It’s a grey day. Grey and windy. I’m going home to Rhode Island for the weekend. Can’t wait. Hanging out with the parents, hanging out with the sister, hanging out with the high school crowd.<\/p>\n
However – I am feeling misanthropic today. And irritated. The big bad city is getting on my nerves. Definitely time for a couple of days away. I need to breathe the salt air, and take a walk on the beach.<\/p>\n
And so all of this misanthropy naturally got me to thinking about favorite TV shows of my childhood. (Makes perfect sense.)<\/p>\n
I wasn’t a huge TV-watcher as a kid, but what I did love, I loved with a passion which burned me up at night. I would count the days until “my shows” were on. I would feel that life was not worth living if one of them was pre-empted.<\/p>\n
I’m sure I’m forgetting some – but here are some old favorites which come immediately to mind: (oh, and I’m counting TV movies)<\/p>\n
— 3-2-1 Contact: <\/b>I was absolutely ADDICTED to this classic PBS show. The Bloodhound Gang! I wanted to be part of the Bloodhound Gang.<\/p>\n Co-ontact Also, whatever that apartment was was very cool.<\/p>\n Later: I became ADDICTED to Eight is Enough<\/b>, but only with the advent of Ralph Macchio. The rest of the eight kids kind of freaked me out with their feathered hair and late 70s adolescent sexuality … but Ralph Macchio? The troubled new addition to the family? Oh, I could not get enough.<\/p>\n Sesame Street. <\/b> Of course. A favorite to this day. Mr. Hooper, Big Bird, Maria (I always loved the feisty Maria), Bert and Ernie … Cookie Monster, who was just a big walking blue Id … and all the others. I grew up on this show. Magic.<\/p>\n Little House on the Prairie<\/b> I had read all the books. I was absolutely in love with the show. I think especially because the main character was a little girl about my age. I loved the show so much that my mom (God bless her) actually made me a little bonnet, which I wore to school. I was 16 years old at the time. (No, just kidding. I was 8 or 9 years old). Here is Betsy’s analysis of Little House<\/a>. Do not miss it.<\/p>\n Land of the Lost<\/b> I can say with all honesty that this show changed my life. Although HOW it did this I could not tell you. I mean: HOLLY! I absolutely loved Holly. Her relationship with the gentle baby brontosaurus … and just the whole conceit of the show … I DUG it. It filled my imagination with possibilities – I wanted to crawl into the television and join that “routine expedition” with Marshall, Will and Holly. Also, Holly’s clothes were directly responsible for my fashion choices during the ages of 10 and 11. I had long braids, I wore plaid shirts, blue jeans, and “wallabies”. Member those? LOVED. THIS. SHOW.<\/p>\n There was an after-school special which rocked my planet, and I cannot remember the name of it.<\/b> It was something like: “Shhhh. So-and-so is coming to get me.” (The name in place of “so and so” was something like: ‘Marv Hammerman’ – It was a long strange name) Terrible title, I know – but it was about this little kid, who was mercilessly teased at school – and this big bully kid would follow him home every day, and beat him up, torment him, whatever. The teased kid was terrified, would hide in the bathroom after school, blah blah.<\/p>\n Member after-school specials? Do they still have those? I think they were on Wednesday afternoons, and you would come home from school, and it would be on from 4 to 5, and I loved them! But this one about the tormented kid trying to outrun “Marv Hammerman” touched my sensitive soul. It ends in this manner: A group <\/b>of boys (Marv Hammerman is not one of them) follow the tormented kid home, and attack him. They’re beating him up, everything is going well for them, when along comes the dreaded Marv Hammerman … And you think: Uh-oh. He’s gonna make things much worse – he’s scary – he’s mean … And Marv takes in the scene, the 6 kids attacking the one, and he says, “Come on, cut it out. He’s had enough.”<\/p>\n Why did that touch my heart so?? I absolutely loved that after-school special, and would closely watch the TV pages, to see when it would be on.<\/p>\n What else did I love?<\/p>\n Bless the Beasts and the Children<\/b>. A TV movie, which I have never forgotten<\/a>. I saw it way too young, it upset me deeply – but I am grateful for having seen it too young. Soul-growth.<\/p>\n The Gong Show<\/b> My God. Remember The Gong Show? The man with the paper bag on his head? I loved that show.<\/p>\n I cannot include CHiPs<\/b> on this list. I just cannot. It is too shameful.<\/p>\n Donny and Marie<\/b> “I’m a little bit country…” “I’m a little bit rock and roll…” LOVED those two. I would huddle up next to the television with my tape recorder, taping their duets. I loved Marie’s voice. Little did I know that 20 years later I would work for Donny Osmond’s security detail in Chicago. Very strange. Beth – didn’t you love Donny and Marie, too? (hee hee)<\/p>\n Cosmos<\/b> I mean, please. Come on. I could not get enough.<\/p>\n Masterpiece Theatre<\/b> Farewell, Alistair Cooke! You were as much a part of my childhood as … oh, I don’t know … Jessica Savitch! That voice! Masterpiece Theatre had some of the most exciting programs I had ever seen in my life. I still remember “The Prince and the Pauper”. Thrilling. I remember their fabulous mini-series version of “Ballet Shoes” (one of my favorite childhood books, as you will recal<\/a>l…) What else did I see? Uh – “The Flame Trees of Thika” with the delicious Hayley Mills … unbelievable! I watched the entirety of that one with my parents. A great memory.<\/p>\n And how could I forget … there was a TV movie called Orphan Train<\/b>. Does anyone else remember this? Jill Eikenberry (later on LA Law) played an English woman who somehow (can’t remember) ended up taking a train-load of homeless orphans out into the Wild West of America, during the 1800s, to place them with farming families. I really need to see that movie again. It was an exhilarating experience, I fell in love with it, I loved the story, I wanted to be IN the story. I still remember one of the orphans, a bitter angry Liverpudlian named, appropriately, Liverpool. I LOVED Liverpool. In my memory, this movie was all about the triumph of the human spirit, and also – the essential goodness of people. That you should not judge people if they are ugly, or poor, or have ugly clothes … Every person deserves a chance.<\/p>\n And then there was Square Pegs <\/b>and its one fated season. But I was addicted to it. Addicted. How many shows last only one season and you never ever remember them again? But this one – people still talk about. The geeks of the world, united. I related to each one of them, in different ways. They were validating.<\/p>\n Oh, and of course – Happy Days<\/b>. My favorite character was the Fonz. Remember the Christmas episode when he lied to Richie and said, “Oh, you don’t have to invite me over … I got a great family … I go home every Christmas … we open presents … we have stockings …” But then – later – Richie somehow peeks in on Fonz on Christmas Eve and he is sitting by himself, alone at his table, eating macaroni out of a can. Does anyone remember this? Fonzie lied, to save his pride. But it all turned out all right in the end.<\/p>\n Until the show jumped the shark, once and for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s a grey day. Grey and windy. I’m going home to Rhode Island for the weekend. Can’t wait. Hanging out with the parents, hanging out with the sister, hanging out with the high school crowd. However – I am feeling … Continue reading
\nIt’s the a-answer
\nIt’s the mo-tion
\nWhen everything happens…
\nCo-ontact…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n