Our Living Room- 1970s

 

coffee table 1969

1970

Coffee table

Fabric for deer pillow

deer pillow

Barbara's painting 

1971

handmade pillow and blanket

wall hanging and clock

lamp and end table

1972

blue couch at Christmas

Brown chair- my brother and me

1974

small black and white tv

TV cabinet with record player; Panasonic radio

TV cabinet-doors open

1975

Bookcase and Collier's Encyclopedia set

Knick-knacks

Tray set

1976

curtains

1977

Stripe Couch

1978

snack trays

crystal wine glasses

Knick-knacks

1979

Stereo-with 8 track

different view of bookcase

                                                                                                                                                                       

                                   

June 9, 2015- Dreams

Why was I ever thrilled about writing about my vivid dreams?  They all seem rather ridiculous to me now. Well, not really, for a small part of me still does think that they are fun and entertaining. No one else would except for my best friend Sharon though. She has told me that she liked the ones that I have sent to her via email.

   My dreams and also my music often have been a source of great comfort to me, especially when I am feeling super stressed. Of course, I will always be ashamed that I was really pleased that Duran Duran starred in many of them.

   Those aren’t the only dreams that I enjoyed. There were multiple ones of Bon Jovi, “Supernatural”, tennis stars, and “Doctor Who”. Other music stars showed up in them, like Sting in an alien invasion one. My family and/or friends, doggies, and classmates would sometimes be a part of these and other storylines.

   The settings are often familiar and close, naturally, like my hometown and surrounding area. Sometimes it has been at my former grade school/church.

   I had a few each of the TV shows “CHiPs”, and “The Six Million Dollar Man” as well. I met the stars of both shows at autograph shows in a couple of these then later this actually happened which was cool.

   I have pretty much given up on my ridiculous idea of making a science fiction story based on my dreams. This would involve my lead character being in alien holodeck programs of them. Both she and the alien who teleports her there feel like total outsiders.

    I know that I would probably have to change names of the famous people, song titles, and more in this; I just don’t have the talent to do that.

   Amy seemed to have little faith that my attempts would be successful. I picked up on her doubts when she suggested that I should try writing a different story. But this is the only one that I was truly interested in doing.

   I used to have a bit more creativity and imagination but that seems to be disappearing now, more than likely never to return. My dreams haven’t been staying in my memory much lately either. I feel like giving up on what once was an enjoyable hobby/project to me.

   I can’t believe that I was able to actually expand on my dreams at one point. How did I ever get 5- 7 pages out of some of these?

    I was never overly descriptive in them, such as giving details of the setting and describing the characters though. I wish that I could have been.

   I thought about posting some of my Duran Duran dreams to my Tumblr page but I highly doubt that I will get any interest and/or likes for these. I remember posting a few of them to the dream section of the DD fan site in 2009; I don’t think that I got any comments about these then.

 

 

80s TV Shows and Crushes

Mike and I were recently talking about the 1980’s NBC Tuesday night’s line up of “The A-Team”, “Riptide”, and “Remington Steele” that we used to enjoy watching.

   I had a little crush on the stars of two of those shows, Pierce Brosnan and Perry King. I wrote a fan letter to the latter once. I got a postcard with his picture on it and a stamped signature in return. He and Tracey Gold are the only stars that I’ve ever done this for.

    Thursday night’s CBS lineup was my other favorite –“Magnum P.I.” and “Simon & Simon”. I liked Tom Selleck a lot in the 1980s. I still have the two posters of him from back then.

    The 1984 Team Volleyball Captain one is messed up though because I foolishly cut across the top part of it. There was a rip in one corner from when I tried taking that sticky stuff that we used to use to hang stuff up off of it.

   I wish that I hadn’t taken apart the” Magnum P.I.” 1984 calendar. Mike lost the one page that I let him have. I might still have the “Riptide” poster. It’s kind of strange that I kept that.

    I definitely have the Don Mattingly one and the scrapbook that has 8x10’s, articles and his cards in it. I wish that I had kept the 6 Yankees yearbooks from the 80s too. My brother used to tease me so much about that crush, esp. when we were listening to or watching the games. This was so embarrassing.

Muppets Stuff 2

The towel was originally mom's but she gave it to me by the end of the 1980s. It was hardly ever used so it looks like new. I got the Miss Piggy and Kermit dolls as a Christmas gift in 1981. I have a picture of me holding them on a post about that year's holiday. I have such great memories of watching The Muppet Show with my brother. Mom enjoyed it too!

8th Grade Dance - 1983

The theme for our 8th grade dance at St. John's in 1983 was the television show M*A*S*H. I can't remember what month this took place in but I'm pretty sure it was after the big series finale episode of that programme. I was into M*A*S*H back then but really don't care for it anymore. My brother does though - he has the DVDs of all the seasons. All of our parents did a very good job of decorating the gym/auditorium for this dance. My main memory of it is not a nice one. A boy did ask me to dance but that was only because his friends dared him to. I overheard this and told that boy no. I am glad that my mom did take pictures of this event despite that upsetting memory.

Scrapbook Stuff 1

I was looking through one of my many scrapbooks the other day and seeing this made me both happy and sad. I miss our sunshine spaniel. This is my favourite scrapbook because it has mostly spaniels in it. I have another one with other doggies like golden retrievers. My brother says that I have too many scrapbooks. I had more stuff in them but over the years got rid of some of this. I was thinking of throwing out some more like from the TV ones. I would never throw out any of my animal pictures and articles though. Other scrapbooks that I have - about 4 tennis, classic actors, 70's - 90's TV, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, James Franco, British TV, Don Mattingly, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Travel, Concerts and Events, personal and more also. I use the 1 , 2 or 3 inch binders and put sheet protector pages in them. Maybe some people might think that doing this is kind of teenagish but I enjoy it.

Halloween 1976

I was looking at the sales flyers last Thursday and saw Halloween candy in them already. It might've even been in the ones from the week before. Does it seem like the Halloween stuff is out even earlier this year than last year? When I was a kid I liked this holiday but I haven't really enjoyed it in a very long time. My brother still does. He likes giving out the candy. I'm just glad when the day is over so I don't have to hear all the knocking at the door. That sounds so mean.

Our favourite Halloween was 1976. Mark was dressed up as a fireman. He had on his Emergency! helmet. That was one of our favourite 70's shows. I was an angel. This was my costume of choice three times. In the pictures we are trick or treating at our grandmother next door's house and also our neighbours Sandy and Rob. She used to help me with my math homework- fractions and percentages.

2 Favourites 80's TV shows

My brother and I loved the CBS thursday night line up of Magnum, P.I. and Simon & Simon. Knot's Landing was on afterwards but we only watched that for 2 or 3 years. I saw some reruns of Magnum a few years ago and it was okay but not as good as when we first watched them. I find that to be true of many of my old favourites. I'm not sure why.

I thouught of Magnum today as I was reading the review for the new Hawaii Five - O in the paper. The critics seem to like it. My brother enjoyed the original. He'd watch it sometimes. I probably saw a few episodes but I don't really remember it. My memories are of Magnum's Hawaii. There was once a crossover episode of this and Simon & Simon.

My cousin Janet was in the Navy and was stationed out there. My aunt bought me a Hawaiian shirt as a souvenier. I wish that I had kept it. I still have the bookmark that Janet got me though. Hawaii is definitely on my list of U.S. destinations that I'd love to travel to.

I did have a crush on Tom Selleck back then. I kind of had a little crush on both Jameson Parker and Gerald McRaney. I still have the two Selleck posters somewhere in my basement. I got this 8x10 sometime in the 90's and also still have my 80's Selleck scrapbook stuff. I only kept a couple of Simon & Simon things in it like this photo from a magazine though. I wish that I hadn't gotten rid of the rest of it.

EastEnders/My VCR Screw-up

My brother and I have been watching this British soap opera off and on since the mid 80s. I do regret giving up on it a few times. I didn't see it when I was living with my aunt for a year and in Pittsburgh for a few months either. It was on a PBS station at midnight and I probably could've tried figuring out how to use my aunt's VCR . It was foolish not to do so.

The episodes here are so far behind, like 7 years. It wasn't always this way. In the beginning it was only 3 - 6 months. They increased the amount of episodes each week over there - I'm pretty sure it went from 2 to 3 then 4. That's only part of the reason it fell behind. PBS pledging and the fact that it went off the one PBS station and wasn't picked up by another for a while.

I would be watching my tape of it right now. It used to be on at 10:oo pm but then it went to midnight which is too late for me to stay up for so I tape it. I put the tape on at 8:30 this morning only to find shows from other stations on it. Unfortunately my VCR capabilities aren't what they used to be before our stupid cable company made it so you had to get the digital converter box. I can no longer tape one thing while watching another so if I forget to change the channel it will tape what's on that. We can't afford DVR so I'm stuck with this system. I am usually very careful to check that the right channel is on. It's unforgivable that I screwed up not just one week but 2 weeks in a row.

I don't even see much of a difference between the picture quality of digital and the way that it used to be - is that called analog. I can't do the multiple channel tapings either. I used to be so good at taping stuff which is what makes my many screw ups of the past few years even more upsetting. I can't remember how long ago we had to get that darn box. Without it we'd only be getting the basic channels. The rip off cable company first made it so you'd need the box for certain cable channels then kept increasing the amount of those channels until finally you need it for all. I could go on and on about this subject but wasn't this post supposed to be mainly about my show?

I have screwed up taping it in the past, like by setting up the wrong times or days like with other shows. I really hate missing any of it especially when there's a storyline that we are really interested in on. The death of the kind of cute Jamie got cut off because I didn't set it for the right ending time. I got to see part of it on You Tube. We like the Kat and Alfie storyline. My brother thinks that I have a crush on Alfie but I don't. Just because he thinks that Kat is hot doesn't mean that I like any of the guys on there. There have been a few kind of cute ones.

I have some books about the show and was also in a fan club based out of NYC for a few years. I would get the Walford Gazette fan newspaper 4 times a year. It wasn't in the budget anymore but I wish that it could've been. I really don't watch American soaps anymore. I used to in the late 70s, the 80s and a couple of different times in the 90s. ABC ones - All My Children, One Life to Live, Ryans Hope and General Hospital - just in the 90s for the latter. I just can't get into the American soaps anymore, not even when James Franco was on GH. I did try watching it again mainly because of him. We do enjoy EastEnders. I just hope that I don't mess up the taping of it again next week.

Northern Exposure

This was one of my favourite shows from the 90's. My mother saw some episodes and liked it too. I had a little bit of a crush on Rob Morrow and John Corbett. I would debate in my head who did I like more - the latter would often win out. I had a John Corbett poster that was only on my wall for a couple of months. I had a calendar one year that I cut some of the pictures out of for my scrapbook but eventually I threw them away. My brother got me the mug and I got a street sign - Cicely Alaska. Sometimes I wished that the characters and place were real and that I could take a trip there.

I also have some 8x10 photos of this show still in my scrapbook. This is one of them. I have the book which has an episode guide but only of the first 3 seasons. I didn't care for the last season that much because Rob Morrow was not in it. I saw some reruns of it on A&E when they still had good shows on that channel.

Favourite Game Shows

My brother and I loved watching game shows when we were kids. Sometimes we'd visit grandma next door and watch a couple of them with her. We couldn't wait for holidays and summertime so we could see them.
1. The Price Is Right - We still watch this and miss Bob Barker
2. Password - all versions
3. The Pyramid - all versions
4. Card Sharks
5. The Joker's Wild
6. Tic Tac Dough
7. Family Feud - mostly the Richard Dawson years
8. Let's Make A Deal
9. Sale of the Century
10. Press Your Luck
11. Scrabble
12. High Rollers
13. To Tell The Truth
14. Match Game - all versions
15. Hollywood Squares
16. The Gong Show - cheesy but good
17. Name That Tune
18. Wheel of Fortune - Some of the prizes in the early years were cheesy. We still watch it sometimes- Mark more than me.

TV 1976

I found this Scholastic Book Club paperback at a flea market in the mid-90s. I think that I paid $1.00 for it. They picked the following for the top ten stars of that year-

- the Good Times kids

- Tony Curtis as McCoy - don't remember that show

- Swiss Family Robinson

- Six Million Dollar Man - Lee Majors

- Larry Linville - M*A*S*H

- Bruce Fairbairn - The Rookies

- Randolph Mantooth - Emergency! I had a little crush on him back then.

- Freddie Prinze - Chico & The Man

- Little House on the Prarie - Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson

- Marcia Wallace - The Bob Newhart Show

Who would you pick as your top stars of that time ?

Commercials part 3

Celebrities and other icons

- 7-Up - Never had it, never will (caffine) Not sure of the actor's name but he was in the Bond film Live and Let Die. I actually saw him in person at a ChillerTheatre show once.
- Miller Lite - Tastes great v. Less filling. I mentioned this before but left out some of the stars that my brother reminded me of - John Madden and Dick Butkus. I mispelled Bob Uecker's name too. Our favourite one is "It's the creature" when Rodney Dangerfield comes out of the woods and everyone is around the campfire. Billy Martin and Bubba Smith too.
- Mastercard International - So worldly, so welcome - Pierce Brosnan
- Dry Idea - Never let them see you sweat. Robert Woods from the soap opera One Life to Live.
-Carvel - Tom Carvel. Fudgie the Whale, Cookie Puss, Cookie O' Puss, Tom Turkey, Wicky the Witch.
-9 Lives cat food - Morris. I had a T- shirt with him on it in the mid 70's.
- Reggie Jackson - Reggie-vision - Panasonic. I remember his candy bar too.
- Woodsey the Owl - Give a hoot, don't pollute.
- Smokey the Bear - Only you can prevent forest fires.
- McGruff the crime prevention dog - Take a bite out of crime.
- Aamco car care center - James Brolin. Double A - beep, beep - MCO
- Australian tourism ad - Paul Hogan(Crocodile Dundee) "We'll put another shrimp on the barbee for you."
- The claymation California raisins
- Quaker Oats - Wilford Brimley - "It's the right thing to do"
- Snuggle bear - I heard that Shari Lewis (Lambchop) used to do the voice.
- Orville Reddenbacher and his grandson in the popcorn ads
- Starkist - Charlie Tuna - "Sorry, Charlie"

Commercials - Part 2

I was looking through my marble notebook of memories that I wrote in the mid 90's and saw a whole section with commercials. I should go onto You Tube and see if any of them are on it. These are some with celebrities.

- Colt 45 beer- Billy Dee Williams. Don't let the smooth taste fool you.
- American Express - Karl Malden. Don't leave home without it.
- FTD Florist - Merlin Olsen
- Polaroid- James Garner and Mariette Hartley
- Super Polident Denture Cream - Martha Raye. For big mouths like me.
- Maxwell House coffee- Margaret Hamilton- the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz
- Coronet paper towels and napkins- Rosemary Clooney. Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet.
- Kodak - Michael Landon
- Mauna Lau Macadamia nuts - John Hillerman
- The Money Store - Phil Rizzuto
- Mr. Coffee - Joe DiMaggio
- Coke - Mean Joe Green
- Wesson Oil - Florence Henderson
- Post Grape Nuts Cereal - John Denver
- Ritz crackers- Andy Griffith
- Crystal Light drink mix- Linda Evans. I believe in Crystal Light because I believe in me.
- Playtex Cross Your Heart Bras - Jane Russell
- Glad Cinch Sack trash bags - Tom Bosley
- Wheat Thins - Sandy Duncan
- Ace Hardware - John Madden. Ace is the place
- Jello - Bill Cosby
- Hertz - O. J. Simpson
- Lipton tea - Don Meredith
- Alpo dog food - Lorne Green
- Mrs. Butterworth syrup - Kim Fields
- Fabrege Organic shampoo - Heather Locklear
- Calvin Klein jeans - Brooke Sheilds

I have some more but I'll save them for next time. Sometimes I don't trust my memory though but I think I'm right about all these.

Commercials

I don't like most commercials from nowadays, especially the car ones which are very annoying. I have vivid memories of the ones from my childhood. These seemed so much better. I have even watched some of them on You Tube.

There was Mr Whipple for Charmin- "Please don't squeeze the Charmin", the Dunkin' Donuts guy- "Time to make the doughnuts.", Rosie for Bounty paper towels, Madge the Palmolive lady and Messy Marvin for Hershey's Syrup.

I have a marble notebook in which I wrote down many of my favorites. I have to dig that out of my storage container one day and check it out. My brother and I liked the Miller Lite ones with Billy Martin, other sports stars and Rodney Dangerfield. I'm pretty sure it was this brand of beer.

I should be watching tennis now but my mind is wandering. I probably will beat myself up about not paying attention to it later especially because it is hardly on TV unless you have Tennis Channel. Now I've got the Connect Four commercial in my head- "Pretty sneaky, sis". Why is it that stuff like this from my childhood sticks in my brain so well but I can't remember much about the past 20 years?

TV - Again

My brother reminded me about how we used to watch the Fat Albert cartoon. I then was remembering the Christmas and Halloween specials that they had. Haven't seen those in many years. Other cartoons came to mind. I'm pretty sure that there was a Batman one. They had a weird sidekick- Batmite? We were really into Battle of the Planets. I used to talk to my Uncle about the dreams that I had about it. We watched Danger Mouse sometimes and Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse- pretty sure that's what it was called, sometimes I doubt my memory.

Mom and I liked watching Murder She Wrote and now we enjoy the novels. We watched the Golden Girls and Empty Nest sometimes too. We saw more episodes of the former in reruns years later.

Mark and I watched Batman, Get Smart, F Troop and Hogan's Heroes. He liked Hawaii Five - O and SWAT but I never really got into them. I would watch those cheesy Godzilla movies with him and Yankees games in the 80s. My first big crush was on Mattingly. Would I have been into the team if it wasn't for him? I gave up on them by 1991 though.

My boyfriend Mike got me into some sci-fi shows - Sliders, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Babylon 5. I didn't start watching Star Trek - The Next Generation until a few years after it started but then I caught the rest in reruns. I saw Roswell all in reruns too. I didn't start watching Smallville until the third season but saw the reruns on Family Channel.

It's kind of embarrasing that my brother and I watched Hercules and Xena sometimes. I know that it shouldn't be. Mike watched Andromeda and for the first season I watched it too but then gave up on it. Mark used to tease me about Kevin Sorbo sometimes - I didn't even have a crush on the guy.

I must be a bit strange because I was never interested in watching MTV. I did watch the Thriller video back when it first premiered. Even my mother watched that. I caught clips of music videos on VH1 in the 90s on shows like The 100 Greatest Songs of The 80s. My brother bought me Duran Duran's Greatest DVD for Christmas in 2005 so I finally saw their videos then.

We used to enjoy some shows on A&E. Cold Case Files, American Justice, Investigative Reports, City Confidential, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Dalziel and Pascoe and Biography. Now all the good stuff that used to be on that station is on Biography Channel which we can't afford.

I enjoy British shows like the 3 mysteries mentioned in the above paragraph, Inspector Morse, Miss Marple, Prime Suspect, Life On Mars, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Are Your Being Served, Goodnight Sweetheart, As Time Goes By, Allo Allo and All Creatures Great and Small.

I remember one Sunday night when we were kids we were trying to enjoy The Wonderful World of Disney but Grandma next-door's friend Sally was over and was talking loudly during most of it. We were so annoyed. I still hate being interrupted during my shows. My brother does this often but whenever I ask him please not to he gets annoyed and makes it seem like my shows aren't important but if we ever interrupt him during something he's watching he gets very angry.
I try not to do this because I'm a pretty considerate person. I wish that he'd do the same for us.

I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I even named my cocker spaniel after her and used her friend Willow's name as her middle name. Of course, I watched Angel too. I had a bit of a crush on David Boreanaz. I now see him in Bones- no, that's not the reason that I started watching it. I gave up on it half way through the first season though and picked it up again somewhere in the second. Luckily the library has this DVD so I was able to catch what I missed. I saw the first 2 seasons of The Closer this way too.

I still remember the Channel 7 Eyewitness News team from the 80s. Kaity Tong and Ernie Anastos. Roz Abrams came later that decade. Storm Field did the weather then Sam Champion. Spencer Christian did sports. There was Mr Food, Roger Grimsby, Bill Beutel and Joel Seigel.

Sometimes on PBS we would see Jack Horkheimer- Star Hustler. I definitely remember it from around the time of Haley's Comet. Was that 85 or 86? I looked him up on You Tube- he's the Star Gazer now. It was funny watching some of these old clips.

My favourite show now is Supernatural. I used to like Heroes alot but not as much after the first season. I didn't see it from the beginning and caught half of the episodes in reruns. My favourite character is Hiro who can teleport through time and space, an ability I'd love to have. I like Peter too and not only because he is pretty cute.

We used to love watching the winter olympics from 1980 - 1992. I enjoyed the figure skating, bobsled, luge and skiing. We saw Brian Boitano, Katerina Witt and others at a show at MSG in the early 90's. We probably were watching the 1976 olympics also but I only remember liking Dorothy Hamill and getting a haircut like hers a few times. I definitely watched the 1984 summer olympics in LA. I enjoyed the swimming and diving events.

I have a few other things on my mind about this subject but I've said enough for today plus this is my brother's computer and he seems annoyed that I've been on it for so long. Wish that I could afford one of my own.

Even More TV

I was thinking about the shows that my parents, brother and I used to watch together sometimes. Hee-Haw, The Mandrell Sisters, Sonny and Cher, the Bob Hope specials, The Dating Game, The Gong Show, The Newlywed Game, Match Game, Let's Make A Deal, Bowling For Dollars, professional bowling, The Carol Burnett Show and Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous- my grandma would be with us sometimes during that one and her and Dad would complain about the stars. My brother and I watched Entertainment Tonight during the 80s. Don't really like those type shows anymore.

Mom and I liked Murder She Wrote, Hart to Hart and Benson. Sometimes I'd watch Soap with her. Our babysitter Donna liked Starsky and Hutch and Chips. Mark and I definitely liked the latter. We saw Erik Estrada at one of those autograph signing shows. I sometimes watched The Twilight Zone with him. They always had marathons of that during certain holidays.

There were shows that we didn't watch regularly, just sometimes. What's Happening, Alice, Charlie's Angels, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Vegas, Laverne and Shirley, Dance Fever and Solid Gold. I think that we saw some of Battle of The Network Stars. We liked Barney Miller. We watched that one more often than these. I don't think it was all the time.

Mom told me that we used to watch Captain Kangaroo but I don't really remember that. We watched The Electric Company but only really remember the Letter Man part of it. There was The Magic Garden also and The Land of The Lost. We loved The Muppet Show. I have this vague memory of a cartoon- I think it was called Fonzie and the Happy Days Gang. I just remembered Flash Gordon the other day when Mark was talking about that cheesy movie. I can hear the I'm Just a Bill song from Schoolhouse Rock playing in my head now.

NBC had something that taught life lessons between cartoons on Saturday mornings. I think that it was called And That's One To Grow On. Stars of that Network like Michael J. Fox and Mr T. were in them.

I don't think that we ever watched these shows in first run but just in reruns sometimes- The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show and Mary Tyler Moore. We watched Police Squad - I think that there were only like 6 or 7 episodes. I watched It's A Living, Bosom Buddies, Murphy Brown and sometimes Kate and Allie.

Some why did we watch that shows- Hotel, Head of the Class, Too Close For Comfort, Charles In Charge, Saved By The Bell, Home Improvement and Roseanne. I guess at the time they were okay. I could say this about some of the other shows that I mentioned in this post and my previous TV ones too, I suppose.

There was a show called In Search Of hosted by Leonard Nimoy. I remember the Big Foot, UFOs and The Loch Ness Monster episodes especially. In the NY/NJ are ABC had Day of Disaster hosted by Joel Seigel. The Hindenburg and this bridge that was shaking and fell down are what I mostly remember about that.We liked This Old House- the Bob Vila years too.

We did watch soap operas. All My Children in the 80s and mid 90s when Sarah Michelle Gellar was on it. We saw some of the stars outside the studio in the mid- 80s. Michael E. Knight, Julia Barr, the ones who played Myra, Sloane, Cliff and Travis. I'm pretty sure that the one who plays Sonny on General Hospital was Nicco on here and we saw him too. We also watched One Life to Live in the mid 80s- early 90s and General Hospital in the early and mid 90s or whenever Ricky Martin and the Ned and Lois storyline was in this.

We didn't watch that many mini-series. The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Celebrity, V, V- The Final Battle and I saw the Thornbirds but not until 1989. I just remembered that there was V - The Series that we watched, not sure if it was all the time.

It sure seems as if we watched alot of television when we were kids. I'm sure there were more sometimes shows but none come to mind now and even if they did I've said more than enough in this post. Much less TV in the 90s- Northern Exposure, The X Files, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Sliders. Other Sci-fi favs- Star Trek- The Next Generation, Voyager and Quantum Leap. More on that another time. Time for my coffee break now.

More TV

My brother was talking about Battlestar Galactica yesterday, not the new one but the cheesy one from the 70s. I did used to watch this and Buck Rogers with him back then. He likes the former more. We liked watching Star Trek together too- he was more into it than I was. I remember when it was on at 6:00 on Saturdays and we would watch this after Mission Impossible at 5:00.

We would watch some of the old shows with our parents. The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, Leave It to Beaver, The Munsters and The Honeymooners. Sometimes we'd watch the Addams Family but I always liked The Munsters more. Now I'm not really into any of these classic shows.

Why did we ever watch Gilligan's Island- Gilligan is so annoying. We liked The Brady Bunch then, don't know if I'd want to watch it now though. Definitely wouldn't watch Three's Company or The Facts of Life. I guess at the time we were into that sort of show. We did watch Little House on the Prarie but I liked the books much better.

Mom used to tell people a story about me that really embarrased me. She said that when I was a little girl that sometimes I used to dance around during the opening of I Dream of Jeannie trying to imitate how the cartoon image of her did so. We watched Bewitched also but I always liked the former better. I really did not care for Darren #2 and Tabitha.

Dad, Mark and I used to watch wrestling in the 80s. I remember many of the wrestlers- The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Jessie "The Body" Ventura, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Hillbilly Jim, George "The Animal" Steel, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Andre The Giant and more. Captain Lou the manager just died last year. I can't believe that I used to be into this. Dad even had a record with the stars of wrestling singing. I remember Hillbilly Jim doing Don't Go Messin' With a Country Boy.

We liked Happy Days but mostly just the first couple of years before it became mainly The Fonzie show. A relative got me a necklace with him on the charm. My grade school classmate said that she liked it. I still have the charm but not the chain.

I love Hanna Barbera cartoons, especially Scooby Doo. Other favourites- Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo, Hong Kong Phooey, Ricochet Rabbit, Auggie Doggie and Dastardly and Muttley. We watched The Jetsons and The Flinstones but didn't care for them as much. Same with Tom and Jerry. Jonny Quest was good too. We weren't as into Bugs and the Warner Brothers cartoons. Loved The Pink Panther, Spiderman and Friends, The Incredible Hulk, Godzilla (with Godzuki), The Superfriends and the Hall of Justice and The Fantastic Four as well

In the 80's we did watch The Smurfs. I'm kind of embarrased to admit that. Sometimes I wished that Gargamel would capture them though which is pretty mean. I liked the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. We watched Inspector Gadget and He-Man also. I think there were a couple of others but I can't remember them right now.

Were The Blue Falcon and Space Ghost Hanna Barbera? Probably. We did watch Rocky and Bullwinkle sometimes but I don't remember much about that. I did have a sweatshirt with them on it when I was a little girl. Nowadays I do have T-Shirts with Scooby Doo and the Pink Panther on them. I don't care that Stacey and Clinton on What Not to Wear say that this is childish and you shouldn't be wearing such shirts.

I think that I forgot to mention The Family Feud on my list of favourite game shows yesterday. A friend of ours had that board game and we'd play it sometimes. Now I'm thinking about the toys and games that I had in my childhood. I still have some of them but not many. That's a topic for another day, however. I've said enough for today.

70's and 80's TV

My memories of most things from the 70s and 80s are much more clear than those from the past 2 decades- the 90s are particularly hazy. It's kind of strange that I remember the TV schedule of the shows that I watched in the 80s.

- Monday- Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Newhart, Designing Women.
- Tuesday- The A Team, Riptide, Remington Steele.
- Wednesday- The Fall Guy, Dynasty
- Thursday- Magnum P. I., Simon and Simon, Knots Landing.
- Friday- The Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider.
- Saturday- The Love Boat, Fantasy Island.

I know that a few of those shows were also on in the late 70s- The Dukes and the 2 Saturday ones. My brother liked The Incredible Hulk which was also on Fridays but I can't remember if it was before or after The Dukes on CBS. I watched it with him. He liked some of my shows such as Magnum. I only watched Dynasty and Knots Landing for a few years.

There were also some shows that nowadays I think to myself "Why did we ever watch that?" Not to put anyone who likes them down, I'm just saying that I don't really get why I was into them. I'm sure that some people would say this about some of my shows. These include Growing Pains, Who's The Boss, Mr Belvedere and Family Ties.

I'm pretty sure that Matt Houston was on Fridays as well. It seems like I watched alot of TV back then. I did still get good grades in school despite this. I was an avid reader also. I didn't really belong to any clubs or have much of a social life though.

Favourite 70s shows- Emergency!, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Rockford Files, Quincy, Columbo and The Jeffersons. I know that some of these also went into the 80s. There's others but I can't think straight now- kind of tired. I no longer like M*A*S*H though. My brother has been watching the DVDs lately and I go to my room to get away from it. My 8th grade dance theme was that show.

We loved watching game shows also. The Price Is Right, Hollywood Squares, Password, Password Plus, Super Password, all versions of The Pyramid, Sale of the Century, The Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, Name That Tune, Card Sharks, High Rollers, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Scrabble, Press Your Luck and To Tell The Truth.

Our cable company used to give us The Game Show Network in our package but now you have to pay extra for this. It was funny watching the old The Price Is Right episodes sometimes. My Grandma took a trip to California in 1978 to visit her nephew and was in the audience of that show which I thought was so cool. We didn't see her on it though.

I'm not overly nostalgic about the shows that we used to watch. I'm liking the shows that I watch now. I'm not stuck in a time warp like my Dad seems to be. He likes mostly the stuff from the 50s and 60s. I think that he does watch The Simpsons sometimes which seems kind of odd. He likes the old Superman. I like Smallville. My brother and I crack up because he likes Lawrence Welk- no offense to fans of that show.

Seeing stars dream

September 2005-
Mom, Dad, Mark and I were at one of those events where stars sign autographs. There were alot of them there in many rooms in this place. We all went our seperate ways but I regretted not staying with mom. I was feeling anxious being by myself and even moreso when I couldn't find any of my family. I can only remember about a dozen stars that I saw. The 3 from The Dukes of Hazzard- Tom Wopat, John Schneider and Catherine Bach; The Hardy Boys- Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson; the 2 girls from Too Close For Comfort and the 3 A Team stars- Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz and Mr. T. Rick Springfield also was there. It was weird that I was actually talking to Shaun. I wasn't really that into that show. I didn't see that many episodes. He saw that I looked upset and asked me if I was okay. I told him that I was just anxious and upset that I couldn't find my family. I thanked him for his concern. Why did my aunt think that I had a crush on him when I was a kid and gave me a poster of him. I was relieved when I finally found my family. Mark actually met Dwight Schultz and those 2 TCFC girls at Chiller Theatre shows and got their autographs. So part of this dream did come true this past weekend because I saw John Schneider. That seems kind of surreal though.