GEEK ALERT!
Check out this site for an eleven minute streaming video of the birth of television. More info than many of you would like!

there was the
cathode ray tube.

And some years later, I was born. We'll pick up the story from there.

Ah, the television. My earliest memories of that wonderful box would include The Flintstones. It was first broadcast in the evening and I would sneak out of bed to get a peek of Dino tackling Fred when he got home from work. Another is The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (we watched with our screaming baby-sitter Jenetta from next door).

To imagine TV in the 60s, just look at the titles of some of my favorites. For example, in 1966 I wouldn't miss an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Sunday), Gilligan's Island (Monday), Combat! (Tuesday), Lost in Space (Wednesday), Batman (Thursday), The Time Tunnel (Friday) and Get Smart (Saturday). Keep in mind, these were all evening shows.

One evening in  1968 I went with my dad to Sear's to buy a new TV. Not just any TV, this was to be our first COLOR set and TV would never be the same again for me. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was the first show we saw in color..  (MORE ON THIS ANECDOTE BELOW)

All I can say is "Bless you Father", for allowing me to see Gilligan's Island in all it's glory! I just don't know how my life would've turned out if I had to watch the "hippy" episodes of Lost in Space without color. If it weren't for your unselfish manner in allowing me to view television in color, I never would've known what color the Green Hornet's car "Black Beauty" was - oh wait - never mind.

There are but a few "new" shows I check out. The rest is just filler. More PBS and CSPAN than I ever would've thought I would be watching. I love the Food Network and Discovery Channel. Reruns and NetFlix makes up the rest. Oh and we can't forget Public Access TV. Always fun for a laugh.

Now it seems my childhood memories may be more television fiction than I thought. After reading the above story about my trip to Sear's with my dad, sister Sue emailed me with the following:

I also don't recall that you were with Dad when we got our color t.v., or maybe I should say I don't think I was at the trip to Sears. Here's what I remember about our first color t.v.:

I loved to watch Bewitched, which had been in black and white (obviously) on our old t.v. When I was in the 5th or 6th grade, sometimes I would get to come home for lunch, and a couple of times, Mom wasn't there. Bewtiched must've been in syndication by then because one day I came home and turned on the brand new t.v. to watch Bewitched while I ate my lunch. Imagine my surprise when it was in black and white -- I thought I broke our new color t.v.! So I messed with the knobs, and still couldn't get it in color. Well, once I changed the channel and saw that other shows were in color, I figured out it was either a problem with the channel I wanted to watch or the show I wanted to watch. Too funny, huh!

Okay - does any of my other siblings have a different memory of the events concerning said color tv?

Is is because he's a slob? Dim-witted? Or that the scripts are so intelligent? Whatever the reason, I can't seem to tire of watching the episodes again and again. With scripts from the likes of Steven Bochco, and direction by Steven Spielberg, John Cassavetes and others; I don't understand why everyone isn't sucked into the brilliantly, bumbling Lieutenant as he tantalizes us during the course of his investigations.

ALL-TIME FAVORITE

For its day, TDVDS was years ahead of its time. What makes this such a great show is that the stories are just as funny and relevant today as they were in the early 60s. Whether it's walnuts from space or flying saucers for Christmas, the story lines were consistently funny and thought provoking.

Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel or Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie? Both great shows, but my nod goes to Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners as an all time favorite.