What TV says about me by Deb Eileen

The first TV show I can remember is Sesame Street. I was an early math hater and didn’t care for the Count. Big Bird was okay, but I’m pretty sure Oscar the Grouch was my favorite. I think you can tell a lot about my current personality based on my views of this show. I even showed early liberal tendencies by approving of Bert and Ernie’s long standing relationship.

My first TV crush was Shaun Cassidy on The Hardy Boys. I wrote him detailed fan letters on the paper from school that was designed to help us learn how to write. It had big blue lines with the dotted lines in the center so you could control the size of your letters and increase the odds for legibility. I begged Shaun to wait until I was older so we could be together. I pleaded for him to wait at least until my bedtime was past 8pm, but he never wrote back. This was my first lesson in “don’t wait by the phone waiting for him to call, honey- cuz it will be a long wait.” Tragically I would need several more boyfriends before I actually learned the lesson, but I have Shaun to thank for the first heartbreak.

I developed my taste in quality TV from my parents, who if I remember correctly introduced me to such classics as Wonder Woman, Three’s Company and Happy Days. We watched TV together then (back in the stone age), I don’t think we had more than one so we had to agree on what to watch. By the time I hit high school we had two TV’s and I was at the stage where spending time with my parents was akin to being asked to hang out at the leper colony. I retreated to the basement where I would watch Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. Show of hands- how many of you went through a phase were you wanted to be a cruise director because of this show?

In case I am ever asked to write my memoirs- I can remember exactly the first time I saw MTV. A friend had heard about this “new fangled music channel” and we turned it on when it went live. Yes, I was there when Video Killed the Radio Star blared across our collective airwaves for the first time. It’s not quite the same as being there when the Berlin Wall came down, but what can I say? I don’t speak German, the moment would have been lost on me.

I don’t watch as much TV anymore and as a sign of my increase old fogey status, the shows I do like appear on Discovery Channel and the Home and Garden Network. I don’t watch Survivor, Amazing Race or a single soap opera. I will admit to a fascination with America’s Next Top Model, but even there- the blush is off Tyra’s extensions. I just can’t get that worked up about the new season.

If I weren’t so lazy, I would do a psychological study about what judgments we make about people based on the TV shows they choose to watch. Do we assume someone who likes Nova is smarter than someone who likes The Bachelor? Would we lie to hide our guilty TV secret?

What is your secret TV pleasure past or present? (I promise not to judge you- but I can’t speak for the others)

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11 Replies to “What TV says about me by Deb Eileen”

  1. Secret TV pleasure…Battle of the Network Stars? Just joking 😉
    Every now and then when I’m scanning channels before going to bed and I turn on Comedy Channel, the cartoon “Little Bush” will be on. And I have discovered that even though it’s relatively stupid, it is also at times hilarious and then I can’t turn it off.

    Though my favorite show year-round is most definitely The Daily Show. I will be despondent if Jon Stewart decides to quit doing that show, though I think he’s smart enough to recognize a good thing when he’s got it!

    P.S. David Cassidy was my crush. I was probably in 2nd grade, with my purple shag carpeting and my canopy bed, and I had posters of David from Tiger Beat taped on every vertical surface in my room. I was pretty sure “I Think I Love You” was penned just for me. Years later I was pretty bummed to learn he was nothing but a heroin junkie…He was probably singing “I Think I Love You” to his stash LOL. Or to Susan Dey…

  2. Okay, Eileen, you lured me in to confess that I was addicted ADDICTED to the first season of The Bachelor. Seriously, it got worse as the season wore on and I would rearrange rides for my kids, social activities, anything to watch the show uninterrupted. The rose ceremony, forget it, I would lean forward and shush my husband… After I tired of that show, I dabbled in America’s Top Model and Top Chef but nothing ever came close to The Bachelor for me.

  3. Oh! Nova! We hated Nova! My dad ALWAYS HAD TO WATCH IT and it was SOOOOO BORING!!! I also was not that into the Animal Kingdom, another parent approved TV show.

    All I really watch now is Cubbies baseball and HGTV with an occasional cooking show thrown in. My guilty pleasure is Design Star. I just know I shouldn’t be that into it because it’s REALITY TV! I am so above RT, but I get very excited every Sunday night and this week I HAVE TO MISS IT!!!! And we’re coming up to the very exciting finale! Luckily, no on I know watches it so no one will tell me who gets axed this week. Although, it’s pretty obvious who is next to go…see ya, Will.

    Okay, I have to go check what time the baseball game is on.

  4. In university, (where I also had no cable and an old TV) I was addicted to 90210. And I loved Shannen Doherty. And at the same time, I was totally hooked on General Hospital, which I had been introduced to by my grandfather when I was about six or seven. I wasn’t watching in the intervening years, but there it was on my one English channel and I actually remembered some of the characters from all those years ago. I eventually wrenched myself away from these addictions, but they were powerful at the time! Okay, bring on the ridicule!

  5. I’m giggling like a little girl over here. Very, very fun, Eileen!

    I wrote an unanswered fan letter to Mackenzie Astin from The Facts of Life..oh, the humanity.

    And do you know what else? When I was a kid, my Dad refused to let me watch shows like Gilligan’s Island and Leave it to Beaver! He thought they were too lame and pedestrian. But I do remember trying to corrupt the child of my parents’ friends when they came over…she was five, and told me her parents wouldn’t let her watch anything but Mr. Rogers until she was 21. (I find this hysterical now, as they probably actually said something like that to her.) I was seven, and made her watch Three’s Company with me. For her, that was probably like the Scared Straight program.

  6. I’m embarrassed to admit that I owned not only a Hardy Boys lunch box, but also a copy of Shaun Cassidy’s classic album, “Born Late.” I don’t *think* I had a crush on Shaun…I think I just wanted to *be* him. But looking back, maybe that whole period of my life warrants some further examination with a mental health professional…

  7. I barely watched any TV as a kid, but am making up for lost time, now. I think my biggest guilty pleasure is America’s Next Top Model (and Canada’s Next Top Model). and it’s not just the cattiness… although that is amusing. I love the hair and make up and clothes and the creativity of the photographers and designers. I love how it’s not necessarily the pretty girls who look good in the photos. Okay, I admit it. I love that show. (And I can fast forward through all the bits when Tyra’s mouth is open.)

  8. Coupling (British sitcom), The Office (US version). And…ack….ack…I don’t want to admit it: Katie Couric. I had to stop watching the Today show when she bailed. And her move changed my nightly news viewing habits. 🙂

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