TV That Defines Me
Some warped. Some wonderful. All Wellington.
There’s no doubt about it: I’ve been something of a TV addict for a really long time. There have been times when I’ve fed my addiction more than others, or fed it with different shows, but I have some staples that definitely had an impact on me and I go back to them time and time again. Inspired by Plethora of Pop’s wonderful editor, Pierce McIntyre, I thought about the TV that has defined me over the years and put together the following list.
The Twilight Zone/Alfred Hitchcock Presents
When people meet me, it doesn’t take them long to find out that I have an undying love for The Twilight Zone* — and I have for decades now. Rod Serling is one of my writing heroes and listening to his lyrical prose in the show just takes me to another glorious place. And the twists! In my own fiction, I make it a point of having a little twist at the end of as many stories as I can, and I have an absolute blast taking readers on a journey and pulling the rug out from under them, the way Serling regularly did with us.
Similarly twisted is Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which puts it almost at the same level as The Twilight Zone for me. When I’m in the mood for some murder and mayhem with a twist at the end, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour are my go-to shows. The episodes are often darker and more diabolical than The Twilight Zone, so between Serling and Hitchcock, great entertainment for my different moods is covered.
Twin Peaks
During my first semester of college, Twin Peaks had taken off and I immediately fell in love with the wonderful weirdness that came out of David Lynch’s warped mind. Watching the show became a weekly ritual among people in my dorm, who congregated in common areas to find out what clue would drop next for our amateur forensic minds to pounce on like raw meat. I spent hours and hours discussing the suspects in the Laura Palmer murder case and after the truth was finally revealed, exchanged notes on the hints that might have led us to the answer had we paid enough attention. It was the first time in my life that enjoying a show made me part of a community of like-minded weirdos and honestly, I remember the fun I had surrounding the show more than the details of the show itself. I tried to get into the return a few years ago, but the owls were not what they seemed and it just wasn’t the same for me.
Mid-90s Jerry Springer Show
This list goes from the sublime to the ridiculous pretty fast here. You may wonder why in the world I have this on my list and what kind of a degenerate I must be for loving 90s Jerry Springer. During the height of its popularity, I was in graduate school and if I had a dime for every time someone asked “What’s a smart girl like you doing watching trash like this?” I would never have needed a student loan.
So why in the world did I love The Jerry Springer Show? Maybe it’s pure escapism. Maybe it’s unadulterated schadenfreude. Maybe I am at heart some kind of degenerate. I can’t explain it, but all I know is that the show’s outrageous storytelling, hair pulling, bitch slapping, shoe throwing, and banshee yelling gave me hours of laughs beyond what almost any sitcom could deliver. And the madness was all wrapped in the bow of Springer’s “final thought” — as if there had been a first thought the entire show — that felt like trying to use a Bible verse to sum up the bloodiest of hockey fights.
CourtTV/Law & Order
Although not one show, CourtTV is something that definitely defined my television viewing tastes. When I was a kid, I would watch the movie of the week with my grandmother, and if it was about true crime, my favorite parts were always the ones that took place in the courtroom. Fast forward to my senior year of college, I discovered CourtTV and fell in love with the real-life courtroom dramas that played out in real time. I was flipping through channels one afternoon and found live coverage of the Menendez brothers’ trial, and I was hooked immediately — so much so I found myself skipping classes and calling in sick to work so I wouldn’t miss one minute of the gripping testimony that came from the witness stand every day.
For years, CourtTV became part of my daily viewing so I could keep up with various high-profile trials — from O.J. Simpson to Jack Kevorkian to The Jenny Jones Show murder trial. And I loved that we got a glimpse into trials that didn’t generate the same mammoth headlines, such as the palimony trial of Anthony Maglica, maker of the Maglite flashlight; the murder trial of Weldon Wayne Carr, who was accused of setting his home on fire to kill his wife; and the case of Beth Friedman, a Florida teacher charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
All in all, CourtTV fed into my interest in true crime and the court system for years, and when it ended in 2007, I was devastated. It did come back recently, but it seems my interest in courtroom drama has significantly waned because I haven’t even bothered to find out if it airs where I live.
When I wasn’t enjoying the real courtroom drama of CourtTV, I was watching the ripped from the headlines fictional accounts of crime delivered by the original iteration of Law & Order. While I had been aware of the show for years, and friends repeatedly told me I would love it, I didn’t get into it until I caught a marathon while waiting for my car to be serviced one morning. My friends were right, and I became hooked! The dramatic combination of police work and courtroom drama helped fill the hole that CourtTV’s departure left behind. And completely reminiscent of CourtTV, I loved the fact that we knew next to nothing about the cops and prosecutors involved in the cases — it was “just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” And of course, many of the stories ended with a twist, sometimes a contemporary equivalent of what was conjured up in Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Friday Night Videos
In sixth grade, I was finally granted permission to stay up late on non-school nights, so Friday Night Videos became the thing that kept me going through the week. The first episode that really caught my attention was hosted by Duran Duran, where they debuted the “New Moon on Monday” video and my little preteen heart was all a flutter! I already loved the Beatles, so another band of adorable boys with British accents was just what my Walkman needed. The next time I got my allowance, I ran out to buy a copy of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and continued religiously watching Friday Night Videos for all the latest 80s hair spray helmeted goodness.
Peanuts Movies
Another treasured memory from my childhood was watching Peanuts movies with my grandmother during the holidays. Whether it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Valentine’s Day, I always loved seeing what the Peanuts gang was getting into, and found Charlie Brown to be so incredibly endearing and relatable to the nerdy outcast in me. I still watch the specials to this day because for me, they never get old.
The Honeymooners
Watching The Honeymooners reruns as a kid is probably where my love of classic TV began. The chronicles of Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), Ed Norton (Art Carney), Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows), and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph) always tickled me and they still do. From Ralph’s schemes to Ed’s silliness to their wives’ sass, The Honeymooners brought me hours of laughs in both childhood and adulthood.
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