Posted on 03/28/2016 8:23:05 PM PDT by V K Lee
I gave up cable TV over 10 years ago and now watch with an antenna that looks like a closed laptop plugged into my HDTV screen. Brings in 32 channels incl a ton of retro TV and old movie stations. I’m watching some Dr. Who reruns from the 70’s.
The first season of Dennis the Menace with Jay North was about as good as a corny sitcom can get. The casting was perfect from Mr. Wilson to Margaret.
Jay North gives a very negative review of his time as a star but others like Jerry Mathers of Leave It to Beaver said their experience was very positive.
:-))
Look for his role in the 1947? The Mortal Storm. The movie seen just before BO’B was sworn into office the first time and the plot depicts exactly what is being seen at across our land now. Sad and FRIGHTENING~
With all this HIPAA/EHR/obamacare crap, you couldn’t have a show like Marcus Welby today.
Someone on FR posted the above link (well - probably the “home” link to free classic shows. The above goes to Petticoat-Junction.
Better now that I am older, I get more of the humor. Of course back then as a young boy I was more interested in Kate’s daughters than anything else. And it seemed that they were rarely the focus of the show. (Now I relate to “Joe” more!!)
My nine year-old daughter and my eleven year-old son watch Dobie Gillis, The Munsters, and Dennis the Menace on CDs. They absolutely love those shows.
Out here we never had the ability to even get cable. First, it was an antenna which hooked up to a Dallas provider called ‘Veu’ I believe that’s how it was spelled. Then Veu went by bye and a few years later we purchased a large satellite dish. We were able to get network feeds (saw X-Files a day before they were aired on Sunday night. We got HBO and Showtime, Canada stations no monthly fees needed all for free. Then the government stepped in along with HBO and Time Warner to basically shut down the industry. It was at this time when congress critters came courting us dish owners. “VOTE FOR ME and I’ll save this industry” Still have that dish, but no receiver to get the transponders or proper satellite ;no device to move the dish. We then bought Direct TV dish and receiver. We were satisfied with that, but the receiver became obsolete the networks being shown were nothing to write home about (costs increased) so we said bye bye to Direct TV Like you, we now find that we’ve more than enough to view and the choices are just as great as spending boo-coo bucks.
I’m a millennial, but I’m familiar with most of the old tv shows, thanks to my homeschooling parents. I not only watched the Beverley Hillbillies, I even watched the Real McCoys. I’ve seen Lucy a few hundred times. Sid Caesar. Jackie Gleason.
Mom made me watch Sandy Becker performing “Hambone.” (She said, “You have GOT to see that.” She was right.)
And a lot of Zacherle (who, I believe, is still around and close to a hundred years old). Bandstand.
Mickey Mouse club and every old Disney flick there is.
Oddly, I never got to see much of the Odd Couple, never saw any Star Trek, no Father Knows Best, no Man from Uncle. But I’ve seen Topper with Leo G. Carroll, and a couple of My Little Margies. I was warned not to become morally feeble like Beaver Cleaver, who’d do anything anyone suggested.
Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, Alfred Hitchcock, Thriller.
Abbott and Costello. Red Skelton.
The better episodes of Bewitched. What’s My Line?
No Flipper. No Ben Casey. No Dragnet yet. No Arthur Godfrey or Lawrence Welk. Very little Gilligan’s Island, but quite a bit of Dobie Gillis.
I know what it was but I’ve never watched Laugh-In.
I have seen Froggy the Gremlin. I have seen Michigan J. Frog, and most of the cartoon characters voiced by Mel Blanc, as well as his various appearances on Jack Benny.
They also provided me with radio shows — Jean Shepherd, Eddie Lawrence (Old Philosopher), radio drama, and films going back to the silent era.
I am thankful to have seen most of it, but it does spoil a person for entertainment. I can’t sit through an hour of current tv shows. I rarely go to a movie. The music I hear at work is awful.
Don’t get me started on the music!
Never heard of Retro TV but will definitely check it out. There’s still a lot of gold to be mined.
I’m impressed :-)) You can remember original content? Lucky you. LOL sometimes it is found that I can’t even remember my own phone number. Seriously, they do cut a lot from a movie. DH has been looking to see a movie watched years ago. Something to do with Atlantis and the culture found there..the men turned into animals or some such. When the movie was at last shown again, it was so chopped it was incoherent and he was very disappointed. Wish I could remember the name or even who was in it. Right now he is serching for The Black Sleep with Tor Johnson. When he at last finds it, more than likely it will be just as chopped.
Newhart...witch in the basement? call Larry, Darryl and Darryl. Hilarious!
Never thought of it that way, but you are right! And the two could do any and everything it seemed. They changed jobs more than a woman changes clothes. One year the family Don’t remember when nor where we were traveling, but do remember one family vacation our journey was done on part of Route 66. Memories of childhood.
You’ve failed to mention ‘The Dinah Shore Show’ See the USA in your Chevrolet! Or Ralph Edwards in This is your life. Enjoy -The stations have a lot to offer for us mature citizens. ;-))
Wow, thanks!
Who makes your antennae? I did the same thing but can't get hardly any stations.
I have the DVD series of the Bob Newhart Show. My gawd, the way he treated his wife, Suzanne Pleshette, is cringeworthy to watch today. And the reason you didn’t see sex and violence on sitcoms is, well, they were sitcoms. If you wanted violence, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rebel, and Gunsmoke had plenty.
As for sex, the Depression-era Hayes Commission drove sex in the movies underground, which bled over into television. Married couples slept in separate twin beds and if they were in the same bed, each person had to have one foot on the floor. If hilariously unrealistic depictions of normal life were too much to handle, we can only be thankful the censors lightened up in the sixties.
It has been argued that the idyllic family life of Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, et al, drove the sharp increase in divorce rates as young people of the time thought if their marriage wasn’t like the ones on TV, they were in a bad marriage. They bought into the hype.
Thank you for the link. There was a site coming from Europe which showed so many different TV shows. Then the big change over at Google happened and sites got new URLS or were merged with other entities. This site had the old Columbo, Absolutely Fabulous -AB FAB, Moonlighting, just to name a few. It also had episodes of First Edition which was an unusual show. That happened to be the show I was attempting to view at the time. Watched part of an episode (a Christmas episode) found I couldn’t keep the eyes open any longer and said I’ll finish watching this in the morning. Went to bed. Woke the next day to finish watching - Bam! to the moon Alice! The site had grown dark. and it never reappeared again. Still have no idea how that story on that episode ended.
Thanks again! Really appreciate your taking the time.
Never saw the Dinah Shore show, though I’m familiar with her hit songs. I’ve seen just one Ralph Edwards (with Laurel and Hardy).
I missed nearly all the westerns and only saw a couple of episodes of the Fugitive.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Ed Sullivan show (except in Bye Bye Birdie).
Give me time! I’ll get to them.
Did catch a few Dr. Who episodes in the time. Was more into Are You Being Served, Waiting For God and Red Dwarf. Dr Who was OK but not a favorite. With all that is being offered just for the taking, why would anyone pay to be able to view. Technology can be a good thing :-))
Look for Ed Sullivan when he introduced The Beatles their first time in America. LOL he must have had the highest ratings of any show that evening! Did manage to get Dad to allow us to watch it, and he was nice enough to forfeit his western (or football) that evening. Believe that would have been Maverick or Bonanza or another of the many westerns seen at that time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.