How about 10 favorite TV programs of yesteryears?
 

I used to watch American Bandstand in my teens and moved on to Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Bat Masterson, Jack Parr, Sid Caeser show....

Buck Rodgers, Sky King, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Dragnet, I Love Lucy, Life with Elizabeth, Danny Thomas, etc.

Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Honeymooners
Red Skelton
Annie Oakley
Bat Masterson
77 Sunset Street
Perry Mason
Andy Griffith
Lone Ranger
Dragnet
Beverly Hillbillies
Batman
Moonlighting
Dobie Gillis
Combat
The Waltons
NYPD Blue
Hill Street Blues
Bob Newhart
Father Knows Best
The Flinstones
Dean Martin Show
Twighlight Zone
Outer Limits
Star Trek
Burns and Allen

Nypd blue-hill street blues-dragnet-st elsewhere-studio wrestling{pittsburgh version}-adventure time {three stooges_pittsburgh}-jackie gleason-red skelton-american bandstand-naked city-mchales's navy-odd couple

My all time favorite--- TELETUBBIES!

A few more than 10, sorry.
Bewitched -just twitch your nose, and you get what you want!
I Dream of Jeannie
Brady Bunch
Partridge Family
St. Elsewhere probably my all time favorite.
Hill Street Blues
E.R.
L.A. Law
Murphy Brown
Dallas
Dynasty
Leave it to Beaver -- Loved Mom June Cleaver/Barbara Billingsley doing housework in a dress and pearls. My mom never did that.
Sisters - I have 2, so I could identify with that show.

The Ed Sullivan Show, Sing-along with Mitch, Queen for a Day, Dr. Kildare, Fury, Lassie, Lawrence Welk, Art Linkletter, The Mickey Mouse Club, Howdy Doodie, Zorro, Mister Ed, Dragnet, Groucho Marks, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

rin tin tin
the rifleman
combat
lawrence welck
are you being served
benny hill
captain kangaroo
sally star
walt disney's wonderfull world of color
mickey mouse club
three stooges
american bandstand
batman

The Rifleman. How could i have forgotten that one? That was one of my favorites, too!!!

Loved sit-coms as a kid;

i love lucy
december bride
jack benny
i married joan
bachelor father
make room for daddy
my little margie
george burns

quiz and game shows

To tell the truth
i've got a secret
what's my line
$64,000 question
twenty-one
truth or consequences
beat the clock
treasure hunt
dollar a second

variety shows

red skelton
ed sullivan
steve allen
your show of shows
gary moore

dramas

armstrong circle theatre
twilight zone
studio one
bonanza
gunsmoke
robert montgomery presents
hallmark hall of fame
i led three lives
death valley days
perry mason

i'm sure i will think of more, but that is enough for now

I can't believe no one has mentioned "Andy's Gang" (brought to you by scotch brand cellophane tape). In my neighborhood, on Saturday morning at 10am the streets would empty out because the Howdy Doody Show was on.

I just remembered Wagon Train with Ward Bond and when he was gone they thought the show was going to end but John McIntire carried on admirably.

Lone Ranger
Cisco Kid
Zorro
Roy Roger and Dale Evans
Flash Gordon
Captain Video
Paul Winchel and Jerry Mahoney
Kookla, Fran and Ollie
Sheri Lewis Lampchop
Edgar Burgen and Charlie McCarthy
Super Circus
Captain Kangaroo
Miss Francis
Mr Roger's Neighborhood

etc
etc

.

I led 3 lives!!!...I thought that I was the ONLY living person to remember that show. I was infatuated with it as a kid! I was able to buy 3 episodes on VHS from an ebay seller. The quality was poor but I've watched them over and over many times. My friends wanted to be doctors or firemen...I wanted to become a counter-spy.

Best comedy/variety show EVER:

The Ernie Kovaks Show

Yes!!

Cheers
Hill Street Blues
Upstairs, Downstairs
UXB
Roadrunner cartoons
Steve Allen
Dark Shadows

Most of mine have already been mentioned, but I liked these.

Red Skelton, best comedy ever
The Dick Van Dyke show
Laugh In
Bonanza
Have Gun Will Travel
Perry Mason
Dukes of Hazard
Dallas & Dynasty Same show, just different names and places
St Elsewhere
China Beach

Variety Shows...Dean Martin, Sonny and Cher, Andy Williams and I would never miss Laugh-In.

Daytime...All My Children, Dark Shadows

Weekly Series...Batman, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island and I must admit The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Julia, The Incredible Hulk. I also liked detective shows like Mannix, Cannon, The Mod Squad and I still watch Hawaii Five-O in reruns (had so many actors as guest stars).

Does anyone remember Sally Star, Chief Halftown, Pixanne, Lorenzo, Gene London, or Al Alberts (They may have been shows local to just Phiily).

Had forgotten about so many
 

of the good old ones. Now I am recalling all the fun watching

Lucy
Carol Burnett
Andy Griffiths
Merv Griffen
Phil Donohue
Dick Cavett
Leave it to Beaver
Laugh In
LA Law
Law and Order with Jerry Orbach
Johnny Carson
St. Elsewhere
All in the Family
All the Christmas Specials

What a trip down memory lane. I'll be thinking about these all day!

No one mentioned The Men from UNCLE. One of the guys from that show is playing Ducky, the Doc in NCIS. How about Ozzie and Harriet? I hid the fact that I liked Ricky Nelson, the singer but as I aged, brings me back fond memories listening his songs. I don't think no one mentioned a western series I believe starring Steve McCqueen where he had a sawed off shot gun instead of a six shooter. Forgot the name of the show but loved it.

As usual Red, you are right on! I was in love with his wife, Edie Adams! Brought to you by Dutch Masters...........

I think that was Wanted: Dead or Alive. Steve McQeen the king of cool.
The show lasted 3 years 1958-1961. 94 episodes.

Villagegolfer. You are absolutely right. It was indeed Wanted: Dead or Alive. Steve McQueen was cool like Cool Hand Luke and Paul Newman. You don't have to answer this but Steve McQueen was in a great war movie about Nazi concentration camp where he finally escapes on a motorcycle. My senior moment is getting worse. :shocked:

The Great Escape.

Z

I think Steve McQueen was in the bounty hunter.

Ralph Edwards' This is Your Life
McHales' Navy
General Hospital (still watch)
I Love Lucy
Boston Legal
Saturday Night Live
Laugh-In
That Girl (Marlo Thomas)
American Bandstand
All in The Family
Masterpiece Theatre
Beat The Clock (attended that program many years ago)
Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town
Steve Allen Show (the best of them all)

He played a bounty hunter on Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Steve McQueen in Wanted - Dead or Alive is my recollection.

Should have finished reading the whole thread. Sorry -A day late and a dollar short. :)

All my favorites have ben mentioned except for Barney Miller.

Great ensemble cast. A friend of mine mentioned Barney Miller to me and he said the guy who played Tessio in the Godfather was hilarious.

I thought he was pulling my leg so I watched and it became one of my favorites. Fish said to Barney that he needed the afternoon off. When Barney asked why, Fish said, " I have to go down to payroll and prove that I am still alive. :1rotfl:

Sorry Barb, That Girl was Marlo Thomas.

I may be wrong as usually I am but was "Taxi" mentioned? Another great ensemble cast. Jim Ignatowki, (Reverend Jim), used to crack me up.

It's nice to reminisce about the old television programs.

Great, iconic talented people.

What's scary is to hear SNL, Taxi, Barney Miller, All in the Family, etc. be called "oldies". I try to watch the modern sitcoms/ensemble shows and they just don't match up to me. I feel like an old codger whining and complaining about the good ole days.

IMHO - I still think there a few shows today that are well made but they are few and far between. The talent level of the television pioneers was so much greater that maybe there is a difference in talent. A lot of them had years of experience before television came into existence.

I agree that maybe it is a sign of being an old codger that we still like shows that we enjoyed when we were younger. Maybe we feel younger while watching them.

I have to beleive that the talent and the production quality of today's shows are equal to, or superior to that of the 50s, 60s, and 70s shows that we all remember so fondly. It is human nature to prefer those shows, music, memories of our youth as being superior, but that is because they shaped our thinking and our attitudes at a time when we were still impressionable. Modern Family, Parenthood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Office are excellent shows that compare favorably to most of the great shows of earlier times. The problem, at least for me, is that the choices are so great that with some 2-300 choices of programming to watch, I seem to have developed ADHD when it comes to TV. I can no longer concentrate on even a half hour show very often. I find myself watching mostly reality or sports, and switching back and forth during commercials and constantly checking my guide to see if there is something else I might find more compelling. When we were kids we had 3 or 4 choices of channels and in order to change the channel we had to get out of the chair and walk 12-15 feet and turn the dial for crissakes.

Turning the TV channel was my younger brothers jobs -

Here in TV (we all have homes here) they have other jobs to do for their big bro.


.

Annie Oakley
Sky King
Rin Tin tin
Fury
Texas Rangers
Donna reed show
Loretta Young Show
Jack Benny
The Ed Sullivan Show
I Love Lucy
Lawrence Welk ( my dad made me watch that one)
Dr. Kildare
Ben Casey
My little Margie
My goodness the list can go n and on

There were many great minds in the television industry back in the 50's-70's.

Most of the real talent came from radio, vaudeville,Broadway and the Hollywood studio system. People came from an inventive and talented pool. Mostly garbage on Boob Tube today.

The Midnight Special/Wolfman Jack
Dean Martin/Celebrity Roasts:MOJE_whot:
Frank Sinatra Show
Jack Benny Show
Bob Hope Specials :MOJE_whot:
Soupy Sales Show
Jackie Gleason Show
Ed Sullivan Show
Phyllis Diller Show
Smother Brothers Comedy Hour
Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys:MOJE_whot:
Daniel Boone/Davie Crockett
To Tell The Truth

Actually, I like a lot of the dramas of today. They were probably as good or possibly even better than Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, The Lawyers (some of my favorites), Wanted, Dead or Alive (I was absolutely in love with Steve McQueen). I just don't like today's comedies all that much. Couldn't stand Thirty Something; The Middle just gives me the creeps, Modern Family is okay but some of the dialog is irritating.

BTW -- The funniest line I have ever heard was in NCIS. Someone made a random comment about how Ducky looked as a younger man. Gibbs replied, "Like Illya Kuryakin." I almost spit Coke on the screen I was laughing so hard. (Try explaining to a 22 YO why that line is funny. It loses something in the translation.)

And one I totally forgot until now, which is strange because I refused to miss it -- The Twilight Zone. Absolutely incomparable!

I long for the variety shows of yesteryear!

Memory Lane Dilemna
 

Wouldn't it be great if all of the older shows mentioned could be upgraded to the vastly improved production qualities of today. With so many television stations available that one could choose all of the shows that were mentioned in this post.

Wouldn't it be a nice problem to have. :)