Viewing Memories

So in continuing with my current listing syndrome I thought I would list my top 10 Favorite Childhood TV Shows. Ridiculous as this seems this was a fun one to come up with.

10. Power Rangers

Yes, I'm pretty sure I was in Junior High, but I think they are still classified into my childhood existence. I remember watching this one with Katie--she use to do a great impersonation of Rita saying, "Ah after 10,000 years I'm free. It's time to conquer Earth!" Honestly, with an opening like that, you know it has to be good. Though it was liked by me as a child, I quickly grew out of it and only liked it as a spoof, not as show, hence the tenth place ranking.

9. The Snorks

Though I claimed I loved this show I do not recall a great deal about this show. However the theme song annoyingly comes into my head every three months. I share the song with others and have yet to have a friend recall this show. I believe it was on The USA Cartoon Network ("For action, adventure, and all the rest. On the USA Cartoon Express!"). It was a pretty good show that dealt with these evolved creatures who sprouted snorkels where noses and foreheads normally reside. What a novel idea! I liked it for the colors I think.

8. The Monkey Show

I can't remember the name of this show!!! After writing about all of these I looked them each up and was satisfied with my memories. It was rather affirming realizing I had not concocted ideas about the shows that weren't true (see Parker for details). But this one seems to be lost! I can't find info on it. AH! But I assure you it was completely ridiculous! It was all of these chimps dressed as humans. Katie is bound to remember this one. The chimps talked and acted out this intense drama. Mata Hari was one of the chimps' names, but I'm pretty sure it was Mada Harry. At any rate we use to have this HUGE brown leather recliner with a tall, tall back. I remember tipping the recliner over and having Katie sit under the back of it while I pretended to push her around in it like in the Monkey Show. Ahh, if only I could remember the name. It was a Nickelodeon in the Afternoon Show.

7. Hey, Dude!/Salute Your Shorts/You Can't Do That on Television/What Would You Do/Clarissa Explains it All/Round House


These shows were like the Golden 6 of Nick. I loved them all at a different time but classify them together because I think I liked watching older kids on TV. I think all kids do. I look at the Cass and see she liked Emily and her older friends, so I think the reason I liked these ones was because of the older kids featured. All in all, the shows have left some individual impressions on me, but for the most part I just remember the theme songs. Well, Lisa and I use to pretend we were Sam and Clarissa. We would pretend to make video games about Furgeson, and every so often Lisa would tell me I was him. Bummer.

6. Captain Planet

Well this one was a favorite. How do I know? I remember waking up early JUST to see it. And when I found the action figures at KayBeeToys in the Mall I was ecstatic. I only ever found the black guy who was Earth and the Mexican? Tai? Philippine? who was heart. But they did come with little rings you could wear to pretend to be a "Planeteer". I still remember the song and a particular episode where Capt. Planet's arch nemesis formed an Anti-Planeteer group who sought to destroy the Earth with polution. One of them was Sludge. Great writing but it was only on the air for a few years.

5. Duck Tales

Yes, I was in the KCAL Kid's Club. On this one I have to admit I liked Launchpad McQuack the best. Gizzmo Duck was alright too. Donald annoyed me. But Scrooge and Mrs. Beakly were divine. The show all centered around Scrooge and his number one dime. I loved his money room. In fact I loved it so much I remember Lisa and I poured a big bucket of money on the ground and pretended to swim in it. If only we could get the Foxenwood Clubhouse to have penny day we could relive the magic of Scrooge's Money Bin. Ah... One can only dream.

4. Darkwing Duck

Oh, the joys of KCAL Kids' Club yet again. It was such a treat to come home from school and watch Darkwing at 4:00. I watched this show for a few years and liked it so much I would draw costume ideas for the bad guys. At the time (fourth grade) I was dating Stephanie. She and I would pretend we were the character from the show. She was Morgana and I was either Darkwing, the Liquidator, or The Plant Guy (I can't seem to remember his name right now). At any rate, it seemed like the greatest show on earth until I rented a few of the episodes from the Evergreen Video Center three years ago, only to find it was a boring slightly dull show. Oh well, as a kid I liked it.

3. Tiny Toons

While a majority of my peers loved Animaniacs (which came a year or so after) I was a Tiny Toons fan. I had sticker books with the characters and imagined myself as a Buster Bunny. I remember my dad took me to 7-11 to buy them on Friday nights. This was pre-X-Men (see #1). I loved the characters Elmira and Max, they were insane. They epitomized the ridiculous children in our world. and Dizzy Devil was delightful. The idea I liked most of all was a school where toons learned to be toony. It was great concept to explore and always was interesting to see the Merry Melodies characters make cameos on the show.

2. Doug

Man, Nickelodeon did good with this one. I loved the story of Doug, the awkward pre-teen, who fell in love with Patti Mayonese. Skeeter was his best friend who honked at him to say hello, there was a bully, a dog named Porkchop and crazy neighbors who BBQed a lot. The show was perfect for me as I entered into older grades where kids normally think they are too old for cartoons, but really need them

1. X-Men

By far the best of all was the 1990's X-Men. Simply superb. It gave me a love for all things X-Men, brought me up to speed on many stories, and brought a huge collection of action figures into my life (Thanks to my dad who took me to KayBees and eventually ToysRUs to purchase oodles of toys, and 7-11 where I bought a first edition of the new line of comics which released in the 90's--thanks Dad!). FOX showed X-Men at 10:00 weekly. Just fantastic if you ask me. I rarely missed an episode and for awhile I was taping them for Mrs. Elder, who like most people, came to love the X-Men because of this stellar cartoon series. I recently went on e-Bay and bought the series on a boot legged DVD. I know, I'm not sure of the ethical ramifications of this either, but just so you know I think I lost all of the DVDs. At any rate Lisa also enjoyed the show and we bonded over this. In addition this was what bonded Caleb McCutcheon and myself. Which then bonded me with Courtney and Christina, which inevitably linked me with the Fauf, so there. I guess X-Men brought the Fauf and Ig together! Like I said, it is number 1.

There it is, a walk down the Boob-Tube Viewing of my childhood. I'm sure I could have added a few more like the Dark Knight or some other show, but for today, this is it. Enjoy.