Ah, the good old days

Everyone has a favorite TV Show from when they were a kid. I have several... Growing up with a Dad that worked at a TV station probably was the beginning of the end for me and started me off on the long road to TV Junkiehood.

As a child I spent many a minute, hour, day, month and year watching Television.
"Red Skelton," "Johnny Carson," "The Munsters," "Bewitched," "Green Acres," "Gomer Pyle," "Lucy," "Brady Bunch," "I Dream of Jeanie," "Hogan's Heroes," "The Partridge Family," "Star Trek," "Dark Shadows," "Beverly Hillbillies," "Petticoat Junction," "Six Million Dollar Man..."
I'm not sure there wasn't a show on television that I didn't watch.

One of the horrible trends of recent years has been the "re-imaging" of some of the classic old series by remaking them as series or as big budget movies. The list of remake flops is enormous. Anyone who wasted money or time on the likes of "Starsky and Hutch," "The Dukes of Hazzard," or "Miami Vice" knows exactly what I'm talking about.

In a couple of weeks "Get Smart" starts in theaters. When I was very, very young, there was nothing I loved more than "Get Smart." I was about three years old and whenever we saw a phone booth I would shout "There's a Get Smart!" Meaning the phone booth, and of course it took my folks months to figure out what the heck I was talking about.

Several years ago they tried to remake "Get Smart" a couple of times...once as the theatrical film "THE NUDE BOMB" which I rushed to see in theaters. I was in Junior High at the time and liked it a lot...of course, if I watched it now I might not be as enthusiastic about it, but at least it had Don Adams in it.

Then they brought Adams and Barbara Feldman back along with the revolting Andy Dick to do a new version in the 90's that lasted about a week I think. I saw one episode and grew nostalgic for the old series immediately.

The new movie has Steve Carell of the "OFFICE" TV Series (which I love), so I'm a bit hopeful although I heard that the "creators" of this version declined input from the original creators, Buck Henry and Mel Brooks. (WHICH IS AN OMINOUS SIGN!!!)

Sometimes you go back and watch the old shows and somehow they've maintained their rustic charm. "Green Acres" will always be one of my favorites, and it is still funny today as it ever was. "Gomer Pyle," on the other hand is nearly unwatchable. To think I rushed home from school to watch it every day makes me sad for all the time lost...
"The Munsters," although corny, still has a great cast and will make me laugh from time to time. (The new Wayans Brothers version has me very, very worried!)

I heard recently and had my fears confirmed on IMDB.COM that Will Farrell is doing a remake of "LAND OF THE LOST" which was a fave of mine as a kid. Will Farrell??? Come on????!!!! You've got to be kidding me???!!!! This is worse than when they announced Jim Carey would be playing Steve Austin in the "Six Million Dollar Man" remake! Who are these nitwits and where do they get these nutty ideas?

Tonight in honor of the demise of "Land of the Lost," Jared and I sat down and watched a DVD of old episodes of the classic Saturday Morning Series...and...
it was so cheesy you could make dip out of it, but still we sort of enjoyed it.
Sure, the girl who played Holly couldn't act, and Wesley Eure as Will, liked to overact to beat the band...then there were the zippered up the back, Sleestacks, who were played by college and professional basketball players and the claymation dinosaurs and puppet dinos too. And don't forget Cha-Ka, the little caveman who was always calling Holly "Hareee."

My only sixth degree of separation to the show is that I once saw Wesley Eure in person in Springfield, Mo. Not only was he the star of "Land of the Lost," but he played Mike Horton on "Days of our Lives," which made him popular with my Mom and Sisters, so of course we went to see him in person when he was in town.

Thanks to DVD, everyone's favorite shows are back, for better or for worse...

David