I miss the Battle

Talking with friends this weekend and the conversation turned to "classic" television shows that filled our childhood and impacted our lives. I am always amazed to find out what shows filled the childhood years of my friends lives. Someday I am going to try to chart the shows people watched in their youth to the personality or lifestyle they lead as an adult. It wouldn't be a psycho-social breakthrough or anything, but it would be fun as heck to see what would happen.

As we got into the classic television debate we immediately hit an obstacle - defining what "classic" meant and creating a form of reference. We started with defining shows during the primetime runs, not syndication (which was a secondary level). Then the age question had to be addressed. I defined my childhood years as 70s-early 80's since I'm living my fourth decade now. Another friend was 35, and the other all mid 20's. The last challenge to the discussion was the era of cable television versus UHF. It really only impacted my reference point, since I lived most of my childhood in the pre-1981 world of UHF.

Defining parameters in place we began to shout out the names of our favorites - That's Incredible, Golden Girls, WKRP, Family, Eight is Enough, The A-Team, One Day at a Time, Seinfeld and more! We laughed and talked about not only the show, but the stars, their hair and fashion - even storylines and theme songs. Sure we had our differences about favorites. My list was definitely impacted by the 70's with shows like MASH and Mary Tyler Moore not appearing on anyone else's lists. The twenty-something crowd peppered in few cable shows especially from MTV and USA Network archives.

Two things that really amazed me about the shows we all recalled fondly or defined as classic - first, the fact that 90% of the shows were broadcast on network television (would be interesting to see how that changes with different generations) and second, the number of shows defined as classic that originally aired on Saturday nights.

These days the networks have given up on Saturday night programming because it typically generates the lowest viewership of the week. The night is filled with re-runs, movies, or sports. The networks slacked off Saturday programming because they determined that people today tend to be out of home or doing other things than watching TV.

Classic television, as defined by my friends and me, was shaped by Saturday nights. Our lists included the likes of Mary Tyler Moore, Golden Girls, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Colombo, and TJ Hooker - all favorites that aired the majority of their run on the weekend night. It was appointment television for the entire family. Even when I had my own television in my room and often watched TV away from the parents, Saturday night I always was with mom and dad in the den begging to stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live.

Makes me wonder .... Did viewers flee from watching television on Saturday nights to really get out of the house and do other things because there were so many new options? Or did the fact that networks decision to forsake Saturday nights into a TV wasteland impact the family bond forcing the m out of the house and into other things? We will never know - but it's a great point to debate!

What's my list of classic shows that shaped my youth? Dukes of Hazard, Carol Burnet, MASH, The Jefferson's, Saturday Night Live, Real People, and Battle of the Network Stars were my top memories and definately shaped my life. How that happened is for some therapist or shrink to figure out!

P.S. -- If some network guru stumbles upon this post - here's an idea for you in an age of remaking old shows - bring back Battle of the Network Stars!!

Don't recreate it, just redo it - three networks, gym-class uniforms of yellow, red, and blue and block black letters with the ABC, CBS, and NBC. And, of course, the tongue-in-cheek arguments with team captains with a zany umpire. That role will need to be re-cast along with the acerbic host as Soupy Sales and Howard Cosel have gone to the TV show in the sky. I am thinking Kathy Griffin and Stephen Colbert as 21st Century replacements.