Sunday, February 26, 2017

Going back ...

Years ago, I would go to sleep with The Rockford Files. I could actually go to sleep without it drawing me in. It was my lullaby. I'm considerably older now, and unless I am drugged, I can't get to sleep when the TV is on; but I have found that a single show of The Twilight Zone while we (Jack and I) are getting comfortable (shoving, pushing, pleading w/Jack to move over) and cozy, is enough to get me ready for dreamland after I shut the TV off. Tonight is a different animal, too many things on my mind.

My son gave me this for Christmas. I'm really not in the mood for listening to that much do-do-do-do or playing with the remote to skip it, to do any marathon. I do love it though. 

It hardly seems that it could have been over half a century ago when it started. The first show was in 1959! During a break they suggest a person should watch different shows. (Obviously new at the time) Shows like The Rifleman and The Andy Griffith show. I still listen to Andy when I'm playing cards or doing a puzzle if he's on - and my over-the-air channel has it on 2-3 times a day.

I like cars, I especially like old cars. In The Twilight Zone, they do a lot of 'now time' shows. In other words, the cars in those shows are mostly brand new. When I realized this, I began to look at things a little closer! It's almost as good as watching those car auction shows where they sell an old 'classic' for 100K and more, except it's in B/W and in traffic. I think about that, looking forward to the 1962 shows to see if there is a "Charlotte" there! I haven't seen a "Brad" there, but Brad is a street rod w/custom 2-tone paint, and he's 20 years older, would probably have been a clunker by then.

Sometimes they show inside a home, I look closer. I have seen kitchen things like we had when I was a kid. I used to think the clothes then weren't all that different. I guess I have never been that observant, not consciously, anyway. Whoa! The glasses, the shoes, the hair, it's all quite dated! But, you know, they had style back then, class. No underwear and jeans at half-mast. Men wore belts at the waist, not simply snapped and zipped under their bellies.

Every episode, Rod Serling opens in his 'living room,' telling the viewers about the show and afterward, he's telling you about the next show, a cigarette burning in his hand. They sure don't do that anymore, now do they? I've watched 1 1/2 seasons, so far. The series had a good run, 156 episodes. Who remembers when a show was new for something like 30 shows a year? I think now we are doing good if we get half that!

There was something else I was going to write, but it escapes me like smoke in a bad draft. Have a great day!

34 comments:

  1. I love the Twilight Zone! Haven't watched it in years, but so enjoyed it when it was a regular series. The period clothing, cars, furniture etc is fascinating. Takes you right back!

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  2. A show I often watched oh those many years ago. I like to watch movies/shows and try and guess the era from the clothes and cars.

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    1. There is a certain air about those old movies, I don't think the new movies 'set' in that era have it.

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  3. Sharon, I cannot believe this is what you're watching - This is exactly what Carl is doing while I am here in Tennessee!! How funny is that? He bought the entire series this past week, and was looking forward to my being gone so he could watch it. I love the Twilight Zone, but in small doses! If we lived closer he could have had you over, or vise-versa!! Enjoy!!

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    1. LOL! That is funny, Kim!
      (Do-do-do-do, you have entered the Twilight Zone)

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  4. To each her/his own! :-))))

    I'd not be able to get to sleep, after watching "The Twilight Zone."

    But that's just me.

    I love the idea of noticing how "things" have changed, though. And we can do that, with so many "so-called-dated" shows. Look at the early hand held cell phones! They were HUGE, compared to today's. :-)

    And hair styles. And clothes styles. Everything! It was in fashion then, but dated now.

    Of course! The first rule of selling, is obsolescence! ,-)

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    1. Yes, we all like our tea made a different way. That's what makes for good sales!

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  5. Yep, Husband and I watch some of the shows you've mentioned, and comment on much the same things. We even joke when Perry Mason comes on, about the fact that someone should just do a DNA test, then they would know who is the killer, or call Della or Paul with a cell phone, it would take so much less time... (Although, if you watch, Paul does have a Mobile Phone in his car. Which, in that time period, takes up about half the back seat, in batteries!) I make a lot of folks chuckle, I love to watch The Rifleman, and I get out my spinning wheel and work that while watching.

    Cat

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    1. How did the old detective shows ever make it without all the gadgets and gizmos? I'd love to get the old Perry Mason shows - all in good time - when I can afford it! I just ordered Quantum Leap, shh ... don't tell my husband! HaHa!

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  6. One of my all time favorite shows, The Twilight Zone. But I think I may be too scared to go to sleep by it. Even Inspector Lewis scares me. I'm watching him now and loving that show too.

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    1. I've never become frightened by The Twilight Zone, maybe I don't see things the way most do. I love Inspector Lewis!

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  7. Every looked up who guess star on twilight zone...The list is impressive.
    Coffee is on

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    1. They did have some big name guests on that show, not sure if they had big names before it, but definitely up and coming and some were old standbys. So many familiar and beloved faces, long since gone.

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  8. A year or so ago I marathon watched Twilight Zone, I believe on Netflix. It was fantastic and for many of the reasons you stated. It's so fun watching the old stuff!!! :)

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  9. I'm not a TV watcher since I bought a computer except I faithfully watch the local news from San Antonio several times a day.

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    1. Local news is agreeable, National news just gets me angry. Fantasy is so much better than reality.
      Wishing you the best this coming week. Hugs.

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  10. I used to watch that when much younger. It was scary when you were under ten!
    It's funny how things date. Watched Rosemary's baby on telly the other night. It was terrible but scared the pants off me when I was a kid lol
    Maybe your other idea has entered the twilight zone do do do do lol

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    1. The worst (scariest) movie I saw as a young'en was 'The Conqueror Worm'
      I have often wondered how I would react to it now. For the longest time (and still), if a movie scares me from the tension and sudden movements, I have to shut it off or leave the room when my heart starts pounding. It is odd - the things that scare me. I wonder if everyone has their own special fears ...

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  11. Back then men actually had waists to buckle a belt around, it's a rare sight among the beer bellies and low slung trackies and jeans of today. A nicely dressed man (without a beer belly) really gets an eyeful from me, it's such a good look.
    I used to love The Rifleman, but not The Andy Williams Show. Dad liked it, I'd read a book instead.

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    1. As I recall my overweight grand-uncles wore belts AND suspenders, so the belt was in the proper place, even though it could have been 52".

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  12. I was never a keen television watcher but lately have started to watch more. Nothing appeals to me, though, even the soaps are getting stupid. Oh well, there's always the radio.

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    1. Television has gone into so much reality programming. I don't care for that type of thing unless it's a nature show. I enjoy my DVDs - no commercials and no real life drama that could relate to my life. I get enough of that for real.

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  13. I don't really have a show for sleeping or helping me to sleep. However, I can fall asleep during the day watching tv but at night, I have to have the tv off and no lights on. During the day though while I would love to stay awake and watch my shows, I tend to fall right off to sleep! Too funny how we are.

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    1. Think that's a regular thing. I can watch TV in the afternoon - IF I sit in my computer chair, but 10 minutes of anything in the afternoon in my recliner and I'm out.

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  14. Twilight Zone is one of my all time favorite shows. I recall when Rod Serling came to inaugurate our local Emmy branch being established as so much local live programming was being done then, and the whole national Emmy awards had just been created. There are several shows that really standout in my mind that I could discuss in great detail -- a favorite was with Agnes Moorehead who never spoke a word. I had years earlier had the pleasure of meeting her following a stage performance of "Don Juan In Hell". Her one-woman stage show of "Sorry, Wrong Number" was a real tension-filled classic I would have enjoyed seeing.

    Watching TV in an effort to put me to sleep would only serve to keep me awake. I won't have TV in my bedroom, but do have a radio. An all-news,weather,sports station here in Southern California playing with very soft auditory volume I sometimes allow to play and I fall asleep to that -- other times I just want quiet. Years ago playing only instrumental music of my choosing on a record player that automatically turned off served to lull me to sleep. Probably would work now, too, but just haven't set up system in my bedroom.

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    1. I imagine there are any number of ways people have devised to comfort themselves into sleep. For a while, I needed it pitch dark, now I can fall asleep with the curtain off the window during a full moon. Everyone is different.

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  15. I love the Twilight Zone for a lot of the same reasons! My favorite is when the kids go into the hidden world at the bottom of the swimming pool. What a nice gift for you!!

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    1. I don't remember that one and I haven't gotten to it yet. Something to look forward to!

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  16. I love the Twilight Zone and I watch it every chance I get. No way could I fall asleep to it because I love every show but my favorite is Robert Redford as "Mr. Death." There was another show on very similar called Outer Limits. That was a good one too. My favorite episode of that one had Roddy McDowell in it. I love "gray t.v." as my kids call it. :) Movies and t.v. shows.

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    1. I haven't come to those episodes yet. Yes, gray TV was pretty darn good, you don't even notice it, once you get into it. Ha Ha!

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  17. I used to love watching the Twilight Zone and even though I was a kid, I still remember some of the plot lines. I probably wouldn't fall asleep watching an episode of TZ but I often fall asleep with the recent TV fare. Most of it doesn't hold my attention.

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    1. Regular programming now is hardly worth watching - and now we are entering into the rerun season, blah. I did order the 80's version of The Twilight Zone and will see if it's worth my money. HaHa.

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