Wednesday
May202009
My Formative Years: Television Edition
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 03:40PM
Really?
You're not actually expecting depth from me this month, are you?
I present you with ...
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?
Reader Comments (56)
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."
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
My feet itch.
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 ;)
Wow, the only one I can recognize is number 10...
I guess that means that these are my formative years.
"Family Ties" and "Facts of Life" - 2 of my favorites. Interesting list.
J.
@shiny, Huh. I liked the NYC one. And, yeah. Those roles were in fact Amitabh's lesser known television appearances.
@Kiefer and Emo, Davy Crockett had a television show? Wow. ;)
@Avitable, F.Y.I.? Not as cool if someone else does it to *you* first.
@yasmine, Haha, I loved that part of Slumdog, too.
@Girl/Woman, OK, wow. You suck. :)
@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. :)
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.
And now for a little deformation...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-e3qGQ884
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.
I'm with you on all but #10. But Martha Quinn wasn't so much a show, was she?
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.
@Sybil Law, Of course you know all of those shows... because we share in the awesomeness.
@Sheila (Charm School Reject), Here's something to think about: I *was* a Republican when I was 8.
@SciFi Dad, Hahaha. Wait. Not. Cool.
@TheGoriWife, I *knew* you were going to be the one to get #10!! :)
@kapgar, She hosted segments, right?
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!
@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.
@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
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.
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. ;-)
@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.
@Faiqa, Wow, your hormones ARE out of whack, aren't they? ;)
@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.
@Breigh, You can't do that on Television!! I completely forgot about that. I used to watch that, a lot, too.
@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.
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?
*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.
@Avitable, Thank you.
@Faiqa, And you're a dork for noticing. But, no, thank you. Really.
@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.
@Avitable, Crap. Not @Faiqa. @Avitable. Damn. You're so not going to let me hear the end of that.
@B.E. Earl, What?!! Tom was HOT.
@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 :)
@Faiqa, heh. That's what you get for trying to be bitchy!
@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/" rel="nofollow">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.
@Faiqa, Maaaaaybeee... ;-)
@Faiqa, Yeah, but I remind you of him. Hence your hormones are out of whack. See? ;)
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....