We all grew up with television shows that we didn’t like to miss. I remember so many great television shows at time when there were fewer channels, yet more worth watching than we seem to have now.
What are the shows you remember most fondly from your childhood? One of mine (which you’ll see on my list) was CBS’s Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show, which aired for 90 minutes on Saturday mornings. I have the fondest memories of sitting at a TV tray in the living room, having pancakes and syrup and even coffee (which was about 90% milk) and watching Bugs Bunny outsmart Yosemite Sam with my parents.
But not all of my favorites were necessarily children’s shows.
Here are my favorite TV shows from my childhood. I encourage you to list your own!
My 7 Favorite TV Shows When I Was a Kid
1. The Price is Right
This was probably the first game show I remember watching. I didn’t really understand the whole pricing thing at age 2, but all of the flashing lights and fast paced music with happy people jumping around and screaming definitely satisfied a child’s interest.
2. Match Game
A staple of the 1970s, another great game show with just enough zaniness to amuse adults (and kids) of all ages.
3. Emergency!
What kid didn’t want to be a firefighter at some point? Maybe those of us who decided a paramedic might not be bad, either. At least until we realized we’d be dealing with blood. Blech…
4. The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show
The ultimate cartoon show. I don’t think it runs anywhere on Saturdays, anymore. Such a shame…especially when you see what does pass for Saturday morning programming these days.
5. Space Academy
Almost no one remembers this one, but it was a Saturday morning show on CBS with Jonathan Harris of Lost In Space fame as the commander of a space command base located on an asteroid and manned by young people from different places with a multitude of talents.
6. All in the Family
One of the greatest sitcoms ever, and it’s still relevant today. Just watch a rerun of it and you’ll be amazed that we’re still having the same arguments forty years later.
7. M*A*S*H
This was one of my dad’s favorite shows, and we never missed it.
So here’s your chance. To play along, list your answers in a comment with this post, or post them on your own blog and comment here with the link to your post. That way more people get to see your blog!
Which TV shows were your favorite when you were a child?
1. Dynasty. I loved the show when I was about 8 or 9. I remember being in third grade and playing out scenes from the show in my head during recess. I was a…different…kid.
2. Dempsey and Makepeace. I loved it then, I still do now. Many find it campy, but I don’t see it. For the uninitiated: it’s a British cop show about an American detective from New York and a female detective from London.
3. Star Trek. Specifically, the Original Series. No, I wasn’t alive when it first aired, but I loved the re-runs as a kid. My grandma had an old radio I would use as controls of my own starship. The Original Series set the tone for me; the series that have come since then have been pale comparisons.
4. Fraggle Rock. My brother and I were afraid of the Gorgs or whatever they were, but of course the Fraggles were cool. My grandma had an outhouse, and we’d take turns running there across the yard in the evening, in the dark; one of us would keep the front door open and “keep watch” and yell out stuff like “The Gorgs are coming!” to really get your blood pumping.
5. Pikku Kakkonen. It means “Little Two” (it was, and is, on Channel 2 of the Finnish Public TV network) and it was a kiddies’ programme featuring cartoons and whatnots.
6. Dallas. Like Dynasty, this became another favourite, a couple of years after Dynasty did.
7. Miami Vice. Although my mom wasn’t wild about me watching it, because the show had a great deal of violence, drugs, and almost always an unhappy ending. But I loved it. Still do!
Patrick,
I remember all of those shows. MASH was one of my parents favorites and we rarely missed an episode. It is one of the things I can associate with my childhood easily. Today, I tend to spend “most” of my time on Disney Junior (when the television is on). I don’t want my son watching most things on TV (I don’t even watch the nightly news anymore….sigh)
Aaron Brinker aka DadBlunders
Double Deckers was a very cool British show that aired on Saturday mornings around the time of Banana Splits.
I also loved Joe 90, Thunderbirds and  Dr Who. Let’s also not to forget Blakes Seve, The Professionals and The Sweeney. Now you have me on a roll with Dixon of Dock Green and The Bill.
I loved the Smurfs. I also used to watch old black and white reruns of The Honeymooners.
1. Â Sherlock Holmes Mystery!
2. Â 321-Contact
3. Â Sesame Street
4. Â MASH
5. Â Looney Tunes
6. Â Battlestar Galactica
7. Â Star Trek
Well Patrick, that just locks it down…I’m WAY older than you! My shows were “Leave It to Beaver,” “The Rifleman, ” the original B&W “Superman,” “Ed Sullivan” (I saw The Beatles when they FIRST performed “live” there), “The Flintstones” (when it was prime-time), “The Jetsons,” and so many more…yipes I feel OLD!
My favorites are in no particular order.Â
1. Emergency! or As I called it Emergency 51 (was the number of the truck?)
2. Bugs Bunny show ( Loved it! Except for the coyote and road runner. They bothered me)
3. Sesame Street ( l think every child should only be allowed to see that until they start elementary)
4. Electric Company (I learned how to read at an early age and I think it’s from these PBS shows)
5. Days of Our Lives ( my grandmother who was from Colombia claimed to not know a word of English yet, she would stop to watch this soap opera)
6. Charlie’s Angels, Eight is Enough, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley.Â
7. Barretta, Starksy and Hutch
The others you posted I saw when I was older because they came on too late for me. Â Oh oh! I can’t pick only 7 because I grew up watching tv and reading since I spent so much time healing from broken bones.