Friday, January 16, 2009

Uphill both ways

Strange But True:
Tales from the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth

Did you know, my faithful and undoubtedly-younger-than-me readers, that there was a time when NOBODY had color television sets?

"you mean all of them were black? how boring"

No, I mean the picture was black and white. And there were only 3 or 4 channels. Usually at least 2 of them were all fuzzy.

"you're making this up, right?"

No, I swear. And get this - there were NO remote controls.

"oh come on. how did you change the channels, then?"

You had to get up and twist the knob. Oh, and they only showed movies once a year. If you had a favorite, you'd have to wait a whole year for it to come on again.

"very funny. what, was Blockbuster too far to drive?"

There was no Blockbuster.

"gasp"

We watched The Wizard of Oz once a year. And Peter Pan. And Amahl and the Night Visitors.

"and those were your favorites?"

Oh yes.

"good lord."

The rules were pretty strict back then, too. No swearing. No political controversy. And the married couples on TV shows had to sleep in twin beds.

"if they weren't married, could they sleep together?"

No, my little Twisted Products Of The Current State Of Depravity. There was none of that going on. Everyone was happily married, with perfect polite children and mothers who cooked dinner in dresses and pearls and husbands who relaxed at night wearing a suit and tie.

"no wonder your generation is so uptight"

We had some great shows, though. There was My Favorite Martian, with this funny guy who had antennae, and Mr. Ed, who was a talking horse - oh, and Shari Lewis, who did a whole show with this cute little sock puppet!

"ok, now i just don't believe you at all. i'm gonna go watch a movie that i downloaded onto my phone yesterday"

Sure. No problem. You know how I am, always making things up. heh heh ... I almost had you fooled, though, didn't I?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHAT?! No swearing? No political controversy? No depravity?

Sounds wonderful.

Michael Horvath said...

You had to love Andy Griffith, and actually that show went downhill after it came out in color. Probably had more to do with Don Knotts leaving though.

Fran Hill said...

This is so funny, and so true. I'd like to add that also, having your blouse gaping so that your underwear showed, or having a bra strap loose, was seen as not the done thing. So what happened? Now it's almost unfashionable to wear your underwear under.

Lesley said...

Pwn Star: Actually, it WAS kind of wonderful. At least there was the delusion of innocence. Nowadays, nobody even tries to appear innocent. They smirk and swear and lie to your face. And that's just the politicians.

MilesPerHour: Yes! Andy Griffith, with the whistling and the fishing poles. Wonderful.

Fran: I know! I remember when they couldn't even show bras in bra commercials. Now they've got commercials for lingerie stores that are like soft porn. Good grief.

Ching Ya said...

haha.. oh dear, Yeah, the martian, and Sheri.. under the umbrella tree, is that her?

Kids of the 80's.. we had some good times too. Plus, we exercise way more back then! (talking about getting up and switch the channels manually)

Christmas contest

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