Your first TV show

O

oskar

Well-known member
What is your first tv show? I don't mean what was the first show you remember watching, but the first one you got into and went out of your way to watch.

Mine is Combat! Aired from 1962-67, I was five when it first aired. Starting Rick Jason and Vic Morrow this hour long program is the longest running WWII drama ever. Not really what you would consider an action show although it did have action. The producers went out of their way to be authentic by employing military consultants. Most of the regular cast were WWII or military vets. For five seasons this poor band of "Kilroys" never fought their way out of France in a seemingly endless charge of recon missions. Great depiction of a bunch of weary, average Joe, dogfaces trying to accomplish their mission and survive both physically and mentally. Combat! made it feel personal and never glorified war. If you enjoy drama this program is well worth checking out.
 
 
vamp2syd said:
Soap
Click to expand...
There wasn't another show quite like Soap. I have a strange side bar connection to this show. When Soap was in its original run in the late 70's, I was stationed at Patrick AFB, Florida. An E-5 I worked with on a daily basis was Richard Mulligan's brother Jim Mulligan. Jim was tall and lanky just like his brother. There was no mistaking them as brothers as they looked and sounded alike. Jim was a talented sculptor and had a painfully dry wit. Well anywho, doesn't have anything to do with the show but...
 
To this day I don't think I've ever seen Soap and maybe no more than 4-6 episodes of the Simpsons (or Seinfeld), but they've become such a part of culture I feel I know them.

Lived and died for Saturday Morning Cartoons. I remember getting wound watching the Summer promos. The other was Johnny Carson, begging to stay up "just to see the monologue Ma." She was a second shifter that worked a lot of weekend OT just to make bills so it was sometimes the only time I'd see her.

Speaking to thevoice's watch parties, in college it was all about Hill St. Blues and what was the next boundary they'd push.
 
McMillan & Wife
Rock Hudson as Stuart (Mac) McMillan ~ San Francisco Police Commissioner
Susan Saint James as Sally McMillan
Nancy Walker as Mildred (housekeeper)
John Schuck as Sgt. Enright
===========

Banacek (pronounced ban-a-check)
George Peppard as Thomas Banacek ~ sophiscated P.I.
Ralph Manza as chauffeur Jay Drury
Running gas was the 'Polish' proverbs...
"A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn."




:>---

SALT
 
Foster said:
Also watched Combat, but prior to that, it was The Ed Sullivan Show and Gunsmoke.
Click to expand...
I know I watched both Ed Sullivan and Gunsmoke as well but those were more of family time programs that I watched as there was no choice with only one tv in the house.

About Gunsmoke, I think Heroes and Icons runs that daily. I actually prefer the older half hour shows with Dennis Weaver as "Chester". Main reason is I believe Matt Dillion of that era was more similar to the character from the original radio series. Case in point, I saw an episode a few months back where the show ended with Matt Dillion shooting the bad guy. So what's new? But get this, Matt shot this guy and he was down and not shooting back, and Matt pumped him with two more rounds just to make sure. That's how the show ended. You'd never see that in the 60's or 70's.

If you like Gunsmoke, check out the old radio series with William Conrad as the voice of Matt Dillion. The story line was much more raw and gritty, and at times would wonder which side of the law Matt actually stood.
 
oskar said:
I know I watched both Ed Sullivan and Gunsmoke as well but those were more of family time programs that I watched as there was no choice with only one tv in the house.

About Gunsmoke, I think Heroes and Icons runs that daily. I actually prefer the older half hour shows with Dennis Weaver as "Chester". Main reason is I believe Matt Dillion of that era was more similar to the character from the original radio series. Case in point, I saw an episode a few months back where the show ended with Matt Dillion shooting the bad guy. So what's new? But get this, Matt shot this guy and he was down and not shooting back, and Matt pumped him with two more rounds just to make sure. That's how the show ended. You'd never see that in the 60's or 70's.

If you like Gunsmoke, check out the old radio series with William Conrad as the voice of Matt Dillion. The story line was much more raw and gritty, and at times would wonder which side of the law Matt actually stood.
Click to expand...
I'm just the opposite. I like Festus way more Chester. Dennis Weaver was terrible in that series, period! Ken Curtis was a much better actor on that show.
 
El Indio said:
I'm just the opposite. I like Festus way more Chester. Dennis Weaver was terrible in that series, period! Ken Curtis was a much better actor on that show.
Click to expand...
Thats like my Dad. He really enjoyed the constant ribbing and interplay between Festus and Doc.
 
ohiopup said:
McMillan & Wife
Rock Hudson as Stuart (Mac) McMillan ~ San Francisco Police Commissioner
Susan Saint James as Sally McMillan
Nancy Walker as Mildred (housekeeper)
John Schuck as Sgt. Enright
===========

Banacek (pronounced ban-a-check)
George Peppard as Thomas Banacek ~ sophiscated P.I.
Ralph Manza as chauffeur Jay Drury
Running gas was the 'Polish' proverbs...
"A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn."




:>---

SALT
Click to expand...
Banacek, Cannon, Mannix, Kojack, Columbo...

People loved their last name detective shows. ;)
 
en.wikipedia.org

The Simpsons - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.[24] Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial shorts.[22] The animation was produced domestically at Klasky Csupo,[25][26] with Wes Archer, David Silverman, and Bill Kopp being animators for the first season.[27] Colorist Georgie Peluse was the person who decided to make the characters yellow.[27]

In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included the Klasky Csupo animation house. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content.[28] Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.[29] The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989, with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".[30] "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems.[31] In 1992, Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that her show was the source of the series' success. The suit said she should receive a share of the profits of The Simpsons[32]—a claim rejected by the courts.[33]
Click to expand...

Started as "shorts" on The Tracy Ullman Show in 1987 and debuted as The Simpsons in December of 1989.

Interesting that Ullman wanted credit.
 
I was not trying to be d$ckhead. Just remembered it debuting late and when I looked it was really late, like December late. You guys must have had a couple wild viewing parties those two last weeks of December in 1989.

Just admit you meant early 90's. :LOL:
 
Other than Saturday cartoon and weekday children's shows, my first must-watch programs in prime time were 12 O'Clock High and No Time For Sergeants.
 
I've been recording Combat! every Saturday night for the past three months. I love to re-watch this series. My first love though was the Andy Griffith Show.
 
Probably The Flintstones...prime time and in-color! Then, The Jetsons; Batman (Adam West version); Lost in Space; Gilligan's Island; Laugh-In; Kung Fu; Bonanza; Wild Wild West; Man from U.N.C.L.E.; Get Smart; many more.
 
When I was a kid it was the Partridge Family. I have always loved music and I could not think of a cooler thing as a grade schooler than a hip mom taking her family on tour in a Furthur inspired bus.
 
BlackHawk said:
Probably The Flintstones...prime time and in-color! Then, The Jetsons; Batman (Adam West version); Lost in Space; Gilligan's Island; Laugh-In; Kung Fu; Bonanza; Wild Wild West; Man from U.N.C.L.E.; Get Smart; many more.
Click to expand...
Watched all of those along with Stoney Burke, Secret Agent (Danger Man), The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, I Spy, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Then Came Bronson, Night Gallery, Movin On, and Alias Smith and Jones.

I was in the 10th grade when Kung Fu aired. There was a cult like following of that show. There was a running joke with my friends that if someone, in a derogatory manner, called Caine "Chinaman", that person would eventually get their knee broken.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top