Dear Television industry.
My name is Gunfighter, and you probably don’t know who I am... but I know you. You see, I have been watching you for many years now, and I think that even though you seem unaware of my presence, our relationship has come to mean a great deal to me.
This isn’t some new crush, Television. You have meant so much to me in so many ways over the past 40-odd years. Many of the most pleasant times in my life include some memory of what you were doing at the time.
Some of my earliest memories are of you, starting with watching Captain Kangaroo, before going off to Kindergarten in the fall of 1969. How I used to enjoy Mr. Green Jeans! I don’t remember much else about the show, but during those early TV years, I fondly remember Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, as well as Gumby, and Davey & Goliath.
Of course, those aren’t the only memories of our time spent together. When I was an older boy, I loved Sesame Street and The Electric Company. As a matter of fact, I still know the words to both of those theme songs. This was right around the time we moved from California to New Jersey. That wasn’t a particularly happy time in my life because my parents had recently divorced. Although both of my parents always worked, this was the time I became what later became called a “Latchkey Kid”. I would run home from my school bus stop, hoping to beat my sister home, calling “Bugs Bunny at 4!” While my sister tried to beat me by saying “Somerset at 4!” (Somerset being a soap opera of the time).
I didn’t stay pre-adolescent forever, though. I grew, I got older, I became more aware of the world around me… I never gave up my love of bugs Bunny cartoons, though… finding in them, of all places, my love of symphonic and classical music. I got older. Joined the Cub scouts… and couldn’t wait to get home from the meetings, because they were the same night that “Baa Baa Black Sheep” was on. Yeah, that was at the beginning of the show… before it was renamed “Black Sheep Squadron”.
Watching you was wonderful. A fond memory of our time together is watching The Tom Jones show, and the Carol Burnett show! Watching Tim Conway and Harvey Korman together was funny just because both of them were laughing at each other!
Alas, not all of our time together in the 1970’s was fun. There were times when you disappointed me terribly, with your foray into what I call “Minstrel TV”. The horror of the clownification of urban poverty that was “Good Times”, with that oafish race-traitor Jimmie Walker was not one of your better moments. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was for me as a young person? Seeing that one of the most popular black people on television being a lazy, shiftless, buffoon? Fortunately, I had avenues of escape like the ever-cheesy, but always watched “Love Boat”.
You haven’t always been about sweetness and light, though, we watched you to be informed as well. We had our favorite news broadcast, too. Remember?, back in the days before infotainment?, back before the 24 hour news cycle? Back in those days, television news wasn’t a for-profit enterprise. Remember that? When television networks were required by law to provide a certain amount of actual news per day? I miss those days. I miss watching Eyewitness News on channel 7 (WABC), which began with: “I’m Roger Grimsby, hear now, The News.” Those guys were real pros! Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel were always serious about the news, but weren’t beyond a small amount of good natured banter. Oh, and hen there was idiot weatherman Tex Antoine, and Rose Ann Scamardella, who later became the target of of Gilda Radner’s “Roseanne Rosannadana” character from Saturday Night Live’s glory days.
Most recently, I have been bothered at your promotion of unhealthy images for girls and young women. Would it be so wrong to see women on television that look like normal people?
Man, this has been fun, and as I sit here in the snack bar at Target writing (and waiting for SG’s Girl Scout meeting to end), I have a smile pasted on my face. A smile at happy memories with you. Even a smile through the sadness of television shows that were really fantastic, that just didn’t last. One of those ground breaking shows that I enjoyed was FOX’s South Central. A show, I think that was just a little too gritty (and too near the truth of urban America) to be popular. Another great show that didn’t last was called “Nothing Sacred” Remember that one? It was a bout a young priest in a really grimy NYC parish who had questions and doubts, and didn’t always have pro-forma answers for his dilemma’s, or that of his congregants. Hey, remember that great show "American Gothic"? with Gary Coleas the Sheriff of Trinity South Carolina? Yeah, those are some shows that were much better than some of the stuff that survived..
Well, Television, even though I can now watch practically anything I want, anytime I want, I haven’t abandoned you. In my adult years, my tastes have changed... even though I am a professional lawman, I haven't really bonded much with cop shows, except for S.W.A.T., back in the day. These days, I am more likely to watch "dramedy" legal shows like the late "Ally McBeal" (when it was funny), and "Boston Legal" which still gives me belly-laughs.
Let's talk about sports for a moment... You know I was never a huge sports fan, but, I always enjoyed the fact that every few years, I could turn to you for great (and sometimes not-so-great) Olympic coverage. I have been tuned in to Olympic coverage since 1972, at the tender age of 9, watching Gymnast Olga Korbut do things that people shouldn't ever want to do with their bodies. Watching sports has come full circle for me. These days, it is your global reach that has brought me the riches of watching international rugby, since no American networks ever show it.
Lastly, television, and most recently, you have brought me the joys of a now-concluded political campaign. Once again, I was able to see and hear in detail often greater than was necessary, all of the ups and downs of the candidates and their families.
I guess this little note is just a way to say thanks for everything. You certainly have given me, and the rest of the world a lot of enjoyment... surely more entertainment than harm. As many people would try to indict you for being a vehicle for stupidity, as many, or more would salute you for the good things that you have to to communicate and to inform. You have been instrumental to the education of so many people, myself included, and no one should forget that.
So, thanks, television industry. We've had a good time together, you and I, and I am certain that we aren't finished.
GF
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