Emergency!

This was one of our favorite shows when my brother and I were kids. For Halloween one year my brother dressed up as a fireman with the Emergency helmet.

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.

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?

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.