What’s on
the Television*:
Some Notes on the Making of an Inter-Generational Geek
When I was a child, I watched a lot of television. Seriously. A lot. I was part of the new latchkey generation, except our latchkey was often a channel knob. We were no longer Boomers, not yet Gen-Xers, sometimes referred to as Generation Jones. We grew up in a sort of pre-cable golden age of television viewing (at least for young boys who were uninterested in athletics) during which TV stations dedicated vast numbers of non-primetime hours to repeats of yesteryear’s programs and old movies, often in theme blocks; PBS stations could afford to import and air whole tipfulls of silly British humor; and what passed for primetime viewing was often as empty of value as a package of marshmallow peeps, while at other times could be as challenging and taboo-breaking as the programs of Norman Lear. Our war-baby parents and depression-era grandparents didn’t really care how much TV we watched either, as long as we got our homework and minimal chores finished and stayed quiet and out of trouble. These, then, are some of the programs and movies that formed and deformed our youthful brains:
Monty Python’s Flying Circus + The Dick Van Dyke Show + The Mary Tyler Moore Show + The Man from U.N.C.L.E. + Hogan’s Heroes + Land of the Giants + The Benny Hill Show + Kukla, Fran and Ollie + Romper Room + Leave It To Beaver + The New Zoo Revue + Sesame Street + Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood + Captain Kangaroo + Bozo’s Circus + Ray Rayner + Garfield Goose + The Banana Splits + Superman + Batman + Lost in Space + Star Trek and the Star Trek cartoon + Mighty Mouse + The Avengers and The New Avengers + Secret Agent and The Prisoner + Laugh-In + Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy + M*A*S*H + Ozzie & Harriet + The Six Million Dollar Man + Mannix + The Mod Squad + Hawaii Five-0 + Barretta + Banacek + Kojak + The Rockford Files + I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and Here’s Lucy + The Carol Burnett Show + The Munsters and The Addams Family + Lassie + Bonanza + The Streets of San Francisco + McCloud + Kolchak: The Night Stalker + Police Story + McMillan and Wife + Ironsides + Cannon + Colombo + The Night Gallery + The Twilight Zone + The Outer Limits + Dark Shadows + Flipper + The Love Boat + Gilligan’s Island + The Man from Atlantis + Kung Fu Theater + The Green Hornet + Godzilla, Ghidrah, Rodan, Gamera, and Mothra movies + King Kong and Mighty Joe Young + the Planet of the Apes movies, TV series, and cartoon + Blondie and Dagwood + Wild, Wild West + The Jeffersons + All in the Family + Family + Family Affair + The Partridge Family + The Brady Bunch + The Mickey Mouse Club and The Wonderful World of Disney + Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and The Beverly Hillbillies + Charlie’s Angels + Operation Petticoat + Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie + Ultraman and Johnny Sokko (and His Flying Robot) + Dragnet + The War of the Worlds + James Bond and I Spy + Rocky & Bullwinkle and Fractured Fairy Tales + Davey and Goliath + Chico and the Man + Sanford and Son + Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea + Daktari, Tarzan, and Bomba the Jungle Boy + The Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, and The Three Stooges + The Bowery Boys and The Little Rascals + W.C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin + The Saint + F Troop + Mission Impossible + Alias Smith and Jones + My Three Sons + The Rat Patrol, Combat, and Love American Style + Battlestar Galactica + Battle of the Planets + Three’s Company + Woody Woodpecker + The Greatest American Hero + Scooby-Doo + Dastardly and Muttley + The Flintstones + The Jetsons + Around the World in 80 Days + Get Smart + Welcome Back, Kotter + Emergency + Squad 51 + Perry Mason + The Monkees + The Bugaloos + H.R. Puf-n-Stuf + Sigmund and the Sea Monsters + The Land of the Lost + Baa Baa Black Sheep + Chitty Chitty Bang Bang + Gidget + Jerry Lewis and Peter Sellers + WKRP in Cincinnati + Barnaby Jones + Mr. Ed + Medical Center + Marcus Welby + Doctor in the House + Doctor Who + Andy Griffith + Mayberry RFD + The Waltons + Bugs Bunny + Daffy Duck + Marvin the Martian + Tom and Jerry + Chip ‘n’ Dale + Catnip the Cat and Herman the Mouse + Spider-Man + The FBI + The Bionic Woman + Wonder Woman + Buck Rogers in the 25th Century + Soap + Doctor Doolittle + Gunsmoke + Daniel Boone + Davy Crockett + Jonny Quest + Adam 12 + Marlo’s Magic Movie Machine + Jack Benny and Bob Hope + B.J.’s Gigglesnort Hotel + Hollywood Squares + To Tell the Truth + Flip Wilson + Cheers + The Gong Show + Match Game + Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, and Merv Griffin + Super Friends + Barney Miller and Fish + Donny and Marie + Fantasy Island + The Time Tunnel + Holmes and Yo-Yo + Bosom Buddies + The Ghost & Mrs. Muir + Please Don’t Eat the Daisies + Fawlty Towers and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy + Goode Neighbors + Nanny and the Professor + Dennis the Menace + Hazel + That Girl + Mary Poppins + The Incredible Hulk + Space: 1999 + The UFOs + Josie and The Pussycats and The Pussycats in Outer Space + Creature Double Feature + Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom + ZOOM + The Electric Company + Maude + The Sound Of Music + The Wizard of Oz + The St. Louis Zoo Show + Corky the Clown + The Flying Nun + Room 222 + The Paper Chase + The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and The Magician + Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, and The Thing + Little House on the Prairie + Eight Is Enough + The Invaders + Anna and the King + Flash Gordon & Buck Rogers serials + Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick + Yogi Bear, Porky Pig, Huckleberry Hound, and Dudley Do-Right + Hercules + Felix the Cat + The Chicago Zoo Show + Cosmos and Nova + National Geographic Specials + CBS’ In the News + Thunderbirds + The Rifleman + The Muppet Show + McHale’s Navy + Gomer Pyle, USMC + What’s Happening! + The Krofft Supershow + ElectraWoman and DynaGirl + Shazam! + Far Out Space Nuts + Isis + Ark II + Space Academy + Jason of Star Command + The Odd Couple + The Bob Newhart Show + Kung Fu + SWAT + Starsky & Hutch + CHiPs + The Newlywed Game + The Dating Game + Lidsville + Underdog + Sonny and Cher + When Things Were Rotten + The Tonight Show and The Soupy Sales Show + You Bet Your Life + Rhoda + Taxi + Born Free + Hot L Baltimore + Harry O. + B.J. and Bear + Night Rider + The Rookies + The Archies and U.S. of Archie + The Dukes of Hazzard + The Strauss Family + Magilla Gorilla + Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids + Grizzly Adams and Dobie Gillis + Dick Tracy + The Lost Saucer + Robin Hood + The Hair Bear Bunch + Secret Squirrel + Fame + Rin Tin Tin + The Lone Ranger, Zorro, and The Cisco Kid + The Gumby Show + George of the Jungle + One Day at a Time + Hee Haw + Casper the Friendly Ghost + Atom Ant + James at 15 + Thor and Iron Man + My Favorite Martian + Space Giants and Star Blazers + Inch-High Private Eye + Hill Street Blues + The A-Team + Dallas + ABC Aftershool Specials + Saturday Night, Live + and, of course, ABC’s unparalleled Schoolhouse Rock.
Altogether, I calculate that I watched as much as 30,000 hours of television by my eighteenth birthday!
And yet our generation also still read, and I was far from the exception there: I read, and read, and read. I had read more, better, and wider by my eighteenth birthday than most adults I know today have read in their entire lives. These are some of the books, then, that neutralized all that television:
Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood + King Arthur and His Knights + The Swiss Family Robinson + Treasure Island + Kidnapped + Tarzan + Frankenstein + The Last of the Mohicans (abridged) + Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde + White Fang + The Call of the Wild + The War of the Worlds + The Time Machine + The Island of Dr. Moreau + 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea + Tom Sawyer + Huckleberry Finn + The Borrowers + Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland + A Wrinkle in Time + The Old Man and the Sea + Walden + The Hobbit + The Lord of the Rings trilogy + Captains Courageous + Mutiny on the Bounty (abridged) + The Sirens of Titan + Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee + The Red Badge of Courage + The Jungle + The Jungle Book + Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights + Ivanhoe (abridged) + various Sherlock Holmes stories + Ten Little Indians + M*A*S*H + Grimm’s Fairy Tales + Aesop’s Fables + Just So Stories + A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court + Dune + Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow + The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen + Gulliver’s Travels (abridged) + The Adventures of Odysseus + The Black Stallion + The Foundation Trilogy + The Holy Bible + The Three Musketeers (abridged) + The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz + The Lost World + Maracot Deep + Edith Hamilton’s Myths of the Greeks and Romans + The Republic (but I didn’t understand it until I reread it ten years later) + Journey to the Centre of the Earth + Selected Works of Edgar Allan Poe + Robinson Crusoe + Of Mice and Men + The Scarlet Letter + The Great Gatsby + Fahrenheit 451+ Childhood’s End + The Midwich Cuckoos + John Carter, Warlord of Mars + Mysterious Island + The White Stag + The Return of the Native + the Tom Swift novels + the Hardy Boys novels + Stranger in a Strange Land + Watership Down + The Plague Dogs + Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates + Conan + The Hunchback of Notre Dame (abridged) + A Christmas Carol + The Phantom Tollbooth + A Child’s Garden of Verses + Brave New World + Charlotte’s Web + Lord of the Flies + Black Like Me + The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe + James and the Giant Peach + The Wind in the Willows + Heidi + Peter Pan + Charlie and the Chocolate Factory + the Little House on the Prairie series + Winnie the Pooh + dozens or hundreds of other fantasy, adventure, and sci-fi novels + a variety of historical biographies written for children + untold numbers of popular books and articles about science and history + and, of course, all of the Curious George books.
You see, it’s all about balance. And balance is what defines our generation. Our idealism is tempered by pragmatism. We’d be proud Democrats if they’d stop being such ninnies and proud Republicans if they’d stop being such bullies. We still want to save the world, but we’ve learned you just can’t cover its wounds with dollar-bill bandages. We want to preserve the environment, but we’ve got to get all the kids to band practice somehow. We know our forebears created some pretty impressive stuff, and now we have to tell our kids it’s their job to pay for it all. And while we happily absorbed our younger selves for hours with Scooby-Doo and the Brady Bunch, we wish our kids would just once — just once! — pick up a good book.
— Steve
*A penguin . But you knew that already.
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