Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Buffalo Bob Smith, Clarabelle the clown, and a wooden puppet named Howdy Doody entertained all of us members of the peanut gallery in the early days of television. They don’t make TV shows like they used to, do they?

Did you know the first person to play Clarabelle was none other than Bob Keeshan, who went on to play Captain Kangaroo? Remember the Captain’s friends, Mr. Moose, Dancing Bear, Mr. Green Jeans, and Bunny Rabbit? Remember his dungeon master key ring and huge pockets full of carrots?

I have done stories on TV shows before, and they were so much fun that I decided to do another.  Fall is when we get the new lineup of TV shows. Once again, I asked my Facebook friends for their thoughts on their favorite shows of all time, and here they are. Of course, I will start and finish with my favs.

Leave it to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show are at the top of my all-time favorite old-time shows. Beaver in particular, since I have two sons. F Troop, McHale’s Navy, Car 54, Sgt. Bilko and My Three Sons were right up there with the best. I Love Lucy and The Beverly Hillbillies still make us laugh today. Do you remember the black and white Flintstones commercial for Winston cigarettes? Fred and Barney were actually smoking and describing the filtered smoothness. Right alongside our friends from Bedrock were the futuristic Jetsons. I had a thing for Judy. The Donna Reed Show and Father Knows Best were among the earliest shows on my pre-color favorites list.

I can’t believe I sat for hours watching Mr. Ed, a talking horse. Maybe it was because Wilbur’s wife, Carol, was so pretty! Then came the magical shows like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Bewitched was the first show we watched on our first color TV. As far as variety shows go, The Dean Martin Show had the rest beat.

Locally, we had our own lineup of Boston-based shows. I was on two of them, namely Major Mudd and Big Brother, Bob Emery. We also had Romper Room (are you a dooby or a don’t-be?). There was also Captain Bob, the art show, and, of course, Boomtown. Rex Trailer is a local treasure, and he was also a teacher when I went to Emerson College. Each week, one of the lucky kids got to be the sheriff and one got to be the bad guy. Frank Avruch played Bozo the clown for years. Were you ever Butch for a day?

Shindig, Hullabaloo, Dance Fever, and Solid Gold got us shaking our groove things. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In brought a new kind of sketch comedy to the small screen.  Remember the go-go girls dancing in the cages? Here is a barrage of some of our favorite shows of yesteryear. The Man (and girl)  from U.N.C.L.E, Batman, The Banana Splits, Sigmund The Sea Monster, The Outer Limits, Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, Seahunt, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, The Real McCoy’s, Candid Camera, Dobie Gillis, Gilligan’s Island, The Ed Sullivan Show, My Favorite Martian, Sonny and Cher, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, Lassie, Fury, Flicka, Star Trek, Kimba the White Lion, The Avengers (featuring Emma Peel!) Rat Patrol, The Gallant Men, Combat, Patty Duke, The Flying Nun, All in the Family, Dark Shadows, Adam 12, Dragnet, The Munsters, The Addams Family, The Honeymooners, The 3 Stooges, and many more. Nick at Nite and TV Land are two channels where you can still see a lot of the great shows from the past.

So as Major Mudd said at the end of his show, IBBY! I’ll Be Blasting You! (and stop flipping that channel dial so fast!)