Can we talk?

I Like To Watch Vintage TV, Okay?

         Maybe my destiny was to watch old TV reruns. I wouldn't enjoy it if it weren't so! I caught myself watching 5 minutes of Beverly Hillbillies, one of the episodes with all the animals back home. I don't know why I became so snobby about it, like it was lower class TV. The canned laughter, the easy humor, I just thought it was beneath me. But now it's like finding vintage goods in a second hand store. Things just like my mother used to have, but in mint condition with a whopping big price tag.

         Actors in these old shows and movies did some better things, some worse things, but now they're part of entertainment history. I know their names and faces, and I'm thrilled to see them in something I haven't seen, doing a different role. I saw a movie in black and white, already half over, but with the familiar face of Lee J Cobb. He was about 15 years younger than what I was accustomed to seeing, but he was still much the same. The movie was Johnny O'Clock, which I had never heard of, so I'm sure it wasn't a biggie.It was made before I was born.

         Some actors get typecast, or frozen in our minds as one character. Take Yvonne DiCarlo, for instance. We all loved her as Lillie Munster, the funny wife in a silly comedy. But she was quite beautiful, and was a guest in serious roles on many TV shows, including Bonanza.

         So I try to justify my excessive TV viewing as educational. As long as it doesn't prevent exercise, housework, chores, or job, I can squeeze it in. Oh, a little social life, maybe. At least, I don't have NetFlix.