Space. The final frontier. To go where no man has gone before. Sometimes I have the feeling that space is the one between my ears...inside my brain...to where no man has gone before. I don't know where these notions of mine come up from, but there are times I have an idea and just have to find out the results. It's Sunday morning and here I sit wishing their was something good on television for background noise. This is definitely the worst programming time out of the week. I started thinking about what I've seen recently and back through the years. I know there are some that don't remember as far back as I do; and there are others who have me beat and go all the way to when TV was something new. There are some who exist without viewing it and don't have time for watching shows. Most of us have watched television at least a little at some point in our life; some even becoming couch potatoes.
I can recall back to the mid-70's with influences from the 60's through my parents, as that's what they watched when they were younger. Pretty much everyone here can at least go back to the '80's. Compared to a lot of what's on today, the shows then seem so far away...all the way back in the 1900's. There are a few here who could tell you what life was like way before that picture tube came along. That's how long they can remember way back into the 1900's.
All the thousands of programs and millions of people who have appeared on television over all those years; they all come and go. Some don't even make it through an entire season anymore. Gather's own, Donny Osmond, can even attest to that with his recent nighttime game show on national television cancelled after what...two episodes? But he's investing his time wisely with his new release of old songs to continue promoting his jump-started career. Then, there are those shows and stars who have appeal and draw hold onto an audience for quite a lengthy run. It's not uncommon to see a program play for an entire decade or longer.
Bear with me as I change the channels with the knob by hand. I go back to the days before remote controls where invented. I started out on black and white, too. My mother's two youngest brothers in their late teens, pooled their money and bought their big sister a second hand TV in a big, blond cabinet for a wedding gift. There would be no color television as long as that one worked. It's true what they say about the craftsmanship of old products. That thing wouldn't die...and replacement parts could still be found. It wasn't until around 1980 before we finally got that color set. It was only because we moved into a house my parents bought and they wanted to start out with some new furnishings. That black and whites till worked and they kept it in the den. They sold it around the turn of the century...and it was still going strong.
Flipping back to the 60's, those shows were so simplistic...because life back then was what the programs reflected. It was a different time than it is now. The changes are drastic and easy to see. My parents preferred mostly wholesome things; mom, more for comedies, dad, for a little bang-bang shoot 'em up with westerns and cops and war movies. He also enjoyed country shows and anything with a good, old back home farm feeling for him. He usually controlled what was watched; she'd get an occassional favorite show in and we kids got to watch TV period...we should appreciate that fact alone. There are stravin' children over in Africa who don't even have a television to watch. Huh?
Green Acres, Gunsmoke, Hogan's Heroes, Andy Griffith, Dragnet, Wild Wild West, Gomer Pyle, My Three Sons, Bonanza, Beverly Hillbillies. Those were some of what he watched, not to mention a good four or five hours of old time, twangin', country-western music programs every Saturday. She got to watch Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, The Lucy Show and Carol Burnett. She'd sneak in Let's Make A Deal while he was at work...and maybe a few soap operas. We'd get to watch Twilight Zone; only because Rod Serling had a summer home across the lake and is supposedly buried in the area. Good reason to watch a show, dad...but it's a pretty good choice, hillbilly boy. Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color was a must for my sister and me. That was family entertainment at its best. And it was so vivid for us...watching it live, and in living color...on a damn black and white set. I kind of have memories of things like The Monkees, Batman, Bewitched, The Munsters, The Adams Family, Daktari, The Flying Nun, Soupy Sales, Family Affair, Dark Shadows; some of them from late night reruns on cable.
When it came the TV in the '70's, the pecking order remained the same. We always came last, but I did have a small portable in my room I'd be allowed to watch occassionally, like when a holiday special was on and dad absolutely refused to budge about watching one of his shows...a repeat...and it wouldn't even be one of his favorites. It was principal. My TV, I worked and paid for it, I'll watch what I want on it in my house. Go watch your own. You might know. They finally break down and get a color set...and I've got to go to my room and watch a portable black and white...not even get to use the big screen black and white in the den. We don't need to play that one and break it. Then why are we keeping it if we're never going to use it. Gotta keep it for an emergency...if the color set ever breaks down. He couldn't live without his television...gave him an escape from her.
M.A.S.H., S.W.A.T., Emergency, Columbo, The Fugitive, All In the Family, Baretta, Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, Barnaby Jones with that Hillbilly guy...what's he doin' on there? I don't remember much being on that caught mom's fancy; maybe Mary Tyler Moore. I think during that decade, she had enough of dad, too, and was getting some "me" time away from him keeping herself busy doing other things around the house. Though I wasn't into them, there was the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Modern technology was here to stay and just solidified the change. Charlie's Angels, the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Nann and the Professor, The Rookies, too. The Partridge Family, Battlestar Galactica, Good Times, Welcome Back, Kotter, Captain Kangaroo, Saturday Night Live, The Banana Splits, The Muppets, Sesame Street, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. There was the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour...and Donny Osmond teamed up with sister, Marie, back then...and was a hit. It also gave me the Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang specials.
I watched a little television in the earlier and later '80's. There was a gap of a few years in between I didn't have a TV to watch when I was out on my own. I relied on radio a lot then. I knew the channels were probably unchanged back at home, especially now it was just the two of them. He'd control the TV and she'd lay on the couch and fall asleep if she got bored with something he was watching. Hee-Haw, Mama's Fambly, The World Wrestling Federation, Benny Hill, Dukes of Hazzard, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Taxi, Sanford and Son, Wheel of Fortune, Joker's Wild, A Team, Fantasy Island, MacGyver, St. Elsewhere, Miami Vice, Hawaii Five-O, The $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, The Price Is Right, Card Sharks, The Cosby Show, Family Feud with Richard Dawson...it's that guy from Hogan's Heroes. What's he doing on here?
There were a few more innovations added for our viewing pleasure. The Simpsons, a cartoon, had become a big hit. The Super Mario Brothers craze hit and actually took some people away from watching television. More children's programming seemed to stand out. I addition to the old standard Sesame Street, there was Fraggle Rock, Zoom, The Electric Company, Punkie Brewster, Blossom, The Muppet Babies, Mister Rogers and his neighborhood, The Smurfs, Scooby Doo, The Care Bears, Pee Wee Herman and his pre-pervie Playhouse, Alvin and the Chipmunks came to life...in animation...from their musical success. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel had a whole show talking about what they thought about movies and people wanted to know which way the thumbs went. We wanted to dream what it would be like and lived the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. With Saturday Night Live a mainstay, other comedy ventures appeared; In Living Color, The Kids In the Hall and Second City Television along with Bob and Doug; the Mackenzie Brothers. Downtown Julie Brown made Club MTV a hit and Kasey Kasem brought America's Top 10 to TV and the Top 40 still over the radio air waves. The Gong Show had its run and even produced a couple American Idols back then.
My Charlie Brown specials continued to air, as did Disney. They have become a tradition in our lives and hopefully will go on forever. What's Happening, Fat Albert, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Steve Urkel and Family Matters, Dif'rent Strokes...Growing Pains, Night Court, Mork and Mindy, Alf, Married With Children, Saved By the Bell, Facts of Life, Incredible Hulk, Soap, Tales From the Crypt, 3's Company, Happy Days, Cheers, Who's the Boss, Full House, Golden Girls. The commercials were starting to become more creative and stick out influencing not only our eating habits but giving us new phrases we'd use. Where's the Beef? Help... I've fallen and I can't get up. Are you Herb? Do I look like a Herb and does this look like Burger King? Hey, Give it to Mikey. He won't eat it. He hates everything. Hey, Mikey! He likes it. Mikey likes it. That's Life. Time to make the doughnuts. What about Max Headroom pitching the New Coke and becoming a commercial character who ended up getting his own program, which was more successful that the product he was promoting became. Consumers forced Coke to go back to the original recipe for Coca Cola, though it's still not the same as it was before the improvement.
One thing I did notice was the longevity of some of the shows. I've mentioned programs that have aired one season...10, 20, 30 years. There's something to be said about the content of what those programs are based around. Most of them try to revolve around a theme of old fashioned, clean, family fun...a simpler time. Though they deal with modern issues and don't turn their head on the real world, they're still fairly wholesome and try to accentuate the positive and good there can still be found. In many instances, it's a dying art form with the insertion of today's world and what life is like now. With so many ways to now watch was created years ago, there's always access if someone wants to take a look back into time. I'll check out old shows on cable late at night. I've even watched movies from the 30's and 40's to see what it was my grandparents used to have for entertainment and the way they lived growing up.
Out of all the time I've been around, there's been television. In that time, to this very day, there are only a few memories that go back as far as I do that have always been a part of my TV viewing life. For a good 40 years, there are but a few programs that have withstood the test of times and remain with us still. Though not considered in the family prime time, The Tonight Show has been around forever at least from the 50's...and has evolved through several host changes. Three others stand out. Walt Disney, a man with so many fantasies in his mind, starting in the late 50's and the legacy of his dream comes true still with specials and movies to this day. As long as there are children; the child in all of us will remain. Everyone must have some kind of favorite Disney moment. The game show, Jeopardy, is on nightly giving the answers and see who can become champion by asking the most correct questions. It's all trivial but amazing what information some minds retain. I have categories I excel at and others where I don't stand a chance. Wouldn't mind testing my reflexes on that buzzer some day. Another fantasy turned real over the years is the space odessy, Star Trek. Many like to explore the possibilities of the beyond...and wonder how close things are to being true. Man now flies in space and has gone further than ever before. Some of their concepts weren't so far fetched. One version or another of the program must be airing somewhere 24/7.
Just as in life, through out TV viewing habits, we develop new friends and lose old ones as the years go by. They're cancelled and most fade away. A few go on to new ventures. Eventually, the further back you go; the more have there are who have already gone to that great test pattern in the sky. Even less remain still and are always there, but how long will they last? All good things must come to an end. Do they have the appeal to continue much longer? I'll take "Old Time TV Trivia" for $1,000, Alex. And the answer is...Leonard Nemoy and Mikey Mouse. What is "Spock Explores Pluto...before heading to Uranus next?"
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Comments: 28
I guessed by the car they were driving and the tacky dialog.
Nope, Mod Squad the movie..._1999.
I ran a catagory the other night on Jeopardy.
One was gotten wrong and one was unanswered.
The best part was that there were others watching.
I just love a stroked ego.
I was flipping channels and A&E had Murder She Wrote on. I was immediately transported back to my grandparents breakfast room on a Sunday night. (I think it was on Sundays) Anyway, my grandfather was reading as usual with his red pen to underline things nearby and my grandmother had the cardboard shoebox full of rollers and was rolling her hair for the night. I could even smell the Rocky Road Ice cream that came after the show! Wow, it was a nice warm and fuzzy feeling. Don't ever let anyone tell you that the little things and times don't count!
Back then everybody was waiting for "put title here" to come on because you only had 3 choices, The Big Three, ABC, CBS, NBC. Now with cable, and satellite, that personal connection is lost because there are so much to choose from.
Don't get me wrong I think cable is great, even if it did take me years before I decided to get it. I never was much of a couch potato so I figured why pay for something I most likely won't watch. Then I discovered BBC America and decided that was something I could sit down and spend some time watching. Trouble is nobody else in my circle seems to watch the same shows I do. I have no body to talk to about HEX, Robin Hood, Wire in the Blood. Nobody knows who Robson Green, or Jonas Armstrong are here in the states.
I guess I should start my own BBC AMERICA group here at Gather so see if I can find some BBCo'philes to chat with!
Good Old Antennas Pick Up Free HDTV
Buying an antenna for a HDTV seems unlikely but an indoor antenna can p/u a broadcast from about 20 miles and grab local HDTV signals. Outdoor antennas can receive signals from up to 70 miles away.
Some consumers are spending thousands of dollars on LCD or plasma TVs and hooking them up to $50 antennas that don't look much different from what grandpa had on top of his black-and-white picture tube.
They're not doing it for the nostalgia. Many tech geeks say that the local channels available from over-the-air HD signals are superior to what cable and satellite companies can offer because some compress the signal, which may degrade picture quality.
And the best part? Over-the-air HD is free.
"Eighty-year-old technology is being redesigned and rejiggered to deliver the best picture quality," said Richard Schneider, president of Antennas Direct. "It's an interesting irony."
Schneider started an assembly line in his garage and sold antennas out of the trunk of his car a few years ago. Now his Eureka, Mo.-based company has seven employees and did $1.4 million in sales last year. He expects sales to double this year.
"People thought I was nuts. They were laughing at me when I told them I was starting an antenna company," Schneider said.
Before cable and satellite existed, people relied on antennas to receive analog signals from local TV stations' broadcasting towers. Stations still send out analog signals, but most now transmit HD digital signals as well.
Consumers who can get a digital signal from an antenna will get an excellent picture, said Steve Wilson, principal analyst for consumer electronics at ABI Research, which provides companies with research on technology markets. But getting the signal depends on an antenna's distance from the broadcasting towers.
Schneider recommends indoor antennas only for customers within 25 miles of a station's broadcast tower. An outdoor antenna will grab a signal from up to 70 miles away as long as no mountains are in the way, he said.
The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade association of companies from Microsoft to LG, has a Web site www.antennaweb.org/ that tells how far an address is from broadcasting towers and will recommend what type of antenna to use.
Megan Pollock, spokeswoman for the group, said over-the-air HD signals provide a clear, crisp picture.
"When you're using an antenna to get an HD signal you will be able to receive true broadcast quality HD," Pollock said. "Some of the cable and satellite companies may choose to compress the HD signal."
Compression means that the companies remove some of the data from the digital signal, which reduces picture quality. This is done so that they can still have enough room to send hundreds of other channels through the same cable line or satellite transmission.
The difference is subjective, said Robert Mercer, spokesman for satellite company DirecTV, Inc.
"We believe the DirecTV HD signal is superior to any source, whether it's over-the-air or from your friendly neighborhood cable company," Mercer said.
Many people aren't aware that they can get HD over the airwaves, Wilson said. He estimates there are 10 million households with HDTVs and that less than 2 million of them use antennas. Overall, out of the 110 million households in the United States, 15 million use antennas.
Antenna prices range from $20 to $150 for indoor and outdoor versions. The many models of available indoor antennas look more like a fleet of spaceships than the rabbit ears of old.
One major difference with a digital over-the-air signal is it doesn't get snowy and fuzzy like the old analog signal. Instead, the picture will turn into tiny blocks and go black.
"You either get it or you don't," said Dale Cripps, founder and co-publisher of HDTV Magazine. "Some people can receive it with rabbit ears, it depends where you are."
Besides reception issues, the obvious downside of an antenna is that only local channels are available, meaning no ESPN, TNT or Discovery Channel.
That's why some consumers partner an antenna with cable or satellite.
Self-described TV fanatic Kevin Holtz, of suburban Cleveland, chose an antenna because he didn't want to pay his satellite provider extra for local broadcast channels.
Holtz, 30, can't get the signal from one local network or a public broadcasting station but said the rest of the stations come in clearer than they would through satellite.
"Over-the-air everything is perfect," Holtz said.
He lives with his brother and they use the $60 antenna for a 40-inch Sony LCD, which retails for about $3,000.
Those really interested in saving a buck and who have a little MacGyver in them could make their own antenna. Steve Mezick of Portland, Ore., created one out of cardboard and tinfoil.