WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE KID T.V. SHOWS AS A KID?

[FSWer]

Say,here's something I don't think has ever been talked about here. What I want to ask you all today is...What were your favorite Kid T.V. shows as a kid? I liked Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and the Electric Company. What about you all?

 

[attyfan]

At the risk of revealing my age .... Perry Mason and the Ed Sullivan Show! (misread the question as asking about favorite shows as a kid, not limited to kid shows)

 

[paskatefan]

The Wonderful World of Disney

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

The Addams Family, The Munsters, Woody Woodpecker, Superman, Batman, to name a few.

 

[Winnipeg]

The Friendly Giant

Little House on the Prairie

 

[Peaches LaTour]

Here is my own age showing: the original Mickey Mouse Club, American Bandstand out of Philly, all the Warner Brothers western shows, Roy Rogers/Dale Evans show, Gene Autry show, the Howdy Doody show.♡

 

[Cachoo]

The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family

 

[Vash01]

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

 

[tony]

Carmen Sandiego and Melrose Place. How’s that for a combination?

 

[Japanfan]

I used to dance along to Don Messer's jubilee on CBC. Enjoyed Walt Disney also, and The Partridge Family (had a huge crush on David Cassidy of course).

When I got older, I used to watch 'As the World Turns' and 'Get Smart' after school.

We only got the CBC in the northern Canadian town I grew up in.

 

[Skate Talker]

The Friendly Giant

Little House on the Prairie

For me when I was pre-school it was also The Friendly Giant (with Rusty the Rooster and Gerome the Giraffe - it was black and white so imagine my shock when I found out later Gerome had purple splotches instead of brown)

Chez Helene (with Louise and Suzie the Mouse - never caught on to any of the French Helene spoke back then).

Once I started grade school it was Razzle Dazzle (Mr. Sharpie with his trademark knuckle full of nickles, Howard the Turtle, the Spots vs the Stripes games, etc.).

I also really liked Wayne & Shuster, though that was intended for the whole family. I think the original attraction was the guy who played Mr. Sharpie was also on W&S. Some of you who liked Ed Sullivan may remember Wayne & Shuster as they appeared often on Ed's show. One of their famous skits was Shakespearean Baseball.

 

[Japanfan]

I also really liked Wayne & Shuster, though that was intended for the whole family. I think the original attraction was the guy who played Mr. Sharpie was also on W&S. Some of you who liked Ed Sullivan may remember Wayne & Shuster as they appeared often on Ed's show. One of their famous skits was Shakespearean Baseball.

I remember Wayne and Shuster because they put my small Northern Canadian town on the map. The town was named Flin Flon. They would say things like "first prize is one week in Flin Flin, second prize is two weeks in Flin Flon, third price is three weeks in Flin Flon". Or, "Let's play a game of ping pong. Isn't that a town somewhere up north? No, that's Flin Flon".


ETA: I also enjoyed Bonanza.

 

[Cachoo]

I guess when I was a wee tot it was Captain Kangaroo. Then there were the tv westerns like "Big Valley" or soaps like "Dark Shadows" along with "Scooby Doo" and "Brady Bunch" and "Partridge Family." And of course there was the weird but oddly watchable "H.R Pufnstuf."

 

[Winnipeg]

I could add the Brady Bunch to my kid line up..............

 

[aftershocks]

Mr. Jing-a-ling, Romper Room, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Leave It to Beaver, re-runs of Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, The Danny Thomas Show, re-runs of I Love Lucy, Sea Hunt, Wagon Train, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Patty Duke Show, The Wonderful World of Disney, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Laugh-In, American Bandstand, Soul Train, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, The Monkees, Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Partridge Family, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Carol Burnett Show, Julia, The Dick van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Brady Bunch, Welcome Back Kotter, The Addams Family, Dark Shadows, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, I Spy, Secret Agent Man, Mission Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Six Million Dollar Man, Charlie's Angels, The Mod Squad

Game Shows:
Password, What's My Line, Match Game, 25,000 Pyramid, Queen for a Day, Concentration, Jeopardy, The Newlywed Game, The Price is Right

Liked because my parents watched:
Bonanza, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Route 66, Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Twilight Zone

 

[Susan1]

Mr. Jing-a-ling, Romper Room, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Leave It to Beaver, re-runs of Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, The Danny Thomas Show, re-runs of I Love Lucy, Sea Hunt, Wagon Train, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Patty Duke Show, The Wonderful World of Disney, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Laugh-In, American Bandstand, Soul Train, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, The Monkees, Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Partridge Family, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Carol Burnett Show, Julia, The Dick van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Brady Bunch, Welcome Back Kotter, The Addams Family, Dark Shadows, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, I Spy, Secret Agent Man, Mission Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Six Million Dollar Man, Charlie's Angels, The Mod Squad

Game Shows:
Password, What's My Line, Match Game, 25,000 Pyramid, Queen for a Day, Concentration, Jeopardy, The Newlywed Game, The Price is Right

Liked because my parents watched:
Bonanza, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Route 66, Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Twilight Zone

Funny, you kind of have to list every show that was on because we only had three t.v. channels - the major networks - and that's what everybody watched, in real time. If you missed shows while you were watching another channel, you could catch them in summer reruns.

 

[Skate Talker]

...
Romper Room ...

Well now I did see this show occasionally but iirc this is the one where the host would look through her magic mirror and say the names of children she could see - as in, "I see Bobby and Katie, Diane and Johnny" etc. This show always made me sad because never once did she see me. Oh the heartbreak of having an unusual name, sigh.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ I tended to experience the same with my siblings, as none of us have particularly common names, or popular names of that time period.

I just remembered two other shows I enjoyed growing up, though I only vaguely remember the first, and I forgot that it was about a teacher, not a doctor.

Mr. Novak with James Franciscus

The Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck and Lee Majors (who played Heath Barkley). Though I may not have really understood a lot of these more adult shows' storylines, I remember being fascinated by Stanwyck and the way she commanded the screen. And I had a crush on Lee Majors who went on to star in The Six Million Dollar Man, and to briefly be married to Farrah Fawcett who was stolen from Lee by his friend, Ryan O'Neal.

This reminds me of Peyton Place, which I also watched without totally grasping the storylines. Mia Farrow and Twiggy were big in those days. It was scandalous when Mia cut her hair, began dating Frank Sinatra and later married him. As it turns out, Sinatra looks a lot like Mia's dad, John Farrow, so that must have been one reason why she was attracted to Sinatra. That also explains why Mia's son (with Woody Allen), Ronan Farrow, resembles Sinatra. It's because Ronan actually takes a lot of his looks after his mother and his grandfather Farrow! So Ronan's father is NOT Sinatra, who it's confirmed would have been unable to father a child at the time Ronan was conceived.

ETA:
Oh, and I also enjoyed watching sports events on Saturday afternoons on Wide World of Sports. I liked bowling, diving, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, skiing, ski jump, and figure skating (with Jim McKay and Dick Button). Roller derby was also a huge favorite sport to watch in those days. I was first introduced to figure skating at the 1968 Olympics. I don't recall ever seeing it before then. I fell in love with Peggy Fleming. I remember being stumped about how the amazing skaters could skate on blades, not realizing until much later that the bottom of the skating blade has inner and outer edges.

I have to add that I also enjoyed Captain Kangaroo and the b&w half hour Superman tv show, not animated versions. Later on, I fell in love with the Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella television special, starring Leslie Ann Warren. She started out training as a ballet dancer, but veered into musical theater:

Interview with Lesley Ann Warren

www.youtube.com

An interesting interview about Leslie's career and being mentored by Carol Burnett. In speaking of Burnett's influence on female comedians, Leslie forgets that Burnett was deeply influenced by Lucille Ball, so there's a further legacy that didn't start with Burnett exclusively.

 

[Susan1]

Later on, I fell in love with the Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella television special, starring Leslie Ann Warren.

Wasn't that the best? That's why I got a Cinderella watch that came with a Cinderella figurine.

 

[Susan1]

Watching Partridge Family this morning - Friday nights - Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Room 222, Odd Couple and Love, American Style.

And, we were the first family in the neighborhood to get a color t.v., so my friends got to come over to watch Batman (on a school night!).

 

[aftershocks]

I just remembered two other shows I enjoyed growing up, though I only vaguely remember the first, and I forgot that it was about a teacher, not a doctor.

Mr. Novak with James Franciscus

And of course, there was Dr. Kildare

(probably one of the first in a long line of popular medical shows)

 

[vgerdes]

Later on, I fell in love with the Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella television special, starring Leslie Ann Warren. She started out training as a ballet dancer, but veered into musical theater...

Another interesting tidbit ... the man who played the Prince in that special was Stuart Damon, who went on to play the iconic role of Alan Quartermaine on General Hospital.

 

[chantilly]

I loved Mr Dressup
Sesame Street
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
The Friendly Giant
Looney Toons on Saturdays
Little House
The Partridge Family
Brady Bunch
Polka Dot Door

 

[Susan1]

Another interesting tidbit ... the man who played the Prince in that special was Stuart Damon, who went on to play the iconic role of Alan Quartermaine on General Hospital.

Yep. Ginger Rogers was the Queen, and Celeste Holm, who was in a million things over the decades, was the fairy godmother. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember who the King was (some serious actor back in the day). I still knew the words to all of the songs when they did the one with Brandy and Whitney Houston and Whoopi Goldberg.

The title of the thread is your favorite kid t.v. shows, but I watched what my parents watched. The only "kid" show would have been Captain Kangaroo. I remember Romper Room, but I don't really remember watching it. There was a show in Cincinnati - Uncle Al and Captain Wendy that we could get through the antenna. I knew kids who got to go to that. But my Brownie troop went to the Uncle Orrie Show at WHIO. Ferdie Fussbudget, the sidekick, was my mom's high school friend's husband's brother (i.e. Mom-Barbara-Jim-Ken Hardin). My dad took a Polaroid picture of me waving on the t.v.

And I remember watching Davey and Goliath in the summer (and the Galloping Gourmet!). Cartoons after school, I guess. And Dark Shadows, which was not a kid t.v. show. ha ha And, of course, All My Children starting in 1970. By the time Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family were on, we had a little black and white t.v. in the other room that I watched them on.

 

[gkelly]

What I remember from Romper Room:

Bend and stretch, reach for the stars
There goes Jupiter, there goes Mars

 

[Susan1]

What I remember from Romper Room:

Bend and stretch, reach for the stars
There goes Jupiter, there goes Mars

What I see from clips - looking in a mirror, or they said different kids names out into t.v. land. We must have been watching something else that was on at the same time most of the time.

I wish you guys wouldn't have made me start thinking about this in the shower - Wonderful World of Disney and Ed Sullivan. And Lassie! Back in the Davey and Goliath summer mornings days, there was also a black and white Lassie show on. It was either with Jeff or Timmy. Those might have even been reruns from the 50's then. I've seen a bunch of both since then. And the ones where she lives with a forest ranger are on one of the cable channels (FETV?) in the morning now.

The one I remember watching on Sunday nights is when Lassie traveled all over by herself and got taken care of by strangers and helped them and went on her way. How sad! My cousin Danny wanted to watch Rat Patrol (how do I remember these things) when they were at our house, but his sister, Patty, and I out-girled him. He used to get down on his knees and put his "paw" up and "do-do-do" the Lassie theme song to make her cry. And he had to leave us alone. ha ha ha ha ha

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Walter Pidgeon was the King in the 1960s TV version of Cinderella.

Dark Shadows was and is iconic!

 

[icecat]

Captain Kangaroo, Garfield goose, Kukla Fran and Ollie, Video village with Stubby Kaye, The original Mickey Mouse Club, Felix the Cat, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Dennis the Menace, Circus Boy, Crusader Rabbit, Sky King, Sargeant Preston of the Yukon, Ruff and Reddy, Ramar of the Jungle, Here's Geraldine, Huckleberry Hound, Casper, and my all time favorite: Watch Mr, Wizard! Life in the 50's

 

[Deleted member 1204]

Mr. Jing-a-ling, Romper Room, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Leave It to Beaver, re-runs of Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, The Danny Thomas Show, re-runs of I Love Lucy, Sea Hunt, Wagon Train, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Patty Duke Show, The Wonderful World of Disney, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Laugh-In, American Bandstand, Soul Train, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, The Monkees, Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Partridge Family, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Carol Burnett Show, Julia, The Dick van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Brady Bunch, Welcome Back Kotter, The Addams Family, Dark Shadows, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, I Spy, Secret Agent Man, Mission Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Six Million Dollar Man, Charlie's Angels, The Mod Squad

Game Shows:
Password, What's My Line, Match Game, 25,000 Pyramid, Queen for a Day, Concentration, Jeopardy, The Newlywed Game, The Price is Right

Liked because my parents watched:
Bonanza, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Route 66, Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Twilight Zone

Were there any shows your DIDN'T like?

 

[Susan1]

Were there any shows your DIDN'T like?

Me - upthread -

Funny, you kind of have to list every show that was on because we only had three t.v. channels - the major networks - and that's what everybody watched, in real time. If you missed shows while you were watching another channel, you could catch them in summer reruns.