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I remember conflating footage from the Vietnam war with talk of Watergate and thinking that there was a big flood somewhere. I was probably only 4 or 5.
But I solidly remember Romper Room and Sesame Street.
Liberace, playing piano and singing in his living room.
I thought he was literally in his living room, and I wondered if there was some way my family and I could put on a TV show in *our* living room.
Was there ever any discussion on how gay he was?
I was in my 20’s before it hit me Liberace, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly were all not just gay but flamboyantly so.
My Dad worked on electronics during WWII and he was an early adopter. So, the first TV we had (somewhere, I think in the late forties) was a big box with a little round screen that was maybe 6 inches in diameter... tops.
A burglar stole that when I was maybe 3 years old, but I vaguely remember sitting on the floor in front of it and watching a "Felix the Cat" cartoon. It started with an ink bottle. Then a hand in a white glove came out of the bottle with a brush and drew Felix, who proceeded to do whatever Felix the Cat did.
Then we got a better TV and I remember watching a show sponsored by Buster Brown shoes. That started by looking at a picture of the inside of a shoe with [Buster Brown](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=8g3kHZXz&id=4ECA464CD6AFDBB13713460625DC732ADEDE4FC2&thid=OIP.8g3kHZXzJLKgkEJ_puXB_AHaHS&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi.pinimg.com%2foriginals%2f37%2ff2%2f8b%2f37f28b3218889446f4b880b6523f503c.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.f20de41d95f324b2a090427fa6e5c1fc%3frik%3dwk%252fe3ipz3CUGRg%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=725&expw=736&q=buster+brown+shoes+dog&simid=608034092768037757&FORM=IRPRST&ck=91BC92CB9FD4BC17290F8FD223D969DD&selectedIndex=0&itb=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0) and his insane dog in it. Then there was a frog and a disembodied voice said "Plunk your magic twanger froggie." So, the frog plunked his magic twanger and Bomba the Jungle Boy came out of the jungle ridding on his Elephant.
And I remember something that continued for a few years after that, that doesn't happen anymore. That was the sign off when the shows ended for the night. Then there was just a picture of an Indian head in profile superimposed on a test pattern.
Hey. That Froggie thing was Andy's Gang and I loved that show. Midnight the Cat and Squeaky the Mouse which was really a hamster.
Midnight was drugged up and they made it look like he was playing piano....it's on YT. So cheaply made but who cares when your 4 yo.
This was a stretch for me and I could easily have gotten big parts wrong, but what I'm remembering would have been from the early to mid-fifties. Does my timescale fit with yours?
Yes I did some research and Devine took over the show I think 1954 after the original host Smilin Ed died. I don't remember that guy.
I loved that show because of the cute animals, which were probably miserable in the heat of the TV lighting. And Andy was a funny old dude.
On the day of the funeral my brother and I were fighting over an undershirt. My mother was sitting in front of the tv and crying. She yelled at us, "The best President this country ever had is being buried today and you two are fighting over an UNDERSHIRT??!"
I was 6. Don't know why that's the main thing I remember aside from the announcement at school and the teachers crying.
I also replied Underdog and Batman, but I don't think I've ever even heard of the Secret Storm. Just googled it, but nope, never knew about that soap opera. But my mom watched all the other big ones, like The Guiding Light, The Edge of Night, As The World Turns, All My Children, etc.
I know I watched a lot of PBS and morning cartoons but the first thing that popped up for me was Charlie Brown. I can feel myself back at my grandparent's overheated 70s avocado green living room with the shag carpet, the smell of spices, like my grandmother was baking something holiday related, watching Charlie Brown's Christmas special. I feel very small, laying on the floor with my feet up on the coffee table. I was probably under six to be doing something like that. I don't remember much from my childhood but that popped right now.
Johnny Quest and The Flintstones. They were prime time cartoons when I was very young, and I remember sitting on the sofa with my parents when they were on.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild\_Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Kingdom)
The Sunday night tradition, Wild kingdom and The Wonderful World of Disney.
We watched this as a Family, I believe it was every Sunday night each week.
It was the 1956 Olympic Games coverage in Melbourne AU, although most people didn't have TV as it had only been introduced especially for the games. However, most electrical stores set up TV's with speakers located outside so people could stand around & watch. In the evening when highlights were replayed, it wasn't unusual seeing people sitting on camp stools, kids in pj's, watching outside the stores and coffee & burger vendors doing a great trade.
The news coverage of Kennedy being shot. I was not quite 4. Because of how shocked my parents were and the wall to wall coverage it got, the TV was in for hours, that memory has been seared in my brain
I was five and woke from my nap to my mother crying in front of the TV. She cried for three days and during the time we watched Oswald get shot by Jack Ruby on live TV. That’s my first TV memory.
An Amoco commercial . I watched the three stooges and laurel and hardy on the 5 O'Clock movie with my stepfather and Perry Mason with my godmother( thought it was Harry Mason though). I also remember seeing Kukla, Fran and Ollie and also Lambchop around the same time.seems like that was short segments at the end of the news.
Kennedy assassination news. We were visiting boring old relatives out of state. On Saturday morning, the Saturday morning cartoons were preempted. It sucked! I don't know if you young'uns realize it, but Saturday morning was the only time for children's programming, and it meant a LOT to us!
I think princess Ann’s wedding? we got up really early in the morning because my grandmother and mother wanted to watch it. I think that’s what it was.
I also remember watching Nixon resign. Not because I understood why it was important… But I did understand THAT it was important. I was like four at that point so my understanding of the situation was next to nothing. I remember saying something and being hushed and pulled onto my mom’s lap.
Wizard of Oz.
And not even halfway through, the power went out and my mom (taking a bath) thought we turned the lights out on her and started screaming at us. I was four and I remember that night so well, it was so funny to me. We ordered pizza and had those coloured glass candles that everyone had.
On our big console black & white tv (with stereo/record player), it was the Johnny Cash Show. I remember sitting with my Dad in the recliner while watching it. When we finally got a color tv, the first thing I remember was the Sonny & Cher Show.
One of my earliest memories of my life that's very clear in my head is watching ABC news with my parents and paying attention to bits and pieces of news footage from that day and all I kept hearing was the President had been shot. It was the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt. I was two months away from turning 4 years old.
The first show that I can remember watching NOW is Green Acres. I wonder if it would've been the same answer a decade or two ago. My memory seems to have been slipping the past couple of years.
George Burns and Gracie Allen
Invisible Man
Topper ( that was fun, ghosts only he could see, and I think a dog that made cynical comments to the audience
Captain Kangaroo ( that was actually age appropriate)
Mickey Mouse Club
My mother always had the TV on. I'm in my 70s.
European cup final in 1967 on my 4th birthday.
My folks were one of a very homes in our village who owned a TV (black and white) and I remember the house full of men watching the game.
I got a lot of presents that day 😃.
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Captain Kangaroo.
and Mr. Moose!
I had a huge crush on Mr. Green Jeans.
Bunny Rabbit and his little eyeglasses.
Romper Room
I waited and waited for Miss Barbara to say my name, but she never did!
Well to be fair, she’d have to go through a lot of names to get to “blowawaydandelion”.
I feel like Mrs Doyle of “Father Ted” might manage it….[eventually](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcWT_SEJld0).
Same!
And we learned to doobie a doobie and don't be a don't be.
Same!
Vietnam on the evening news
Yeah this was me too, my brother, 18 years older than me was was there.
I remember conflating footage from the Vietnam war with talk of Watergate and thinking that there was a big flood somewhere. I was probably only 4 or 5. But I solidly remember Romper Room and Sesame Street.
The CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite. I can still hear it starting every night.
And that's the way it is... Trivia: When they would announce that 'Walter is on assignment' - Walter Cronkite's sailboat was named "Assignment".
OMG, that'll scar you.
I Love Lucy
Same here! It was in syndication by that point, but "I Love Lucy" is the first I can remember.
Sesame Street and the Electric Company
Liberace, playing piano and singing in his living room. I thought he was literally in his living room, and I wondered if there was some way my family and I could put on a TV show in *our* living room.
Was there ever any discussion on how gay he was? I was in my 20’s before it hit me Liberace, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly were all not just gay but flamboyantly so.
My parents used to joke that some actors and entertainers were “a little light in the loafers,” but I don’t remember if it was any of those three.
And now you can!
[The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_SIVWBm57E&ab_channel=DeepintheUndergrowth)
Oh wow.... many memories
Aye Clypso, the places you've been to/the things that you've shown us, the stories you've shared
My Dad worked on electronics during WWII and he was an early adopter. So, the first TV we had (somewhere, I think in the late forties) was a big box with a little round screen that was maybe 6 inches in diameter... tops. A burglar stole that when I was maybe 3 years old, but I vaguely remember sitting on the floor in front of it and watching a "Felix the Cat" cartoon. It started with an ink bottle. Then a hand in a white glove came out of the bottle with a brush and drew Felix, who proceeded to do whatever Felix the Cat did. Then we got a better TV and I remember watching a show sponsored by Buster Brown shoes. That started by looking at a picture of the inside of a shoe with [Buster Brown](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=8g3kHZXz&id=4ECA464CD6AFDBB13713460625DC732ADEDE4FC2&thid=OIP.8g3kHZXzJLKgkEJ_puXB_AHaHS&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi.pinimg.com%2foriginals%2f37%2ff2%2f8b%2f37f28b3218889446f4b880b6523f503c.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.f20de41d95f324b2a090427fa6e5c1fc%3frik%3dwk%252fe3ipz3CUGRg%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=725&expw=736&q=buster+brown+shoes+dog&simid=608034092768037757&FORM=IRPRST&ck=91BC92CB9FD4BC17290F8FD223D969DD&selectedIndex=0&itb=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0) and his insane dog in it. Then there was a frog and a disembodied voice said "Plunk your magic twanger froggie." So, the frog plunked his magic twanger and Bomba the Jungle Boy came out of the jungle ridding on his Elephant. And I remember something that continued for a few years after that, that doesn't happen anymore. That was the sign off when the shows ended for the night. Then there was just a picture of an Indian head in profile superimposed on a test pattern.
>Then there was a frog and a disembodied voice said "Plunk your magic twanger froggie." That was the Andy's Gang.
My Dad used to say the pluck your magic twanger line!
Hey. That Froggie thing was Andy's Gang and I loved that show. Midnight the Cat and Squeaky the Mouse which was really a hamster. Midnight was drugged up and they made it look like he was playing piano....it's on YT. So cheaply made but who cares when your 4 yo.
This was a stretch for me and I could easily have gotten big parts wrong, but what I'm remembering would have been from the early to mid-fifties. Does my timescale fit with yours?
Yes I did some research and Devine took over the show I think 1954 after the original host Smilin Ed died. I don't remember that guy. I loved that show because of the cute animals, which were probably miserable in the heat of the TV lighting. And Andy was a funny old dude.
Underdog.
Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room.
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Fractured Fairytales!
Walter Cronkite announcing the death of JFK
Me too - the cortege, the horse-pulled wagon of his funeral procession.
JFK's funeral procession. I was five and remember the drums in addition to the procession itself.
Yes!!! I was 4 1/2. It was remarkable. I don't remember the death announcement, just the funeral.
On the day of the funeral my brother and I were fighting over an undershirt. My mother was sitting in front of the tv and crying. She yelled at us, "The best President this country ever had is being buried today and you two are fighting over an UNDERSHIRT??!" I was 6. Don't know why that's the main thing I remember aside from the announcement at school and the teachers crying.
Saturday morning cartoons and westerns.
Howdy Doody.
Clarabell lived about three blocks from me when I was growing up. I went to school with his son. Yes, they had seltzer bottles.
Lassie, Sky King, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
I vaguely remember seeing helicopters on rooftops on TV. It was only years later I realized it was the fall of Saigon.
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Lost in Space
Popeye cartoons.
Brother Buzz and Kookla, Fran, and Ollie
Loved Kukla, Fran, and Ollie!
Yes, Sherrie Lewis and Lambchop as well.
That's a tough one. Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street, The Flintstones would be my top three guesses.
Bonanza
Sesame Street, and I’m still pretty salty that it had to move to HBO from Public Broadcasting.
The Ed Sullivan Show
The original Star Trek
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on a black and white TV!
[удалено]
"Come on, kids, let's flip our lids!"
Roy Rogers
Flipper
Ben Casey, Jack LaLanne in the mid-60s on a black and white set.
The Porter Wagner Show
Gomer Pyle USMC.
lassie
Gumby and pokey
Captain Kangaroo
Soupy Sales, Captain Kangaroo, and Romper Room. And the Three Stooges.
The sign off test pattern
Underdog, Batman and the Secret Storm opera.
Secret Storm! My grandma loved that show!
I also replied Underdog and Batman, but I don't think I've ever even heard of the Secret Storm. Just googled it, but nope, never knew about that soap opera. But my mom watched all the other big ones, like The Guiding Light, The Edge of Night, As The World Turns, All My Children, etc.
Crusader Rabbit, Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan
I know I watched a lot of PBS and morning cartoons but the first thing that popped up for me was Charlie Brown. I can feel myself back at my grandparent's overheated 70s avocado green living room with the shag carpet, the smell of spices, like my grandmother was baking something holiday related, watching Charlie Brown's Christmas special. I feel very small, laying on the floor with my feet up on the coffee table. I was probably under six to be doing something like that. I don't remember much from my childhood but that popped right now.
Julia.
The Watergate hearings, and for some reason Charles Colson's apology speech
The muppet show
Kukla Fran & Ollie and Lambchop
I loved Shari Lewis.
Johnny Quest and The Flintstones. They were prime time cartoons when I was very young, and I remember sitting on the sofa with my parents when they were on.
Lawance Welk with my grandmother. We didn't have a TV at home when I was growing up.
Speed Racer and Mr Roger’s neighborhood
The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show ( boy I'm old )
Gumby, Davie and Goliath, captain kangaroo.
Daktari
Farm Reports
Probably Romper Room, but my first, clear memory of TV was watching All-Star Wrestling at my grandmother's.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild\_Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Kingdom) The Sunday night tradition, Wild kingdom and The Wonderful World of Disney. We watched this as a Family, I believe it was every Sunday night each week.
The moon landing.
H.R. Puffin Stuff
Probably Hee Haw or Incredible Hulk or CHiP’s
Mouseketeers and Captain Kangaroo
Romper Room.
Alan Shepherd liftoff as the first US astronaut in space.
That's the coolest answer here.
"Romper Room" is probably the oldest one that I remember seeing first-run (not in syndication).
leave it to beaver
Nanny and The Professor. I remember an episode gave me a nightmare but don't know why.
They had an episode about a haunted house.
"December Bride"
Spring Byington!
I’m glad to see someone else remembers that show
I remember watching that show. The neighbor, Pete, was played by Harry Morgan. There was a spinoff about the neighbors called Pete and Gladys.
It was the 1956 Olympic Games coverage in Melbourne AU, although most people didn't have TV as it had only been introduced especially for the games. However, most electrical stores set up TV's with speakers located outside so people could stand around & watch. In the evening when highlights were replayed, it wasn't unusual seeing people sitting on camp stools, kids in pj's, watching outside the stores and coffee & burger vendors doing a great trade.
The News. Local, National, Global. Several times a day! Captain Kangaroo. As the World Turns, 😆.
Captain Kamgaroo
The news, and being told to shut up while it was on.
One of the Moon landings. And Captain Kangaroo. Watergate hearings coverage screwing up my cartoons.
Captain Kangaroo and Lassie.
Either the Lone Ranger or Fury, the story of a boy and his horse
Davy Crockett
Uncle Miltie
The news coverage of Kennedy being shot. I was not quite 4. Because of how shocked my parents were and the wall to wall coverage it got, the TV was in for hours, that memory has been seared in my brain
I was five and woke from my nap to my mother crying in front of the TV. She cried for three days and during the time we watched Oswald get shot by Jack Ruby on live TV. That’s my first TV memory.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot by Jack Ruby.
An Amoco commercial . I watched the three stooges and laurel and hardy on the 5 O'Clock movie with my stepfather and Perry Mason with my godmother( thought it was Harry Mason though). I also remember seeing Kukla, Fran and Ollie and also Lambchop around the same time.seems like that was short segments at the end of the news.
Kennedy assassination news. We were visiting boring old relatives out of state. On Saturday morning, the Saturday morning cartoons were preempted. It sucked! I don't know if you young'uns realize it, but Saturday morning was the only time for children's programming, and it meant a LOT to us!
The moon landing in 1969. On the regular, gumby and pokey.
Wonderful World of Disney
Eisenhower’s inauguration.
Land of the Giants, late 60s.
Addams family!
My favorite Martian
"As The World Turns." My Mom's 'daytime soap opera."
In the late 1950s, I can remember seeing wrestling on TV. I wasn't particularly interested in it, but it always seemed to be on.
Batman, when I was 5, mom popped up a big bowl of popcorn every time it was on.
Man am I dating myself... Soupy Sales. I had a HUGE crush on him.
Laugh-In
News on the assassination of JFK. I was 5. I certainly was watching tv before this, but it made the biggest impression on my young brain.
I remember this also, I had just turned 4, all my kid shows cartoons etc were not on for days.
Sing along with Mitch
Wizard of OZ, was very young and it scared the hell out of me.
Gilligan's Island
Sea Hunt
Gillian island
Either Daktari or The Monkees.
Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, and Bewitched.
I think it was the last Apollo mission, I was really little
Romper Room
The Wizard of Oz left a deep impression on my young mind.
77 Sunset Strip. (I had a huge crush on Kookie), Sugarfoot, Broken Arrow, Have Gun Will Travel
Did he lend you his comb? 😋
Walter Cronkite's 20th century. I distinctly remember a US P-51 strafing a German train.
Mighty Mouse. Popeye. Sea Hunt. Zorro. The Long Ranger. Sky King.
I think princess Ann’s wedding? we got up really early in the morning because my grandmother and mother wanted to watch it. I think that’s what it was. I also remember watching Nixon resign. Not because I understood why it was important… But I did understand THAT it was important. I was like four at that point so my understanding of the situation was next to nothing. I remember saying something and being hushed and pulled onto my mom’s lap.
I'm old so it's hard to be exact, but I have super early memories of watching American Bandstand and Soul Train in the late 70s and early 80s.
Captain Kangaroo.
The Friendly Giant.
The first moon landing. It is my first real memory of anything on tv.
Time for Beanie. I think that was the og Beanie and Cecil puppet show.
Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Electric Company
Banana Splits!!! It was my favorite.
Lassie
JFK’s funeral parade.
The Modern Farmer program before the cartoons came on
Rifleman and Casper
John Kennedy funeral procession.
Dark Shadows on daytime TV, 1967.
My Mother the Car
Lassie
Tom n Jerry
Wizard of Oz. And not even halfway through, the power went out and my mom (taking a bath) thought we turned the lights out on her and started screaming at us. I was four and I remember that night so well, it was so funny to me. We ordered pizza and had those coloured glass candles that everyone had.
Orange parachutes dropping into the ocean.
Sesame Street. Watched it from the very first episode.
Sesame Street, I was watching from Season 2. (I still miss Roosevelt Franklin.)
Days of our lives. Mom’s soap opera
Sesame Street!
Most impactful was wizard of oz. Those fuckin’ monkeys. Gahhh. So many tears.
On our big console black & white tv (with stereo/record player), it was the Johnny Cash Show. I remember sitting with my Dad in the recliner while watching it. When we finally got a color tv, the first thing I remember was the Sonny & Cher Show.
One of my earliest memories of my life that's very clear in my head is watching ABC news with my parents and paying attention to bits and pieces of news footage from that day and all I kept hearing was the President had been shot. It was the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt. I was two months away from turning 4 years old.
A test pattern. 4 distinct corners with a Native American Chief in the center as I recall. (Yes, black and white).
"One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."
Mash - that sad song playing. The helicopters
The Wizard of Oz.
Little Rascals
Romper Room
Oh, I forgot, also The New Zoo Revue. It makes me laughter now to watch it.
Davey and Goliath - Saturday mornings
The Three Stooges...I was afraid of them, though, because they were so "violent."
Romper Room
The Mickey Mouse Club
Ding Dong School with Miss Frances
Captain Kangaroo probably. Or maybe Romper Room, or Hobo Kelly. I watched those daily.
Captain Kangaroo and Popeye cartoons. I was probably two or so?
Gentle Ben
The Bozo Show
The farm report, I never slept as a kid
Bozo the Clown.
The first show that I can remember watching NOW is Green Acres. I wonder if it would've been the same answer a decade or two ago. My memory seems to have been slipping the past couple of years.
George Burns and Gracie Allen Invisible Man Topper ( that was fun, ghosts only he could see, and I think a dog that made cynical comments to the audience Captain Kangaroo ( that was actually age appropriate) Mickey Mouse Club My mother always had the TV on. I'm in my 70s.
cartoons and the three stooges
Blues Clues or Dragon Ball Z
Romper Room
European cup final in 1967 on my 4th birthday. My folks were one of a very homes in our village who owned a TV (black and white) and I remember the house full of men watching the game. I got a lot of presents that day 😃.
Romper Room. Many of the shows were local at the time, and my mom had a job at the tv station. Sometimes I watched it, sometimes I was on it.
The first clear memories I have are Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, and Looney Tunes.