Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is:

10 Favorite TV Shows from my Childhood

This was harder than I thought it was going to be, because I kept thinking of shows I liked. Interestingly, I also thought of shows my brother really liked. Ultimately, I picked ten shows that I watched first-run and that aired before I turned ten, since that age seemed to herald a different type of tv watching for me.

1. Sesame Street: I am an old-school Sesame Street aficionado. No Elmo for me, and Mr. Hooper’s store belongs to Mr. Hooper and is run by David when Mr. Hooper’s not around. Oh, and grown ups can’t see Mr. Snuffleupagus. (Incidentally, I have photos of myself with Gordon and with Susan as a kid. I also have a picture taken with the woman who plays Maria, but we’re both adults in it. At the moment, I can’t put my hands on any of them.)
2. The Muppet Show: This was the first nighttime show I ever watched. So many songs from the 1960s and 1970s are set to animal puppets in my head. Plus, “Pigs in Space” and the animal hospital sketches.
3. Davey and Goliath: This was a religiously themed, claymation, stop-motion tv show that aired on Sunday mornings featuring a boy named Davey and his faithful and wise dog, Goliath. “Oh, Davey!”
4. Super Friends: My favorite Saturday morning cartoon show growing up. I was particularly fond of the Wonder Twins and their purple monkey, Gleek. “Form of an ice dam!” “Shape of a mountain lion!”
5. Fame: I loved it from the very beginning with Doris, Danny, and Bruno through Nia and Jesse to Carrie and Reggie. I used to record the songs off the tv onto a tape, and I can still sing a lot of them.
6. Little House on the Prairie: I loved the books and then I loved the tv show. I started watching it in the afternoon during syndication and then kept watching all the way through the made-for-tv movies when Albert died and when they blew up the buildings. I liked best the shows where they’re back in Walnut Grove and Laura and Albert are teenagers, but I also particularly like the Christmas special where they’re grown and reminiscing about their favorite holiday memories. I think Pa Ingalls was the 1980s version of Judge Hardy or Jim Anderson.
7. CHiPs: Ponch and Jon. Motorcycles. Spectacular crashes where no one ever really got hurt. Lessons learned. The beach. So much fun.
8. The Dukes of Hazzard: Uncle Jesse, cousins Luke, Bo, and Daisy, and nemesis Boss Hogg. It’s so easy to forget in the fun of watching the General Lee fly over an embankment and land safely on the other side, that really the Dukes were breaking the law, delivering moonshine. I’m unclear now as to why they were doing that in modern times, but whatever. All you really knew was that Boss Hogg was corrupt and Roscoe was corrupt and the other two deputies were inept and clearly the Dukes were always in the right because they were against all that corruption. Plus they had the cool car and got all the girls, so obviously they were the good guys.
9. and The A Team: Another fight the man show. This time our protagonists were ex-soldiers who’d been set up as war criminals and they had to find a way to clear their names, evade the authorities, and fight for the good of the American people (in a more individual sense now than when they were in uniform). A clear predecessor to one of my favorite current shows, Leverage, each person had their own role: Hannibal was the brains, Face set the con, Murdoch flew the helicopter and drove the van, and did a number of crazy things that suggested his undercover role as a mental hospital patient might not be such a challenge, and B.A. was the muscle (who was afraid of flying).
10. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: He had his very own Land of Make Believe, people! And miniature sculptures of them. And Trolley. And a stop light in his living room. And Picture Picture. And Mr. McFeeley (with whom I also have a photo) stopping by for a speedy delivery. And it seems like in real life he really was that good of a guy. I stopped watching the show for a long time, thinking I had outgrown it. But then when I graduated from college and started working, I’d watch him in the morning before going to work because he just set the right tone for the day.

If I weren’t sticking with shows I watched first-run, M*A*S*H would definitely have made the list, since I’m pretty sure I have seen every episode of every season it was ever on, but I’ve seen the entire series in syndication.