Procrastinating

I couldn't tell you how I ended up on this tangent, but it was kind of fun. I'm wondering how many of you might remember these TV shows in their first-run incarnations? I admit that some of them I only knew about but never actually saw until they were in reruns much, much later. And a lot of that has to do with what your parents watch when you're a kid. Well, it did when I was a kid because no one had a second TV!

How about this one --
The New People (remember this one about a group of young college students who crash on an island in the south Pacific? I thought was so cool and never missed. Good thing since it wasn't good enough to even be considered for reruns)
-or-
Maya (Jay North and Sajid Kahn)
-or-
Daktari (Clarence the Cross-eyed lion. And how do you think it was to have a prime-time chimp named Judy on air when you're living through your tweens as Judy?)
-or-
Coronet Blue (with Frank Converse. Another one that was not destined for reruns)

The Soaps - mom was pretty much a CBS watcher --
I remember when soaps were 15 minutes long. Like Secret Storm, Love of Life, Edge of Night.
Edge of Night and As the World Turns were first to go 30 min. Then it became popular to be an hour long.
Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Dark Shadows
Guiding Light (took a break during college years, but still watching this one. Got Gene to watching it, too, although he would say, "I watched your soap," as if I had ownership of it. When I'd try to get him to admit he watched it for himself, he'd keep to his story that if something happened to the VCR or the reception was bad and it didn't come in, then he could tell me what happened. HaHa. Yes, back before DVR's and webcasts. Times change fast.)

The Westerns --
Rawhide (Trail Boss Gill Favor, ramrod Rowdy Yates played by Clint Eastwood, Wishbone, "Hey Soos", Mushy)
Bonanza (We got home from church in time to watch this Sunday night show.)
Cheyenne (started with a shot of the Warner Bro lot)
Gunsmoke (I thought it was so cool when Mom told me that Marshall Dillon's brother was on Mission Impossible! They did look alike!)
Have Gun - Will Travel
Laramie (Robert Fuller & Spring Byington)
Big Valley
Death Valley Days (with host Ronald Reagan, then Robert Taylor. With commercials for 20 Mule Team Borax, Borateem and Boraxo. You know, borax is still great to boost your detergent when you wash clothes. You should try it.)
Branded

And the kid stuff --
The Rifleman
My Friend Flicka
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
Lassie
Sky King (Uncle Sky, Penny, Clipper and the Songbird)
CBS Children's Film Festival
Dennis the Menace (don't remember being very crazy about this one, however, I did send off ceral box-tops and coins to recieve a cup shaped like cartoon Dennis's head wearing his cowboy hat and came with a coordinating bowl for breakfast dining. No I don't have them anymore.)










Captain Kangaroo
H.R. Pufnstuf
Leave It To Beaver (when I see reruns, I wonder why they bother. It's so stupid.)
The Roy Rogers Show (I'm such a dope. I remember knowing I was watching the very last episode. I stood in the den singing Happy Trails with Roy and Dale during the end credits, tears falling down my cheeks. I didn't know I was watching reruns. They quit filming in 1957. heh heh.)

And the shows now called sit-coms I guess --
-The Real McCoys (Grandpa Amos McCoy-Walter Brennan, Luke, Kate, Hassie, Little Luke. The way they looked and the tasks they did during the show reminded me of my farming cousins.)
-Andy Griffith (We watched it first-run, but this is one of my favorites of all times in reruns. I know a lot about Mayberry. At one time, I had a nice picture of Andy, Opie and Barney that hung in my kitchen. I have an Aunt Bea cookbook. I also had a factory job one time and got a radio that played TV sound. I listened to old Andy Griffiths every day for several years there. Andy Griffith reminds me a lot of my dad. That wavy hair and the easy country style delivery of folksy stories and down-home sayings.)
-Hazel (working for Mr. Baxter)
-December Bride (with Spring Byington. And it had a spin off, Pete and Gladys. Pete played by Harry Morgan who became M.A.S.H.'s Colonel Sherman T. Potter)

Funny Shows --
Jack Benny
Make Room for Daddy/Danny Thomas Show
Father Knows Best
I Love Lucy
The Governor and J.J.
Here Come the Brides (with Bobby Sherman and David Soul. This title was one that helped me grasp the grammatical correctness of matching noun/verb-plural/singular. It's not Here Comes the Brides! An aha-moment in my little brain when I saw the title in the TV guide fall preview edition.
My Mother the Car
My Three Sons
Bewitched (mostly seen in reruns for me)
I Dream of Jeannie
Green Acres, Petticoat Junction (watched these two regularly)
Munsters (they lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane but I can't remember anything that's really important!)
Get Smart (What's not to love when Mel Brooks was on the writing team?)
Gilligan's Island
Hogan's Heroes

And other shows/variety shows --
Art Linkletter's House party (Kids say the Darndest Things)
Candid Camera (began as a radio show. Can you imagine 'Candid Microphone'?)
Red Skelton show ("Good night and God Bless")
Carol Burnett Show
Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin, Danny Kaye, Mike Douglas, Garry Moore, Merv Griffin, Jim Nabors, Jimmy Dean, Judy Garland and other variety shows. Like Perry Como and the "Fifty nifty united nations and thirteen American col-o-nies" song. And "Drive the U.S.A. in a Chev-ro-let".
Lawrence Welk (The Lennon Sisters)
Ted Mack's Amateur Hour
Hee Haw
Hullabaloo, American Bandstand

Then there's a group of shows I only saw in reruns and clips because they came on Sunday and Wednesday nights, church nights. Like Ed Sullivan, Disney, Lost In Space, and Beverly Hillbillies. And The Wizard of Oz by the way.

Crime and Solving, Defending and Prosecuting Crime --The Mod Squad (loved this one. I need to find the pencil drawing of Peggy Lipton I did when I was about 13 and see if it is still as recognizable as I think it is. Was pretty good for an amateur I thought. If I find it, I'll have to scan it in and show you.)
Mission Impossible (Barbara Bain and Martin Landau. Liked them in their space series, too, later on. I thought it was so cool that they were married in real life.)
Hawaiian Eye (with Robert Conrad, Connie Stevens as Cricket, Troy Donahue)
Mannix
Judd, for the Defense (I can't read this title without hearing it sung to the tune of "Hey, Jude" which is what my friend, Karen, and I did. "Hey, Judd ... for the de-fense. Here's your next case ... go out and wi-i-i-n it.")
Perry Mason
Peter Gunn (mostly the Mancini theme song)
Hawaii Five-O (my folks liked to tell me that Danno, James MacArthur, as in "Book him Danno" was a relation of General MacArthur of WWII fame which doesn't appear to be accurate, however, Helen Hayes was his adoptive mother)
77 Sunset Strip (don't think I ever watched this but have image of the guy combing his hair. And in our record stack of 45's was "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb")
Superman (and that lumpy suit)

The medical shows --
Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby MD, Ben Casey, Julia

Game shows -
Password ( I love this one. And love to play my home edition! Hope the new TV revival of the show doesn't disappoint. Premiers tonight!)
I've Got a Secret (Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Betsy Palmer, Bess Myerson. Those wacky kids!)
What's My Line? (with Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and guest panelists like Steve "is it bigger than a breadbox?" Allen)
Queen for a Day with Jack Bailey

Eventually registering on my radar as I got older --
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (Uncle Walter)
& NBC's Chet Huntley and David Brinkley
Dick Cavett Show

You can tell that I pretty much stopped at the end of the 1960's decade here. Wasn't long after that when I went off to college and was busy living life and didn't watch TV for a while. Or even sit and write about it as if for a blog. Heh heh.

I did finally figure out what got me started on this. I found THIS LINK for 1950/60 TV shows while trying to figure out what night the fights came on.

Who knows. I might feel the need to procrastinate some day and do another entry covering my preferred viewing for the early 1970's.

I'll leave you with this. What is the connection between the following two images?



and