TV Today Is “CRAP”
La Bear is killing me slowly. Yes, and it’s all because of what she watches on TV. I’m certain that many of you feel exactly the same way I do that TV today is “CRAP”!!
Hey, and to really send the Baby Boomer “to the moon”, the advertisements are never ending taking up more time than the “CRAP” you’re watching, especially, this time of year with all of the political ads–come on the first Tuesday in November! No, I don’t want or need a new bathroom! I’m going to shoot my TV if I ever hear them sing again, “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” taken from the 1974 hit “Magic” by the band Pilot! Why in the world would I ever take your medication anyway with all those potential side effects–not me! I’m not changing my Medicare plan in spite of what you say–no way! Finally, why in the world did we ever allow “ambulance chasers” to advertise on TV–OMG!
Thank goodness for DVR–it’s a life safer which allows me to race through the “CRAP”! But back to La Bear and the “CRAP” she watches–court TV and more Court TV–it’s truly embarrassing! OMG!! Judge Judy is the “Queen” of Court TV. If it’s not “Judge Judy”, it’s “Judy Justice” or her other Court TV shows, “Hot Bench” and “Tribunal Justice”. House Rule–no Court TV past 6PM. Yes, unfortunately, I try to watch only 30 minutes of local news and then 30 minutes of national news from 6-7PM, but it’s such a drag! La Bear is also big into Reality TV which drives me CRAZY! Come on now–“Love After Lockup”, “House Hunters”, “On Patrol: Live”, “The Amazing Race”, “America’s Funniest Home Videos”, “DWTS”, “Karamo”, “American Idol”, “AGT”, “Kelly & Mark”, and “Today Third Hour”–all “CRAP”!
As I’ve noted before, I suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) now known as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Baby Boomer is normally cooked after 30 minutes. I haven’t been to a movie house since I attempted to see, with the family, that horrible movie “Elf” in 2003 spending most of the time walking around in the lobby of the theater. I watch sports and that’s about it. Mind you just intermittently–never from start to finish. Yes, to college baseball, Duke basketball, most college football (Anchor Down ‘Dores), PGA Tour, MLB (Go Braves!), a little NFL, and zero NBA and NHL. I do hate to admit I watch the Soap Operas “General Hospital” with La Bear since the Luke and Laura days and now “The Young and the Restless”–I’m ashamed of myself.
The Baby Boomer misses the TV he enjoyed “back in the day” when there were only 4 channels to choose from and not the 2500 channels of “CRAP” today. I miss the reporters who merely reported the news like Huntley and Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw–they all could be trusted. Yes, I am inclined to watch FOX at times, but never CNN or MSNBC.
Reflecting on the shows I enjoyed growing up those I enjoyed during the day included “Romper Room”, “Kaptain Kangaroo”, “Ranger Hal”, “Pick Temple”, “Captain Tugg”, and “American Bandstand” from Philadelphia.
Westerns I watched were “Gunsmoke” with James Arness, “Wagon Train” and Ward Bond, “Bonanza” starring Lorne Greene and Dan Blocker, “Laramie” and Robert Fuller, “The Lone Ranger” with Clayton Moore, “Sugarfoot”, “Maverick” starring James Garner, “The Virginian” with James Drury and Doug McClure, “Wanted Dead or Alive” “and Steve McQueen, “The Rifleman” with Chuck Connors, “The Wild Wild West” starring Robert Conrad, and “Daniel Boone” with Fess Parker.
Police shows were another popular genre and the shows I watched included “The Fugitive” with David Janssen, “The FBI” with Efrem Zimbalist Jr., “The Untouchables” starring Robert Stack, “Mannix” and Mike Connors, “Columbo” starring Peter Falk, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” with Rober Vaughn, “Dragnet” starring Jack Webb, “Adam 12” with Martin Milner, and “Ironside” starring Raymond Burr.
Light-hearted comedies enjoyed were “The Lucy Show” with Lucille Ball, “The “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Bewitched” starring Elizabeth Montgomery, “The Beverly Hillbillies” and Buddy Ebsen, “I Dream of Jeannie” with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, “The Real McCoys” with Walter Brennan and Richard Crenna, “The Andy Griffith Show” and little Ron Howard, “Get Smart” and Don Adams, “Gomer Pyle: USMC” with Jim Nabors, “Batman” starring Adam West, and “Car 54, Where Are You?” with Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne.
What I would call adventure shows included “Star Trek” with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Twilight Zone and Rod Serling, and “Mission: Impossible” starring Peter Graves. Other mainstays were “Perry Mason” with Raymond Burr, “Lassie” and June Lockhart, “Sky King”, the variety “Ed Sullivan Show”, and, of course, “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” where one of my favorite episodes was the “Swamp Fox” starring Leslie Nielsen.
Certainly, this isn’t an all-inclusive list of TV shows from “back in the day”, but more than a fair representation of what the Baby Boomer enjoyed when TV watching was really enjoyable. Certainly, not like it is now where TV today is “CRAP”!!