May 16: TV shows from my childhood

My dad tells me that when I was a toddler, I was addicted to game shows. While other kids were jonesing to Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighbourhood, I was getting my jollies watching Price is Right, Family feud, and Jokers Wild. Bob Barker was my very first role model. I used to dream about hosting my own TV game show, holding super skinny microphones and reminding everyone to get their pets spayed or neutered.

I'm also a proctologist
I'm also a proctologist


There was a time when our evenings consisted of one-and-a-half hours of PBS, also known as the Public Broadcasting Service. We'd start with Sesame Street, go into Mister Rogers Neighbourhood and end with the Electric Company.

Mister Rogers was boring because he was sandwiched between a show that featured lots of cool puppets and a show with Spiderman and rock music. All Freddy boy had going for him were his land of make believe, his cardigans, and his awful singing voice.

That's not very nice, neighbour
That's not very nice, neighbour


But then it was time for us to go to school and this meant an end to PBS and hello Saturday morning cartoons.

This was the best Saturday morning cartoon ever:



Superfriends featured a cornucopia of DC comics superheroes, but the regulars were Superman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman (who was there so little girls would watch it.) Sometimes lesser known superheroes would show up, like Green Lantern and Flash. Sometimes, non-Caucasian superheroes would get involved because there just weren't enough Latino kids tuning into ABC on Saturday mornings. I'll tell you what - the Sarcee nation sure started watching Superfriends after the first appearance of Apache Chief.

My super power is I can grow to 20 times my size in less than a second. Rita MacNeil had the same ability
My super power is I can grow to 20 times my size in less than a second. Rita MacNeil had the same ability


Superfriends was pretty stupid when you realized that every other superhero was just Superman minus stuff.

Superman - ability to fly - superhuman strength - heat vision - Xray vision = Flash.

Superman - all superpowers = Batman

Superman - all superpowers + magic ring + domino mask = Green Lantern

Superman - penis = Wonder Woman

And so on.

And then there's this cat here

Yep... he had broccoli for lunch
Yep... he had broccoli for lunch


That's Slim Goodbody. He used to do spots on TV where he would teach kids about anatomy.

Oh yes... Gen X'ers had fun watching TV.

School House Rock
Willie Survive
Misfits of Science (starring a very young Courtney Cox)
Whiz Kids
Voyagers (cancelled when lead actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally shot himself to death)
Ripples
What will they think of next (COOLEST THEME MUSIC EVER. CHECK IT OUT: 39 second mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuE_Jrohnbc)
Scooter Computer and Mister Chips
People's Court
Hunter
Mike Hammer

O yeah!

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