LET's walk down the street for memorable TV series. There was I Love Lucy. Not a favourite with mum and me though. We both found her somewhat irritating. Her hare brain proved too much for mum to bear. But we liked the longsuffering Mr Mooney. But I guess between Marry Tyler Moore and Lucy, we would still prefer to watch Lucy, whose unsophisticated ways could be quite funny. I remembered one episode where she tried to mend a leaking tap. It was quite hilarious.
We love Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. The wacky characters were just right to take us away from the real world. I remember it was shown around 7pm. Come to think of it, our favourite shows were usually around dinner time. Simply perfect.
First thing after throwing down our school bag was to pull open the doors of the TV set, and hit the button. I remember the brand of our TV set was Telefunken. Its two doors had to be drawn apart first to reveal the screen. Strange huh?
But before those great family sitcoms, there was always this series for kids which started around six -- the characters were enacted by puppets. Actually, there were a few of such series. I can't for the life of me remember the titles... but they were the most boring shows I ever watched.. One was set in a submarine which made it even more boring for me (I fell asleep while reviewing Red October when I was with the newspaper. It was such an acclaimed movie, but submarines just bore me to death.) I think there was another set in space (which was just as boring as I didn't even like to watch Star Trek). If only we could fast forward the time to when our favourite series start!
But there was one series which started around six which we quite like, alternating with those animated puppet shows. This was Dr Who who time travels by entering a phone booth, to solve complex problems of different eras.
Then later in the night, actually I think quite late, around 11pm I think, there would be Marverick. We loved the hero, James Garner. My mum and I thought he was so funny, and yet so suave. Alternating with Marverick would be the other cowboy film -- Bat Masterson. But Gene Barry who played this lawman, tried too hard and couldn't quite achieve the charming devil may care attitude that James Garner had in Marverick.
Talking about westerns, we loved Bonanza. My favourite brother was the one acted by Pernell Roberts (the one who was always in black). He always looked serious and responsible. I also got to like Dan Blocker later in the show. He was the kind and understanding one. Little Joe (Michael Landon) was a favourite among my friends, but somehow, not for me. I preferred the more serious (deep thinking) guys then. And of course, we loved the theme song to bits.
Big Valley and Wild Wild West were must-watch too.
Moving away from cowboys... my other must-watch would have to be Twilight Zone, The Saint, Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible. And oh yes, Perry Mason, not because of the plots and how he always won his cases but because his secretary always dressed so smartly. And she was so pretty.
Lassie's ok -- shown on Saturday afternoons -- always great to watch the sheepdog bounding home when whistled. Even liked Rin Tin Tin. We were suckers for animal shows. If there were re-runs of these shows, I bet you, I will watch.
Somehow, the army series never quite made it to my hit list -- MASH and Combat were perfectly boring. My mum liked Combat though.
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