TV shows

WDP — Third Time’s a Charm

Fandango9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
View all responses

I responded to this prompt near the end of August of 2023 and then I responded to the same question a year later in August of 2024. Here is my answer to this prompt in August of 2025, which is exactly how I responded in 2023 and 2024. If this is asked again in August of 2026, I will not answer it a fourth time.

First, for purposes of responding to this prompt, I’m going to define “as a kid” to mean mostly pre-school to kindergarten, so up to five or so years old.

Second, I’m going to remind those of you who may be too young to remember that, when I was a young kid, television was still a relatively new thing. We had a ten-inch black and white television set. They were called “television sets” in the early days because the components, including the main cathode ray tube, the chassis, which housed the TV tubes, and the tuner/volume control were often different components that were housed inside a large console box that was designed to look like a piece of furniture.

Third, we had only four TV channels, the three national networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) plus one local channel that showed mostly old movies and old cartoons.

Fourth, my mother would often put me down on the living room floor, turn on the TV, and leave me there to be entertained.

So, with that in mind, among the TV shows I used to watch were:

  • The Howdy Doody Show (kids’ variety show)
  • Ding Dong School (pre-school focus)
  • Captain Video (space/science fiction)
  • Kukla, Fran and Ollie (puppets, variety)
  • The Gabby Hays show (westerns focus)
  • Watch Mr. Wizard (science experiments)
  • Zoo Parade (Marlin Perkins Animal Kingdom for kids)
  • Lassie (family dog show)
  • Rin Tin Tin (military dog show in the old west)
  • Cartoons:
    • Betty Boop (“sexy” female cartoon)
    • Looney Tunes (Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, et. al.)
    • Felix the Cat and Krazy Kat
    • Woody the Woodpecker
    • Popeye
    • Crusader Rabbit (precursor to Rocky & Bullwinkle)
  • Old Movies
    • The Marx Brothers
    • The Three Stooges
    • Keystone Kops
    • 30s and 40s musicals
    • Gangster movies

These days, my wife often sits me down in my recliner, turns on the TV, and leaves me there to be entertained.

WDP — TV as a Kid

Fandango8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
View all responses

First, for purposes of responding to this prompt, I’m going to define “as a kid” to mean mostly pre-school to kindergarten, so up to five or so years old.

Second, I’m going to remind those of you who may be too young to remember that, when I was a young kid, television was still a relatively new thing. We had a ten-inch black and white television set. They were called television “sets” in the early days because the components, including the main cathode ray tube, the chassis, which housed the many TV tubes, and the tuner/volume control were different components that were housed inside a large console box that was designed to look like a piece of furniture.

Third, we had only four TV channels, the three national networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) plus one local channel that showed mostly old movies and old cartoons.

Fourth, my mother would often put me down on the living room floor, turn on the TV, and leave me there to be entertained.

So, with that in mind, among the TV shows I used to watch were:

  • The Howdy Doody Show (kids’ variety show)
  • Ding Dong School (pre-school focus)
  • Captain Video (space/science fiction)
  • Kukla, Fran and Ollie (puppets, variety)
  • The Gabby Hays show (westerns focus)
  • Watch Mr. Wizard (science experiments)
  • Zoo Parade (Marlin Perkins Animal Kingdom for kids)
  • Lassie (family dog show)
  • Rin Tin Tin (military dog show in the old west)
  • Cartoons:
    • Betty Boop (“sexy” female cartoon)
    • Looney Tunes (Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, et. al.)
    • Felix the Cat and Krazy Kat
    • Woody the Woodpecker
    • Popeye
    • Crusader Rabbit (precursor to Rocky & Bullwinkle)
  • Old Movies
    • The Marx Brothers
    • The Three Stooges
    • Keystone Kops
    • 30s and 40s musicals
    • Gangster movies

These days, my wife often sits me down in my recliner, turns on the TV, and leaves me there to be entertained.

Truthful Tuesday — Murder Mysteries

FandangoLeave a comment

Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.

For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank wants to know…

When it comes to books, movies, [and TV shows], do you enjoy murder mysteries? If so, do you prefer those focused around police detectives that take on more of a procedural approach; those about sleuths who solve the cases with their odd idiosyncrasies, keen powers of observation, and indominable wit and intellect; or those about hard-boiled noir private eyes? If murder mysteries aren’t really your thing, what genre do you tend to gravitate towards?

My answer to Frank’s question is “yes.” and I enjoy all three types: police procdurals (e.g, Law and Order, NCIS, CSI), idiosyncratic sleuths (e.g., Monk, Columbo, Hercule Poirot), and hard-boiled private eyes (e.g., Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe).

I’ve added another category to Frank’s list of murder mysteries: lawyers as detectives (e.g., Perry Mason, Matlock) and many of the lawyers from novelists like Scott Turow and John Grisham.

I also added TV shows to Frank’s books and movies because these days, aside from blogging for me, TV is our primary form of entertainment. Over the past couple of years I have become addicted to British (as well as Scandinavian) crime dramas and, between BritBox, Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu, there are plenty of them. Some of them, like Midsomer Murders, span 24 seasons. It’s interesting to me to see how these long-running series have evolved from the pre-DNA testing, pre-internet, pre-cellphones, and pre-CCTV times of the 80s to the more high-tech capabilities of current times.

So yes, bring on those murder mysteries.

WDP — TV as a Kid

Fandango8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
View all responses

First, for purposes of responding to this prompt, I’m going to define “as a kid” to mean mostly pre-school to kindergarten, so up to five or so years old.

Second, I’m going to remind those of you who may be too young to remember that, when I was a young kid, television was still a relatively new thing. We had a ten-inch black and white television set. They were called television sets” in the early days because the components, including the main cathode ray tube, the chassis, which house the TV tubes, and the tuner/volume control were often different components that were housed inside a large console box that was designed to look like a piece of furniture.

Third, we had only four TV channels, the three national networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) plus one local channel that showed mostly old movies and old cartoons.

Fourth, my mother would often put me down on the living room floor, turn on the TV, and leave me there to be entertained.

So, with that in mind, among the TV shows I used to watch were:

  • The Howdy Doody Show (kids’ variety show)
  • Ding Dong School (pre-school focus)
  • Captain Video (space/science fiction)
  • Kukla, Fran and Ollie (puppets, variety)
  • The Gabby Hays show (westerns focus)
  • Watch Mr. Wizard (science experiments)
  • Zoo Parade (Marlin Perkins Animal Kingdom for kids)
  • Lassie (family dog show)
  • Rin Tin Tin (military dog show in the old west)
  • Cartoons:
    • Betty Boop (“sexy” female cartoon)
    • Looney Tunes (Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, et. al.)
    • Felix the Cat and Krazy Kat
    • Woody the Woodpecker
    • Popeye
    • Crusader Rabbit (precursor to Rocky & Bullwinkle)
  • Old Movies
    • The Marx Brothers
    • The Three Stooges
    • Keystone Kops
    • 30s and 40s musicals
    • Gangster movies

These days, my wife often sits me down in my recliner, turns on the TV, and leaves me there to be entertained.

Truthful Tuesday — A Day Late

FandangoLeave a comment

Frank, aka PCGuy, has published another one of his Truthful Tuesday posts. Frank apparently got sidetracked this weekend and he forgot to schedule his Truthful Tuesday post, so it didn’t get published until almost Wednesday. We forgive you, Frank. Anyway, here’s what Frank wants to know…

1. What are your thoughts on white-washing in movies and TV shows? (If you aren’t aware, it’s having a white actor play a role of a non-white character. Think of Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange.)

2. What are your thoughts on changing the race, gender, orientation, or other facet of an established character for the sake of diversity? For recent examples, casting Liet Kynes as a woman in the newest movie adaptation of Dune when the source material clearly indicates Kynes is a man, casting a black man (specifically Samuel L. Jackson) as Nick Fury, who was originally a white character, in the Marvel movies, or making Lt. Sulu gay in the most recent Star Trek movies with Chris Pine as Captain Kirk.

To be honest, I really haven’t given either of these questions a whole lot of thought. That said, with respect to the first question, using white actors to portray Asian, Hispanic, or native American characters used to happen all the time. But I think it’s happening much less these days. I would hope that today’s movie and television producers are more inclusive now than they were back in the day and would hire actors of the same race and nationality as the characters they are portraying.

As to the second question, if I haven’t read the book upon which the movie or TV show is based, I probably won’t even know that the character on screen is a different race, gender, or whatever from the character in the source material. If I am familiar with the original source from which the onscreen character was taken, I probably wouldn’t mind as long as the “diversity casting” doesn’t significantly change the intrinsic nature of the character being portrayed.

But as I said earlier, of all the things going on in the world these days, matters such as these barely scratch the surface of my consciousness.

Fibbing Friday — Reality TV Trivia

Fandango9 Comments

Frank (aka PCGuy) and Di (aka Pensitivity101) alternate as hosts for Fibbing Friday, a silly little exercise where we are to write a post with our answers to the ten questions below. But as the title suggests, truth is not an option. The idea is to fib a little, a lot, tell whoppers, be inventive, silly, or even outrageous, in our responses. Today is Frank’s turn to host and here are his questions.

1. What TV show was the first “reality” TV show?

The Huntley-Brinkley Report

2. What is the premise of Top Chef?

Each contestant chef must prepare a five-course meal while running up the stairs at the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in Chicago. Whichever chef reaches the top floor with the best tasting meal is designated as the “Top Chef.”

3. Why is it called X Factor?

Because A Factor through W Factor had already been taken.

4. What kind of act or acts won’t you see on America’s (or Britain’s) Got Talent?

Acts demonstrating any useful talents whatsoever.

5. What show spawned the phrase, “You’ve been voted off the island”?

“Gilligan’s Island.“

6. What is the premise of Project Runway?

It’s a documentary highlighting the achievements of various state and local agencies in their efforts to provide shelter for runaway children. Unfortunately, the set designer made a spelling error when creating the graphics for the show.

7. What show put a bunch of washed-up B list actors in a house together?

“Full House.”

8. What was the first reality show to feature the an aging rock star and his family?

“3rd Rock from the Sun.”

9. What reality TV show was created in response to the popularity of Desperate Housewives?

“Exhausted Husbands.”

10. What was the show American Chopper about?

It was a competition among professional chefs to see which ones could chop raw onions the fastest without shedding any tears.

A to Z Reflections

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So the sponsors of the A to Z Challenge have asked us to reflect upon our experiences participating in this year’s challenge and to post our reflections. But before I begin, I want to thank those of you who ran the show. You put a lot of time and effort into it, and I’m sure those of us who participated in this year’s challenge appreciated your work.

Anyway, here are my reflections.

For my challenge, I posted each day in April — except Sundays — about mostly vintage or classic TV shows in alphabetical order, from “All in the Family” to “Zorro.” I had a lot of fun doing it and the response I got from readers was mostly positive. Many remembered watching the shows and appreciated the trip down Memory Lane.

Is that true? Did you like reading about those old TV shows? Do tell!

One aspect that surprised me a little was that my blog’s traffic didn’t pick up this April as it had in April in past years. In 2019, I had 12.4% more views in April than I had in March, even though March has one more day than April. In 2020, I had 10% more views in April than in March. But this year, I actually had 1.6% fewer views in April than in March. Well, it’s no biggie. I’m not about to start bawling over it.

I certainly can’t blame the drop in traffic to people spending more time at the mall because, due to the pandemic, haven’t most malls closed? In fact, even though restrictions have eased up a bit since last year, my guess is that most of us are, like me, still spending more time inside of our own houses than we are being out and about. Right?

I did get a glimpse at a lot of other bloggers’ A to Z posts, but most of those bloggers whose A to Z posts I read were bloggers that I’m already following. Hey, there are only so many hours in a day. Right?

That said, I did enjoy this year’s challenge and this makes it four years in a row that I’ve participated. I enjoyed being a part of the A to Z Challenge and encourage others to do so in the future.

See you back here next April.

Written for the A to Z Reflections post and for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aspect), Word of the Day Challenge (traffic), Your Daily Word Prompt (bawl), The Daily Spur (mall), MMA Storytime (house), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (glimpse).

Getting Ready for BATZAP

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Today is March 30th, and that means that the 2021 Blogging from A to Z challenge, which I have dubbed “BATZAP,” starts on Thursday. I know a few weeks ago, in my A to Z theme reveal post, I said that I didn’t select a specific theme because I wanted to be spontaneous and didn’t know what the hell I would be posting for this challenge until that same day.

Well, after giving it some thought, I changed my mind. I have come up with a theme and that theme is television shows. That’s right. I’m going to focus on an alphabetical listing of TV shows throughout the month of April.

I will be publishing my BATZAP posts each day at 6:00 am my time (Pacific time USA). Also, starting on Wednesday April 7th, and for the three remaining Wednesdays in the month, I will be posting repeats of my Fandango’s Provocative Question prompts at 3:00 am my time. I will return with new FPQs in May.

I’m excited about BATZAP and I look forward to reading your BATZAP posts this coming month.

5 Things — TV in the Pandemic

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Dr. Tanya has this prompt called “5 Things” and this week she’s interested in hearing about five movies or shows we’ve watched and enjoyed on TV in the year of the pandemic. So here we go:

Godless

If you have a hankering for a good old fashion western, Pilgrim, you might want to take a gander at “Godless.” It’s a seven-part mini series on Netflix and I found it to be an excellent, well acted western drama. And I was surprised by the credible performance from Michelle Dockery, best known as Lady Mary in “Downton Abbey,” as a strong, tough, independent lady of the Wild West.

Atypical

“Atypical” was a pleasant surprise for me. It’s sort of like “The Wonder Years,” only narrated by, and told from the perspective of, a teenage boy with autism. It is essentially a coming of age story about an 18-year-old on the autistic spectrum as he searches for love and independence. While he is on his journey, the rest of his family must grapple with change in their own lives as they all struggle with the central theme: what does it really mean to be normal? There are three seasons available for binge-watching and a fourth (and final) season is due in 2021.

Black Mirror“Black Mirror” is an anthology series exploring a twisted, high-tech multiverse where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide. It first appeared in 2011 and has a total of 22 episodes. It sort of reminds me of a 21st century “Twilight Zone,” so if you’re into that genre, you might enjoy it.

UnbelievableI’m a fan of detective stories. I mentioned a few I really enjoyed watching this year when I designated seriously flawed detectives as my Who Won the Week winner in August. “Unbelievable” is an eight episode mini series that tells the the story of a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped and the two female detectives who team up to follow the path to the truth. I wouldn’t characterize these two detectives as seriously flawed as much as very human and very determined.

Orange is the New BlackMy wife and I finally got around to binge-watching “Orange is the New Black,” a series with 91 episodes spread over seven years. It’s based upon the story of a 30-something woman. Piper Chapman, who was convicted of a decade old crime of transporting drug money to an ex-girlfriend. Normally law-abiding Piper is sentenced to a year and a half behind bars to face the reality of how life-changing prison can really be. It’s got a quirky cast of colorful characters and is fun to watch.

Either Way

Fandango10 Comments

D6C24017-E5D3-41DD-87C6-95412B07D8CCHow do you pronounce the word “either”? Do you use the hard ē, as in ee-ther, or the hard ī as in eye-ther?

And what about “neither”? Rhymes with nee-ther? Or nigh-ther?

I was raised to pronounce both words with the hard ē sound, and that’s how I still pronounce them: ee-ther and nee-ther.

The reason I’m asking is because I’ve noticed lately that a lot of people who use either of those words, particularly on some TV shows that I watch, are pronouncing them using the hard ī, saying “eye-ther” or “nigh-ther.”

I Googled the pronunciation of both words and found out that, whichever way someone chooses to pronounce these words, they shouldn’t have trouble being understood. Both pronunciations are correct. However, the way people say these words depends on their upbringing, their region and their preference. It seems that the British are more likely to use eye-ther as the pronunciation, and the Americans use ee-ther.”

I think there are two possible explanations for why I’m hearing the hard ī pronunciation more frequently than the hard ē pronunciation.

First, a lot of actors on American TV shows are actually British, Canadian, or Australian (or even New Zealanders), who are playing Americans but use the British way of saying either or neither.

Second, every American seems to think that speaking with a British accent makes the person talking sound more refined and intelligent than their American counterparts.

Or maybe there’s a third reason. It’s me. Maybe I’m the one who is saying these words wrong.

So are you a hard ē or a hard ī person?