Category: Television

Saturday Night Retro

Flashback with me – won’t you ? – to 1984. Some of you weren’t even born back then, and the rest of us were 24 years younger. I was 16-years-old coming in to 1984, and 17-years-old at the halfway point. This Junior became a Senior in ’84 !

I was the only one in the family that knew how to program our Sony Betamax VCR. I recorded Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and “Saturday Night Live !” on a regular basis, and we watched those shows together as a family. My ‘home computer’ at the time consisted of a giant keyboard, a cassette tape drive, and as a monitor – our living den’s television set tuned in to VHF Channel 3. My favourite hour of television occurred on Sunday nights from 9 PM to 10 PM on CBS-TV when it was “The Jeffersons” followed by “Alice”. Both shows were nearing the end of their respective long runs, and they just got better and better as they got older and older. I also enjoyed watching “TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes” on Monday nights at 8 PM on NBC-TV with Dick Clark and Ed McMahon.

In 1984 I had two jobs – both as a newspaper carrier. I delivered the world-famous “Washington Post” early every morning in the dark, and then in the afternoon during the week I delivered the newer “Washington Times“. I made lots of money on my own doing this, and I had plenty of it to buy my very first car – a beige 1980 Chevy Citation. I didn’t own that car for very long because I eventually moved overseas to the U.K. courtesy of the United States Air Force.

1984 was a cool year in my young life. I looked cool like this:

… And my final Junior year report card looked like this:

Would you believe that I actually made the Honor Roll during my Senior year in High School (1984-1985) with all As and Bs ?

Television

Monday Night Countdown

Here’s a countdown that I’ve wanted to do for awhile now, but every time I thought about doing it another countdown idea came to my mind that sounded more fun to do – so I ended up doing that one instead. This week I had no better ideas than this.

It’s my countdown of my TOP 5 personal favourite basic cable television networks. I’m currently looking at a handwritten list of over 20 cable networks that I watch on at least an occasional basis. I circled 5 of them because these are the ones that stand out above the rest. These are the ones that I’d be upset the most if I lost access to them. Check it out:

5. Travel Channel

4. A&E – Real Life. Drama.

3. Discovery Channel

2. History

1. tru TV – Not Reality. Actuality.

History Home Life Television Travel

Saturday Night Retro

Last Saturday night we flashed back 35 years ago to 1973. This week I’m taking you even further back – on a trip to 1969.

As the year began I was 18 months old and beginning to walk alone – without braces (apparently due to pigeon toe / curved feet). I started the year in Selma Alabama (where I was born), but then we moved to Greenbelt Maryland (very near NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center). We lived in the brand new Chelsea Wood rental apartment complex on Greenbelt Road. 40 years later that apartment complex still stands, but they are now condominiums (privately owned). It looks exactly the same today (at least on the outside) as it did all of those years ago.

We lived in a first-floor unit, and I remember an early birthday party for me with a bunch of the local toddlers that was held right out front of our apartment building in the lush grassy area.

One of my lifelong wishes before it’s too late is to return to the Prince Georges County Maryland region of the Washington D.C. area for a few days. I’d like to spend some quality time retracing the early years of my life through the various neighbourhoods and communities that I lived in and spent a lot of time in for 11 years in Greenbelt, Bowie, Glenn Dale, Lanham, Seabrook, New Carrollton, and Riverdale. After all it was there where the trunk of my life was developed.

I’ve stated before that my childhood was for the most part forgettable and downright miserable; however, it wasn’t all a blur, and it wasn’t all bad either. There were a lot of good times that I experienced during those early years of my life, and I remember much of them to this day. Perhaps it was the good times that I have purposely chosen to remember after all of these years.

As a curious two-year-old toddler living in my apartment with my Mom and Dad I remember getting bathed in the kitchen sink. I also remember watching and enjoying “Rowan And Martin’s Laugh-In” every Monday night at 8 PM on NBC-TV. That was family night in front of the tube. The entire nation was watching.

Health Movies Politics Television

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 7, 2008
9 Comments on Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

If I don’t offend someone with at least one of these thoughts – then I didn’t do a very good job getting my thoughts across.

Let’s kick it.

1. When things go horribly wrong in your life it’s just so very easy to wave the white flag of surrender and blame President Bush and The Republicans for all of your personal problems rather than take full responsibility for your own actions past and present. In 2011 two years into a possible President Obama administration are you still going to blame President Bush for all of your problems when things don’t get any better for you ?

2. I saw “An American Carol” at the box office yesterday afternoon. It’s a box office flop, so I literally had to rush to the movie theatre to see it before it disappeared. It’s also a so-called ‘radical-right-wing’ movie out of Hollywood – truly an extreme rarity. The movie is chock-full of actors who have generally been blacklisted from Hollywood due to their open conservative Republican viewpoints.

3. I think that my Doctor of the past several years has retired, or moved away, or died. I have no idea where my medical records have gone. I’ve been without my Lipitor for at least 5 weeks now. I need to find a new Family Practice Doctor here in Homestead. Does anyone have any suggestions for me ?

4. I don’t watch crime dramas on TV; however, I plan to check out “Life On Mars” this Thursday night on ABC-TV. It’s about this 2008 New York City cop that gets in to a horrible accident that knocks him out. When he comes to he wakes up in dark and gloomy New York City in 1973. He’s stuck there, and he struggles to solve crimes with antiquated 1973 technology – always hoping to get back home again to 2008.

5. So far this year I’ve only talked on my cell phone for about 142 minutes. That’s an average of a little more than 15 minutes per month (or 30 seconds per day). Most people I know surpass the 15-minute mark on their cell phone on the 1ST day of the month at around 12:15 AM !

THANK YOU for allowing me to share my thoughts with you.