3 Years of Television

[digitS']

Okay, so there's been 50 or 60 years . . . But, there has been 3 years of "Pioneers of Television."

Hey, I've never been too much of a teevee fan (he says convincing only himself ). This series is made by some of those knobby-kneed kids who sat around on the floor in front of the tube in the '50's, and were fascinated! No, they weren't the well-situated-in-life kid who could make some weekend blowout special. More like the kid you wouldn't trust to hold the "klicker" even if they had been around during that era!

So these misfits, I mean, creative souls, have made a series about what they were watching 40 or 50 years ago. Of course, only PBS would air it . I've ignored a number of them, I won't give any names since somebody must have liked those shows! (And, might even have found him/herself to TEG .) What I really enjoyed was "Funny Ladies." I was so pleased that they had Phyllis Diller on talking about being a funny lady . They had a lot of these funny ladies talking admiringly and insightfully about the other funny ladies. That made it especially interesting.

This morning, it was "The Television Miniseries." Oh please, if I have trouble sitting thru 1 hour, like I'm going to sit thru night-after-night. Okay, I did manage to see a little of those miniseries back, 30 or so years ago . It is revealing --- seeing kind of where we came from and how different or the same, we see things these days. The Thorn Birds, Roots - What entertained and entertains us . . . .


Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

OMG! Thorn Birds - my wife was spellbound by that series and I couldn't stand it. It think she was enamored by the star of the show (whoever that was).

Also Roots - I don't think she missed any of that either.

I'm not a TV kind of guy and never have been. When our kids were 7 and 5 our TV broke down and we didn't get another for 9 years.

 

[digitS']

Nine years! By that time, teevee for those teenagers must have been like a hyperactivity treatment!

Yeah, I did about the same with the oldest. It must have been 3 years he didn't have a tv. Of course, I had my stereo . . . and, I finally convinced myself that I should be able to watch and learn from those painting shows. Yeah, Art!

Never picked up a brush . . .

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Our tv broke when I was 12 and dad never replaced it. I had no idea what the kids at school were talking about half the time.
Then I got married eleven years later and we were tv-less for another 12 years. When our oldest was 3 or 4 we bought a monitor and a vcr so we could watch tapes. We eventually slid into owning a real television...but I like to think we are selective about the crap we watch.

 

[digitS']

Dobie Gillis is back on! I can't believe that even a PBS documentary would mention Dobie Gillis. And, they haven't.

I like seeing Maynard (Bob Denver) again but won't be watching it. I really feel like I'm stepping back in history. Gillis' Grocery looks like the place Holly had at the end of the street when we moved into town. Holly was a man. Big tall guy with curly hair who would lean over the counter at the back of the store. They don't put counters at the back of the store these days.

But anyway, the miniseries phenomena took the country by storm in the '70's. Where did they go? It was either that we were exploring our national character or they were just soap operas. I wasn't quite sure then but it helped me to realize that teevee was bringing us novels . . . Yeah, that should have been evident except to someone who was always at least 10 years behind on his reading of popular literature. I did read Roots and, Shogun.

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

We had tv when I was a kid. Ours at first was the oldest and cheapesr rv. Looking over at my propane fridge. It was as tall as the fridge part, 2 thirds of it, and half again as wide. No. The picture itself was not big. Rounded rectangle. It's vertical and horizontal holds went out a lot and dad was buying tubes for it every few months. All of us kids sat around it, me always closest.

 

[baymule]

My DH loves his TV. He clutches the remote while he naps and sometimes changes the channel in his sleep! Our old dinosaur TV went ka-poot 2 years ago and he almost went nuts for a week until i got him another one. I met out DD and DSIL at Sam's Club. DSIL was so cute, he had printed out info on the different models, keeping a budget in mind. I blew that out of the water. We came back home with a 60" Sharp Aquos LED TV with all the bells and whistles. Also got him Bose speakers and a Blu-Ray. All that needed a new TV stand, yup, got that too. It has one of those fake flame electric fireplace heaters in it. He never asks for anything much, so I went all out. While he watches his beloved idiot box, I am on TEG with ya'll.

 

[digitS']

Well, I am just back from Tuscany with Burt Wolf .

Other than the Pioneers of Television at 5am, that's all I've watched today. Oh, I caught the last few minutes of Rick Steves in Scotland before Burt came on.

Two more garden seed orders went out! Hours of struggling with that over 2 days with a few minutes to wrap it up today .

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

OMG! Thorn Birds - my wife was spellbound by that series and I couldn't stand it. It think she was enamored by the star of the show (whoever that was).

But the book was so-o-o-o-o-o-o much better than the ninnyseries! And that un-hero was Richard Chamberlain (AKA Dr. Kildare) supposedly a real heart throb actor in his time.

Television? Nope, never saw one and I was born the year television started.

Okay, the truth, we have a slowly dying older set with plans (mine) for a big, flat-screen when it dies. I prefer the radio during the day, but DH quits work at 3:00 and sits down to watch. I tend to watch in the evening while waiting for the computer to change screens. But, to my credit everything I do watch is straight off the air. No dish or cable bill here.

Yup! Thank goodness we get PBS. That is our primary viewing station.

Love, Smart Red

 

[Nyboy]

I live alone the tv is always on for background noise. I even have a small one n the bathroom (so I know the days weather when getting dressed)