Extra Credit: How much TV did you watch when you were a kid? A lot? A little?
Pardon me while I answer the extra credit first.
I watched a LOT of TV when I was a kid. I'm not even going to try to justify this. I just did. Some of my earliest memories (and stories my Mom has told me) revolve around Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. It's hard for me to look back at all of that TV without my nostalgic rose-tinted glasses on, but I'll give it a shot.
For the purpose of this entry, I am going to completely skip over cartoons. I loved Smurfs, Snorks, He-Man, She-Ra, Jem (who is, after all, truly truly truly outrageous), Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, and tons more I'm sure I'm temporarily blanking out on. Aside from clips of the Smurfs on "I Love the 80's," I haven't seen any of these cartoons in ages and therefore remember them as masterpieces and not just poorly-drawn 30-minute commercials for cool toys.
embarrassing side note: As a kid, I knew there was a difference between cartoons and live action. Cartoons were people dressed up in plastic suits. I was probably older than I should have been when I finally learned about animation.
I have two particular live-action shows that I have, in the past year, dropped into the "bad" category. 
The first is Fraggle Rock. As a kid, I loved Fraggle Rock. I loved it so much that last year I dropped the entire first season into my NetFlix queue, thinking I'd enjoy hours of Uncle Traveling Matt, the Doozers, and the Trash Heap. I didn't even make it through the first two episodes on the first DVD. Ugh! They broke into song at least three times an episode, and the songs weren't even good! I also found myself cringing every time they busted up one of those cool structures the Doozers built.
The second show I have learned to loathe is Full House. I never thought that the Olsen twins were cute. I couldn't figure out how they got the gig when there must have been dozens of other identical twins in Hollywood with stage mothers-in-waiting. Even so, that was one of my original "must see" TV shows. Now that Full House is on Nick at Night, I find myself unable to sit through an episode. Something about Bob Saget screams "creepy old man" to me, and I hate watching him interact with those little girls.
Sadly, I think most people out there would argue that my taste in television as a kid (even when you throw in the "new" Mickey Mouse Club, Blossom, Kids Incorporated, etc.) was better than it is now. I know Mr. ParkHopper would probably rather watch a Full House episode than an episode of any of my Bravo guilty pleasures, Kathy Griffin, Top Chef, or Project Runway!
6 comments:
Ultraman & H.R. Pufnstuf! I loved them both and now wonder why.
Oh I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to put a canceled Japanese superhero on American morning TV but they were a genius. I was hooked and so was Golf Guy and all our friends. Just like Godzilla, Ultraman fought all kinds of villains played by guys in really bad monster suits.
H.R. Pufnstuf was about a boy named Jimmy who was somehow transported to Living Island where, well, everything was alive; trees, flutes, clocks, candles, mushrooms, etc. It was a freaky costume/puppet show that now that I think about it was probably based on some hippies bad acid trip.
Punky Brewster! I remember you loving her! But the one that boggled my mind the most was Saved By The Bell! I'd bet that even now, you know all those rapid-fire words to that opening song! I bet you're singing it in your head right now ... but it won't get stuck, I promise! Because by the time you finish this note, you'll be singing the song from the Gary Shandling show! I remember you singing that one too! And you knew all of ITS words as well! Oh! And lest we forget ... when you were 4-ish, you knew all the words to The Greatest American Hero! Believe it or not, I'm walking on air, I never thought I could feel so free ee ee! OMG! You really DID watch a lot of TV! And apparently I helped you!
HA! The Greatest American Hero" theme is "Believe It or Not". I know that because I had to look it up last night. I'm under orders from Golf Guy to download it to the MP3 player today. I mentioned this post to him last night and we got to talking about old tv shows. He loved that one!
I had a prof in Grad School that looked like a Fraggel Rock!
I think I was already too old when Fraggle Rock came out. And I never did get into Full House. Bob Saget is far funnier than they ever let him be on that show.
Kids Incorporated - one of the best! I'm going to have to research that one now. You Can't Do That on Television was a favorite of mine when it first came out. Mister Wizard, Dukes, MacGyver, GAH, Knight Rider, Muppet Show, Mister Rogers, Sesame St, the weird guy that used to draw space stuff and had puppets, the Bloodhound Gang on 321 Contact, Spiderman movies on our local station which is now wb, spiderman cartoon, spiderman on The Electric Company, SuperFriends, sorry not supposed to mention cartoons...oh those were the days. I'm a huge muppets fan still at age 33, but I never got into Fraggle Rock - I think I was a little too old as well or something.
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