You Are What You Were. Celebrate Retro Pop Culture At Retroland.
Not even the Brady family could rival the enormity of the Bradford brood. Eight is Enough chronicled all of the trials and tribulations of a father trying his best to raise his eight children. Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking – the show quickly charmed the hearts of viewers across the country, especially those who had grown up in large families of their own.
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Back in the 70s, the residents from the City of Angels could rest a little easier knowing that paramedics Gage and DeSoto were on the job. And viewers across the country tuned in each week to watch them dutifully, and often heroically, come to the assistance of injured citizens in the hit television show, Emergency!
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Imagine a mysterious tropical island where visitors come to have their fantasies played out. If that sounds enticing, you are not alone. For seven seasons, television viewers checked in on the inhabitants of Fantasy Island every Saturday night, watching them live out their dreams, for better or worse, under the watchful eye of their enigmatic host, Mr. Rourke and his assistant, Tattoo.
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With rare exception, longevity isn't a word often associated with Saturday morning cartoons. Most only last a couple of years at best. Put comedian/educator Bill Cosby at the helm, however, and you have a recipe for success. Such was the case with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, a beloved series and a staple of Saturday mornings for over a decade.
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Spin-offs of popular shows are common, but how often do you get a spin-off of a spin-off? Not very often, but the hit sitcom Good Times provided the best possible example. The story begins with Maude, a series starring Bea Arthur that was a spin-off from All In the Family. On Maude, the title character had a sharp, independent-minded African-American maid named Florida. Maude and Florida's verbal duels became a highlight of the show, making the Florida character very popular with viewers. When that popularity got too big for a co-starring role to contain, Florida got her own spin-off series, Good Times, in February of 1974.
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The psychedelic atmosphere of those lovable 60s flowed well into the next decade, especially in the realm of children’s programming, thanks to the wonderful talents and vision of Sid and Marty Krofft. But of all their creations, which included such live-action offerings as Lidsville, The Bugaloos and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, perhaps no series was quite as trippy, quite as colorful, and quite as well remembered as H.R. Pufnstuf. Let’s take a look back.
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Back in the 70s, television viewers received a romanticized view of the 50s, thanks to a sitcom called Happy Days, which followed the daily life of the Cunningham family, their friends and a soon-to-be hoodlum hero named Fonzie. It went on to become one of the most popular series of the decade and today, we pay tribute to this iconic sitcom.
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Long before Jeff Foxworthy made a career out of his rural brand of “you might be a redneck…” humor, there was Hee Haw - a mixture of music, comedy sketches, and a whole lot of country charm. For just under a quarter of a century, adoring viewers all across the nation tuned in each week to both laugh at it’s particular brand of down-home humor, and get an earful of some of the best artists in country music.
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If there is one quality that all superheroes share, it is their affinity for the alter ego. It is the only thing that allows them a semblance of a normal life, free to hang up the cape for a bit and mingle among the less extraordinary, do some grocery shopping, even try to engage in a bit of romance. And while their occupational choices have ranged from nurse to newspaper reporter, perhaps none has ever set the bar lower than a canine custodian named Penrod Pooch. Spending his day with mop in hand, he is hardly noticed by his co-workers as he goes about his chores. Sgt. Flint looks down upon him, nasal-voiced switchboard operator Rosemary is polite, yet understandably unimpressed. But little do they know, they are in the midst of greatness.
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Ask any random group of people what their favorite annual holiday television show is you will likely get substantial votes for How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Based on a children’s book of the same name, written in 1957 by Theodor Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss,) the characters were brought to life (in animated form) on television for the first time during the Christmas season of 1966 and over 40 years later, there are no signs of diminished popularity.
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