Back then you watched it if it was in color

[Carmine]

..but then the equivalent of the FCC here didn't even think we need TV

I'd like to think that your politicians were especially wise, but they were more likely lazy and technologically retarded (as is the case here, lol).

I'm 32, and I can remember when the local TV guide would call out a color program with a capital "C". Then they started calling out the B&W shows. My parents didn't get a color set until 1975, a low-feature 19" Zenith Chromacolor II. My grandparents got a 23" Zenith color set in 1968, and I was fascinated with it.

I also remember stashing away a few Detroit TV guides around 1986-ish, because I thought they'd be interesting to look at years from now..

8:00 PM

(2) CBS Please Pass the Butter: Mr. Twilicker gets upset when a neighbor dumps spaghetti on his porch, with comedic results. C (Q)

(4) NBC ALF: Alf runs away from home when the family cat disappears. Hi-jinks to follow. C (Q)

(7) ABC My Whacky Wife: After Steve gets laid-off, Samantha gets a job at the spark factory, with comedic results. C (Q)

(9) CBC Hockey Night In Canada: Hockey. C

(20) IND The Movie Show: Slaughter's Big Score (1973) Jim Brown plays a black crimefighter and ladies-man who takes down the syndicate and the corrupt LA police department with his Kung-Fu skills. ** C

(32) TVO Newsmakers: Documentary on Canadian pineapple farmers and their struggle to survive. C

(50) IND The 8 o'clock Movie: Tron (1982) Humans are transported inside a computer, then ride motorcycles and fight evil. *** C

(56) PBS Frontline: Documentary on Mexican maple syrup harvesters, and their struggle to survive. C

(62) IND R.J. Watkins Celebrity Dance Party and Community Outreach: Local celebrities dance and raise money to rebuild a burned-down liquor store. B&W

(78) CBEFT La Qu'tue de Auntonette du Cadiuex: In French. C

Of course my mother tossed out the TV guides at some point, so I had to do that from memory!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

My mom about always made us watch "Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom". Generally, it was a good show, & had neat stuff about Lions, & Tigers, & Bears-Oh, my !-so we didn't mind. It was one of the few non-network shows back then in color.-Sandy G.

"Wild Kingdom" is still on in syndication (with or without Marlon Perkins; I'm not sure if he still hosts the show), although I can't quite remember what channel/time it's on here--I think it might be on PBS or an independent station, but I'm not sure. PBS does have National Geographic shows (at least they are on PBS channel 25 here) which might be on Charter Cable in your area as well. The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom series was good TV in its day (and still is, if you can get it in your area), a lot better than most of the stuff on the networks these days. IMHO, your mom had the right idea, making you watch Wild Kingdom. Even in the '60s-'70s that show was better than the meager fare which was television in those days, if you could get it (and a heck of a lot better than the garbage that passes for entertainment on cable today).

BTW, I'm wondering. When did you (or your folks) get your first color TV set? You mention that Wild Kingdom was one of the few non-network shows to be telecast in color, which leads me to believe you may have had color TV as early as the 1960s.

Kind regards,

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Carmine

I also remember stashing away a few Detroit TV guides around 1986-ish, because I thought they'd be interesting to look at years from now..

I did the same with several early-2000s TV Guides for the Cleveland metro area, mainly because they had articles commemorating the 50th year of NBC's "Today Show", a look back at the "I Love Lucy" show some years after Lucille Ball passed away, and even an issue commemorating TV Guide's own golden anniversary. I still have them tucked away in a drawer in the nightstand in my bedroom; you can be sure I'll hold on to them, as they are one of a kind.

Ah, memories.

[bgadow]

Pretty good, Carmine...had me going for a second there!

At the beginning of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom there was a thing that came up that stated that the show was approved by some agency or something, for being eductational or whatever. Since I couldn't read it that well I mistook it to mean that the program was somehow inappropriate for children & felt funny about watching it! Kids come up with weird stuff like that. Like how, at the beginning of Sesame Street (and other Children's Television Workshop shows) they would flash a number, I think it was the show number, it might be like 1243. I thought that was the year the show was taped, and that somehow I did not understand the whole time/space continum or something and that this was really possible!

I also have a stash of TV Guides, got to dig them out someday. When I was a kid the first place I would turn was to the page where they listed the tv stations, to make sure there were no changes, no new stations I might miss! It was always a matter of pride to see the display ads for the 2 local stations, they usually would not shell out for more than maybe one ad a piece each week. Another great feature was Television Q&A with David Lauchenbrach (sp?). Someone wrote in once (mid-80s) to ask if their Predicta was worth fooling with, he told them it was. I also recall him saying somewhere that "new tv sets cannot be damaged by vacuum cleaners like early sets" and I wrote to see how early he meant, to make sure my '54 RCA bw set would be okay! (still awaiting that reply!) Looking back I'm sure he was talking about early color sets.

[Big Dave]

To answer a question, Marlon Perkins died in the early 80's. Jim Fowler took over.

Our first color TV was an Airline (Monkey Ward made by Admiral). My late father bought it and tried to disguise it as a Mother's Day gift. He really wanted to watch the Senate Watergate hearings in color. My mother wasn't fooled.

I wasn't around for the conversion to color, but I do see shows listed as BW telecasts.

[Joel Cairo]

Well, here's a little nostalgia for everyone...

http://www.kinescopes.com/tvguide3.jpg

And just look at all the game shows...!!

-Kevin

[polaraman]

I was 1 year 4 months old at that publication date. I probabally caught them all in reruns in the early 1970's. My folks had a Quasar roundie back then.


polaraman

[NowhereMan 1966]

I was born in 1966, I remember we had a 1959 Philco B&W TV, I think it was a 21 or 23 inch, rectangular tube no UHF tuner. I might have a pic somewhere of it. Anyways, I remember my aunt had a color "Roundie" RCA TV, I think it looked like it could have been a CTC-14, 15 or 16 from what I've seen here, I think it was from 1961 or 1962 maybe. I thought, "wow, in color!!" We finally got color in 1971 with a 23 inch Zenith Chromacolor (I still have it) and along with that, we got cable. I was always fascinated by the old roundies ever since my aunt had one.

[old_tv_nut]

What city was this TV guide for?

[Joel Cairo]

Portland, Oregon.

-Kevin

[frenchy]

Originally Posted by Joel Cairo

Well, here's a little nostalgia for everyone...
http://www.kinescopes.com/tvguide3.jpg
And just look at all the game shows...!!
-Kevin

Damn check out Peter Falk and Jack Carter, they were on two daytime shows on the same day!
Hey at least Jeopardy and Hollywood Squares are still on...or did Squares get canned again?

[yagosaga]

Originally Posted by Joel Cairo

Well, here's a little nostalgia for everyone...
And just look at all the game shows...!!

We have a nostalgic tv-guide website, collecting all the old tv-guides from Austria, Switzerland, East and West Germany, starting in 1952 thru 1999:
http://www.tvprogramme.net/index.html

[Sandy G]

Our 1st color set was some sort of HORRID Sears special. IIRC, it was made in Japan, was tubes, & had a rectangular screen. We had the service contract on it, & Sears lost their arse on that one. Then, the Portacolor came out, My dad got one of those. Little guy didn't have much of a picture,but it sure was a trooper, staying "on" 12-14 hrs a day for several years til we got our 1st Trinitron.-Sandy G.

[oldtvman]

Sandy most likely that Sears was a Sanyo, which was japans answer to the motorola look poor color and smooth picture

[Bill R]

I had one of those Sears/Sanyo sets for a while. It was a 19inch (I think, I know it was a smaller screen size than the roundies or the early rectangular sets at the time.) metal consolette set. It looked like a metal table model with long skinny legs attached. Horrid is a good description. It was a nightmare to work on, and it must have weighed 600 lbs. (well it felt that heavy anyway) I ended up scraping it since it was impossible to keep working for any length of time.