Classic TV: No One Can Take It Away

One of the most appealing qualities about classic television is that it’s always there when I want to enjoy it. It’s reassuring to have some constants in a world where change is inevitable. Especially right now.

The ability to watch a great series from the past is not impacted by season, by weather, by labor disputes, by travel restrictions, or even by global pandemics. If I want to revisit an episode of Bewitched tonight, I can do it. Without wearing a mask. If I want to watch the third episode from the first season of Get Smart a week from Thursday at 1:30AM, nothing will stop me from doing so. 

Does that sound silly? Perhaps to those who haven’t experienced a lot of upheaval in their lives. Consider yourself fortunate if that’s the case. And if it is – well, it’s not like that anymore, is it?

We’ve all had a lot taken away from us over the past few weeks. What’s going to be interesting is how we all respond when these things start to come back. The way I feel now, I’m not sure I’m going to have the same enthusiasm for them.

For instance – I’ve been a fan of NCAA gymnastics for more than ten years, I watch about 80 meets every season, which runs from January to April. This year I was hoping Kyla Ross would lead UCLA past Oklahoma and win the title, by which time baseball season will have started, and lately that has been more exciting since my beloved Cubs have become perennial contenders.

This year? NCAA sports were canceled, seemingly overnight – no conference tournaments, no national championship; and for the seniors in gymnastics and other sports without a pro league, your careers are over.  Just like that. As for baseball, opening day should have happened more than a month ago. Will there be a season this year? Who knows?

So I can’t watch sports anymore. But I can watch the WKRP staff play baseball against their archrivals from WPIG. I can watch Donna Stone meet Don Drysdale (The Donna Reed Show) or Ann Marie meet Stan Musial (That Girl). I can watch Sandy Koufax encounter Mr. Ed, or Jody get outplayed by twin sister Buffy in a game of stickball (Family Affair). 

Are revisiting these shows as much fun as watching a baseball game where the outcome is undetermined? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But at least I know they won’t end prematurely. When baseball comes back this year or next year or in 2025, I may be reluctant to devote the same time and passion to a new season that might be abandoned as soon as some middle infielder coughs a little too loud in the dugout. 

Over the course of my life, from the age of four to present day, I’ve been to Disneyland more than 100 times. Even with the never-ending crowds and ever-escalating ticket prices, there are few activities that soothe my soul like sailing the rivers of America on the Mark Twain.

Disneyland is closed for the foreseeable future. But King’s Island in Cincinnati is still open, at least in the episodes of The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family shot on location there. Both are series highlights for me. And now more than ever it’s a pleasure to watch them and see crowds of people gathered together and having fun.

Will those King’s Island visits be enough to not miss paying a king’s ransom for a day at Disneyland? We’ll see.

As spring turns into summer I look forward to heading out to the golf courses here in Las Vegas. Golf courses are open in most states, but not in my state. Nevada will apparently not be back in business until there’s a vaccine for COVID-19, the common cold and ring around the collar.

But I’ll always have Ed Norton teaching Ralph Kramden how to address the ball.

And maybe it’s time to pull out that I Love Lucy episode in which Ricky and Fred unsuccessfully trying to discourage Lucy and Ethel from joining them out on the course (“Well, it only took us one hour and a half to get to the first green.”).

Las Vegas is home to many wonderful restaurants, and a lot of them are located inside the hotel-casinos that line the Strip. After eating there I often stop and throw a few dollars (sometimes more than a few dollars) into a video poker machine. But

right now – you guessed it – all those resorts are closed.

The casinos better hope that I and a lot of people rediscover our joy in their games of chance, cause if we don’t they may be in trouble even after they open. In the meantime, I can watch Elyse Keaton catch blackjack fever on Family Ties, Charlie’s Angels hang with Dean Martin at the Dunes Resort (gone but not forgotten here in Vegas), and Balki hit a slot jackpot on Perfect Strangers. 

International travel will likely be one of the last activities to attain pre-pandemic levels. But classic TV lovers know that any time they wish they can go to England with Steed and Mrs. Peel, to Paris with The Monkees, to Australia with the girls from Facts of Life, and journey beyond the solar system on Star Trek. 

All of the episodes I’ve cited as examples are just a small sampling of those filmed over 60-some years about the same subjects. They’re all here now, just waiting to be rediscovered. They will be here tomorrow, while the country is still closed. And they’ll be here after it opens. When (if?) that ever happens, how you decide to spend that time is up to you. You know where you’ll find me.