# What's your earliest TV memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505 "2010-02-26T11:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/21 "2010-02-26T14:07:09Z")
1954 Howdy Doody Show, then later memories of Sky King, Lone Ranger, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/22 "2010-02-26T14:22:04Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > [Winky Dink!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winky_dink) I was never “seen” on Romper Room either. That’s it! I could not remember the name for anything. It must have been the later shows that I saw, seeing that I wasn’t born until '64. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/23 "2010-02-26T14:38:35Z")
Depends on if the experience has to involve actually -watching- TV or not. If so, I remember trying to stealth my way into the basement to watch ‘The Globetrotters Popcorn Machine’, and probably getting there about 2 hours before the broadcast stations even went on the air. If not, then I recall distinctly my older brothers talking about an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter, that was on after my bedtime, and me begging my folks to let me stay up and watch it with them (a request I was denied.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/24 "2010-02-26T14:40:51Z")
I remember sitting in the living room before I went to preschool to do Picture Pages with Bill Cosby. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/25 "2010-02-26T14:42:15Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It was a show that your parents bought some sort of kit for. Plastic went onto the screen and the kid could use special markers to draw in scenes. Only my parents did buy the kit. This didn’t stop me from drawing the scene, however. “Winky Dink” is my earliest memory, too. It would have been in 1954 or early 1955, because we hadn’t moved to Atlanta yet. I distinctly remember watching the show and wanting the special piece of plastic that went on the screen. I went into the kitchen and asked my mother for it, and she gave me the cellophane wrapper from a Kellogg’s Variety Pack she had opened that morning. Needless to say, it didn’t work, and I couldn’t get the crayon to draw on the screen, either. I was totally bummed! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/26 "2010-02-26T14:44:04Z")
Nixon resigning. It’s my earliest memory of any kind that I can attach a date to. ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/27 "2010-02-26T14:44:42Z")
I would have been 3. We lived in a trailer while Dad & Mom were working on the house where I had my 4th birthday. That’s how I would know the age. I remember the news anchor for the St. Louis NBC affiliate. His name was Dick Ford and he was wearing the plaid jacket and wide striped tie typical of 1977. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/28 "2010-02-26T14:47:57Z")
I remember coming inside after playing on a warm day, and I was either messy or in trouble because I remember being angry about it. I had to take a bath. I put my jammies on and got set to watch **The Muppet Show**. That went off the air in 1981, but it must have been a re-run because I was only 2 in 1981. Couldn’t have remembered that, could I? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/29 "2010-02-26T14:51:06Z")
Romper Room and Captain Kangeroo. Those memories are muddled. But I clearly recall the Beatles first appearance on Ed Sullivan. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/30 "2010-02-26T14:55:15Z")
Back to provide some links to older threads on this (and related) topic(s). My memory must be shot or else the title I thought I remembered just isn’t there. Here are some that the curious might want to investigate for whatever reason: [TV Shows We Really, Really Miss.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=195211) 07-03-2003, 04:34 PM Lodrain Cafe Society [Television Moments You Won’t Forget.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=197561) 07-14-2003, 10:42 AM moejuck Cafe Society [Radio Dramas: old enough to remember them?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=196834) 07-11-2003, 08:03 AM Zeldar Cafe Society [TV Shows You Remember – But Just Because Of Their Music/Themes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353126) 01-08-2006, 11:30 AM Zeldar Cafe Society [What are Your Earliest Memories of TV Commercials?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=370637&highlight=earliest) 05-08-2006, 02:05 AM Tikki Cafe Society =================================== While looking for these I ran across some other threads (not on this topic) that I will be putting up in another new thread shortly. Nostalgia buffs might enjoy them and perhaps posting some of their own favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/31 "2010-02-26T15:30:06Z")
My father was stationed in London when I was three, and I loved watching the little girls Irish step-dancing shows. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/32 "2010-02-26T15:51:08Z")
I remember _What’s My Line?_ in about 1969 (I was 2). My dad remembers seeing a TV demonstration at a county fair in California in 1947. My mom has the record - and I’d like to see if any Doper can beat it. She was a Girl Scout, and her troop got to visit the NBC-TV studios in New York during a tour in _1946._ ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/33 "2010-02-26T16:03:27Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > # Back to provide some links to older threads on this (and related) topic(s). > > While looking for these I ran across some other threads (not on this topic) that I will be putting up in another new thread shortly. Nostalgia buffs might enjoy them and perhaps posting some of their own favorites. That new thread is [An Update to Noteworthy and/or Fun SDMB Threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=553791) In My Humble Opinion ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/34 "2010-02-26T16:17:08Z")
I remember the 1952 political conventions, the first televised. Actually, all I remember is trying to read the vertical signs with the names of the states. Several months later, my mother let me stay home from school to watch Elizabeth II’s Coronation. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/35 "2010-02-26T16:36:43Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Clevelanders: I remember Captain Penny very well, … Yea Capt. Penny! and Barnaby, Franz the Toyman, Woodrow the Woodsman, and Jungle Larry! A combination of those are my earliest memories, with the Three Stooges thrown in for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![halfliquid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@halfliquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halfliquid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/36 "2010-02-26T17:15:56Z")
Ultraman on channel 17 in Phillie around 1970. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/37 "2010-02-26T17:23:05Z")
A-bomb test – just looked it up and happened in [April 1952](http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1952/apr/22/tv-audience-views-atomic-bomb-test-first-time/). I don’t know if I watched it live or on a tape delay. It made an impression. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/38 "2010-02-26T17:23:27Z")
My earliest distinct television memories are of KVOS-TV (Seattle)'s children’s programming. I can remember watching J.P. Patches when we lived in a little hole called Ruskin. Would have been under three, then. I also remember the c. 1974 title card for FUN-O-RAMA, which was the afternoon cartoon slot. It was a drawing of a kite with a smiling face on it. I remember specifically when I first understood that it was a _kite_, after seeing my older siblings playing with one. It was already a familiar image, but I didn’t understand what it represented. (I would have been three.) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/39 "2010-02-26T17:30:24Z")
Watching Underdog on our 13" black and white white bunny ears (the only tv in the house.) Would’ve been 1984ish. Seems like I would see the intro and maybe a minute or two and then it was dinner time and I had to shut it off and go to the table. EVERY. DAY. Now that I think about it, this _narrative interruptus_ might be the source of why I considered Underdog my favorite show for so many years. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Alan\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Bird)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/40 "2010-02-26T17:37:00Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > JFK’s funeral. I was 4 1/2 We were born within a couple of months then. That’s also my first memory, I can still recall seeing John-John give the salute. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505.md?page=3)