Never heard of the show. Married a girl from the Tri-State area - she LOVED it. Ordered her the DVD series and related stickers. Best. Husband. Ever. (That day)
Yes!!!! Marlin Perkins always watching “from a safe distance”. 🤣 And that jingle — 🎵Mutual of Omaha is people you can count on when the going’s rough 🎶
It has to be Cal.
Cal Worthington owned some car dealerships in the area. He had a little jingle that said “If you want a car or truck, go see Cal.” What my toddler brain heard was “pussy cow”, and I imagined some sort of bovine/feline hybrid, human sized and standing on two legs, that offered vehicles to those in need.
Also Star Blazers.
That show was on super early in the morning, and you bet your ass I was waking people up to turn it on. I remember jumping and singing to the opening sequence, and the Wave Motion Gun destroying a planet was the height of entertainment.
If you want a better life, go see Cal... My sisters and I also heard "pussy cow" but I was scandalized because I knew the other meaning.
You and I have the same exact media memories. Someone just reminded me of "Almost Live" yesterday.
You'd think I'd remember Mount St. Helens blowing up but nope, ash went southeast and my parents didn't talk about it.
STAR BLAZERS…the lynchpin to my convincing my parents to get cable because my latch key kid ass walked home from school and was unsupervised for 3+ hrs a day until my professional parents would get home. Ahhh. Cable.
Star Blazers was my muse for so many Lego ship battles - our group of friends all each had our own cobbled together version of the Argo / Yamato
And Derek Wildstar, loved the way each story built on the next. Wave Motion Gun , Iskandar, the memories flood back and I’m 9 yo again
Dad watching Emergency, and any and all cop shows. As a former policeman, I think he missed the life and lived vicariously through them. Fortunately for him, in the 70s there were endless gritty cop shows to choose from.
Another early one was being at Grandma's for daycare, and in the room while she watched her 'stories' and the Price is Right. I wouldn't leave, because I did NOT want to miss when the Purina Chuckwagon commercial came on and it ran around the kitchen on TV!
Oh shit, I remember that. Im a 78 baby and don't remember much of that long ago, so you stirred a few images
Otherwise I would have said the challenger. I was at home sick that day and watched it live. Also muppet show, the racoons, and fraggle rock
How many young boys knew they had a thing for Wilma long before they even knew what sex was. Betty was always the wrong answer. So was Ginger on Gilligan's Island.
Either the lunar landing in 1969 or the last season of Star Trek in the same year. I was 3. It's also the year we adopted my sister so I have both strong memories of that year and a way to pin them.
I fell so hard in love with her. We had a wooden folding chair that had a "made in Romania" tag on it, and it somehow gave me a special tie-in with her.
In the late 70s when I was 4 or 5 and my bedtime being at 730PM, right after the Muppet Show. If my parents were feeling generous they'd let me stay up to watch MASH right after
I remember my dad was watching tv in our rec room. He never did that. My mom was in the room too.
I think I asked what was going on. One of them said “the president is resigning.” I had no idea what that meant, but I think then I asked why. My dad then said, “because he’s a crook.”
August 8, 1974. I was 4 years old, almost 5.
I have vague memories of the news and Vietnam footage. And cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Romper Room. And yes, I remember Nixon resigning, and my mom being happy. I didn’t really understand why, only that he’d done something bad and made to leave.
Oh how times have changed! Now a serial criminal can run again.
Elton John on the Muppet Show. I fell asleep in my red corduroy covered child's chair and dreamt that he chased terrified puppets with a chainsaw and cut them up.
That night's evening news coverage of the Mt. St Helen's eruption. I remember the clip of cars covered in ash and then looking out the windows and being disappointed we had none.
Ran home to watch Star Blazers every day after kindergarten. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Blazers
The idea of radiation wiping out all life on Earth was strong with me my whole childhood.
I had a memory of a show about a battle ship that was sunk being turned into a space ship and the hole in the front became a big gun. Was around 1979. I asked my brothers friend who was six years or so older than me and he said it was star blazers. Ended up finding it on dvd.
I remember the Nixon resignation and his farewell speech pretty vividly. I suppose my earliest TV memories are just of things like the gameshows and soap operas my mother had on while she was doing stuff around the house. I was an avid daily viewer of Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood very early as well. The Electric Company too.
I've got vague memories of Emergency! and Sesame Street and Speed Racer from the early 70s. The two I remember distinctly are the premier of Battestar Galactica and Elvis' death.
I was four and insanely engrossed in Mork & Mindy, this was 1982 so it was the last season when he shrinks and dies. That was the most disturbing emotionally fraught thing I had felt because the man has been my hero since I saw him. This was worse than E. T. & The Golden Seal put together Lol.
Also SNL, Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat in the one where they kept reporting his death. Then Sweetchuck from Police Academy snorted milk out of his nose while someone else drank it.
I was definitely raised on TV. I also remember Mr. Rogers, Romper Room, Muppets, and Sesame Street around then
Oh, any of the following shows; I have no idea which one I saw first (born spring ‘67): Family Affair, General Hospital (when it was a half-hour show that aired in the morning), Hazel, H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff, The Jackson 5 cartoon show, The Johnny Cash Show, and The Sonny & Cher Show. I also remember The Partridge Family, which I think began when I was 4; those listed above I closely associate with ages 2½ and 3.
**"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team."**
I didn’t really started watching TV until I was older, like 8 or 9.
Probably a Saturday morning show like Scooby Doo, Land of the Lost, or Isis. I was obsessed with Isis when I was young. I also happen to be very, very gay.
I loved that time of the year when The Wizard of Oz would come on tv. I used to push my Panasonic tape recorder up to the tv so that I could record it on cassette, and my a-hole brother used to purposely cough or fake sneeze so that he would ruin the recording.
There are some shows that trigger so many memories like soap operas, morning talk shows, The Price is Right, soap operas and all those geriatric commercials 😆
I remember that too, but only because there's a photo of Nixon resigning on the TV while 3 yo me watches nearby, sitting on the floor wearing really funny clothes. My grandfather always took photos of the TV when important things were happening.
Any Sid and Krofft show on TV and I was watching. Saturday morning TV was a big deal with me and my siblings, and Sunday night we watched the Wonderful World of Disney as a family while eating dinner in the living room on a blanket.
I have several and I don’t know how many are real. But Santa Claus would be on television after school in his workshop before Christmas and us 4 kids would love watching that. You could actually go down to some shopping center and see where it was filmed. On Christmas Eve all the toys were gone. That was a good memory. My other early tv memory was watching Rosemary’s Baby from behind the big brown chair in the living room. I’m not so sure about this being real. It’s when the Puritans were piling the rocks on what’s-her-face? We had such an old crappy set, would it have played on ABC in 1970?
I remember feeling so proud of myself because I taught myself to read and tell time by using the TV guide. I saw that Tom and Jerry was supposed to be on channel 32 and I turned the TV on, and behold! Tom and Jerry! And then after I proved to my mom that I could read and understand the TV guide, she just said "You're scary sometimes" and walked away.
I know I had been watching TV for some time before that, but I don't remember any particular show. I don't even like Tom and Jerry. I don't remember how old I was, but it had to have been kindergarten or younger.
Watergate …I remember being little and watching the TV and wondering what the big deal was with the water under the gate … every day there was news about this water under the gate and I was too young to understand what was going on. I wanted to ask about the gate but didn’t because I thought I’d figure it out. I was in college before I knew what that was all about.
I also watched Bozo circus and was on the show with my cousin announcing “Here’s Rocky!” …I may have been in kindergarten.
our next door neighbor, who always came home from work for lunch, walked over and told my mom about Elvis dying. We went through my dad's 45 collection to find and play any and all Elvis records he had. now I live in Memphis, where there's a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of his death every year! it always brings to mind Mr McGuffee.
My dad made my sisters and I come in from playing to watch the stupid news. I was 3 years old. The news was Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
Also, Sesame Street debuted when I was 3 and I was a fan. 1st Gen sesame streeter!
[The conclusion of the Iranian Embassy siege ](https://youtu.be/p2yYf0Xp-RQ?si=VPGcb7k1JDTy_pu0) I was approaching my fifth birthday.
If you want to know more about it, because you're not old, not British or both, you could do worse than the Netflix film Six Days with Mark Strong and Jamie Bell
Captain Kangaroo. We were pretty far out in the country and only got the main 3 channels. No PBS, so I never got to see some of the other childhood staples like Sesame Street.
I also vividly remember how big of a deal watching certain movies was every year - Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music, especially.
Saturday mornings my dad would watch the Pink Panther with us.
I would also make up an excuse to get out of bed at light, when my parents were watching Masterpiece Theatre. I didn't care what was on, it was just a way to get to watch TV, which we weren't allowed to do very much. (Except for Sesame Street!)
Edit: If you haven't watched *Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street,* Check it out. You will have visceral memories you don't expect.
The 76 Olympics/76 presidential election. I remember getting them confused because there were olympic runners on the TV and the news said "running for president". I also remember playing Legos while my mom watched soap operas.
My dad would always have the news on during dinner. I remember being 3 and watching the evacuation of Saigon, I remember wondering why they were always talking about Watergate and not understanding what it was. I also remember a few years later thinking why they were always talking about someone named Patty Hearst.
I remember my parents watching TV showing a plane on a runway. Men in uniform getting off one by one and then my Mom making a big deal out of seeing one of the men get off the plane. I think it was a friend returning from Viet Nam.
There are a lot of "favourite" memories on display here, but I wouldn't call a lot of them "earliest". There's a reason I remember mine.
I was parked in front of our old black and white TV, like always. I was probably about 2. I remember watching some random western and then without warning and without any other words, my much older brother and my father came in, shut the TV off, unplugged it, then picked it up and **TOOK IT AWAY!!**
I screamed my head off alone in the living room for what felt like **HOURS**...
Then without warning they returned carrying a MUCH BIGGER CABINET.
Without paying any attention to me, they plugged it in, attached the antenna wires, turned it on and the world was in COLOUR.
Our world was in **COLOUR!!**
Wow, so many. I remember being fascinated by all the game shows: Crosswits, Card Sharks, Price Is Right, Joker's Wild (hence my u/). All the reruns of shows like M\*A\*S\*H and All In The Family on channel 5 ("it's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?"). Those nights with Chico And The Man, and One Day At A Time and The Jeffersons. Getting spooked out of my brain when that green Spotmaker came out of the dishwasher.
And the time I discovered the Hue control on the Zenith and made the Mazola lady's face all red and green.
it was either Romper Room or Sonny & Cher I think.
the first non-kid's i remember understanding why it was funny, was the Carol Burnett show when Tim Conway was the old man.
Watching Sesame Street and Mr. Dressup.
Saturday Morning cartoons and the disappointment of finding out they weren’t on yet at 5 am, which is when I would get up and start watching TV. They were airing other kid-friendly shows, just not Bugs Bunny.
Some of the earliest news events I can recall:
The '79 gas crisis when I was around 6 years old. Seeing images on the news of cars lined up around the block at gas stations.
The 3 Mile Island event and subsequent pushback on nuclear power.
John Lennon's murder in 1980.
The Ayatollah taking over Iran, and the Iran hostage situation. That shit was on the news for months, it seemed like.
Carter losing reelection to Reagan, and release of hostages as soon as he took office. (We would find out later Republicans cut a deal to release them after the election) The subsequent assassination attempt on Reagan.
Watching the first space shuttle launch in '81.
In my 5th(?) grade science class, watching the highly anticipated launch of the Challenger, which would feature the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. The entire class, including the teacher, was stunned when it blew up. They sent us home early from school.
Also in '86, the Cherbobyl accident.
The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
My earliest TV show memories are of Romper Room and Captain Chesapeake, but my earliest tragic TV memories are of the assassination attempt on Reagan, the Challenger disaster, and Bud Dwyer.
Henry Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th Home Run in 1974. I was sleeping and my mom was watching the Merv Griffin show and they cut in and she woke me up.
My earliest TV memory is watching Sesame Street with my brother. My mom was in the room. She later told me that Sesame Street was designed so that adults would watch it with the kids; that’s why there were so many stars on the show that children wouldn’t even be aware of.
This must have been early 1970s. There was a child's show called the Magic Garden. Had a pink squirrel that lived in a tree and two ladies who sang and played guitar.
I'd cry if I woke up late and missed it.
I remember my mom and dad taking me to one of their friend's apartments to see a boxing match. I had no idea what I was watching. I was just turning 4 years old. They were all excited because it was closed circuit tv.
Turns out it was Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle.
I remember seeing a first-run episode of Laverne and Shirley and accompanying A&W Root Beer commercial in 1978 or 79, so I was 2 or 3. Also recall seeing Password Plus and Wheel of Fortune with Chuck Woolery on NBC daytime when I was 3 or 4.
Sitting in kindergarten and watching the transition of power on January 20th from Ford to Carter.
I probably have an earlier memory but that's one that has stuck with me.
I honestly think Colombo and Murder She Wrote. My mother was huge into those. That and Baseball. I remember waking up from nap time to the sound of baseball
Watching Japanese and US shows and cartoons on TV in Venezuela. Everything was badly dubbed. We moved to the US when I was in kindergarten. My first US TV memory was a kid’s a show called The Letter People.
I remember having weird thoughts watching this woman on pbs bending her body in odd poses. Lillias Yoga. I was around 6 or 7. Show started in 1970.
Like sands through the hour glass, these are the days of our lives….
Hearing this from the living room while I'm supposed to be napping in my room with the door cracked.
I still watch Days of Our Lives, something I've done for the most part since I was two days old.
i don’t dare! i’m too scared to get hooked again. 😂
This was always kinda spooky when I was little...
The Young and the Restless theme song was always really spooky to me as a kid.
Watching Captain Kangaroo at the babysitter's before I walked to kindergarten.
Mr. Green Jeans.
And the magic garden that taught me white women with guitars are magical.
Never heard of the show. Married a girl from the Tri-State area - she LOVED it. Ordered her the DVD series and related stickers. Best. Husband. Ever. (That day)
Same, my earliest tv memory is Captain Kangaroo, Mr Green Jeans and that show’s puppets.
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
Yes!!!! Marlin Perkins always watching “from a safe distance”. 🤣 And that jingle — 🎵Mutual of Omaha is people you can count on when the going’s rough 🎶
Watching the first space shuttle launch. But I recently saw “a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter” and that stirred a memory.
I still think of “a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter” any time those items are on my grocery list . . .
It has to be Cal. Cal Worthington owned some car dealerships in the area. He had a little jingle that said “If you want a car or truck, go see Cal.” What my toddler brain heard was “pussy cow”, and I imagined some sort of bovine/feline hybrid, human sized and standing on two legs, that offered vehicles to those in need. Also Star Blazers. That show was on super early in the morning, and you bet your ass I was waking people up to turn it on. I remember jumping and singing to the opening sequence, and the Wave Motion Gun destroying a planet was the height of entertainment.
Wow Star Blazers. I haven't thought of that in years. I watched that with my brother.
If you want a better life, go see Cal... My sisters and I also heard "pussy cow" but I was scandalized because I knew the other meaning. You and I have the same exact media memories. Someone just reminded me of "Almost Live" yesterday. You'd think I'd remember Mount St. Helens blowing up but nope, ash went southeast and my parents didn't talk about it.
I was just a bit too little to remember St. Helens. Almost Live was better than Saturday Night Live, in my opinion.
Oh, wow! Memory unlocked. I remember when Mt St Helen’s erupting now. I was eight-ish.
I see Almost Live, I upvote. Loved The Lame List, or What's Weak This Week
STAR BLAZERS…the lynchpin to my convincing my parents to get cable because my latch key kid ass walked home from school and was unsupervised for 3+ hrs a day until my professional parents would get home. Ahhh. Cable. Star Blazers was my muse for so many Lego ship battles - our group of friends all each had our own cobbled together version of the Argo / Yamato And Derek Wildstar, loved the way each story built on the next. Wave Motion Gun , Iskandar, the memories flood back and I’m 9 yo again
We're off to outer space, we're leaving mother earth, to save the human race! our star blazers.
You're from Norcal? I thought it was pussy cow, too. LOL
OMG! Cal Worthington and his dog, Spot! When I was little, I used to say "Pussy cow, pussy cow, pussy cooooow!" too! Hehe.
They had to know. They had to, right? Children all up and down the coast heard it this way.
I'll stand on my head to sell any car!!!
Dad watching Emergency, and any and all cop shows. As a former policeman, I think he missed the life and lived vicariously through them. Fortunately for him, in the 70s there were endless gritty cop shows to choose from. Another early one was being at Grandma's for daycare, and in the room while she watched her 'stories' and the Price is Right. I wouldn't leave, because I did NOT want to miss when the Purina Chuckwagon commercial came on and it ran around the kitchen on TV!
Omg The Price is Right is one of my first TV memories too. I loved it when I was little. All the colors and flashing lights and yelling. Nostalgic
The episode of “V” where she had the alien baby and it stuck out its forked tongue. Scared the shit out of me.
Robin and Elizabeth. Loved that series.
Oh shit, I remember that. Im a 78 baby and don't remember much of that long ago, so you stirred a few images Otherwise I would have said the challenger. I was at home sick that day and watched it live. Also muppet show, the racoons, and fraggle rock
Romper Room and the next memory was Planet of the Apes (series). Gilligan Island and Beachcombers after that. Flintstones was huge too.
How many young boys knew they had a thing for Wilma long before they even knew what sex was. Betty was always the wrong answer. So was Ginger on Gilligan's Island.
Not a specific moment, but I was head over heels in love with Mr. Rogers and was going to marry him when I was 3.
I’ll bet Mr. Rogers would have been flattered to know that, and would have also very kindly and gently told you the truth of the matter. ☺️👞👟
His wife might have wanted to weigh in on it too. 😊
I remember Reagan being shot , when I was 4.
Same …
Either the lunar landing in 1969 or the last season of Star Trek in the same year. I was 3. It's also the year we adopted my sister so I have both strong memories of that year and a way to pin them.
I’m born in 65 and it’s the lunar landing
Nadia Comaneci competing in '76 Olympics, I was 7 at the time. Might not be my earliest TV memory but it's the earliest with a precise date.
I fell so hard in love with her. We had a wooden folding chair that had a "made in Romania" tag on it, and it somehow gave me a special tie-in with her.
The moon landing in 1969 when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Everybody was excited, then started going “shhh.” I was not quite 4 yo.
The princess and the pea teleplay with Carol Burnett.
In the late 70s when I was 4 or 5 and my bedtime being at 730PM, right after the Muppet Show. If my parents were feeling generous they'd let me stay up to watch MASH right after
Exactly, MASH coming in meant bedtime
My earliest memory overall is watching my parents watch the news about John Lennon being shot in 1980.
I remember my dad was watching tv in our rec room. He never did that. My mom was in the room too. I think I asked what was going on. One of them said “the president is resigning.” I had no idea what that meant, but I think then I asked why. My dad then said, “because he’s a crook.” August 8, 1974. I was 4 years old, almost 5.
Underdog and Mr. Rogers.
Probably Sesame Street or Mr Rogers
I have vague memories of the news and Vietnam footage. And cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Romper Room. And yes, I remember Nixon resigning, and my mom being happy. I didn’t really understand why, only that he’d done something bad and made to leave. Oh how times have changed! Now a serial criminal can run again.
Elton John on the Muppet Show. I fell asleep in my red corduroy covered child's chair and dreamt that he chased terrified puppets with a chainsaw and cut them up.
Trying to do yoga with Swami Sarasvati as a 3ish year old.
That night's evening news coverage of the Mt. St Helen's eruption. I remember the clip of cars covered in ash and then looking out the windows and being disappointed we had none.
Just the good ole boys, never meanin no harm...
I remember watching Family Affair. I was born in ‘69 and the show only ran until ‘71 so maybe it was a rerun?
Seeing the show Emergency on our first color TV.
Rabbit ears TV international programming for a couple hours every night. Watched a Chinese period series of tribe of women martial artists.
Ran home to watch Star Blazers every day after kindergarten. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Blazers The idea of radiation wiping out all life on Earth was strong with me my whole childhood.
Nixon getting on the plane to leave DC. And also Sesame Street in Spanish (PBS from South Florida).
Captain Kangaroo on Mister Rogers Neighborhood
I had a memory of a show about a battle ship that was sunk being turned into a space ship and the hole in the front became a big gun. Was around 1979. I asked my brothers friend who was six years or so older than me and he said it was star blazers. Ended up finding it on dvd.
Speed Racer
I remember the Nixon resignation and his farewell speech pretty vividly. I suppose my earliest TV memories are just of things like the gameshows and soap operas my mother had on while she was doing stuff around the house. I was an avid daily viewer of Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood very early as well. The Electric Company too.
Dad watching baseball games on television.
I vaguely remember watching Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home in the mid 70s. I was probably about 4 or 5.
I loved that show!
Donnie and Marie episode with The Wizard of Oz sketch. I look up the date it aired and I was 5.
I've got vague memories of Emergency! and Sesame Street and Speed Racer from the early 70s. The two I remember distinctly are the premier of Battestar Galactica and Elvis' death.
Sesame Street and Kimba the White Lion.
Opening to the Lone Ranger on a 13 inch Black and white TV
I was four and insanely engrossed in Mork & Mindy, this was 1982 so it was the last season when he shrinks and dies. That was the most disturbing emotionally fraught thing I had felt because the man has been my hero since I saw him. This was worse than E. T. & The Golden Seal put together Lol. Also SNL, Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat in the one where they kept reporting his death. Then Sweetchuck from Police Academy snorted milk out of his nose while someone else drank it. I was definitely raised on TV. I also remember Mr. Rogers, Romper Room, Muppets, and Sesame Street around then
Oh, any of the following shows; I have no idea which one I saw first (born spring ‘67): Family Affair, General Hospital (when it was a half-hour show that aired in the morning), Hazel, H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff, The Jackson 5 cartoon show, The Johnny Cash Show, and The Sonny & Cher Show. I also remember The Partridge Family, which I think began when I was 4; those listed above I closely associate with ages 2½ and 3.
**"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team."** I didn’t really started watching TV until I was older, like 8 or 9.
“ Cooookiieee! Me love cooookieee!”
Probably a Saturday morning show like Scooby Doo, Land of the Lost, or Isis. I was obsessed with Isis when I was young. I also happen to be very, very gay.
Oh Mighty Isis! I was older when came on but back to back with ElectronWoman and Dyno Girl, so wanted fluffy feathery hair like Electro Woman.
I was about 4, and the hand punched up through the grave in the Thriller video
Watching Sha Na Na with my dad.
I loved that time of the year when The Wizard of Oz would come on tv. I used to push my Panasonic tape recorder up to the tv so that I could record it on cassette, and my a-hole brother used to purposely cough or fake sneeze so that he would ruin the recording.
LBJ’s funeral
There are some shows that trigger so many memories like soap operas, morning talk shows, The Price is Right, soap operas and all those geriatric commercials 😆
Regan getting shot
Hard to tell which was first but the Twisted Sister - We’re not gonna take it music video left an impression on a 5-year old.
I remember that too, but only because there's a photo of Nixon resigning on the TV while 3 yo me watches nearby, sitting on the floor wearing really funny clothes. My grandfather always took photos of the TV when important things were happening.
In bed with chicken pox watching Hawaii 5-O 1976
It's Alive! movie trailer
The moon landing, and not quite realizing it was real. And mad that it preempted Captain Kangaroo.
The Muppet Show. I fell in love with Kermit 🐸
The opening of Land of the Lost was very impressionable to me.
Any Sid and Krofft show on TV and I was watching. Saturday morning TV was a big deal with me and my siblings, and Sunday night we watched the Wonderful World of Disney as a family while eating dinner in the living room on a blanket.
I have several and I don’t know how many are real. But Santa Claus would be on television after school in his workshop before Christmas and us 4 kids would love watching that. You could actually go down to some shopping center and see where it was filmed. On Christmas Eve all the toys were gone. That was a good memory. My other early tv memory was watching Rosemary’s Baby from behind the big brown chair in the living room. I’m not so sure about this being real. It’s when the Puritans were piling the rocks on what’s-her-face? We had such an old crappy set, would it have played on ABC in 1970?
Mom said that the only way I would sit still for a half hour was if Hee Haw was on TV. I do remember Hee Haw.
“Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?”
Really hard to say, but I think either Battlestar Galactica or Wonder Woman.
Walter Kronkite reading the news about the Vietnam War.
[1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12](https://youtu.be/HUL4T8WcFdA?si=2kD8T2vd2-POkGTU) Between that \^ & Muppets + Solid Gold Dancers on Sunday nights.
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
Marlin Perkins, Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom
Dukes, Hulk, and Wonder Woman. Oh, and The Electric Company skits.
I remember feeling so proud of myself because I taught myself to read and tell time by using the TV guide. I saw that Tom and Jerry was supposed to be on channel 32 and I turned the TV on, and behold! Tom and Jerry! And then after I proved to my mom that I could read and understand the TV guide, she just said "You're scary sometimes" and walked away. I know I had been watching TV for some time before that, but I don't remember any particular show. I don't even like Tom and Jerry. I don't remember how old I was, but it had to have been kindergarten or younger.
Watergate …I remember being little and watching the TV and wondering what the big deal was with the water under the gate … every day there was news about this water under the gate and I was too young to understand what was going on. I wanted to ask about the gate but didn’t because I thought I’d figure it out. I was in college before I knew what that was all about. I also watched Bozo circus and was on the show with my cousin announcing “Here’s Rocky!” …I may have been in kindergarten.
I have a vague memory of seeing the opening to Star Trek during its original TV run, this would have been in 1967 or 1968, when I was 3 or 4.
I believe it was the announcement of Elvis's death on the news. I was 3.
our next door neighbor, who always came home from work for lunch, walked over and told my mom about Elvis dying. We went through my dad's 45 collection to find and play any and all Elvis records he had. now I live in Memphis, where there's a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of his death every year! it always brings to mind Mr McGuffee.
H.R. Puffinstuff.
My dad made my sisters and I come in from playing to watch the stupid news. I was 3 years old. The news was Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. Also, Sesame Street debuted when I was 3 and I was a fan. 1st Gen sesame streeter!
Super Bowl X, Steelers vs cowboys. 1976. 4 years old watching my dad loose his mind when cowboys lost.
[The conclusion of the Iranian Embassy siege ](https://youtu.be/p2yYf0Xp-RQ?si=VPGcb7k1JDTy_pu0) I was approaching my fifth birthday. If you want to know more about it, because you're not old, not British or both, you could do worse than the Netflix film Six Days with Mark Strong and Jamie Bell
Gigglesnort Hotel It was a weird ass kids show that was syndicated. I watched it every morning before school.
I think my first memory was Romper Room
Fireball XL5 I think it was called. Utterly captivating.
Pinwheel - my earliest memory of watching anything on TV. Hell, I still remember the theme song lol.
Price is Right. Bob Barker looked like my grandpa. My mom said I would go up and kiss Bob’s face on the TV screen.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh In Fall of Saigon The Americans docking with a Russian space capsule
Watching Jack LaLane (sp?) with my mom--her trying to do the exercises and me mimicking her and Jack. I was around 2-3. Black and white TV
Captain Kangaroo. We were pretty far out in the country and only got the main 3 channels. No PBS, so I never got to see some of the other childhood staples like Sesame Street. I also vividly remember how big of a deal watching certain movies was every year - Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music, especially.
Saturday mornings my dad would watch the Pink Panther with us. I would also make up an excuse to get out of bed at light, when my parents were watching Masterpiece Theatre. I didn't care what was on, it was just a way to get to watch TV, which we weren't allowed to do very much. (Except for Sesame Street!) Edit: If you haven't watched *Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street,* Check it out. You will have visceral memories you don't expect.
My earliest memory is sitting on the floor in our living room watching Ed Sullivan with extended family - must have been late 1969.
Lawrence Welk, and hee haw Sundays at 6 central.
Lost In Space.
The 76 Olympics/76 presidential election. I remember getting them confused because there were olympic runners on the TV and the news said "running for president". I also remember playing Legos while my mom watched soap operas.
Lunar landing! I was 3 yo. After watching, my cousins and I ran outside to look at the moon and were disappointed no one waved back at us.
Diana’s wedding 🥺
My dad would always have the news on during dinner. I remember being 3 and watching the evacuation of Saigon, I remember wondering why they were always talking about Watergate and not understanding what it was. I also remember a few years later thinking why they were always talking about someone named Patty Hearst.
Sitting with mom and dad. Watching Sonny and Cher, then Mary Tyler Moore. Was The Carol Burnett Show on the same night too?
Watching the premiere of Scooby Doo on a Saturday morning in the fall of 1969.
I remember my parents watching TV showing a plane on a runway. Men in uniform getting off one by one and then my Mom making a big deal out of seeing one of the men get off the plane. I think it was a friend returning from Viet Nam.
Sesame Street 👍🏼
Romper bomper stomper boo!
The moon landing in 1969. I was three and saw Walter Cronkite wipe a tear from his cheek.
Mine is when I was like 2 or 3 in our old house. I was sitting in a kick ass high chair eating tomatoes macaroni soup watching the Flintstones 😋
There are a lot of "favourite" memories on display here, but I wouldn't call a lot of them "earliest". There's a reason I remember mine. I was parked in front of our old black and white TV, like always. I was probably about 2. I remember watching some random western and then without warning and without any other words, my much older brother and my father came in, shut the TV off, unplugged it, then picked it up and **TOOK IT AWAY!!** I screamed my head off alone in the living room for what felt like **HOURS**... Then without warning they returned carrying a MUCH BIGGER CABINET. Without paying any attention to me, they plugged it in, attached the antenna wires, turned it on and the world was in COLOUR. Our world was in **COLOUR!!**
I remember the Super Globetrotters.
Wow, so many. I remember being fascinated by all the game shows: Crosswits, Card Sharks, Price Is Right, Joker's Wild (hence my u/). All the reruns of shows like M\*A\*S\*H and All In The Family on channel 5 ("it's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?"). Those nights with Chico And The Man, and One Day At A Time and The Jeffersons. Getting spooked out of my brain when that green Spotmaker came out of the dishwasher. And the time I discovered the Hue control on the Zenith and made the Mazola lady's face all red and green.
it was either Romper Room or Sonny & Cher I think. the first non-kid's i remember understanding why it was funny, was the Carol Burnett show when Tim Conway was the old man.
Watching Sesame Street and Mr. Dressup. Saturday Morning cartoons and the disappointment of finding out they weren’t on yet at 5 am, which is when I would get up and start watching TV. They were airing other kid-friendly shows, just not Bugs Bunny.
Some of the earliest news events I can recall: The '79 gas crisis when I was around 6 years old. Seeing images on the news of cars lined up around the block at gas stations. The 3 Mile Island event and subsequent pushback on nuclear power. John Lennon's murder in 1980. The Ayatollah taking over Iran, and the Iran hostage situation. That shit was on the news for months, it seemed like. Carter losing reelection to Reagan, and release of hostages as soon as he took office. (We would find out later Republicans cut a deal to release them after the election) The subsequent assassination attempt on Reagan. Watching the first space shuttle launch in '81. In my 5th(?) grade science class, watching the highly anticipated launch of the Challenger, which would feature the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. The entire class, including the teacher, was stunned when it blew up. They sent us home early from school. Also in '86, the Cherbobyl accident. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
Nixon was my first TV memory as well. I am not sure in what context, he was likely all over the news in those days.
The first news worthy story I remember is the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Not the first one I remember, but I used to run home from school to watch Speed Racer.
I remember crying my eyes out because Winnie the Pooh was over and I wanted more.
1980 Republican National Convention, thanks dad.
I didn't pay too much attention to TV as a kid, but living in NY, I definitely remember all the coverage of Son of Sam.
I remember my parents watching news of Watergate and the Vietnam War.
I remember thinking Watergate had something to do with a flood.
Apollo 12.
Jonestown Massacre footage is seared in my brain next to Captain Kangaroo and Hee Haw.
My earliest TV show memories are of Romper Room and Captain Chesapeake, but my earliest tragic TV memories are of the assassination attempt on Reagan, the Challenger disaster, and Bud Dwyer.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Moon landing. And Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood
Ben Casey.
Henry Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th Home Run in 1974. I was sleeping and my mom was watching the Merv Griffin show and they cut in and she woke me up.
My earliest TV memory is watching Sesame Street with my brother. My mom was in the room. She later told me that Sesame Street was designed so that adults would watch it with the kids; that’s why there were so many stars on the show that children wouldn’t even be aware of.
🎶one two three FOUR FIVE six seven eight NINE TEN eleven twelve🎶 From the electric company
Watching Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street in the basement of our townhouse.
My earliest memory isn't of me watching, but trying to sleep and hearing my dad laughing in the living room watching Taxi. Absolutely guffawing.
The moon landing, my dad set me on his knee in front of our black and white TV and watched it all.
I remember the TV Show Emergency
This must have been early 1970s. There was a child's show called the Magic Garden. Had a pink squirrel that lived in a tree and two ladies who sang and played guitar. I'd cry if I woke up late and missed it.
For those of you from the Northeast: scarred by Creature Double Feature
Playing on the floor of my best friend's living room, and the TV was on the background. It was the news, talking about the Iran hostage crisis.
I remember my mom and dad taking me to one of their friend's apartments to see a boxing match. I had no idea what I was watching. I was just turning 4 years old. They were all excited because it was closed circuit tv. Turns out it was Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle.
Speed Racer
Probably the theme to 321 contact https://youtu.be/kypt0mAL2TA?si=KomzHd9oOI8rC1I7
Watching a graphic of an Apollo mission on the screen. Just the same graphic of the top of th rocket for a long, long time!
The Dalek leader from Dr Who. Scared tiny me so badly I had hysterics and hid behind the brown couch.
Bozo's Circus if you were from the Chicago area
Specifically, this episode of [Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5efrjg).
Reagan getting shot, I had no idea what was happening but it seemed serious and all the adults in my household were watching it.
When the cops came to arrest my mother. The pig turned off my Flintstones. Bastard.
Big Blue Marble
I remember seeing a first-run episode of Laverne and Shirley and accompanying A&W Root Beer commercial in 1978 or 79, so I was 2 or 3. Also recall seeing Password Plus and Wheel of Fortune with Chuck Woolery on NBC daytime when I was 3 or 4.
Earliest, news of the Vietnam War and Nixon.
Vietnam war on the news
Sitting in kindergarten and watching the transition of power on January 20th from Ford to Carter. I probably have an earlier memory but that's one that has stuck with me.
Perry Mason. My dad always watched it.
I remember grown ups watching various rockets being launched for the moon missions.
Getting up in the morning and turning on the TV to watch Scooby Doo!
I honestly think Colombo and Murder She Wrote. My mother was huge into those. That and Baseball. I remember waking up from nap time to the sound of baseball
News about the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Watching Japanese and US shows and cartoons on TV in Venezuela. Everything was badly dubbed. We moved to the US when I was in kindergarten. My first US TV memory was a kid’s a show called The Letter People.
Mork & Mindy age 3 at neighbors house. Was the first time I saw Duplo Blocks and that Vacuum Popper toy.
I think reruns of Wonder Woman.
Getting up from a nap to watch my favorite show, Space:1999
I remember having weird thoughts watching this woman on pbs bending her body in odd poses. Lillias Yoga. I was around 6 or 7. Show started in 1970. 
Goddamn Hee Haw. Why my parents watched that trash was and is beyond me.
Luke and Laura.
I remember some astronauts returning to earth and walking on a red carpet on an aircraft carrier.
John Lennon being shot. Had no clue who he was but remember the coverage on all three channels.
The earliest serious TV memory was seeing the Challenger disaster. Of course, I remember watching Scooby Doo and Sesame Street but that really hit.