Old Shows

I have a theory on why so many of us watch and thoroughly enjoy old television shows. When we watch them, they remind us of the times that we originally watched them, and take us back to an earlier time in our lives.

Last weekend we stumbled across "The Lawrence Welk Show" on PBS. Ted and I sat there watching it, with smiles on our faces. Joey and Alex thought we were crazy, but Alex ended up enjoying it and was looking forward to this weekend when he could watch it again.

Ted said that as a child he had seen it with his parents. I can recall spending an occasional Saturday night at my grandparents' house and watching "Lawrence Welk" and "Leave it to Beaver."

Yes, I even remember hearing Lawrence talk about how wonderful Geritol was. I loved seeing the Lennon Sisters, Bobby and Sissy (the dancers), the tap dancing guy, and JoAnn Castle, the woman who played the piano while looking out at the audience with this HUGE grin on her face. I also knew the closing song by memory and loved watching them sing it, with the women on one side and the men on the other. And their long, pretty dresses...wow.

I recall my Grandpa laughing at that darn Eddie Haskell and his antics. He thought Eddie was quite a character. Of course I wanted to grow up and be Wally's girlfriend.

Oh yes, the times of our youth...when we had no problems or cares.

There are other shows that bring back memories too. When "Gilligan's Island" was on (Monday evenings), it was my bathtime, and I remember trying to get away from my mom, and sitting on the back of the couch. All I wanted to do was watch Gilligan and see Ginger's pretty dresses.

On Tuesday nights, the "Red Skelton Show" was on and I could only watch part of it because my bedtime was 8:30 SHARP.

One Friday evening during the summer I was watching "The Flintstones" and my brother fell and cracked his head open on a small rocking chair. We had to take him to the ER to get stitched up and I was MAD! How dare he interrupt me while watching my favorite cartoon!

Ted likes to watch Nick at Night occasionally and I really do think that it's because it reminds him of his youth. He also absolutely ADORES M*A*S*H. I still get a kick out of the Brady Bunch. It was always interesting to see what kind of predicaments those Brady kids got into.

Yep, life was a lot simpler back then.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

(This post sure is showing my age!)

I can remember the first time I saw "The Wizard of Oz" in color. It was only on once a year, in the spring. My grandparents had just purchased one of those new fangled COLOR televisions! My mom took my best friend at the time, Mary, and me into town to watch the show at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had already had our baths, and were in our pajamas, and my brother had to stay home with my dad, so we could watch it UNINTERRUPTED. It was absolutely WONDERFUL! I never knew that color TV could be so great!

Yep, life sure was simpler then...