{"id":4229,"date":"2016-03-10T16:46:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T16:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kelolandblogs.com\/lundatlarge\/?p=4229"},"modified":"2023-07-20T21:00:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:00:01","slug":"confessions-of-a-tv-aholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/confessions-of-a-tv-aholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Confessions Of A TV-Aholic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“Hello, my name is Doug\u00a0and I\u2019m a tv-aholic.” <\/em><\/p>\n

“Hi Doug.” (responds the coffee-slurping crowd through clouds of cigarette smoke.) \u00a0 There, it feels good to finally get that off my chest and fess up to a condition I\u2019ve had\u00a0since childhood\u2026when dad brought home\u00a0our very first television set a Caphart, (black and white, of course)\u00a0in 1954.<\/em><\/p>\n

That was the opening\u00a0 paragraph to a blog I wrote 8 years ago.\u00a0 <\/strong>It went on to explore some of the programs I found wonderful in 2008 and those that, to me, were disgusting.<\/p>\n

If anything, my TV addiction has gotten worse..but my assessment of programming remains the same.<\/p>\n

A few examples.<\/p>\n

Horrid: \u201cTwo Broke Girls.\u201d All reality shows except \u201cThe Little Couple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good: \u201cBig Bang Theory,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe Good Wife,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMadam Secretary,\u201d \u201cModern Family\u201d and \u201cDownton Abbey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, Downton Abbey.\u00a0 I confess to having got caught up in the enormously popular PBS series about British aristocracy in the early part of the 20th<\/sup> century; one family in particular..the Grantham\u2019s and how they and their staff of servants faced the challenges of social and industrial change during that era. It was brilliantly written, produced and acted. But last Sunday night, after six seasons, the show came to an end much to the dismay of millions of viewers around the world who got caught up in the continuing drama. It\u2019s not our first look at lives of British elite who, for centuries, have lived like royalty on the upper floors of their huge mansions while downstairs, dozens of servants\u00a0 from scullery maids and cooks to tuxedo-clad footmen and butlers catered to their Lords’ and Ladies’ every whim.<\/p>\n

In the 70\u2019s PBS presented a very similar production called \u201cUpstairs\/Downstairs\u201d which I thoroughly enjoyed and then in 1993, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson starred as a butler and housekeeper in the critically acclaimed, \u201cThe Remains of the Day.\u201d\u00a0 I just watched it again the other night and found it both fascinating and frustrating because Hopkins\u2019 stoic butler character just refused to allow his feelings of affection for Thompson\u2019s character be known until it was too late. \u00a0 But nothing can compare to “Downton” and I’m going to really miss everyone at the manor.<\/p>\n

But, getting back to my addiction. I can tell you it began in 1953 when KELO TV first went on the air. We didn\u2019t yet have a television set at our house \u00a0but could see them on display and running in the front windows of Volga\u2019s two hardware stores; Dahl\u2019s and Leite\u2019s. I\u2019d stand there fascinated by the appearance of a test pattern. Then, at 4pm, KELO would begin programming with stuff like \u201cIndustry on Parade\u201d and whatever else the station could come up with to fill time before the news.<\/p>\n

A year later, dad..who I\u2019ve since discovered didn\u2019t make a whole lot of money in the carpentry business..shelled out a sizeable sum (nearly 300 bucks) for our first TV..a Capehart that looked just like this.<\/p>\n

\"tv<\/a><\/p>\n

It was like handing me crack cocaine. I was hooked on watching everything on the air..especially locally produced stuff where I became an instant fan of the news and weather presenters like Dave Dedrick, Murry Stewart, Jim Burt, Bill Wigginton, Gene Piatt and all of the talented guys. \u00a0I\u2019d sit mesmerized by every show until mom would send me outside to play for heaven\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>

Bill Wigginton doing the news sponsored by Fenn’s Ice Cream.<\/p><\/div>\n

That old Capehart was part of our living room d\u00e9cor until I left home at age 18. In the meantime, my brothers and I had been pestering dad to trade it for a new COLOR set. But the old man, who also loved watching TV from the comfort of his rocking chair, wasn\u2019t about to spring for one ..at least not until there were more programs \u00a0presented in color besides Bonanza and the annual showing of \u201cWizard of Oz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"tv<\/a><\/p>\n

The whole family started taking meals in the living room served on newly purchased metal TV trays. Weekends were my folks\u2019 favorite time with Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights. Then on Sundays Mutual of Omaha\u2019s Wild Kingdom, Lassie and Ed Sullivan were must-see TV.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m ashamed to say that watching dad sometimes proved as entertaining as what was on the tube. Long days swinging a hammer usually caught up with him around 8 O\u2019clock. He\u2019d drift off \u00a0sending his head backwards which caused his false teeth to slip down from the roof of his open mouth. Eventually\u2026due to the discomfort and probably our giggling..he\u2019d wake himself up with a snort and look around the room to see \u00a0if anybody noticed.<\/p>\n

As long as I\u2019m confessing dubious behavior from the time; my brother and I found a way to watch Color TV without having a set of our own.\u00a0 Art Leite..who owned one of the hardware stores in town..lived just across the street. His was one of the first families to have color..and the set was clearly visible to us through their front window ..especially with the aid of dad\u2019s hunting binoculars.<\/p>\n

Eventually, though, Mrs. Leite apparently got wise to the young voyeurs\u00a0on the other side of Marvin Avenue and started pulling the drapes during prime time.<\/p>\n

Today, Linda and I have three flat screen high def Vizios and two smaller TVs scattered around the rooms of our little house with hundreds of channels at our disposal.<\/p>\n

Still,\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t mind traveling back in time and rejoin my folks and brothers all gathered around that old Capehart to enjoy together an episode or two of Paladin, Highway Patrol or Boston Blackie \u00a0in glorious black and white.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t snicker at my pop\u2019s inability to stay awake, though.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to think I\u2019d get him a pillow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“Hello, my name is Doug\u00a0and I\u2019m a tv-aholic.” “Hi Doug.” (responds the coffee-slurping crowd through clouds of cigarette smoke.) \u00a0 There, it feels good to finally get that off my chest and fess up to a condition I\u2019ve had\u00a0since childhood\u2026when dad brought home\u00a0our very first television set a Caphart, (black and white, of course)\u00a0in 1954.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lund-at-large","category-60","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11542,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions\/11542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}