I'm that way with Laugh In. It was hilarious then. Now, it just seems lame. On the other hand, I bought the whole Hogan's Heroes series and have watched them all several times. I still laugh out loud. Get Smart was already mentioned. Loved that one. M.A.S.H. was great for the relationships they had. I don't think anyone mentioned the Dick Van Dyke Show yet. Buddy and his insults were a hoot.
All the above plus Death Valley Days (20 Mule team Borax) Dark Shadows The Wackiest Ship in the Army McHale's Navy Dragnet Bonus points for anyone that remembers . . . . The Bowery Boys
I just enjoy history of all kinds and types. Including revisiting old TV shows and old movies. I could sit for hours watching the history channel. As I get older, I find myself wanting to go back and look at things, remember how they were when I was a kid, or young man. Maybe I need to find myself a 1968 Dodge Dart.
Yeah it's funny how time passes, and you change. We used to get all stoked to watch Survivor, what were we thinking, lol.
There's a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out in fights, There's a traffic jam in Harlem that's backed up to Jackson Heights. There's a scout troop lost a child, Khrushchev's due at Idlewild, "Car 54, Where Are You."
I never want to forget my past, or my roots, or all the struggles my parents went through. When you think back, it was all so primitive. For many years they never had a phone, or a TV or a washing machine. When they finally did get a phone it was a "party line." When you pick it up you would hear somebody else talking. I really enjoy visiting historical places. I hope we never forget our past. Technology is great and all... But I never want to forget how things were. Look at all the dinosaur bones they are still unearthing all these years later. Pretty amazing.
We didn't have a party line, but the phone number was BR3-49. It was black, rotary dial of course. Later we upgraded to a fancy dark green phone, touch tone. Wow. TV didn't have a remote. I was the remote, per Dad's channel change requests. I remember going to the Safeway grocery store to purchase new vacuum tubes for it from the vacuum tube supply case. We also played "wolfman" with 8 other neighborhood kids until 9pm at night all over the neighborhood without a worry or care. We'd also sit on the front porch and talk to neighbors until after dark and catch fireflies. Oops, thread drift. Sorry.
That's great! Drift this thread wherever you want to go. TV tubes! Now I remember those. Dad and I would walk down to the corner thrifty's store, and test the tubes on some kind of tube tester thing. And that old TV lasted for about 30 years. And me and the other neighborhood boys had a baseball diamond marked off in the middle of the street. Traffic was very light back then, we could play all day and hardly see a car. But I do recall us breaking a couple of windows here and there. RUN!! I wish I would have saved those old rotary black phones. And later on we also had a green touchtone, too. I did save a couple of the "slimline" touchtone phones. The ones that went on the bedroom nightstand. Air-conditioning? That was unheard of with my dad! He had the same house for 60 years, and never did have AC installed. Not even a portable unit. Man, it was sweltering. And he never got AC in his car either. Back then it was optional. Just give him a three on the tree, and a simple AM radio and he was happy. He drove his 1965 Chevy pickup for 40 years.
How many parties were on your line? While most old folks remember 2 party lines, I grew on an 8 party line, not by choice but by local capacity limits. Parents weren't able to get a private line until I was out of college. I still have mine (beige, not black), acquired when we still had to rent from the phone company, but sold to me later. And it is still connected in one room, the only land phone that still works when the power goes out.
I know several people who refuse to give up their landlines. Power goes out, no cell service? I was a little kid when we had the party line, so I don't know how many people were on there. I got a thrill just calling the "time operator", a recording.... General Telephone time is... 12 pm." If I was rich, I'd like to have a house full of antique furniture and other antique gadgets. But the TV would need to be modern. There are so many things I wish I had kept. Old clock radios, old phonograph, transistor radios, old phones, etc. My dad built his own radio, wrapping copper wire around a cardboard tube, added a few diodes, and a cheap mono headphone. I couldn't believe that thing worked.
Only two months ago, did I stop using the old beige trim line phone as a backup. It was the only one that worked in a power outage. Don't need it with VOIP. I grew up in hot OK summers with water cooled window units. They did remarkable well. The we later moved to a huge attic fan, which also worked well unless it rained. Then we got our first refrigerated window unit in my bedroom which was in the middle of the house. You could come in from the outside and put your arm in front of it and watch the steam come off of it. It would freeze you out of the house. The bad part about it being in my bedroom was other family members seemed to like to lay on my bed during the day in front of it and fall asleep. No room for me. We/I also had some cars with 4-50 A/C. Four windows down @ 50 mph. Best invention ever was the little triangle vent window that twisted to in pull in air. My grandmother was in a rural area and had a 12 way party line until the early 70's. (Southwestern Bell) I built an crystal set exactly like that. It worked great.
Some of my old favorites I never see any more are The Whirlybirds Fright Night with Seymour Cartoon Express (anyone remember "Red Light, Green Light with Engineer Bill?) Favorites still on oldies channels are Burns and Allen I Married Joan The Rifleman
I don't know. I recently watched the Dick Van Dyke show, which was really way before my time. But Netflix has the entire series from start to finish. I kind of think if the writing is good, the acting good, that the product can remain entertaining, nearly timeless. One thing I like about our "on demand" technology now, is that you can watch a series from start to finish, in episodic order. I think this helps when watching older series, you can get into the characters, as you watch the stories unfold. The Dick Van Dyke, was before my time. I actually had not watched any episodes until I decided to "binge" watch the series. Of course it's dated by todays standards. The censorship restraints, the very culture it is reflecting has changed a lot. But the talent of the entire cast? Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, Carl Reiner? That remains. And the writing is really a forerunner of so many Husband/Wife sitcoms and comedies of the future. I can enjoy it. Easily.
glad to hear you're enjoying it. it was my time. a great series, with great writing and acting, as you say. i could not watch it today. maybe it is just a tv thing for me. i get no enjoyment from it, old or new.
I get a kick out of watching the Green Hornet when it's on the tv. It was so campy and so 60's. I still laugh when I watch one of the episodes.
That "Rover" balloon-like security device freaked me out - since I was young. I still watched it nevertheless.
