You鈥檙e traveling through another dimension
I grew up with television.
Not literally.
But when TV was coming of age, I, too, was enjoying (and sometimes suffering from) a growth spurt of my own in the late 1950s and early 鈥�60s.
So, the other day, when I was clicking around on YouTube, I found it interesting when I came upon some videos that presented collections of brief snippets of old TV shows.
It鈥檚 good stuff for those of us who enjoy nostalgia.
There was one video highlighting the 1960 weekly schedule for NBC. It showed nightly programs that I don鈥檛 remember 鈥� 鈥淭he Man from Interpol鈥� and 鈥淭he Shirley Temple Show.鈥�
By then, Ms. Temple had become a grizzled old lady of 32. Not the cute-as-a-kitten child star of the 1930s. I think I may have been doing something else in the evenings when she hosted that show.
There were also shows I do remember, but I didn鈥檛 watch. 鈥淲agon Train鈥� and 鈥淣ational Velvet鈥� were among those.
There were lots of shows that I do fondly remember from that era like 鈥淎lfred Hitchcock Presents鈥� and 鈥淏achelor Father.鈥�
On ABC about that time, there was 鈥淢averick鈥� (Brett, Bart, and cousin Beau), 鈥淭he Rifleman,鈥� (Chuck Connors) 鈥淭he Steve Allen Show,鈥� 鈥淭he Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,鈥� 鈥淭he Real McCoys,鈥� 鈥淢y Three Sons,鈥� 鈥淭he Untouchables,鈥� and the family favorite 鈥� 鈥淏en Casey,鈥� which always opened with the actor Sam Jaffe as Dr. David Zorba at a chalkboard uttering the words, 鈥淢an, woman, birth, death, infinity.鈥�
Jaffe鈥檚 deadpan delivery was so convincing, I鈥檓 sure many people thought he was a real doctor.
Each of those videos has the complete weekly network schedules for shows from more than 60 years ago.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.鈥� What kid of the 1950s could tune away from Rod Serling鈥檚 weekly alert that we were about to enter 鈥� 鈥淭he Twilight Zone?鈥�
What separates those earlier days of television and today鈥檚 is how many more programs there are today.
Back then, there were only three national TV networks sharing most of the nation鈥檚 TV viewers.
So, the final episode of 鈥淭he Fugitive鈥� in 1967 drew 78 million viewers. (Only two other programs, 鈥淐heers鈥� in 1993 and 鈥淢*A*S*H鈥� in 1983, have had more viewers for their final episodes.)
By the time Dr. Richard Kimble finally caught up with that elusive one-armed man, nearly half the country saw it.
There simply weren鈥檛 as many choices as there are today.
In my home, we鈥檝e had Verizon FIOS for more than a decade. That means we have access to hundreds of channels 鈥� plus more movies and live sports than we鈥檒l ever be able to watch. We also stream Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, MAX, Showtime Anytime, Peacock, and the aforementioned YouTube.
We鈥檝e gotten 鈥渉ooked鈥� from time to time on a few series (鈥淭he Crown,鈥� 鈥淒ownton Abbey,鈥� 鈥淢oney Heist,鈥� and House of Cards among them).
We also make good use of our DVR. That means we rarely miss a Pittsburgh Pirates game or 鈥淛eopardy,鈥� 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� or the 11 o鈥檆lock news on Channel 4.
Yet, with all of those movies and TV shows we have available to us, there are still times when my wife and I have to perform deep searches to find a show or series we might want to watch together.
Why?
I have no idea why.
It鈥檚 just that way.
Sort of that old thing about 鈥淲ater, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink鈥� thing.
I鈥檓 sure there are times when you may feel like us.
When you鈥檇 settle on a nice anthology series like 鈥淎lcoa Presents: One Step Beyond,鈥� but there aren鈥檛 many readily available to you within the vast sea of choices we have today.
Could it be we鈥檝e become jaded by the glut of entertainment we鈥檝e been fed over the years?
The production values of those old shows weren鈥檛 nearly as sophisticated as what we have in today鈥檚 shows.
Maybe we鈥檙e running out of fresh ideas to entertain each other.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.