Classic TV Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Perry Mason’s theme reminds me of bedtime!

I’d hear that song from upstairs, and I’d sneak halfway down the stairs just to peek at Mom’s show. I remember asking why he was sitting there all alone in that big room, because I didn’t understand what a courtroom was or why everyone looked so serious. Mom still tried to explain it to me, even though I’m sure I was bugging her. All she wanted to do was relax and watch a little TV before her own bedtime.

As a kid, I could not understand why Mom watched such a boring show. There were no monsters, no cartoons, no spaceships, and nobody was falling down a well for Lassie to rescue. Just Raymond Burr sitting there as Perry Mason, calmly figuring out who really did it while everyone else in the courtroom waited for him to prove it.

The show originally ran on CBS from 1957 to 1966, with Raymond Burr as defense attorney Perry Mason, Barbara Hale as his secretary Della Street, William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as district attorney Hamilton Burger. The famous theme was called “Park Avenue Beat” and was written by Fred Steiner. That opening music had a cool, jazzy, serious sound that basically told every kid in the house, “Fun time is over. The adults have taken over the TV.”

The funny part is, despite the show being around forever and becoming one of the most famous courtroom dramas in television history, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and watched a single full episode. But I still remember that theme like it was yesterday. That was the sound of Mom’s TV time, the sound of being told to go back upstairs, and the sound of knowing bedtime was coming whether I liked it or not.

Lassie

Just hearing the opening whistle brings back a flood of childhood memories of Lassie.
As a kid, I vowed that one day I would get a collie and name her Lassie. Yeah, that never happened. I also didn’t get a dolphin and name it Flipper. But back then, Lassie made it seem like every problem could be solved with loyalty, courage, and a very smart dog who somehow always knew exactly where to go for help.
By 1959, Lassie was deep into the Timmy Martin years, with Jon Provost playing Timmy, June Lockhart as his mother, Ruth Martin, and Hugh Reilly as his father, Paul Martin. June Lockhart would later become another famous TV mom as Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space, but to me, she would always be Lassie and Timmy’s mom.
No matter how serious the problem was, everything seemed to get wrapped up neatly within the 22 minutes of the show. Someone could be lost, trapped, injured, or in danger, and somehow Lassie would bark, run, lead the adults to the right place, and make everything okay again.
And yes, Timmy actually did fall down a well, even though the old joke makes it sound like it happened every week. It happened in the 1960 episode “The Well,” where Timmy ends up trapped and, of course, Lassie has to get help. That one moment became the running gag everyone remembers: “What’s that, Lassie? Timmy fell down the well?”
Having a rough childhood, I always wished I had Timmy’s family. There was something comforting about that show, even if life was not really like anything we saw on TV. The Martins seemed steady, kind, and safe, and Lassie was always there watching over everyone. For a kid, that kind of world was easy to want.
Well, at least I have my cat Chassie, and yes, calling her reminds me of Lassie.

Holy Clean Hands, Batman!

I remember seeing this commercial as a kid and wondering what Lava Soap even was. I don’t remember if my mom ever actually bought it for us, but if Batman was selling it, I wanted it!

That was the power of 1960s Batmania. Adam West’s Batman was everywhere, including commercials for Lava Soap, the gritty hand soap meant for grease, grime, and dirty hands. It was the kind of soap dads kept near the garage sink, but to a kid watching Batman and Robin pitch it, it suddenly looked like something every crimefighter needed.

Did your family ever have Lava Soap in the house, or were you like me, just wanting it because Batman said so?

Hey Grandpa! What’s For Dinner?

It still wasn’t as bad as when Dad turned on Lawrence Welk, but Hee Haw always felt like the country cousin of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. It had the same quick jokes, blackout skits, silly one-liners, and regular cast bits, just with more overalls, cornfields, banjos, and country music stars dropping by.

The show first aired in 1969, right around the same era when Laugh-In was still the cool, fast-moving comedy show everyone was talking about. Hee Haw took that same rapid-fire style and gave it a country spin, and somehow it stuck around for years. Even if you weren’t a big country music fan, you probably remember the corny jokes, the haystacks, the “salute” segments, and someone in the house laughing at lines that made the rest of us groan. And who can forget Grandpa?

The Pruitts Of Southampton

Oh, I can hear my mother singing along with Phyllis Diller on this one! Thanks to the viewer who requested this last week, it brought back a forgotten memory!

The Pruitts of Southampton was one of those 1960s sitcoms that had a wild setup and an even wilder star. It aired on ABC during the 1966-67 season and starred Phyllis Diller as Phyllis Pruitt, a supposedly rich Southampton widow trying to keep up appearances after the IRS discovers the family is actually broke. Instead of losing everything, she has to keep living like high society while secretly cutting corners and trying to hold the whole mansion together.

The show had a pretty impressive cast around her too, including Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Deacon, Reginald Gardiner, and even Lisa Loring, who many of us remember as Wednesday from The Addams Family. Later in the season, the show was renamed The Phyllis Diller Show, but it still only lasted one season.

And yes, that catchy theme had a familiar name behind it: Vic Mizzy, the same composer who gave us The Addams Family theme. That probably explains why so many people remember the tune even if they barely remember the show itself. It was loud, silly, a little over-the-top, and totally Phyllis Diller. For a short-lived sitcom, it sure found a way to stick in people’s heads.

#ThePruittsOfSouthampton #PhyllisDiller #ClassicTV #RetroTV #1960sTV #TVNostalgia #TheRetroSite #BabyBoomerMemories #VintageTelevision #TVThemeSongs

The Moment TV Jumped The Shark

f you’ve ever heard someone say a show “jumped the shark,” this is the clip they’re talking about.

I mean… here’s Fonzie, cool as ever, leather jacket and all… out on water skis… and yeah… literally jumping over a shark on Happy Days.

And somewhere along the way, that moment turned into a phrase we still use today.

So here’s how that even happened.

Back in the late ’90s, a guy named Jon Hein created a website called Jump the Shark. The whole idea was to track the exact moment when a TV show starts to go downhill. Not slowly… not over time… but that one moment where you sit there and go, “Alright… what are we doing here?”

And the moment he pointed to?

This one. Fonzie. The shark. 1977. Episode “Hollywood: Part 3.”

From there, it just stuck. The phrase took off, and now people use it for everything. Not just TV… anything that goes too far trying to stay relevant. A show, a company, even people. When it stops feeling real and starts feeling forced… that’s when you hear it… “they jumped the shark.”

Now here’s the part a lot of people don’t realize… the people involved didn’t think it was some disaster at the time.

Henry Winkler has talked about it in interviews and basically said… look, the show had already done physical comedy, and to him, it was just another fun stunt. He’s even pointed out that ratings didn’t suddenly crash after that episode, so in his mind, it didn’t ruin anything.

Writer Fred Fox Jr. said something similar. They were trying to make those Hollywood episodes bigger… more exciting… something different. At the time, it wasn’t, “we’re out of ideas”… it was, “let’s top what we’ve already done.”

And even creator Garry Marshall defended it. He always said people forget just how big Fonzie was back then. The idea was to give him a larger-than-life moment. Something memorable.

Well… mission accomplished.

Because here we are, decades later, still talking about it.

And that’s the funny part. The phrase “jump the shark” is usually meant as a knock… like something went downhill. But this scene? It’s one of the most remembered moments in TV history.

So yeah… maybe it did jump the shark.

But it also made sure none of us would ever forget it.

Hootey Hoot! Gomer Pyle USMC

There are some TV moments that just stick with you, and if you grew up watching Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., you already know exactly the kind I mean. The kind where you shake your head, chuckle, and say, “Well I’ll be… only Gomer could pull that off.”

This particular episode, first airing on Christmas Eve back in 1965, is a perfect slice of that homespun magic. The Marines are out in the field running war games, all serious business, maps and strategy and Sergeant Carter barking orders like he always does. And right in the middle of it all is Gomer Pyle… good-hearted, wide-eyed, and about as subtle as a screen door in a submarine.

Now Carter, played to perfection by Frank Sutton, figures he’s finally found a use for Gomer’s “talents”—or lack thereof. His plan is simple: send Gomer straight into the enemy camp with false information, knowing full well the poor guy will get captured in about two minutes flat. It’s a setup. A trick. A little military chess move.

But here’s the thing about Gomer, brought to life by Jim Nabors—he doesn’t play by the rules of logic or strategy. He just… exists. And somehow, the world bends around him.

Instead of getting captured, Gomer wanders into the opposing camp with that aw-shucks grin, probably leading with a friendly “Howdy,” and before anyone quite knows what happened, he’s turned the whole situation upside down. Through a mix of innocence, confusion, and pure Gomer luck, he ends up capturing not one—but two entire enemy platoons.

Two!

You can just picture Sergeant Carter’s face—somewhere between disbelief and wanting to yell himself hoarse.

And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos comes one of Gomer’s most memorable trademarks—his famous “Hootey Hoot!” That wasn’t just a goofy catchphrase. In moments like this, it became his signal, his rallying cry, the sound that said, “Well, something unexpected just happened… and somehow it worked out.”

That’s what made Gomer special. He wasn’t clever in the traditional sense. He didn’t outthink anybody. But he had a kind of simple goodness and accidental brilliance that turned every plan on its head. While everyone else was playing war games, Gomer was just being Gomer—and winning without even realizing it.

And by the end of it all, there he is, standing proud with an official commendation, probably as surprised as anyone else. Meanwhile, Sergeant Carter is left trying to figure out how in the world his worst plan turned into the biggest success.

It’s the kind of story that reminds you why folks still love that show. Not because it was flashy or complicated—but because, every once in a while, it let a good-hearted underdog stumble his way into something extraordinary.

Hootey hoot, indeed.

The Saint TV Series

Simon Templar played by Roger Moore was a modern day Robin Hood, robbing from the very wealthy and usually keeping it for himself.

https://www.yourememberthat.com/files/8aba074925737c39.mp4

Amos and Andy TV Show

Amos and Andy was a radio show from 1928 until 1960. The television series ran on CBS from 1951 to 1953 and lived on in reruns from 1954 to 1966. Amos ‘n Andy was the first U.S. television program with an all-black cast.

Buy or rent episodes of Amos and Andy here-

https://www.yourememberthat.com/files/107d11cf595202b9.mp4

Johnny Carson As Ronald Reagan

In a 1982 Tonight Show skit reminiscent of the old Abbott and Costello ‘Who’s On First?’ routine, Johnny Carson plays a befuddled Ronald Reagan being briefed by Jim Baker.