Bring Back The Re-runs

Posted Thursday, May 12, 2011, at 10:28 PM

Wednesday night's (5/11) "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" featured guest Dick Van Dyke. What a treat! Mr. Van Dyke sang some "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". He danced a little. He promoted his book. But most of all, he remained the consummate gentleman-comedian. We baby-boomers grew up watching some quality television. Yeah---most of it was in black and white---but it was well-written and well-acted. Here is a list of some of my favorite shows, not in any order, except let's start with Mr. Van Dyke's:

1. The Dick Van Dyke Show

2. Maverick (with James Garner as Bret Maverick)

3. Have Gun--Will Travel (many episodes were written by "Star Trek" producer, Gene Roddenbury)

4. Leave It To Beaver

5. I Love Lucy

6. Bat Masterson

7. The Honeymooners

8. The Rifleman

9. Wagon Train

10. Gunsmoke

11. Combat (OK--this was a little intense for kids but what the heck---WWII was intense)

12. (I've already covered "Perry Mason" and other law shows in a previous blog post)

There. That brings us about up to color television and:

13. Bonanza

14. Get Smart

15. All In The Family

16. Sanford And Son

17. The Beverly Hillbillies (This is, in my opinion, the funniest comedy series ever written. Then again, I still consider "Mad Magazine" to be one of the greatest magazines ever published).

To be fair, there have been a few good shows in recent years. "Seinfeld" is a close second to the "Hillbillies" and "Cheers", "Frazier" and "Boston Legal" all deserve mention.

Chime in and tell me which ones I missed (or which ones do not deserve mention). And let me know what channel runs any of them.

Comments
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I grew up with Happy Days, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and Hee Hew as well as the old ones, The Lone Ranger and Rin Tin Tin. Loved them all.

-- Posted by Leah Cauthron on Fri, May 13, 2011, at 10:44 AM

I remember watching re-runs of Chips, Dukes of Hazzard and the Andy Griffith Show with my grandma. TVLand runs some good classic shows, including some of the ones mentioned above.

-- Posted by Gabe Licht on Fri, May 13, 2011, at 11:46 AM

I believe SMU has a new channel that runs a bunch of old shows on it. Also at night the cable channel The Hub has old shows on it (like Happy Days) on it.

-- Posted by heathermarie on Fri, May 13, 2011, at 12:02 PM

"The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits" were big favorites of mine, which probably had something to do with my being a Stephen King fan later. Then there was "Bewitched" and "The Addams Family," which, though comedies, also had their dark sides.

-- Posted by JTennant on Fri, May 13, 2011, at 1:52 PM

There are a ton of cop and detective shows out there, but none compares to "Unsolved Mysteries"!!

-- Posted by Mike Lewis on Fri, May 13, 2011, at 4:39 PM

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Description: JP's take on legal (and other) issues which interest him. Biography: Born in Spencer Iowa, February 6, 1957; Graduated Spencer High School 1975; University of Iowa (B.B.A. 1979); Creighton University School of Law (J.D. 1984); American Jurisprudence Award: Debtor/Creditor Relations; Assistant State Attorney, Florida, 12th Judicial Circuit, 1986-89; Assistant Clay County Iowa Attorney, 1989-93; Iowa State Bar Association: Volunteer Lawyers, 1993- ; American Citizenship Committee, 1994-98; Bridge the Gap Committee 1991-94; Criminal Justice Act Panel Member, 2002- ; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2004- ; Iowa Association for Justice, 2004- ; American Bar Association, 1984- ; Florida Bar Association, 1986- .

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