What is the first TV series you remember watching
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MikeF-6 — 16 years ago(February 11, 2010 02:12 PM)
Andy's Gang (a truly terrible children's show)
This was the third incarnation of a show that began as The Buster Brown Show in 1950. When I saw it, it was called Smilin Ed McConnell and His Gang. One of the unforgettable segments was Billy Gilbert going up against Froggy the Gremlin. Smilin Ed would conjure up Froggy ( a puppet) with the words, Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy! There would be a puff of smoke and Froggy would appear saying, Hiya, kids, hiya. Then Billy Gilbert would try to lecture the audience on something while Froggy would stand to one side and confuse him. A typical gag would go something like:
Gilbert: Then you take the doughy mixture
Froggy: And put it in your ear.
Gilbert: and put it in your ear. (He does so. Then) No-o-o-o Froggy-y-y-y
Hilarious stuff. Really.
It was never the same show after McConnell died in 1955 and Andy Devine took over.
Smilin Eds audience eventually grew up to be 60s rebels and hippie dropouts. The pluck your magic twanger catchphrase turned into an ironic and salacious wisecrack.
mf
"I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody." -Franny -
socrates17 — 15 years ago(February 04, 2011 05:09 PM)
'Scuse me, but Andy's Gang contributed to the twisting of an entire generation. I mean "Plunk your magic twanger Froggy"???? Oh really!?!? Who cares if he was a lame puppet.
And that sinister cat ("Niccccceeeeee".) Of course, I love cats and prefer then to dogs, but nevertheless
OK, the antiquated film clips they showed were really boring, but if Andy didn't come across as a World Class Perve then I'm an artichoke. ("Hey! Get away from that leaf!!! That's part of ME.")
I have a video somewhere, but, typically, I've no idea where it is, so I'm off to YouTube. -
bodryn — 13 years ago(July 16, 2012 02:28 PM)
Our family didn't buy a TV until March 1956 but I got to see the first Gunsmoke episode on a friend's TV in the fall of 1955. Gunsmoke was a favorite of mine, especially because it had been a favorite radio program. Of course Gunsmoke started out as a half-hour show, and Dillon used his fists a lot more in those early shows before the public complained about violence on TV.
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Iridescent_Phantom — 16 years ago(February 15, 2010 04:52 PM)
One Step Beyond came on about 1961 or 1962.
That creepy theme music scared the bejesus out of me and host John Newland also remains in my mind. I can still see his thin frame and hear his voice after all these years.
To God There Is No Zero. I Still Exist. -
stranddan — 16 years ago(March 02, 2010 08:53 AM)
The very, very first time I looked at a TV screen was in 1949 it was a Ford commercial! I don't know what I expected, but I was surprised to see an automobile on a road, with an announcer lauding its virtues!
The first show we saw that night was "Kukla, Fran & Ollie," but there were a couple of 15-minute shows I recall, one of them featuring a lovely woman named Roberta, whose last name I cannot now recall.
During those very early days, there was a program called "Fireside Theater," hosted by Gene Raymond and comprising two 15-minute stories! Amazing what they packed into those 15 minutes. -
mightymaggie — 16 years ago(March 05, 2010 12:56 AM)
I had forgotten all about these shows and others mentioned here. I'm so glad there's people out there my age that remember shows from 'our' youth. Ahhhh -the memories - really good ones, less complicated times (or so we thought)- and surrounded by family mostly because there was only one small back and white TV set.
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Divtal-1 — 16 years ago(March 04, 2010 02:52 PM)
I guess "Howdy Doody," "Ding Dong School," and "Super Circus" (Sunday afternoons), were the first kids' shows that I recall.
The first series, in terms of a regular cast of characters in an ongoing situation, was "Mr. Peepers," with Wally Cox and Tony Randall. "Our Miss Brooks," "Amos 'n Andy," and "Topper," also make up some early memories.
The great kids' series, or "hero" shows, were "The Adventures of Superman," "Sky King," "The Cisco Kid," and, of course "Roy Rogers and Dale Evans." -
yohnny — 16 years ago(March 09, 2010 11:23 AM)
Although they were not the very first programs that I saw, my most vivid memories are of "Disneyland" and "The Mickey Mouse Club" which my brothers and I watched religiously. We never had the mouse ears but we did have the "coonskin" caps popularized by Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. To me, the cutest girl Mouseketeer was Cheryl Holdridge who died of lung cancer last year at age 64.
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heathentart — 16 years ago(March 17, 2010 03:10 PM)
Great thread, MikeF-6!
My very first memories, about 2 or 3, were of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," and "Howdy Doody." My dad, ever the doting parent, bought me a HUGE Clarabelle doll; it was almost as tall as I.
I always took Clarabelle to bed with me, and, once in the middle of the night, I awoke to see the face of the doll beside me. It was horrifyingly white and gleaming in the shaft of moonlight coming in through the window. I remember hearing myself scream and scream and scream, and my parents running into my roomm.
That was the last of Clarabelle and Howdy Doody in my house. LOL!!
As I got older, horses became my passion, so any Western - no matter how bad - were my favorite shows. Wasn't that interested in the cowboys, but I remember knowing every horse and its name.
My dad - he really knew no boundaries when it came to buying me gifts - acknowledged my passion by buying me a life-size stuffed pony, with bridle and saddle, from FAO Schwartz. My mom made him take it back.