Video Thrills The Radio...Guy ("Radio Star" might be overstatin' my status a bit....)

I've always enjoyed watching television. Always. I never developed a successfully-realized self-image of a hipper Enlightened One that eschewed the tube. There were times when I thought my taste in cathrode-ray absorption was inherently superior to that of the mass of Dynasty or Dukes Of Hazzard fans, but even that view was flawed. Hell, I watched The Fall Guy (starring Lee Majors and the simply stunning Heather Thomas), and loved it; I wasn't in a position to cast aspersions on folks wondering who shot JR.

"Stunning?" Ah, ya make me blush, Carl!

There was a time when I wandered away from TV for a bit. I didn't watch much when I was in college, and didn't own a working set throughout most of the first few years after graduation in 1980. We briefly owned a TV at our apartment in the early '80s, long enough for me to catch The Ramones and Cherie and Marie Currie on Sha Na Na, and Peter Tork on Late Night With David Letterman. When that little TV went the way of all flesh tones, we couldn't afford to replace or repair, so we did without for a couple of years.

As a kid, my first favorite TV shows included anything that showed Popeye cartoons, plus a kids game show called Shenanigans (with host Stubby Kaye), and local kids shows starring Baron Daemon, Salty Sam, Denny Sullivan, and the whole cast of Channel 5's The Magic Toy Shop. There were sitcoms like The Beverly Hillbillies, The Munsters, The Lucy Show, Get Smart, F Troop, Bewitched, and Gilligan's Island, variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and my beloved Jackie Gleason Show, even an animated sitcom called The Flintstones. I didn't care much about Westerns, but still saw the occasional rerun of  The Cisco Kid. The only adventure shows I remember watching much before I was six were reruns of The Adventures Of Superman, the Astro Boy cartoons and old Flash Gordon serial chapters that Baron Daemon screened during his show, and my Wednesday night rendezvous with Lost In Space. In 1966, though, the new twice-a-week Batman show turned me into a superhero fan for life. That was also the year that Star Trek, The Monkees, and The Green Hornet debuted, so '66 looms large in my televised legend.



In the late '60s and through the '70s, I had a lot of favorite shows at different times. The Good Guys. He And She. Frankenstein, Jr. & the Impossibles. Roger Ramjet. The Guns Of Will Sonnett. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Pat Paulsen's Half A Comedy Hour. The Ugliest Girl In Town. The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. Love American Style, which seemed intriguingly titillating to adolescent li'l me. Dragnet. All In The Family. Bridget Loves Bernie. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The Carol Burnett Show. The Bob Newhart Show. Sanford And Son. The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Hec Ramsey. McCloud. Columbo. McMillan & Wife. M*A*S*H. The Six Million Dollar Man. Happy Days. Toma. Baretta. Doctor In The House. Ellery Queen. Welcome Back, Kotter. NBC's Saturday Night. Reruns of The Big Valley and The Lone Ranger, and brand-new musical programs like Supersonic, Midnight Special, ABC In Concert, and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, late-night laughs with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, discussion with Tom Snyder on Tomorrow.

By my senior year in high school, I'd developed sufficient snootiness to pooh-pooh the vast wasteland offered by the appropriately-named Boob Tube. My friend Mary Saur and I participated in a cable TV discussion show on the subject of modern television; she longed for the simpler entertainment offered by '50s classics like I Love Lucy, while I wished for more intelligent (shut up) shows like, um...Star Trek. Mary was likely sincere. I was a poseur.

Candid shot of me with Mary Saur in high school

Re-united with a TV set in the mid '80s, I watched Taxi, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Quantum Leap, The Wonder Years. The '90s brought Twin Peaks, Friends, and Batman: The Animated Series, plus I started watching The Simpsons. A new century brought Smallville, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and Mad Men.

The cast of The Good Place

Today's random reminiscence of TV shows past and present is inspired by a current comedy series called The Good Place. The show stars Kristin Bell and Ted Danson, it's now in its second season, and it is just unbelievably good. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it yet; for now, suffice it to say that it's about a recently-deceased woman named Eleanor who finds herself in Heaven, but realizes she didn't live a life worth Sainthood, so she must be there by cosmic mistake. Hijinks ensue! The writing is dizzying in its audacity and accomplishment, almost like a live-action Simpsons, loaded with sight gags and mile-a-minute throwaways, and the twists and turns in its ongoing storyline are impossible to predict. Each week, I'm in awe of the sheer craft and wonder that creates The Good Place.

Aside from The Good Place, I generally favor comic-book shows: The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Gotham, Marvel's Inhumans, and the Marvel Comics series on Netflix. I've bailed on Riverdale, but I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Black Lightning. I also watch The Voice and Jeopardy! with my wife and daughter.



What are my all-time favorite TV series? Batman was certainly the most important to me, and although my tastes have changed enough that I rarely want to watch Batman reruns, I'll always have affection for it. The Monkees is probably my # 1. Both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars were series I never saw when they were current, but which I fell in love with via binge-watching. Same goes for Firefly. Mad Men and Gilmore Girls should be up there, along with The Dick Van Dyke Show, Shindig!, St. Elsewhere, The Green Hornet, probably Star Trek, maybe Frasier, certainly The Honeymooners, definitely The Adventures Of Superman, and both of David Letterman's late-night shows. I need to re-visit Zorro and The Guns Of Will Sonnett. Many others too, I'm sure (The Andy Griffith Show, Batman: The Animated Series, Police Squad), but those are the ones that come to mind. I wouldn't be surprised if The Good Place winds up on my all-time list, as well.

I've never seen The Sopranos, nor have I seen Game Of Thrones, nor Veep, nor Lost. Maybe someday, when the TV's on. Don't touch that dial.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.