My Formative Years: Television Edition
Really?
You’re not actually expecting depth from me this month, are you?
I present you with …
My Formative Years: Television Edition
1. Diff’rent Strokes
2. Facts of Life
3. Beverly Hillbillies
4. Martha Quinn
5. Remote Control
6. Double Trouble
7. Growing Pains
8. Family Ties
9. Silver Spoons
10. Amitabh Bhachchan (*Major* props to the first non desi to explain this one without a Google search).
And you? What TV shows were part of your formative years?
56 Responses to My Formative Years: Television Edition
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
-
Articles
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
-
Meta
Wow. WOW. You mentioned “Double Trouble” so YOU get major points. Although I liked the show much better when they were in Des Moines instead of the second season when they took off to NYC to live with their aunt. I had a thing for the more straight-edge one, actually. Weird…
“Remote Control” = awesome. “Inside Tina Yothers” FTW!
And #10 is easy. Amitabh Bhachchan played Carlton in “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” and earlier as Alfonso on “Silver Spoons.”
@shiny, Huh. I liked the NYC one. And, yeah. Those roles were in fact Amitabh’s lesser known television appearances.
I Love Lucy
Tonight Show with Jack Paar
The Flintstones
The Twilight Zone (1959-1965?)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Gunsmoke
Davy Crockett
Johnny Quest
Ed Sullivan Show
@Kiefer and Emo, Davy Crockett had a television show? Wow.
My feet itch.
@Avitable, F.Y.I.? Not as cool if someone else does it to *you* first.
@Faiqa, I fixed it on mine, so I also fixed it on yours. The message it says when you submit a reply has been corrected for grammar and spelling.
@Avitable, Thank you.
@Faiqa, And you’re a dork for noticing. But, no, thank you. Really.
@Avitable, Crap. Not @Faiqa. @Avitable. Damn. You’re so not going to let me hear the end of that.
@Faiqa, heh. That’s what you get for trying to be bitchy!
so, umm, my dad disconnected our cabletv when i was 8, and from then on all my siblings and i did was, uh, READ BOOKS. OBSESSIVELY. so much so that, in the years following, he would bemoan that supposedly ill-fated decision by sighing, ‘i’m starting to think all this reading is WORSE than watching tv all the time.’
so, i don’t really have much to add in terms of a list of my own, except, of course, tv shows/cartoons like The Cosby Show and Family Ties and Knight Rider and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man and estuff. and we were allowed to watch dad-approved videos like Karate Kid and Back to the Future over and overrrr and over.
also:
)
‘AMITABH BACHCHAN! AMITABH BACHCHAN!’
(i hope you saw Slumdog Millionaire. that part made me laugh my ass off for minutes on end. in a crowded theater. and i laugh hella loudly.
also#2:
highfive to Shiny’s comment re. amitabh bachbach, which also made me laugh
@yasmine, Haha, I loved that part of Slumdog, too.
Wow, the only one I can recognize is number 10…
I guess that means that these are my formative years.
@Girl/Woman, OK, wow. You suck.
“Family Ties” and “Facts of Life” – 2 of my favorites. Interesting list.
J.
@HoosierGirl, I spent the majority of my childhood crushing in Alex P. Keaton.
Great list! I know all of those shows… and approve of most of them. (And Shiny beat me to the answer to number 10! Crud.
@Sybil Law, Of course you know all of those shows… because we share in the awesomeness.
Charles in Charge; Alf; Facts of Life; Growing Pains; Saved by the Bell; Family Matters; Full House; Mickey Mouse Club; Kids Incorporated; You Can’t Do That On Television; Smurfs; Snorks; David the Gnome; Land of the Lost; Captain Planet; Double Dare;
Wow – I watched a lot of TV. AND if I had realized I was a republican when I was eight, I wouldn’t have been waking up at 5:00 a.m. to watch Captain freakin’ Planet. D’oh.
I watched most of your shows on late night re-runs. ::ducks::
A few of those were already in syndication though by the time I was old enough to appreciate them.
@Sheila (Charm School Reject), Here’s something to think about: I *was* a Republican when I was 8.
@Faiqa, I hear Alex P. Keaton pulled a lot of impressionable youths over to the bright side. I didn’t know what a Republican was when I was 8.
@Sheila (Charm School Reject), Alex P. Keaton was a hottie, but no, I became a Republican the year that Ronald Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter. I was 4. We’re a very political family.
@Faiqa, I had to get my politics on my own – and now I’m the one getting my parents into it. It’s really quite skewed and backwards but yay (!!!) for Ronald Reagan
And now for a little deformation…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-e3qGQ884
@SciFi Dad, Hahaha. Wait. Not. Cool.
Do I count as a non-desi for purposes of #10? Because Sholay was the 1st desi movie I ever watched many moons ago, and the husband still forces me to sing the Veeru parts of the motorcycle song.
As for my list, it would have to include Punky Brewster, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Fraggle Rock and The Wonder Years.
@TheGoriWife, I *knew* you were going to be the one to get #10!!
I’m with you on all but #10. But Martha Quinn wasn’t so much a show, was she?
@kapgar, She hosted segments, right?
Dukes of Hazzard
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Dallas
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Bionic Woman
Barney Miller
M*A*S*H
Any and all Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Shit like that.
@B.E. Earl, Welllcalm to Fahntahsy Island. I miss Ricardo Montalban. Sigh. I should have put that on my list. Oh, and Magnum P.I. I have no idea why *your* comment reminded me of that. I think it’s because you remind me of Tom Selleck? (sp?) Rawr.
@Faiqa, Wow, your hormones ARE out of whack, aren’t they?
@B.E. Earl, What?!! Tom was HOT.
@Faiqa, Yeah, but I remind you of him. Hence your hormones are out of whack. See?
Oh, good post. I loved Facts of Life and Different Strokes too, but didn’t like Different Strokes when Mrs. G left and I didn’t like Facts when they moved to Peakskill.
I also liked Alice, The Cosby Show, Designing Women, Fame, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Who’s the Boss, and Brady Bunch reruns. Clearly, too much TV!
@Kimberly, Oh yeah, I loved Who’s the Boss, too. And I watched all the other shows you mentioned. Too much TV?! And what were we supposed to do besides watch TV?! Read? Or play outside? Pffft!!! That would have made us communists.
OMG I think I’ve seen more people in this post / comments that know Double Trouble than I have met in my entire life. Nobody ever knows what I’m talking about when I mention it!
Mine would be:
Facts of Life
Silver Spoons
Family Ties
Little House on the Prairie
You Can’t Do That on Television
Double Trouble
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Three’s Company
@Breigh, You can’t do that on Television!! I completely forgot about that. I used to watch that, a lot, too.
Perfect Strangers. Don’t be ridiculous.
Now we are so happy we do the dance of joy.
And yes, I get Googled a lot because I once posted the whole Bibi Babka song to prove that I did, indeed, still know all the words.
@golfwidow, Oh, yeaaaah, we used to watch that all the time. Balky & Cousin Lahrry Applayton. It always freaks me out when I see Bronson Pichot (wasn’t that his name?) and he doesn’t have that accent.
I Googled #10 and still can’t explain it.
As for my shows:
- Fanfan Dédé
- Traboulidon
- Les 100 tours de Centour
- Les Oraliens
- Pop Citrouille
- Passe-Partout
- Youhou
- Bobino
- Sol et Gobelet
- Dukes of Hazzard
- Knight Rider
- Automan
- Growing Pains
- The Cosby Show
I’m sure I’m forgetting many, and I removed all the animated series from the list.
Oh, I loved Traboulidon!! Remember that episode where that guy steals the Jag and rampages through a nearby village and decimates next year’s corn crop… wait. Are we talking about the same show?
@Faiqa, Maaaaaybeee…
*Cosby Show
*Family Ties
*Growing Pains
*Punky Brewster
*Silver Spoons
*Mr. Belvedere
*Who’s the Boss?
*Full House
*Three’s Company
*The Newlywed Game
*Kate & Allie
*Charles in Charge
*The Hogan Family/Valerie’s Family
*Tic-Tac-Dough
*Classic Concentration
*The A-Team
*Sale of the Century
Also, I loved Double Trouble! And It’s Your Move which was also on the USA Network around the same time.
@Kate, Those were great shows, but I don’t remember “It’s Your Move”?
@Faiqa, Old school Jason Bateman! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It‘s_Your_Move
@Faiqa, You can take a look at my post from a year ago here: http://www.shinystakeout.com/2008/06/03/list-on-the-3s-shinys-top-7-jason-bateman-televisionfilm-roles/ Show lasted for a little bit less than half a season. Think of Jason Bateman’s Derek character from Silver Spoons in high school. And played by, well, Jason Bateman.
i used to love silver spoons….. erin grey.. yum!
The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Three’s Company, The Waltons, Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels…to name a few….
so many, but here’s a handful, in no particular order…
1) Barney Miller
Streets of San Francisco
2) Welcome Back, Kotter
3) Bionic Woman
4) Electra Woman and DynaGirl
5) Land of the Lost
6) Happy Days
7) The Brady Bunch (when they were first-run syndication)
9) M*A*S*H
10) Donnie and Marie, Sonny and Cher, etc variety shows
and my fave to watch these days, 1970s Match Game!
omg, also Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Little House on the Prairie!
Ahem.
1) Star Trek (the classic)
As much MTV as I could stand
2) Knight Rider
3) Doctor Who
4) A-Team
5) Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl
6) Wonder Woman
7) Facts of Life
9) You Can’t Do That On Television
10) TJ Hooker
@Coal Miner’s Granddaughter, Oh and? Buck Rogers.
All of these plus “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” and “What’s Happening?”
I can’t believe I forgot Welcome Back, Kotter, The Jeffersons and A-Team!!!