A Horrifying TV Discovery

I was flipping channels the other day when I came across Who's the Boss on the Hallmark Channel. I was several minutes into watching the hijinks of Angela and Tony before I was struck with the horrifying revelation that a show I watched as a child now qualifies as an "oldie."

I won't lie to you. I mourned silently for a moment or two.

I'm used to seeing shows on cable re-runs that my parents watched before my time: Gilligan's Island, The Beverly Hillbillies, Happy Days, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and so on.

I always feel sleepy and sad whenever I hear the theme to Cheers because I remember my parents watching it after I was in bed, and I wanted to be up having fun doing whatever it is adults do after the kids go to bed--which is watch TV. "You wanna go where everybody knows your name" would drift down the hall to my bedroom as I floated off to dreamland.

So it's flabbergasting to me to see shows I used to tune in to see on TVLand now.

I dug up a couple of videos of some of my very favorites that were hits before Seinfeld and Friends came along, and thought it might be fun to share.

Want to reminisce with me (if you're in a reader or email, you'll have to click over to the blog for the video)?

• I Love Lucy was waaay before my time, but Lucille Ball's comedic timing cannot be matched. I consider the show to be one of the greatest sitcoms ever. The episode where Lucy gets to act in a commercial for "Vitameatavegimin" (which was 23% alcohol!) was one of my favorites.

• My family loved The Cosby Show. The mom and the dad loved each other and their kids, and the show didn't rely on silly gimmicks or mocking parental figures to get laughs. This scene from the first episode where Cliff tries to get Theo to see what life will be like in the real world always makes me giggle.

• Who remembers TGIF?! As a kid, I didn't have to worry about dates or papers due or games to cheer for. I got to stay home with the fam and watch the TGIF line-up, which included Full House. I loved me some Uncle Jesse. (Anyone else love John Stamos on Glee?) I thought Stephanie was much funnier than Michelle, and DJ seemed like best friend material. And I loved the theme song:

• But the best night of all was Sunday when Disney would premiere a movie or set of old cartoons on ABC. They called it the "Magical World of Disney", and it was magical. With easy access to the Disney channel and DVDs, kids don't get excited about stuff on TV anymore. I remember my mom making grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for my brother, sister, and me so we could watch. I was able to find one of my very favorites on YouTube (your kids will probably love this one):

There were plenty more (and I didn't even talk about weekday cartoons--My Little Ponies, anyone?), but those are a couple of my favorites.

{Which shows were staples in your house growing up?}