Does anyone remember what "UHF" and "VHF" meant on a television set? If not, you probably don't remember life without cable TV and/or MTV. But I grew up in that generation of over-the-air, broadcast TV, where you got (if you were lucky) the three major networks and several local channels on the UHF dial. In South Florida, Channel 4 was the CBS affiliate, Channel 7 had the peacock, and if you wanted to watch ABC you tuned to Cahnnel 10. The UHF channels were 23 (which was the Univision channel), 33, 39, 45, and 51 (which handled the Telemundo duties). The two we got best were 33 and 39, although when we first moved to Ft. Lauderdale, we would watch Channel 51 because that's where you could see Tarzan (the Ron Ely version), "Championship Wrestling from Florida" (loved Gordon Solie, the MC), and "Creature Feature". Later on, we would also catch an episode of "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" or two…
Sunday mornings were CBS mornings–one of the local TV celebrities was Chuck Zink, aka Skipper Chuck. On Sundays, Skipper Chuck would read the funnies from the Miami Herald. We didn't get the Herald, but the funnies in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel were the same funnies–that's when we learned what syndication was.
During the week, we'd get to pick between reruns of "The Three Stooges", "Gilligan's Island", or "The Mickey Mouse Club". A few years later, we'd get "Flipper" and "The New Mickey Mouse Club" to add to the playlist. Lest you think we were children of the Idiot Box, we didn't watch too much afternoon TV–we had to do our homework and chores before we were allowed to watch any TV. We also had a canal out back–part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' drainage projects in South Florida–an more often than not we'd go fishing in the canal. Before the hydrilla got out of hand, there were a lot of fish in the canal–bluegill, catfish, largemouth bass, and even cooters. When we weren't fishing in the canal, we were riding bikes or paddling canoes up and down the canal. After we were done, though, the TV would go on…
Sunday evenings were always the same–We'd watch "The Wonderful World of Disney" and "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom". That changed as we got older–we'd watch "60 Minutes", find something else to watch for an hour, and then it would be time to get ready for bed. Of course, if it was football season, we'd watch the Miami Dolphins play…
Funny thing, though–when I was a sophomore in high school, my father had to have back surgery. The occupant of the other bed in his hospital room watched the soaps–so, as a result, so did Dad. And, when he came home, he got the whole house hooked. Funny thing about soaps–the last time I saw an episode of "Days of Our Lives" (about 1994), it was no different from what I saw in the 1980's.
When I was in college, we had our nightly rituals. In particular, Tuesday nights were "The A-Team", "Riptide", and "Remington Steele"; Thurdays would find us watching "Magnum, P.I." (or "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties"), "Simon and Simon" (or "Cheers" and "Night Court"), and "Hill Street Blues"; and Fridays playlist would be "Hunter" (or "Crime Story") and "Miami Vice". Other favorites from the era include "Kate and Allie", "Newhart", "The Golden Girls", "Facts of Life", and the final seasons of "Quincy, M.E."–actually, "Quincy" was a favorite before I went to college…
Once cable came along, the options grew. You could watch Morton Downey Jr. on WWOR from New Jersey. You could watch more wrestling from Georgia on WTCG (later WTBS and "Superstation TBS"). And, after August 1981, MTV was there to bombard you with music videos.
Since my college days, I have had very few "Must See" shows. I would catch "Mystery Science Theater 3000" every Saturday, I very seldom missed an episode of "ER" (up until it became as much a soap opera as "Chicago Hope" had been). The early years of "South Park" would find me on the couch, watching to see what trouble Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman would get into. "Law & Order", too, was regularly watched–even reruns on A&E. For some odd reason, I'd also stop at The TV Food Network. Their early shows were fun–some intentionally, some not.
Lately, though, I don't watch much network TV. NBC's Thursday night lineup is a favorite (that would be "The Office", '30Rock", "Community" and "Parks and Recreation"). We'll also watch "Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain" on Sunday nights to keep us up on the week in motorsports. Other than that, we're pretty much surfing. We'll find something we like, watch it until it goes back to reruns ("NCIS", "Bones", "Wings", "Major Dad")…
Our most recent indulgence has been "The Smoking Gun Presents: The World's Dumbest…" on truTV. Why? I have no idea…TV has indeed become the "vast wasteland" that Newton Minnow warned us about…
Next time, I'll tell you how I discovered PBS, Bob Ross, and "This Old House". Until then, be good to one another. I bid you Peace.