Blast From My Past

Tell about TV when you were growing up. Did your family have a TV? Was it color or b&w? How many TVs did your family have? Did you have one in your room? Did your family leave the TV on most of the day or turn it on for specific programs? Was the TV on or off when you ate meals as a family? Were there rules about watching TV? What were your favorite shows? Are there any particular memories you have of TV in your younger years?

I remember the day my dad brought home our first television set.  I was almost four and my brother was just a baby, the year was 1957.  It was a black and white  one and only picked up 4 or 5 channels...but I thought we had arrived.  Before that we listened to the radio.  I guess that is where my love of music came from.  I remember being excited about watching the Skipper Chuck show (a local station icon...AND I actually was on the show once....but that is for another day.)  Skipper Chuck was my hero and between the Skipper and Mickey Mouse Club my days were filled with good clean fun.  My parents never had to worry about some sort of rating chart.....these shows you could have watched in church. 

Even Annette Funnicello always wore a one piece bathing suit because Walt Disney would not let her wear a two piece....much less a bikini or thong.....they had not even been invented then.....and sometimes I wish they never had. I wanted to be just like Annette. She was so pretty. My favorite Mouseketeers were Karen and Cubby....wonder why?

One of my highlights of the Mouseketeer Club was the days when we would watch a western clip.  My favorite was anything that involved Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.  I hoped when I grew up I would be a singing cowboy just like them.  I loved it when he called the kids buckaroos.  It is amazing what a question can bring back.

As I grew up....we moved to El Prado and Vedado Park and eventually....in the late 60's early  70's got a color television set.  We weren't the first in our neighborhood to have one....but we weren't the last either.  I loved color television.  When I was in high school I could hardly wait to get home so I could watch Dark Shadows with Barnabus Collins.  I guess that was the beginning of my vampire interest....The Twilight Series is just this generations version....and it is a lot more realistic than back in the day.  If I got home early enough....I would catch the last ten minutes of so of ......Dum...dummm dumm dummm dummmm......"The Edge of Night."  I never cared for the show....but I loved the intro and exit music.  Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, Disney on Sunday night, Adam 12, Dragnet, the News ( on only two channels), The Wide World of Sports, Marlin Perkins....these are all my memories of television.  We did not have hundreds of choices to watch a football game....channels bid for the opportunity....and one would get permission to broadcast the show.  If you liked things about animals or science...you watched Marlin Perkins one day a week.   I sometimes feel like if we did not have so many choices....obesity would not be so high.  I remember as a kid....when my shows went off....I did homework and then went out and played until the next show I wanted to watch came on....there were no channels to flip.  Our television did not rule our house.....and we ate ALL meals at the Family Table....and it was not the coffee table in front of the set.  When we had company, even if they came right in the middle of something good, we turned off the set.  We only cut it on when there was something we wanted to watch.  After supper, television was allowed only if homework and chores were done.  I have friends who have unplugged and removed television from their homes.  I admire them for that....not sure I want to be THAT drastic....but I admire them for sticking to their guns.  Television is not what it used to be....and that is sad.  Frank and I when we moved went from having every channel available...to the basic package....and you know what...I am not missing anything.  I am only home and awake 5 hours a day and I can't even tell you what is on television.  It is on in my house....but if I sit down long enough to watch it....I fall asleep....especially if I assume a prone position on the couch.  I am a reader....and I don't even own a kindle or nook....I still like the smell of the book and love turning the pages.....I guess I am just old fashioned.  I am going to leave you with a clip of one of my favorite shows....enjoy and Happy Friday!