady Bunch - Okay, so there were six kids in the Brady Bunch and six kids in my family. That is pretty much where the similarities ended, but I can recall all of us gathering around the TV on Friday nights to watch this show.
• The Partridge Family - This family had their own band and traveled in a bus they painted. They were way too cool and, of course, I thought that Keith was dreamy!
• The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - My mom, from whom I have inherited my night owl tendencies, used to watch Johnny every night. I can remember wanting to be able to stay up late enough to watch with her, which I finally got to do when I was in my teens. To this day, I still watch late night TV, though I prefer Dave to Jay, so I don't watch the Tonight Show much any more.

It's funny to think back to my youth when the television airwaves actually went blank after about 2:00 a.m. I think it was after Tom Snyder's show, which followed the Tonight Show. And we only had about a dozen channels, and we had to get up to change them! No comparison with what's available through today's technology, but it is fun to reminisce!