Who Remembers? 10 Favorite Childhood TV Shows!

Growing up, I recall only one important thought when I woke up on the morning of a school day: a bowl of cereal and sitting before the television. It was ritual. Hey, first world kids need to destress before the “stress” of a school day. The best method is a bowl of Cookie Crisp and some TV therapy. The best school days ever, were those when it was snowing. One eye and ear on the television and the other ear on the radio. “C’mon snow! Keep coming. We need a blizzard!” That would mean my brother and I could stay in our underoos and watch TV all day. Epic.

In case you were wondering, Mike’s were Spiderman and mine were Superman. Mike is probably still under the illusion that Spiderman would win in a fight, but that’s just crazy talk. Duh.

6 million dollar man — *Steve Austin played by Lee Majors (Wikipedia)*

The other prime times to watch TV? After getting dropped off from school, which meant racing through the door, grabbing my mom’s homemade cucumber, tomato, onion insalata and plopping down in front of the TV. Saturday morning was perhaps the single best time all week. Mom would have to muscle us to get outdoors. Who doesn’t remember the classic mom line “You have to go outside and get some fresh air.”? How come mom’s didn’t understand that fresh air wasn’t a priority?! TV was!

Lastly, Saturday night was a GREAT time to watch.

Anyhow, here are ten television shows I recall and have fond memories of growing up. I have to stop at ten for practical reason, so this list by no stretch of the imagination is exhaustive. For your enjoyment, I have placed a video link within each header.

01. Bozo’s Circus/Bozo’s Big Top/Bozo the Clown
This franchised show was different depending upon where you grew up. Being franchised as opposed to syndicated meant that each regional market would have their own version. I don’t particularly recall whether “our” Bozo the Clown was franchised here in New Bedford, from Boston or elsewhere. Was it WLNE? Perhaps the re-runs were from other markets? I do remember how much I loved the show. Looking back, he was kind of creepy, but I didn’t think so when I as a kid.

02. Kung-Fu Theater
I wonder how many vases and televisions were smashed and how many fat lips were generated from this great show. Nowhere else on TV would you get a 10 minute long fight scene of epic proportions for something as simple as “Father sent me to get rice cakes.” You want rice cakes? Here, have a quivering palm and a tornado kick!

Men with long white hair in ponytails hiding edged weapons, running across water and leaping over 20′ walls seemed so normal. The classic dubbing of voices that never matched, and moving lips before and after the audio always led to a chuckle and had to be mimicked in fight scenes amongst brothers and friends in living rooms across the country.

03. Creature Double Feature
I don’t recall whether Creature Double Feature came before or after Kung-Fu Theater, but I think it was on the same channel WLVE-56 on Saturday afternoons. After building up a sweat kung-fuing it was time to settle down, grab some Ramen Noodles and a PBJ. We wanted to see how poor Japan would fare against some gargantuan monstrosity.

The Japanese must have been exhausted physically and economically having to constantly rebuild their cities every weekend after Mothra, Godzilla, Rodan or their ilk destroyed it. I was just overjoyed that they did rebuild it, so it could be destroyed again. We were so lucky that civilians in Japan had readily available cameras so that we American kids could enjoy the documentaries.

04. Hogan’s Heroes
Ah, stupid German soldiers getting outwitted by imprisoned Americans. Doesn’t sound like a good premise for a kid’s show, but we loved it. The over-the-top acting and general ineptitude from Sergeant Schultz made for great laughs. Bob Crane’s Colonel Hogan would make impossible to succeed solutions to the crew’s problems work, but just could never seem to succeed in escape. Thanks goodness, because the show would have ended! The bumbling, non-threatening Germans made it seem like it wouldn’t be so bad to be kept at a Luftwaffe stalag. Ah, to be a kid again.

05. Three Stooges
Perhaps my favorite show of all time. Maybe even the greatest show of all time period. I have tried unsuccessfully, time and again to get my daughter hooked. Fans love to discuss the best third stooge to circulate. Was it Shemp, Curly or Shemp II?

Their brand of physical humor and their potato like brains always led to stomach busting laughter. Schadenfroh never felt so good. Just saying the Three Stooges evokes the memorable lullaby sounding theme. In addition to the series, they made numerous movies, and many of the WWII themed films were particular treats. My personal favorite was “The Three Stooges Meet the Monsters.” There will never be a comic trio like the Three Stooges.

06. Courtship of Eddie’s Father
I just love this series theme, both the visual and aural aspects. I can vividly recall Eddie and his Father along the beach and the great soundtrack. “Don’t you know, you’re my best friend!” The father played by Bill Bixby, and son (Brandon Cruz) lived together because mom and wife, Helen had passed away. Little Eddie really wanted a mom, and made many attempts at trying to get his father to fall in love with any lady that entered the picture.

Mrs. Livingston played by Miyoshi Umeki, was the Japanese housekeeper and Nanny that would always clean up the mess, both literally and figuratively. Just a well written show.

07. Rhonda “Up All Night”
Rhonda Shear, hostess of “Up All Night” was probably my first crush. Or was it Heather Thomas in ‘The Fall Guy’? While actress and comedienne Caroline Schlitt originally hosted the Friday night show, Rhonda Shear and her…ahem…talents were all that mattered.

Comic Gilbert Gottfried would host the Saturday evening shows and was perfectly zany for tweens and teens. The show would centralize on some horrendous B Movie, sexploitation film or Cult Classic. Before or after commercial breaks the hostess would have some funny, sardonic, or witty commentary or even a skit.

08. Gilligan’s Island
Listen. Either you are a “Ginger” guy or a “Mary Anne” guy. I was (and still am) a Mary Anne guy. I was going to share my Fruit-Roll Up with you, but being a Ginger guy, you get NOTHING. This show started out in black & white before evolving into color.

The premise was that a group of people chartered a boat for a “three hour tour” somewhere off the Hawaiian islands. A tropical storm shipwrecks them on an unknown island and voila – we now have a hit TV show. There was a perfect blend of characters with opposing personalities to generate comedic conflict. The chemistry between Alan Hale’s “Skipper” and his “little buddy”, Bob Denver’s Gilligan provided most of the laughs. We also had millionaires Thurston Howell and his wife, the Professor, and the unheralded radio narrator. Who here doesn’t have the them song “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” playing in their head?

09. 6 Million Dollar Man
That slo-mo. The sound of bionic muscles contracting and expanding. “gggnn gnnnn gnnn” or something like that. If only I could get in an industrial accident or run over by a car and have my missing limbs replaced with bionic ones! I’d throw the football 90 yards, whip 200 mph fastballs, and toss bullies around like legos. I’d be the most popular kid in school. Every kid dreamed that he could be astronaut Steve Austin played by Lee Majors. Two bionic legs, a bionic arm and eye made one of TVs most memorable characters for me. “We can rebuild him…we have the technology.”

10. The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk series starring Bill Bixby (again) as Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, left an indelible mark on me. For one, Banner was an intelligent, affable, fellow with a secret. He was admired for his smarts and geniality, which I was picked on or taken advantage of – people would ask me to help them or allow them to copy my work. His secret was a monster inside. As a teen I was angry about a lot of things and wanted to rail out. Smashing people would be a good start!

I also felt that my nerdiness could be disguised or protected if I lifted weights and played sports. I felt a real affinity with both characters, “ego and id” if you will. The series was well acted, had a fantastic original story and the icing was the fair amount of suspense and concern that Bixby would get caught by Mr. McGee who suspected that Banner and the Hulk were the same. Remember, Banner could simply walk into any town and have jobs thrown at him? Sigh.

Do you remember these? Which others do you recall?