# TV Shows Only You Remember **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 8, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022 "2021-07-08T20:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/342 "2021-07-13T13:44:05Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Nine episodes total, and they had time travel? Sheesh. > > Lots of interesting guest stars. And someone had a sense of humor: > > Episode six, characters Chief Clifton and Lt Broadside, played by the same actors from McCloud’s Chief Clifford and Lt Broadhurst. And the proposed spinoff was “McClone”? > > It probably sucks, but I think I’ll have to hunt this one down. Hope it is available. I remember the Highwayman, the pilot aired as a movie in the summer, if I recall correctly. Then the network picked it up the next fall. It was from Glen Larson so it had a very Knight Rider vibe to it except the Highwayman drove a semi truck with a helicopter jammed into the cab. Between the pilot and the show, they picked up Jacko, the Australian rugby player who had a little pop culture cachet at the time from his Energizer battery commercials. Another show I just thought of is Tattinger’s. It started out as a 1 hour drama and got decent reviews but nobody watched it, so they retooled it into a half hour sitcom. A few big names were in this one but it didn’t last as a sitcom either > **[Tattinger's (TV Series 1988–1989) ⭐ 7.1 | Comedy, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094563/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_84)** > > 1h ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/343 "2021-07-13T14:29:55Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I remember the Highwayman, I found the first episode on youtube. Man that truck is ridiculous. Not exactly subtle. Should have made it a generic truck and kept the heli in the trailer. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/344 "2021-07-13T14:42:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I always wanted a jeep like **this**. Still do! I had jeeps like that… Well, sort of. I had a '48 and a '46 Willys CJ2A. The former was tan and the latter was OD. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/345 "2021-07-13T14:58:33Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This show was a Canadian import I used to watch on MPS/SP TV in the '80s. Some bits were incredibly non-PC, which I love. The late great Bob Einstein, famous for playing daredevil Super Dave Osborne, was a regular. I regularly watched Bizarre as a kid. Strangely, it was a show made by Americans but shot here in Toronto. It was fairly racy for prime-time comedy (plenty of dorsal nudity and double ententres), but I think maybe it was made for American cable? It always seemed very low-rent, kind of shoddy production values. And it also was an odd mix of meta fourth-wall-breaking, pull the curtain back on the comedy-style sketches, and hoary old schtick (ie: lots of pies instead of a punchline). Really hard to find now, I think there were a couple of best-of DVD compilations at one point but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/346 "2021-07-13T15:03:57Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > One of DM’s new villains is a scientist monkey called Isambard King Kong Brunel. Makes me laugh every time. That’s brilliant, though it’s an [Easter egg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel) that I imagine fairly few Americans would get. I remember watching the original Danger Mouse regularly back in the '80s. One thing that I noted, even back then, was that, in what was clearly an effort to save some money, the animation studio took a lot of shortcuts – a big one was that they often had characters talking without their mouths being visible (so that the animation didn’t need to be precisely synced to the voices). There were lots of shots of Danger Mouse talking while [his lower face was obscured by the dashboard of the car](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d6/f6/50/d6f6503419b29ecabcc97df4f9d181f4.jpg), characters talking while facing away from the “camera,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/347 "2021-07-13T15:17:35Z")
I loved watching [Connections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_documentary)). The episode that always comes to mind is > 1. “Eat, Drink and Be Merry…” begins with plastic, the plastic credit card, and the concept of [credit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_(finance)), then leaps back to the time of the dukes of [Burgundy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Burgundy), the first state to use credit. The [dukes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_of_Burgundy) used credit for many luxuries, and to buy more armour for a stronger army. The Swiss opposed the army of Burgundy and invented a new military formation (with [soldiers using pikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_pikemen)) called the [pike square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_square). The pike square, along with events following the French Revolution, set in motion the growth in the size of armies and in the use of ill-trained peasant soldiers. Feeding these large armies became a problem for [Napoleon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I), which caused the innovation of bottled food. The bottled food was first put in champagne bottles then in tin cans. [Canned food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canned_food) was used for armies and for navies. In one of the bottles, the canned food went bad, and people blamed the spoiled food on “bad air”, also known as swamp air. Investigations around “bad air” and malaria led to the innovation of [air conditioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioning) and [refrigeration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigeration). In 1892, [Sir James Dewar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_James_Dewar) invented a container that could keep liquids hot or cold (the [thermos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermos)) which led three men – [Tsiolkovsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky), [Robert Goddard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Goddard), and [Hermann Oberth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Oberth) – to construct a large thermal flask for either [liquid hydrogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_hydrogen) and [oxygen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_oxygen) or for [solid fuel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_fuel) combustion for use in [rocket propulsion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_propulsion), applying the thermal flask principle to keep [rocket fuel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_fuel) cold and successfully using it for the [V-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2) rocket and the [Saturn V rocket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V_rocket) that put man on the moon. I’d love to get Connections, Connections2, and The Day The Universe Changed on DVD. (I know I can get them, but I have other priorities.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/348 "2021-07-13T15:21:23Z")
I have to admit I only saw a epi or two of that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/349 "2021-07-13T15:22:49Z")
> [@motu](#): > > Kimba, the White Lion, first color Japanese manga cartoon was shown in Chicago early 70’s on a UHF station but I have only met one person who remembers this show. Yeah, I remember it. And then people tried to claim the Lion King was a direct shameless rip off. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I loved watching [Connections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_documentary)). Great show! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/350 "2021-07-13T15:25:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’d love to get Connections, Connections2, and The Day The Universe Changed on DVD. (I know I can get them, but I have other priorities.) Agreed. I’ve got **The Day the Universe Changed** on DVD – the gift of a friend. The others are kinda pricey, but I know a local library that has them. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, **Connections** and **The Day the Universe Changed** are available on audio. And there are companion books to the PBS series. james Burke has also written a lot of books in the same style The Knowledge Web The Pinball Effect (which is a “hyperlinked” book, with three different tracks in the printed version) Circles American Connections Twin Tracks ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/351 "2021-07-13T15:35:28Z")
Of course! And after all these many long years, I remember one specific line. Garth… Or was it Barth?… is interviewing a lady of the evening who is advocating for licensing, including having a fully visual ID card. Garth holds it up for a moment, and says “nice, and really convenient, you can hold it with just one hand!” We weren’t getting those jokes in network prime time, I will tell you. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/352 "2021-07-13T15:42:28Z")
I remember how they showed DM and his sidekick riding in their car. The car would be pointed at the viewer and remain stationary while the scenery sped past them in a continuous loop at the edges of the screen. I thought **these shows** were the bee’s knees when I was four. I was surprised to learn recently that _ **Cannonball** _ (starring the Squire of Gothos) was actually a Canadian import. > **[Cannonball (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_(TV_series))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Cannonball is a British/Canadian adventure drama series starring Paul Birch and William Campbell, and aired on CBC Television in Canada, ABC Weekend TV in the United Kingdom, and in syndication in the United States. Produced by Normandie Productions and ITC Entertainment, the series' interiors were filmed at Canadian Film Industries Limited, a studio in Canada. Exteriors were shot in and around Toronto. > The series is one of the few ITC product... > **[Rescue 8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_8)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action adventure crime drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade thereafter. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron (much later cast as Jock Ewing on CBS's Dallas), and Lang Jeffries as the fireman Skip Johnson. Nancy Rennick and Mary K. Cleary each appeared in twenty-four... > **[Casey Jones (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones_(TV_series))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Casey Jones is an American Western series syndicated during the 1957–58 television season. It was based upon the life of late 19th-century engineer Casey Jones in the era of pioneering western railroads. Casey Jones also aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom and on the Seven Network in Australia. > The series is set in the late 19th century, featuring the adventures of railroad engineer Casey Jones and the crew of the Cannonball Express steam loco... Episodes of all three are posted on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/353 "2021-07-13T15:46:49Z")
My favorite episodes were “Leisure Suits Cause Cancer” and “Sugar Is a Communist Plot.” 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/354 "2021-07-13T16:08:53Z")
> My favorite episodes were “Leisure Suits Cause Cancer” and “Sugar Is a Communist Plot.” 😆 Honestly, how is Craig Richard Nelson keeping a straight face here? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mAJmwL0a2B8/maxresdefault.jpg "Fernwood 2Night - Leisure Suits Cause Cancer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAJmwL0a2B8) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/355 "2021-07-13T16:19:34Z")
**JERRY HUBBARD:** It’s perfectly clear to me! ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/356 "2021-07-13T16:58:51Z")
Not a sitcom but a couple of pre-MTV shows with live rock music. Rockworld. This clip is from 1980: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RJSn8jnrruE/hqdefault.jpg "WMAQ Channel 5 - Rock World (Part 1, 1980)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJSn8jnrruE) I recall a similar program that was broadcast late at night in the Chicago area toward the end of the 1970s, I think. It might have been shown back-to-back with Rockworld, but I’m pretty sure it was before 1980. It looked like it didn’t have much of a budget, and there was more of a focus on punk. I don’t recall the name, but I do remember a couple of details that might jog someone’s memory: One is that the opening sequence included a brief shot of someone sticking his/her head into the bass drum. That was always seen at the beginning of the show and is sort of burned into my memory. The other is an interview with a young woman who sang for some group and includes this exchange, which I thought was hilarious at the time (not so much now): > “What’s your name?” > “Dinah.” > “Dinah what?” > “Dinah Cancer.” Does that ring a bell with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/357 "2021-07-13T17:08:26Z")
I remember those, vaguely. I was sick a lot as a kid and watched those shows with my grandma. Also, The Arthur Godfrey Show (I called it the Offy Goffy Show), and Pete and Gladys (Henry Morgan was Pete) and finally, I Married Joan. this last was a blatant ripoff of I Love Lucy…these shows are hardly remembered since the viewers back in the day are now mostly deceased. But I remember bits and pieces. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/358 "2021-07-13T17:09:13Z")
Mentions of documentary series reminded me of one I had been fascinated by as a teenager, but had not seen again for decades. At some point in the late '70s or very early '80s, I stumbled across a documentary about Einstein, and his Theory of General Relativity, on a PBS station; the program was hosted by Peter Ustinov. Though I didn’t understand some of the details, the show included a number of interesting demonstrations and illustrations to explain how relativity worked – and Ustinov, himself, was interesting, as he often was. Last year, during the early days of the pandemic lockdown, I was remembering the show, and looked for it – it turns out it was called “Einstein’s Universe,” and it’s available on Amazon Prime. I watched again, for the first time since around 1980, and while it’s really slow-paced (not uncommon, when comparing old TV shows to the present day), I still found it to be fascinating. > **[Einstein's Universe (1979) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6061610/)** > > Einstein's Universe: Directed by Martin Freeth. With Peter Ustinov, Nigel Calder, Kenneth Brecher, Sidney Drell. A documentary produced in 1979 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Albert Einstein. Narrated and hosted by Peter Ustinov and... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/359 "2021-07-13T17:14:31Z")
Back in the '80s, a bunch of shows were billed as “New Hit Series!” None of them were “hits.” > **[Tales of the Gold Monkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Gold_Monkey)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Tales of the Gold Monkey is an American adventure drama television series broadcast in prime time on Wednesday nights by ABC from September 22, 1982, until June 1, 1983. Debuting the year following the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the series featured the romance of early aviation, exotic locales, and cliff-hanging action. > Set in 1938 in the South Pacific, the series is about an ex-Flying Tigers fighter pilot named Jake Cutter (Stephen Coll... > **[Nero Wolfe (1981 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Wolfe_(1981_TV_series))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Nero Wolfe is an American drama television series based on the characters in Rex Stout's series of detective stories. The series aired on NBC from January 16 to August 25, 1981. William Conrad fills the role of the detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Lee Horsley is his assistant Archie Goodwin. Produced by Paramount Television, the series updates the world of Nero Wolfe to contemporary New York City and draws few of its stories from the Stout origina... > **[Casablanca (1983 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(1983_TV_series))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Casablanca is an American drama series, based on the 1942 film of the same name set in the genre of spying and intrigue during World War II. Five episodes were filmed but, following its NBC premiere on April 10, 1983, and two additional installments on April 17 and 24, it was taken off the air. The two remaining unaired episodes were ultimately scheduled four months later, during summer programming, and shown on August 27 and September 3. > As in t... ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/360 "2021-07-13T17:17:21Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > > “What’s your name?” > > “Dinah.” > > “Dinah what?” > > “Dinah Cancer.” > > Does that ring a bell with anyone? Don’t know the show, but Dinah Cancer was the singer for 45 Grave, best known for contributing “Partytime” to the soundtrack for 1985’s _Return of the Living Dead_. They broke up in 1985. Edit: Wikipedia says they formed in 1979, and that she briefly dated Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022/361 "2021-07-13T17:17:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > [Tales of the Gold Monkey - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Gold_Monkey) Um… I have the DVD set. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-only-you-remember/946022.md?page=19)