The article you are about to read is true, only the facts have been dramatized to protect the innocent . . . and make it more readable.
I watched Robert Redford as the Angel of Death the other night. He was 26 years old. About two weeks ago he was on a TV show as a murder suspect. He would have been 24 years old. Oddly enough he was a jewel thief that same night on another TV drama. James Caan and Martin Sheen were two New York City teenaged gang members on a Sunday night a few weeks back. Karen Black and Ellen Burstyn were respectively, a mentally unbalanced cowgirl and a nun of the Old West on a TV oater here a few nights back. Okay, so what the heck am I talking about? Well, it’s simple. It’s the nostalgia or “classic” television channels on cable television. Me TV, TV Land, Antenna TV, and Cozi TV are all available locally and showing Perry Mason, Dragnet, Big Valley, Route 66, Daniel Boone, Dobie Gillis, The Monkees, Thriller, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Jack Benny Program, Emergency, The Untouchables, Bachelor Father, Burns and Allen, Kojak, Get Smart, Adam-12. I could go on and on. You can also go on line and see these programs and a lot more on sites such as Hulu and Netflex.
However, certain television programs such as I Love Lucy, M*A*S*H, Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Andy Griffith Show have never really been off the air. They went into syndication almost immediately after their original broadcast runs concluded. They also were broadcast in color, or at least the later episodes. I know, Twilight Zone was never in color but that was an exception. The fact that for a long time there was a feeling that younger viewers would not watch back and white programs.
Of course the real fun of watching these shows from 30, 40, and 50 years ago is to see big stars, such as Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Burt Reynolds, Robert Duvall, Cloris Leachman, Warren Beatty, Doris Roberts, Ellen Burstyn, Susan Pleshette, Nick Nolte, and Sally Kellerman before they became big stars. It is truly amazing how many times actors such as Martin Milner, Henry Morgan, William Shallert, Harry Townes, Leonard Nimoy, Marian Ross and Captain Kirk himself William Shatner appear in these programs as guest stars. Watching Jack Nicholson guest star on the Andy Griffith Show is a real hoot.
So now I am watching Perry Mason, Dragnet, Adam-12, and Alfred Hitchcock on a regular basis. I also frequently watch The Monkees, The Rifleman, and Route 66. It’s fun and the shows are easy to follow. While it’s true that I sometimes flash back to my youthful days while I’m viewing these TV episodes it’s really not a hankering to relive my past that sparks my interest in them, because you see, I really didn’t watch these shows when I was young and they were first broadcast. Well…uh…I admit I did watch Twilight Zone on Friday nights, and Alfred Hitchcock, but generally not the rest.
If you have access to these channels you might give them get them an occasional look, you might be surprised at how much fun they really are and they might bring back some pleasant memories.
snicewanger@yahoo.com
