// Category Archive for: TV

Adam Adamant LIVES!

By Hanna

The 60s British TV series Adam Adamant Lives! is now mainly remembered for being the inspiration behind Adam Ant’s stage name. Although he says nothing about this in his auto-bio Stand and Deliver, he does talk a lot about how much he loved television as a child growing up in the 60s.
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I Want My MTV: A Collection Of Nostalgic Complaints

By Brenna Chase

This month, Total Request Live ends its ten year run, marking the end of the oldest show still running on MTV and the end of “music” content on the channel for good. Everyone who grew up in the 90s has their memories of the viewer-controlled, top-ten-music-video-countdown, but was it ever really that great? Though the concept of TRL was geared to encourage viewers to vote like crazy to see their favorite video, it rarely showed music videos in their entirety. The show always lacked a much-needed charismatic host (did anybody ever like Carson Daly?). And while I started tuning in every day after school once the show premiered, I stopped watching years before the network (ironically) began pre-taping half of the week’s “live” episodes. I actually agree with MTV’s decision—a rare occurrence these days—to pull the show off the air. TRL sucks, and it has sucked for a long time. So why is it such a shame to see it go?
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John Hodgman in Atlanta: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Tuxedo

By Adam McIntyre

“What’s going on here?”
“John Hodgman. It’s a book reading.”
“Never heard of him. What’s he do?”
“Um. . . well, he’s a minor television celebrity.”
“He has a show?”
“Well. . . no. He’s on shows.”
“He’s on a show? Like what?”
“Well have you seen The Daily Show?”
“No.”
“Well he’s reading from his book.”
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Entirely a Matter for You: Peter Cook

By Emily C.

Forget the distressing manner of his death, and his sometimes shambolic, disheveled appearances on 1980s and early 1990s British television: for me, Peter Cook is the pinnacle of elegance and style in the English comedy canon. I was reminded of this upon finding 1970s interviews of Peter from the TV chat show, Parkinson, on YouTube.
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Television Verité: Degrassi High

By Jesse Roth

A few years ago, I found myself home during a break from college happily engaging in my two of my favorite pastimes: grazing in the kitchen while watching way too much TV. I used this particular break to become re-acquainted with the television shows that I adored in my childhood; ones that had recently made their way into the lineup on a digital cable channel then known as Noggin. As part of their block of evening and late-night programming (known as “The N”), the channel showcased my personal favorites such as Clarissa Explains It All and The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Later hours were devoted to even older classics such as The Electric Company, a show that predated my childhood (and thus my nostalgia radar) by at least a decade. Nonetheless, I now had the chance to watch and find out what I had missed out on by being born too late.
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Must-See-TV: The Eighties

By Kaye Telle

Say what you will about the eighties, but the explosion of music videos and competition with new cable stations made for some good television. Growing up in the midwest (pre-alternative rock) one felt completely isolated if they didn’t take a Journey to the river Styx on the R.E.O. Speedwagon. Looking back I can only chuckle at my gumption in pointlessly arguing the merits of Devo’s cover of “Satisfaction.” But alone with the TV after school, there were these crazy kids in California who understood. I can remember looking at the clock while snapping my watermelon Bubble Yum during school, ticking down the minutes until I could go home and watch my compatriots on MV3. Late at night and into the early morning hours on weekends, strange short films and more music beamed over the wires via a show on the USA Network called Night Flight. And I thought: I am not alone. An awful lot of cool things happened in that decade—and many of them happened on the boob tube.
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1970—1980: Ten Golden Years of Teen Films

By Noreen Sobczyk

In the 50s and 60s, the word “teenager” had long been part of the American lexicon, but it wasn’t until rock and roll came along that the generation gap began to widen exponentially. Music was a major delineating factor separating the generations, and as teenage culture began to blossom, a target marketing audience was born. Rock and roll was all the rage and some films caught a ride on the teen bandwagon via the medium of music. Who can forget Elvis cashing in on his fame with some of his similarly-plotted films?
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Bucking Trends: How I Learned to Love Buck Owens

By Melissa Bratcher

One of the earliest crushes I can remember having is smiling Buck Owens on Hee Haw with his red, white, and blue striped guitar; his charming smile; his cringeworthy humor; and his soothing voice. I wore a pair of Hee Haw overalls to show my devotion to Mr. Owens and often pretended that he was my dad (not that anything was wrong with my dad, just, well, he wasn’t Buck Owens). I loved him and his music always reminded me of home.

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The Grey Zone: Or, Why Battlestar Galactica Is So Frakkin’ Good

By David Speranza

I admit I was a latecomer to the new Battlestar Galactica. But as someone who hasn’t had cable since 1999, I’m a latecomer to pretty much all the cool shows (with the record going to The Prisoner, which I’m still trying to catch up with—only 40 years after it first aired). So it’s a point of pride for me that after watching Battlestar Galactica‘s first three seasons on DVD, followed by Amazon downloads of the first half of season four , I’m actually up to date on a current show (just in time, too—its final episodes start airing in January).
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Legendary Halloween Costumes: Tom Baker, Doctor Who (1973–1980)

By Emily Carney

When I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, American public broadcasting stations (PBS) played episodes of the English cult TV series Doctor Who. Personally, as a young child I couldn’t really get into the show; I thought the episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus were much funnier, and the guys on that show seemed less freakishly scary than the star of DW, Tom Baker. (Of course, I ask myself now why my parents let me watch Monty Python at age 4. That show could get a bit adult-oriented to say the very least). As a child I found Baker less engaging than other TV characters, and more frightening and unusual than anything. Peter Davison (the next Doctor after Tom Baker) was far more “cuddly” and seemed more tailored to smaller children with his wan, handsome smile and cricket clothes.
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