March 2008 Archives

First Prime-Time TV Show You Loved

What was the first prime-time TV series you made a point of watching each week - and what do you remember about how and why you watched it? With whom did you watch? Did the viewing involve any favorite foods or rituals? What did you enjoy most?

The Bullwinkle Show
1961-63, NBC

Jay Ward's The Bullwinkle Show, a prime-time follow-up to his Rocky and His Friends on ABC, grabbed me when I was young, and never let go. I still live bad puns because of this show (one memorable episode title: "Avalanche is better than none"). And at the time, I remember wondering why my dad, who watched with me, was laughing so hard at certain points. Now I know - but I was in my twenties before I realized that the show's Cold War villain, Boris Badenov, was a play on the Russian leader Boris Godunov, who also inspired an opera by Modest Mussorgsky.

That's my first prime-time TV love. What's yours?

Comments (14) | Permalink

First Prime-Time TV Characters You Loved

And now, here's something I think you'll really like...

QUESTION: Who were your first TV sex symbols?

These will depend, of course, upon your age, sex, sexual orientation and imagination. I shall say no more than this (though, perhaps, even this says way too much):

I hit puberty in the mid-1960s, just in time to be entranced by, among others, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel on ABC's The Avengers, Julie Newmar as the original Catwoman on ABC's Batman, and Barbara Eden as Jeannie's evil sister, Jeannie II, on NBC's I Dream of Jeannie.

Make of that what you will. My therapist certainly has.

So who were yours?

Comments (16) | Permalink