Season Premieres

Season premiere's are fast approaching, and I find myself excited about a couple of TV shows coming back...maybe it is because of the writer's strike and how last season's TV shows ended so abruptly. I really do believe we are in the "Golden Age" of television; when I was a kid, people always used to say how TV would "rot your brain." However, with the caliber of such well written shows as we have now, I think TV can actually be an educational experience; the shows are watch are SO well written, that I often have trouble (okay, I ALL THE TIME) have trouble following plot lines. The three shows Sally and I will watch are NCIS, THE OFFICE, and THE UNIT. I firmly believe that THE UNIT is the best television show going right now, and I would be hard pressed to find a program more well written. I wish it would get the credit in deserves, and not slapped with a Sunday night at 10 pm stigma this season. Oh well. And THE OFFICE is just brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Here are some shows I used to get excited about as a kid. What about you??

* DIFFERENT STROKES: (I had a crush on Kimberly). This was a huge show in my childhood, and I remember my mom using it as a "carrot" for me to be good...."if you dont behave, then you dont get to watch Arnold," she used to say

*SILVER SPOONS: Ricky Shroeder, his rich dad, and his dad's hot girlfriend Kate all lived in this mansion where there was a train that ran through the living room (a toy train)

*THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER: Remember this show? "People let me tell you 'bout my be-e-e-st friend/he's a warm hearted boy, he's my up, my down, my pride and joy." Basically a show about cute little Eddie's father, a widow, trying to get some early 80's tail (the decade, not the age of the women he was after)

*BEVERLY HILLS 90210: If you are between 30-40 and say you didnt watch it, then you're lying. Surprisingly, I found zero girls on the show good looking. To be truthful, I was captivated by the ironic situations and the tantalizing plot lines....and I just couldnt take my eyes off Tori Spelling, whose acting was like a trainwreck personified

*NICKELODEON CLASSICS: Before they "sold out" and started making educationally based, politically correct shows, they had some real winners like "Pinwheel," which seemed to be on from 7AM to 1PM somehow. Also, there was "Today's Special," where Jeffrey, the mannequin, came to life after the store closed, and partied all night with some girl who enjoyed hanging out with mannequins too, Sam Krenshaw, the marionette store security guard, and Muffy, a talking mouse afflicted with a disease that caused her to rhyme everything she said. There was "OUT OF CONTROL" with Dave Coulier and "Dizz," Turkey TV, "You can't do that on television" (what do you think is IN the burgers???), and "Mr. Wizard's World," where an aging professor Emeritus at a local community college invited neighborhood children to come over and see how big his crystal could get.....

SUPERMARKET SWEEP: A "B List" gameshow based around the culture of a grocery store; contestants had to race around like idiots trying to find the cheapest grape soda or antibacterial soap. But the host was a tool with a speech impediment, and he made it fun to watch.

Some shows I NEVER got excited about watching, despite their overwhelming popularity

THE COSBY SHOW-Slow humor. Bill Cosby is hilarious, but I just got too annoyed with Rudy

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR-Talk about a double standard? What about if it was a show about a middle class white kid who went to go live with his ghetto "izzaunt" and uncle and tried to "play the part?" Plus, it just wasnt funny. Alphonso Ribiero is like the Matt Cassel of early 90's TV

FRIENDS: Was this supposed to be a comedy?