FAVORITE TV PROGRAMS

I can’t remember exactly when we got our first TV set. I suppose I was five or six years old. It was a big wooden console model (black and white of course) with a screen perhaps a little bigger than my computer monitor. I recall that the screen was not rectangular but curved on the corners. It took about 3-5 minutes to warm up and our antenna on the roof picked up ABC (WTAE Channel 4), CBS (KDKA Channel 2), and NBC (WIIC Channel 11). Once in awhile we could get WQED and WJAC. I recall endless hours of adjusting the vertical and horizontal hold dials. Since TV was such a “magical” thing – sound and pictures coming out of a box in your living room, the family gathered around the box every chance we got. Since I was in bed early on school nights, Friday and Saturday evenings were the times I remember most. My brother, sister and I usually sat on the floor “Indian” style and my folks sat on the couch. Here are a few of the programs I recall.

Everyone enjoyed the variety shows like Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Burns and Allen, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Mom was a big mystery fan and loved Perry Mason. I became quite familiar with Perry’s personal secretary, Della Street and his sidekick, private detective Paul Drake. I also learned to dislike Perry’s courtroom adversary, DA Hamilton Burger.

Dad loved Lawrence Welk. I still remember when Rob Hilgar got the first color TV of any of our friends and invited the whole family over to watch this show. We were all amazed! Dad also got a kick out of William Bendix in The Life of Riley.

Everyone enjoyed the antics of the Ricardos and Mertzes on I love Lucy as well as the Kramdens and Nortons on the Honeymooners. My dad was especially fond of Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko.

Then there were the all American family shows like Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver, Donna Reed, Make Room for Daddy, Bachelor Father, and Father Knows Best.

Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Fury and My Friend Flicka were some of my favorite animal heroes.

Gunsmoke with Marshall Dillon, Chester, and Miss Kitty was one of those shows nobody wanted to miss. I recall that George Jack, one of the regulars at the bowling alley was nicknamed “Gunsmoke” because he always had to leave in time to get home to watch it. Other westerns we watched with toy guns in hand were Have Gun Will Travel, Wanted Dead or Alive, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Lawman, Rawhide, Sugarfoot, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Broken Arrow, Wagon Train, and Cheyenne.

One of my favorites was Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt. I loved his underwater feats, especially the fights where he would cut his opponents air hose, forcing him to surface into the hands of the law. He could also tap out a Morse code message on his air tank with his knife.

None of us had ever been on an airplane and we didn’t even know anybody who had flown so Sky King and his plane “Songbird” amazed us. We envied Sky’s student pilot niece and nephew, Penny and Clipper, who got involved in all of the escapades like helping Mitch the sheriff capture criminals. We couldn’t wait for the announcer to start the show with his exclamation, “From out of the clear blue western sky… comes Sky King!” Whirly Birds was another aviation favorite.

We were enthralled by Highway Patrol where Broderick Crawford effortlessly wheeled his huge black and white ’55 Buick while gruffly barking, “10-4” on the radio. I loved Sargeant Joe Friday’s matter-of-fact deadpan on Dragnet – “Just the facts, Ma’am.”

I tuned in with baited breath to see the TV heroes and their trusted sidekicks like The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (and King), Roy Rogers (and Dale Evans, Pat Brady, Bullet and Trigger). I also loved the predictable closing lines like, “Who was that masked man?” Or “Well King, this case is closed.” Or the melodic “Happy Trails to You.”

When I got a little older I enjoyed “hip” shows like 77 Sunset Strip (with Kooky and the gang), Dobie Gillis (with Maynard G. Krebs) and Route 66 (with Buzz and Tod zooming around the country in the early 60s Corvettes). I also got scared to death by Rod Serling on the Twilight Zone.

Other than the network shows we enjoyed local programming like Paul Shannon’s Adventure Time (featuring the Three Stooges), Ricky and Copper, Kinish and Rodney, and Studio Wrestling (with Ringside Rosie, Bruno Sanmartino, and Johnny Valentine).

It is unbelievable how the medium has changed between those early years and today. I wish I could say it’s for the better.