I've been waxing philosophical in this space lately and thought it high time to lighten things up a little, so...How 'bout we talk about the TV shows we watched growing up and why they were so beyond awesome? Here are a few I thought of, in no particular order:
The Six Million-dollar Man: Countless times we'd role-play being bionic. Those slow motion moves were the essence of being culturally dialed. I think a friend and I even made a movie about being bionic. It included video of us jumping across a pond...Here's the man himself fighting Bigfoot:
Another favorite was Gilligan's Island, but not because of Ginger (I only had room for one in my life - glad I got the one I did!) Best episode had to be the one when they planted radioactive vegetable seeds and they grew into giant vegetables that when eaten gave everyone super-powers. (I think I had a thing about wanting power back then...)
Another classic was Happy Days. Every kid I knew wanted to be the Fonz. Even when he jumped the shark!
In Oregon where I grew up, the in thing to do on Saturday nights (besides going to church dances and cruising Willamette Street) was to watch Portland Wrestling. Most of the famous pro wrestlers started in Portland. My best friend Dave Glass and I knew all the moves and would often reenact them while watching the show. Our most favorite character was probably the ref, Sandy Barr. He never saw any of the wrestlers cheating and seemed to get beat up more than the rest of them combined. Sandy was the man. The world is a poorer place now that he's gone to the Great Cage Match in the Sky...
Speaking of Dave Glass, one of our other favorite shows of all time (although risky to admit) was Benny Hill. Our favorite character was probably the little old bald man that was always getting patted on the head, usually by Benny. He was probably a lot like the Three Stooges: You either got it or you didn't. If you were a girl, probably not your favorite. Here's a great clip of the end of one of his shows. If you want a good chuckle sometime, search for "Benny Hill" on YouTube.
Before Portland Wrestling would come on (after the news, of course!), there were the two all-time classics "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island." Perhaps the two most famous words on TV were "De Plane! De Plane!" As far as "Love Boat," we named Isaac after the bartender on that show. We were considering Gopher for a little while there...
So tag, you're it! What were the shows you grew up and loved?
