Moving back to a more serious matter, let’s talk about addiction.
Having watched more episodic television in the past two weeks than in recent memory, I really have a hard time picturing myself sitting in front of the TV for six or seven nights a week for three or four hours a night (after being allowed to stay up past 9pm, of course).
Right now, I’m talking about watching three or four series and a smattering of other shows like I’m wasting half my waking hours! But when I was a kid? Feh. Try 20 or 30 hours (counting Saturday morning cartoons and the “Gilligan” hours from 3 or 4 in the afternoon until the news came on at 6, when they’d re-run Gilligan, Star Trek, Brady Bunch, Jeannie, etc.).
See? I’m much better now! *shakes*
But the problem with finding a list of historical TV schedules is that now I have to sit here and recreate my nightly viewing habits from ages past. I can’t just let those grids sit there, mocking me, whispering “remember me… remember me… remember meeeeeee…”
So, here is our nightly viewing schedule from 1967 (the year I was hooked by “Lost in Space”) until I graduated high school (1980) with a special, bonus Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup.
‘cuz, I know you care.
1967-68 (8pm bedtime…why didn’t I use that with my kids?)
Sun: Lassie, Gentle Ben (or Disney)
Wed: Lost in Space
Thu: Daniel Boone
Fri: The Wild, Wild West
Sat (morning): Casper, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Space Ghost, George of the Jungle, Top Cat, Jonny Quest
1968-69
Sun: Lassie, Gentle Ben (or Disney)
Thu: Daniel Boone
Fri: Wild Wild West
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Wacky Races, Spider-Man, Batman/Superman Hour, Underdog, George of the Jungle, Jonny Quest
Sat (PM): Adam 12, Get Smart
1969-70
Sun: Wild Kingdom, Disney
Thu: Daniel Boone
Fri: Get Smart
Sat (AM): Jetsons, Bugs Bunny, Dastardly & Mutley in Their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Scooby-Doo, The Archie Comedy Hour, The Monkees, Wacky Races (or Underdog)
1970-71
Sun: Wild Kingdom, Disney
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Lancelot Link Secret Chimp, Josie and the Pussycats, Harlem Globetrotters, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Monkees
1971-72 (the big year of staying up until 11!!)
Sun: The F.B.I.
Mon: Dad controlled Monday nights. It was Gunsmoke and MNF for years.
Tue: Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Cannon
Wed: Adam 12, NBC Mystery Movie (Columbo, McCloud, McMillan and Wife), Night Gallery
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, Harlem Globetrotters, Jackson Five, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Jonny Quest, You Are There (I loved that show!)
1972-73
Sun: Disney, Mystery Movie, Night Gallery
Tue: Temperatures Rising, Hawaii Five-O
Wed: Adam 12
Thu: The Waltons, Ironside
Fri: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, Love American Style
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Jetsons, Pink Panther (starting to watch less cartoons)
Sat (PM): Emergency!, The Streets of San Francisco, Mission: Impossible
1973-74
Sun: FBI, Sunday Mystery Movie
Tue: Temperatures Rising, Hawaii Five-O
Wed: Adam 12
Thu: Waltons, Kung Fu, Streets of SF
Fri: Brady Bunch, Odd Couple
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Super Friends, Star Trek, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Pink Panther, Jetsons, Fat Albert
Sat (PM): Emergency!, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett
1974-75
Sun: Disney, Sunday Mystery Movie
Tue: Adam 12
Wed: Little House on the Prairie, Cannon, Petrocelli
Thu: Waltons, Ironside, Harry-O
Fri: Sanford and Son, Six Million Dollar Man, Rockford Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Hong Kong Phooey, Land of the Lost, Shazam!, Super Friends, Jetsons, Fat Albert
Sat (PM): Emergency!, Kung Fu, Carol Burnett
1975-76
Sun: Swiss Family Robinson, Six Million Dollar Man
Mon: The Invisible Man
Tue: Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter
Wed: When Things Were Rotten (though we returned to Little House when that got canceled)
Thu: Waltons
Fri: Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Rockford Files
Sat (AM): Hong Kong Phooey, Bugs Bunny, Pink Panther, Land of the Lost, Far Out Space Nuts, The Ghost Busters, Jetsons, Fat Albert (though a little more American Bandstand getting tossed in)
Sat (PM): Emergency!, S.W.A.T., Carol Burnett
1976-77
Sun: Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak
Mon: Little House on the Prairie
Tue: Baa Baa Black Sheep, MASH, One Day at a Time
Wed: The Bionic Woman, Baretta, Charlie’s Angels
Thu: Waltons, Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Shazam/Isis, Land of the Lost (really cutting down on the “kid stuff” now)
Sat (PM): Emergency!, Starsky and Hutch, Carol Burnett
1977-78
Sun: Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, Six Million Dollar Man, All in the Family, Alice, Kojak
Mon: Little House
Tue: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three’s Company, One Day at a Time, Lou Grant
Wed: Grizzly Adams, Charlie’s Angels, Baretta
Thu: Waltons, The Man From Atlantis, Barnaby Jones
Fri: Wonder Woman, Rockford Files, Quincy
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny
Sat (PM): Bionic Woman, Starsky and Hutch, Carol Burnett
1978-79
Sun: Hardy Boys, Battlestar Galactica, All in the Family, Alice
Mon: Little House
Tue: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three’s Company, Taxi, Starsky and Hutch
Wed: Eight is Enough, Charlie’s Angels, Vegas
Thu: Mork and Mindy (when I could wrestle it away from the Waltons), Barney Miller, Soap, Barnaby Jones
Fri: Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Quincy
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny
Sat (PM): CHiPs, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island
1979-80
Sun: Mork and Mindy, One Day at a Time, Alice, The Jeffersons, Trapper John MD
Mon: Little House, MASH, WKRP, Lou Grant
Tue: Happy Days, Three’s Company, Taxi
Wed: Eight is Enough, Charlie’s Angels, Vegas
Thu: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Quincy, Barnaby Jones
Fri: Incredible Hulk
Sat (AM): Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck
Sat (PM): CHiPs
1980-81
Sun: CHiPs, Alice, The Jeffersons, Trapper John
Mon: Little House, MASH
Tue: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three’s Company, Too Close For Comfort
Wed: Real People, Taxi, Soap, Vegas
Thu: Mork and Mindy, Bosom Buddies, Magnum PI, Knots Landing
Fri: Incredible Hulk, Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas
Sat (PM): WKRP, Tim Conway, Love Boat, Fantasy Island
There was a long period in my life when I could tell you the time of day and day of the week by what was on the TV — ANY network. I studied the weekly TV guide more carefully than my math homework (with predictable results).
I swore off network TV in 1991, and was fully weaned from regular viewing of any show by 1993. I don’t have the faintest idea what’s on anymore. Any series in which I show interest will either have its schedule jerked around or be canceled outright. Each time in the past 14 years I’ve tried to follow a show, one of those two options happened. IN a few cases, once I stopped watching, the show schedule straightened out.
I try to use my superpower only for good, but if I make a point of watching a show I hate, it will go up the ratings. Otherwise, reality TV would have been a one season blip.
And now that I have PVRs on my TV, and can record anything for later viewing, they can’t catch me watching. Thus has Mythbusters survived.
You know, this is kind of scary. Not that I couldn’t do exactly the same thing. I watched tons of TV when I was growing up…and like Sherri, I was one with the TV Guide. It seems that you and I were doing exactly the same thing several nights of the week! We were just like cosmic-friends.
Since I’m too lazy to look it up, wasn’t Hill Street Blues a Thursday night requirement? I seem to recall you almost making me watch it, which of course I loved from that point on.
Maybe it was later in the 80’s, huh?
Most of that seems like what I watched, too.
But I notice a few omissions. I KNOW you watched Hee-Haw on Saturday nights. Don’t try and hide it.
And I always watched MASH, All In The Family, etc. The CBS block. You weren’t watching those? Other than MASH?
The only season Hee-Haw was listed on the network schedule was when it was on after my bed time, I think. When we really started watching it was when it was syndicated. That’s why staples like “The Mupppet Show” aren’t listed. They weren’t on network TV.
We didn’t start watching MASH until it was syndicated either (a travesty, I know!!).
And the infamous Thursday night lineup was in the 80’s. 1982: Fame, Cheers, Taxi, Hill Street Blues!
I thought Fame was on Saturday, and Cosby was on Thursday…
But you’re right, of course. It was the 80’s. And I forgot that you were talking network vs syndication, when I mentioned Hee Haw.
Hill Street was on in the early 1980s. I remember this because office productivity was non-existent for the first fifteen minutes of the day each Friday, and most of the people discussing it were no longer working at the company by mid-1984 (not to be blamed on HSB; there were other reasons [stupid managment]).
this must have taken some time to do! yowza.