You Are What You Were. Celebrate Retro Pop Culture At Retroland.
If you were a child of the 70s, with a hankering for horror creatures and comedy sketches (and lucky enough to live in just the right part of the country), there was a special treat for you on syndicated television - The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Created by and starring Billy Van, this Canadian-produced, low-budget horror spoof offered 60-minute episodes that were equal parts Gothic horror, comedic hi jinks, and even a little education programming.
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For centuries, magicians have been captivating audiences with the power of illusion - making objects seemingly float through the air, or appear and disappear at will. And while there have been hundreds of amazing practitioners of the art throughout history, one name stands out when it comes to the 70s and 80s. Looking like one of the most colorful and happy hippies to ever walk the earth, Doug Henning was a master of the art of magic, and his ever-present smile and enthusiasm compelled millions to tune in with amazement to his numerous television specials over the years.
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Roller-skating was all the rage in the 70s, and it didn’t take Saturday morning cartoons long to latch on to the fad. The result wasThe Skatebirds, a mixture of live action and animation produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on CBS in 1977.
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In decades past, few shows were ever been able to rival sports programming when it came to capturing the attention of the adult male television demographic. Why, to do that, one would first need a beautiful woman – perhaps a subservient beautiful woman – okay, how about a beautiful subservient woman that not only worships her male master but has the power to grant his every wish. To borrow from sports terminology – Game, set, match. This winning, testosterone-inducing formula helped make I Dream of Jeannie one of the most popular and successful sitcoms of all time.
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Long before the perpetual era of “reality TV" took foothold, a mischievous little series called Candid Camera offered us all the opportunity to laugh at other people on television. It also encouraged millions of viewers to ponder the unsettling realization that someone, somewhere, might just be pointing a camera at them.
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One of the more popular sitcoms among the youngsters of the early 90s, Blossom consistently delivered the laughs each week for five seasons on NBC. And if you were one of the many adolescents tuning in, there was a pretty good chance you learned a life lesson or two along the way.
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Two conflicting characters make for some great comedy. Think Laurel and Hardy, think Fred and Ethel, think Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. And for a short time in the 70s, Chico and the Man. Portrayed by Freddie Prinze and Jack Albertson, respectively, the popular sitcom debuted in 1974 and followed the story of a cranky caucasian garage owner and his smooth-talking Puerto Rican mechanic. And for a few seasons, we not only laughed at their antics, we learned that the most unlikely of bedfellows could become friends.
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In 1965, cartoonist Morrie Turner introduced his popular newspaper comic strip, Wee Pals, which focused on a collection of multicultural kids called “The Rainbow Club.” And, although a portion of society was a wee bit uncomfortable with the socially conscious subject matter at the time, it was hard to deny that the cartoon was, above all, funny – funny enough, in fact, to lead ABC to base a Saturday morning animated series on the comic strip called Kid Power.
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It is commonly understood that grown men don’t cry – unless, of course, they happen to be subjected to a show produced by Michael Landon, television’s rainmaker when it comes to turning on the eye faucets. Given a few moments of viewing time, the man could make a statue sob. And, after years of coaxing viewers to cry with the hit series Little House on the Prairie, he was up to his tear-inducing ways again in his next endeavor, Highway to Heaven.
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For twelve seasons, television viewers faithfully tuned in each week to see three pairs of animated tapping feet, complete with ultra-catchy theme song, as they followed the life of widower Steve Douglas and his trio of male offspring in the hugely popular sitcom, My Three Sons. Through the course of the series, they watched the family go through love, loss, and all the trials and tribulations that one would expect from a family, sans mom.
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