3 Old TV Shows You Should Watch {Part 1}

If you know me even a little bit, then you know that I love movies and TV shows. I may not be a fangirl in that I don’t tend to obsess over any one thing, but I do enjoy watching, quoting, and talking about these shows.

Things is … I have somewhat weird tastes. Or at least some people might think they’re weird. I don’t love tons of modern television (some but not a lot). I tend to gravitate towards the oldies.

And today I’m going to dedicate a post to 3 old TV shows you might have heard of but probably never watched! (Stay tuned for more info!)

NOTE: this is a series!

This week we’re taking on three … then next week three more … and so on for WHO KNOWS how many weeks! The thing is, I have a TON of TV shows I want to share with you … so why not make a blog series of it?

I was going to do 10 to start with, but that didn’t work out. The reasoning behind this is that I’d just finished #2, and I already have over 1,000 words. Which makes for a long blog post!

Sooooo … a few at once will work, right?

(note: images in this post are credited to their original owners)

3 Old TV Shows You Should Definitely Try

1: Emergency!

This was a staple of my early childhood! And honestly, it’s pretty great. Because of the crazyness that was the ’60s/’70s, there was a series of TV shows promoting public services (basically saying: “hey, not everything coming from the government is evil & we’re doing our best”) – including paramedics.

This show (which ran from 1972-1977) follows paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto as well as the staff of Rampart General Hospital.

It’s primarily about what it sounds like – emergencies. Everything from four-alarm fires to people getting their toes caught in the bathtub drain … this show is fantastic.

Emergency! made me want to be a fireman. Or a paramedic. Or something. I just wanted to help people! It teaches us a lot about goodness and being a hero.

Though it has its light moments (a lot of escapades between firemen who are like quarreling brothers, goofy calls, etc.), it also has some heavy material.

Drugs and violence cause people to die. Foolishness leads to serious medical emergencies. And this show teaches you a lot about common sense and not getting into those stupid situations in the first place!

Overall, this is definitely a show I can recommend to families and lone watchers alike!

My Favorites:

I loved the head nurse, Dixie. She was so spunky and smart! Joe Early is also a sweetheart. Dr. Kelly Bracket bears my name, but I didn’t always love him! He was kinda brusque.

I thought Johnny Gage was super cool when I was little, but he’s sort of an idiot. Stillllll … he’s cute. 😍😉

Family Friendly Guide:

Overall, this show is 100% family friend. There is no language or sexual content. You don’t usually see a lot of blood or gore, but there are some tense scenes. I’ve been watching it since I can remember, as have my brothers, and we were never scared, but a more sensitive kid (we never were) could possibly be.

Learning Opportunities:

This show is great for teaching kids about safety (both fire, health, and other), avoiding drugs and peer pressure, and how to react in response to medical staff (both paramedics and hospital). It made me pretty much fearless about hospital procedures and being hurt in car wrecks, fires, etc. Knowledge is power! 😉

10/10. Recommended to anyone who loves adventures, medical dramas, cool firemen/paramedics, and heroes!

2: Adam-12

Oh, Adam-12! Like Emergency!, this show was created in response to the whole anti-authority thing. It shows police officers and their jobs in a real, honest light.

This show ran from 1968-1975, and it was another great one! I adored Jim Reed and, although I didn’t like him at first, I can to respect Pete Malloy.

Like Emergency!, Adam-12 taught me about heroes and about being a good person. Then … it also taught me to respect law enforcement.

I am so undyingly SICK of the media portraying the police as bad guys! I think every family should watch this show (even though it’s an old one) with their kids to show what police officers should be as well as what they often are.

Adam-12 takes you through the day-to-day life of a police officer in LA. It’s honest and packed with all sorts of adventures and escapades.

I love that both of the featured police officers are individuals with personalities.

Pete is a somewhat gruff older police officer, single, and he ALWAYS drives. Jim is a young married fellow (with a baby on the way at the beginning) who is ready to go and be a hero … even though he can be overeager. They get along great (after a bit, anyways).

Basically, I can’t talk about this show enough. It’s so fantastic!

My Favorites:

I always loved Jim best, like I said, but Pete grew on me. I loved the stories where they helped kids or got involved in some high stakes investigation. Usually it wasn’t anything too extreme, but they were pretty fun. It was also funny when they got called out to take care of weird, obscure things.

Family Friendly Guide:

100% family friendly once again. There is no language or sexual content. As with Emergency!, there is occasionally some violence (mostly tense scenes), but no gore.

Learning Opportunities:

Like I said, this show teaches you to respect police officers. Jim and Pete are normal everyday guys who make mistakes, but they also do their best to protect and serve the citizens of LA. It again addresses issues such a drug abuse/trade, poverty, and people acting out against authority.

3: The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show ran from 1967-1978, and it deserved every one of those years and more! Like many  of those decades, it was a variety/sketch comedy show starring Carol Burnett (obv.), Lyle Waggoner, Vicki Lawrence, and Harvey Korman. (Tim Conway became a regular later on.)

This show … well, I haven’t seen all of it (I want to someday), but what I have seen is fantastic. I’d definitely recommend at least looking up some clips on YouTube!

Some of my favorite sketches are Went with the Wind, La Caperucita Roja, The Family, Business Lunch, Comedy Act for Dogs, Bird Lady: The Escape, 200 Years Ago Today, Born Free, The Hollow Hero: Palace Guard, The Biggest Movie of the Week: Disaster ’75, My Buddy, The Butler and the Maid, and The Walnuts.

Basically, there’s a lot to love about this show. It’s hard for me to narrow stuff down! Their sketches are well-written and acted. (There’s also some singing and whatnot, but … eh.)

Family Friendly Guide:

Probably better for 12+. This show is a little less on the family friendly side, but there’s nothing particularly bad about it, either. There’s not a lot of cussing (occasionally one or two milder words, but it’s made for TV) and no violence. But it varies from sketch to sketch somewhat! Still, nothing I wouldn’t be comfy watching with my nieces and nephew, for sure. It’s overall innocent.

Thanks for reading!

TTFN!

~Kellyn Roth~

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p.s.

What are some of your favorite TV shows? Have you ever heard of any of these? Which would you be most likely to watch? What TV shows do you hope I’ll talk about in later blog posts in this series?