Early memories of TV where you can't identify the program

Started by roadman, November 02, 2019, 11:02:15 PM

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roadman

Anybody here have early memories of watching TV where they can remember details of scenes, but can't recall the name of the program?

For many years, I would recall watching a TV program where a suspension bridge collapsed in a rainstorm and they showed the debris piled up on the riverbed, as well as a police roadblock stopping people from trying to get to the bridge.

Didn't figure out the title of the program until about five years ago.  A friend sent me a YouTube link called 'Thunderbirds Greatest Machines.'  Watching the clips of the Martian Space Probe, I was finally able to identify the scenes I remembered as being from the Thunderbirds episode Day of Disaster (which I have since purchased on DVD).
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)


Max Rockatansky

I remember watching a TV show where they killed some guy in an action scene.  They end up running some sort of machine over the body which gradually vaporizes it.  I want to say that was two?...it freaked me out and I can't for the life of me remember what I was watching.

roadman65

I remember watching a program as a small child that was a sitcom.  Its opening sequence had an escalator in the house that the family lived in.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

bandit957

I remember a TV movie in the late '70s that kept showing an outline of the state of Minnesota at every commercial break.

Also, I remember being horrified when my parents were watching some serious news-type program that showed a child dying. The reporter said the child "will never be seen again."

I remember a show later that had a montage of commercial parodies where people kept getting pies in the face.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

lepidopteran

Quote from: roadman65 on November 02, 2019, 11:18:25 PM
I remember watching a program as a small child that was a sitcom.  Its opening sequence had an escalator in the house that the family lived in.
There was an early-80s sitcom called Silver Spoons, with a pre-teen boy living in a filthy-rich household.  I don't remember an escalator, though.  Perhaps that was an occasional establishing shot.

bandit957

Quote from: lepidopteran on November 04, 2019, 10:27:13 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on November 02, 2019, 11:18:25 PM
I remember watching a program as a small child that was a sitcom.  Its opening sequence had an escalator in the house that the family lived in.
There was an early-80s sitcom called Silver Spoons, with a pre-teen boy living in a filthy-rich household.  I don't remember an escalator, though.  Perhaps that was an occasional establishing shot.

It might have been 'Webster'.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

RobbieL2415

This one is super obscure:

I have this memory of a TV show on PBS where this guy is trying to get a magnetic tape recorder (reel-to-real) to work but the tape kept un-spooling.

I'm 90% sure its from an episode of Shining Time Station but in the episodes I've combed through I can't find a scene where this happens.

bandit957

Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 04, 2019, 07:58:23 PM
This one is super obscure:

I have this memory of a TV show on PBS where this guy is trying to get a magnetic tape recorder (reel-to-real) to work but the tape kept un-spooling.

I'm 90% sure its from an episode of Shining Time Station but in the episodes I've combed through I can't find a scene where this happens.

I have a memory of one of those 15-minute educational shows on PBS where some kid stepped on a toy dinosaur and broke it, and another kid got mad. I've never been able to find it though.

For years, I remembered one of those shows that featured a boy walking around in a city in Quebec and asking people, "Do you speak English?" I finally found it after 30 years when it appeared on YouTube.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

TheHighwayMan3561

There was some weird animated PBS thing once featuring a lady cleaning a bedroom or something, but the animation style was terrifying and scared me to tears.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

roadman65

Quote from: lepidopteran on November 04, 2019, 10:27:13 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on November 02, 2019, 11:18:25 PM
I remember watching a program as a small child that was a sitcom.  Its opening sequence had an escalator in the house that the family lived in.
There was an early-80s sitcom called Silver Spoons, with a pre-teen boy living in a filthy-rich household.  I don't remember an escalator, though.  Perhaps that was an occasional establishing shot.
Long before Silver Spoon.  This was in the 60's that this was out.  I was born in 65, so it had to be around the time I remembered bits and pieces.  In fact when I was old enough to retain memories, Dick York left Bewiched and Dick Sergeant was already Darrin.  In fact in syndication when I first saw Dick York as Darrin, I started to think "Who is this yoyo playing Darrin?"  I actually thought Darrin 2 was Darrin 1 and probably the only one in the world who liked Darrin #2 over #1 all cause I saw the second first.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

bandit957

I remember 'The Price Is Right' used to use different number readouts where the 4 contestants bid on prizes. I've seen several websites that say the change happened in 1975, but I know it was later, because I remember the old readouts. I was only 2 in 1975. No way was it before 1976.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

GenExpwy

Quote from: bandit957 on November 03, 2019, 07:52:51 PM
I remember a show later that had a montage of commercial parodies where people kept getting pies in the face.

I think that might have been a segment that Johnny Carson did once on The Tonight Show.

PHLBOS

Quote from: GenExpwy on November 05, 2019, 03:23:22 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on November 03, 2019, 07:52:51 PM
I remember a show later that had a montage of commercial parodies where people kept getting pies in the face.

I think that might have been a segment that Johnny Carson did once on The Tonight Show.
It was.  I believe one clip even showed several out-takes of one of the pie-in-the face sequence towards the end... the one where Carson's portraying & parodying Karl Malden's American Express Traveler's Checks commercials.  "What WILL you Do?"
GPS does NOT equal GOD

lepidopteran

#13
Quote from: GenExpwy on November 05, 2019, 03:23:22 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on November 03, 2019, 07:52:51 PM
I remember a show later that had a montage of commercial parodies where people kept getting pies in the face.

I think that might have been a segment that Johnny Carson did once on The Tonight Show.
There was one on Carson where a man comes on and says "Hi, I'd like to talk to you about diarrhea."  He is promptly booed for bringing up such a perverse topic, and several pies are thrown in his face.  This was a shout-out to an actual, infamous Pepto-Bismol commercial that began that way.

lepidopteran

I have several, primarily from the early 1970s.

Cartoons:
Two young men are driving, probably at night, on some kind of mission.  When they come to an intersection, they can't agree which way to turn.  "Left - right - left - right."  Cut to a view outside the car as it splits in half, with each car going opposite directions.  But true to slapstick protocol, a scene right after showed the (whole again) car turning one direction.

A cartoon where a young man is looking for his brother.  After going out the exit (spelled backwards as TIXE) he re-encounteres the "Hurricane roller coaster".  He only rides one hill when he is stopped by a group of people that includes his brother.

A cartoon where someone invents a chemical that makes things disappear.  A pinch of it is used to escape from some room where people are trapped in at a canrival or a circus, I think.  Makes the entire wall vanish.

TV Movies (or more likely old B/W films):
A hapless man is somehow thrown into a cage.  He then hears some roars approaching, as a lion marches through a tunnel.  He manages to escape by climbing on some boxes in the cave.  (P.S. Lions can climb better than people can)

A tornado is wrecking a village.  A house is shown "exploding", and shortly after a bridge flies apart.  In the calm after the storm, the people quickly set about reconstruction.

Variety show specials (lots of these in the '70s):
Had a skit of a parody of the game show To Tell the Truth, that was all about dental hygiene; it was titled "To Tell the Tooth".  The panel had to determine which imposter had all 32 of his teeth, and had questions like how often do you bursh. When called to "Please stand up", the elderly man got up very slowly due to age.

A rather morbid 2-part skit, possibly separated by a commercial.  For some reason, a man has to die in order for some other people to get money, inheritance or something.  Even a cop agreed it was time for him to go.  In the second part, the man is in a bed surrounded by people, one of whom is pointing a rifle right at his chest.  I distinctly remember him saying "I shook the bullet right out of my heart!"  (If only it were that simple.)

A man and woman are excited about driving a car out of garage.  When they get started, a Keystone Cops-like sequence begins where they drive in some unlikely places, including right through a brick wall!  They also plow through fence with a gate leading to a forest when the car finally stops (on its own).

From the mid to late '70s, a skit where a little girl refuses to eat her vegetables.  At least 3 time montages pass depicting at least 10 years each, and after every one she's still sitting there, grown up but with the same girly clothes and hair ribbons -- and uneated veggies.  In the last scene, where a will is being read (and the girl's share is contingent upon eating her vegetables), the lawyer asks why she can't eat the vegetables.  "I don't have a fork!"

Game show:
A '68 or '69 show where the host occasionally yelled "10 points!" to applause. Less often he would yell  "A hundred points!"

bandit957

I remember a TV movie around 1980 where a man blows a giant bubble with bubble gum and floats into the sky to rescue some people.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

kurumi

All these from many years ago, when I was a wee lad:

* car drives past a "falling rocks" sign. Sure enough, rocks fall! The passengers get out of the dented car and there are snakes on the ground (no warning sign for those).

* British (I think) horror movie that ends in a meadow with everyone except main character turned to stone.

* cartoon with a swarm of mosquitoes tormenting a dog. Outside the house, they form a fist and knock on the door. The dog answers, and it's mosquitoes.
My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"

lepidopteran

Quote from: bandit957 on November 04, 2019, 08:02:42 PM
I have a memory of one of those 15-minute educational shows on PBS where some kid stepped on a toy dinosaur and broke it, and another kid got mad. I've never been able to find it though.
I strongly suspect that it's from an episode of Inside-OUT.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLllZn0B_ivULC4zmD798Q1K3zFV51RNjh

PHLBOS

Quote from: lepidopteran on November 05, 2019, 11:01:07 PMThere was one on Carson where a man comes on and says "Hi, I'd like to talk to you about diarrhea."  He is promptly booed for bringing up such a perverse topic, and several pies are thrown in his face.  This was a shout-out to an actual, infamous Pepto-Bismol commercial that began that way.
When I first saw that Carson clip, I was on the floor laughing... especially since I knew the actual commercial he was parodying as well.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

Route66Fan

#19
Quote from: bandit957 on November 04, 2019, 08:02:42 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 04, 2019, 07:58:23 PM
This one is super obscure:

I have this memory of a TV show on PBS where this guy is trying to get a magnetic tape recorder (reel-to-real) to work but the tape kept un-spooling.

I'm 90% sure its from an episode of Shining Time Station but in the episodes I've combed through I can't find a scene where this happens.

I have a memory of one of those 15-minute educational shows on PBS where some kid stepped on a toy dinosaur and broke it, and another kid got mad. I've never been able to find it though.

For years, I remembered one of those shows that featured a boy walking around in a city in Quebec and asking people, "Do you speak English?" I finally found it after 30 years when it appeared on YouTube.

I have some memories of these kinds of shows being shown on my two local PBS stations (KMOS-TV Ch. 6, Sedalia\Warrensburg, MO & KCPT-TV Ch. 19, Kansas City, MO.). Some of which I remember (All Fit with Slim Goodbody & Take A Look.), others of which I later found out what the names were (Read All About It, The Magic Library & The Write Channel.).
Some other shows like those that I remember vague details about include a show about kids who gathered together in what I think was supposed to be a wooden shed that they used as a clubhouse, I also remember that one of the kids was an alien from space that lived in the shed, who for some reason could not leave it. A couple of other shows like these that I vaguely remember were one that had a pink fairy with a talking teddy bear & another show that had a bunch of people in full size animal costumes (EDIT: I think this may have been a show called Amigos, because it's logo looks familiar & it does have one person in a full body animal costume.).

Most of these Instructional Television shows were produced by TVOntario, Mississippi ETV (Now Mississippi Public Broadcasting.) & the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT.).

Some other things that I remember seeing were some Made-for-TV disaster movies in the mid-90s' on ABC that were presented as live TV news reports, as well as some other Made-for-TV movies on on the old family network PAX TV, including one that had Richard Thomas & (I think.) Connie Sellecca as parents who find out that their teenage son has secretly been watching naughty videos & how they dealt with it (This may have been the movies B-plot.)., another one where a devastating storm attacks the fictional town of Rutland, MO every 100 years, & another movie that had Gerald McRaney as a stormchaser trying to alert a Oklahoma town about impending severe weather (EDIT: I just found out that this Made-for-TV movie is called "Tornado Warning" & that it aired on TV in 2002.).

I don't know if these Made-for-TV movies were PAX TV originals, or if they had aired somewhere else first.

PHLBOS

Quote from: kurumi on November 05, 2019, 11:31:14 PM* cartoon with a swarm of mosquitoes tormenting a dog. Outside the house, they form a fist and knock on the door. The dog answers, and it's mosquitoes.
I believe such was from an old Huckleberry Hound cartoon.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

roadman

Quote from: PHLBOS on November 07, 2019, 01:25:29 PM
Quote from: kurumi on November 05, 2019, 11:31:14 PM* cartoon with a swarm of mosquitoes tormenting a dog. Outside the house, they form a fist and knock on the door. The dog answers, and it's mosquitoes.
I believe such was from an old Huckleberry Hound cartoon.

I recall that the gag, with variations (usually substituting bees for mosquitos), appeared in some Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons as well.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

ErmineNotyours

There was a 1970s drama, slightly futuristic, that showed a car with a dash-mounted screen with an artificial map and the current location on it.  I knew this was just a TV show, but as soon as they come out, I WANT ONE!

RobbieL2415

Quote from: ErmineNotyours on November 07, 2019, 10:07:54 PM
There was a 1970s drama, slightly futuristic, that showed a car with a dash-mounted screen with an artificial map and the current location on it.  I knew this was just a TV show, but as soon as they come out, I WANT ONE!
Speed Racer, maybe?

PHLBOS

Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 12, 2019, 04:25:30 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on November 07, 2019, 10:07:54 PM
There was a 1970s drama, slightly futuristic, that showed a car with a dash-mounted screen with an artificial map and the current location on it.  I knew this was just a TV show, but as soon as they come out, I WANT ONE!
Speed Racer, maybe?
Speed Racer first ran circa 1967-1968 & ErmineNotyours didn't mention that such was a cartoon.
GPS does NOT equal GOD



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