Cee Tee Jackson recently published an interesting post about Children’s television. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and left a comment about some of my memories of Children’s TV. You’ll have to read his post to find out the details.
The post inspired me to write about my memories of not just watching television but also of television sets. I’d love to hear about your memories of television, too.
How it all started!
My first memory of a television set was a black and white one with a 24-inch screen that my parents rented from the local electrical shop.
It was square-shaped with four legs that stuck out after being screwed on. On the set was a button for changing the channels and two dials, one for sound and one for brightness.
It reminded me of a spaceship. I’d often ask my parents if I could ‘watch the spaceship’ rather than asking if I could watch television.
In those days, you had to ensure you were in front of the television when your favourite show was about to start. There were no video recorders, catchup TV or streaming services. If you missed the show, you had to wait for it to be repeated (if lucky) or ask somebody who had watched it to explain what happened.
Back then, television sets had to ‘warm up’ after being switched on, and it could feel like an eternity for the picture and sound to come on, sometimes resulting in you missing the start of the show. Heaven forbid if the picture rolled and the aerial had to be adjusted.
I remember my grandparents having an even older television set than the one we had. Whereas my mother would call into the shop to pay the weekly rental, my grandparents had to put coins into a slot on the back of the television to get it to work. Someone would come from the shop every week to empty the coin box. I always thought it was the biggest ‘money box’ I’d seen.
Our First Coloured Television Set
Many years later, I remember the excitement in our house when my father announced that we were getting a ‘coloured television.’ Most shows would be transmitted in colour, and a box was installed on the wall next to the TV to switch channels. It wasn’t quite a ‘remote control’ but was the first step towards not having to press anything on the set to change channels.
The change to a ‘coloured’ television set also meant I could watch shows like ‘Pot Black’ in colour. Pot Black was a weekly snooker show, first shown every Monday evening on BBC2. Now, my father and I could see all the different coloured snooker balls without guessing which one was about to be potted! It made all the difference.
Does anyone else remember that theme tune to the show?
Two of my favourite detective shows, which I remember watching with my father and which seemed much better in colour, were Charlie’s Angels and Cagney and Lacey.
Charlie’s Angels – Watched For Different Reasons!
I loved watching Charlie’s Angels, as did my father, although for different reasons. Whereas I was amazed by how three young women solved violent crimes without a hair going out of place, my father was more interested in Farrah Fawcett-Majors.
Before watching the following video, can you name the other two actresses who played alongside Farrah Fawcett-Majors?
By this time, my parents had separated, so I didn’t mind that my father fancied Farrah. Little did he know that I was more interested in her husband, Lee Majors, who played Steve Austin in the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man, which was well before its time for artificial intelligence.
Cagney And Lacey – Why My Father Didn’t Understand!
My father was more concerned about my liking of Mary Beth Lacey, but for the wrong reasons. It wasn’t that I was into women who were old enough to be my mother (or so he thought); it was that I missed my mother a lot when my parents separated, and I saw Mary Beth Lacey more as a mother figure, somebody whom I wished was my mother.
As my love of television and television sets grew, it was no surprise that my second-ever full-time job was working as a salesperson in a television shop, selling and renting out televisions.
But change was on the way. I was there when the launch of the videotape recorder changed how we would gradually watch television shows in the future.
Apologies if any of the videos did not play for you.
- What are your earliest memories of watching television?
- Did you ever have a black-and-white television set? What was it like watching shows on it?
- How did the transition to a coloured television set change your viewing experience?
- Do you have any favourite TV shows or memories associated with watching television?
- Leave a link to the opening credits of one of your favourite television shows from the past.
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