The idiot in front of the idiot box

P. Ramlee (1956) Anak-ku Sazali {Confrontation} - This movie was of international standards; it won Best Actor (P. Ramlee), Best Director (Phani Majumdar) and Best Child Star (Tomy Castello) Awards in the Asia-Pacific 4th Film Festival in Tokyo, 1957.

The idiot in front of the idiot box

J.L. Baird’s unique invention of a cathode ray tube must have revolutionized the way news was disseminated to the masses. Malaysian TV started transmission in 1963, coincidentally the same year that I was born. As far as I can remember, I have been a TV addict until I started blogging.

The Sham family got their first TV in late 60s when we got a 14-inch black and white National TV when we were in Brown Garden and this set followed us to RRF. It was a depilated machine which was forever breaking down. It would be giving a clear transmission one minute and suddenly it will become snowy and then suddenly it will go kaput. Somehow, most of the time it will go on strike just before the opening credits of a Tamil movie – as if it was like a grudge against us for all the abuses over the years. It served us till about 1979 when Appa bought a new NEC colour TV.

I will try to recollect some of the shows we used to watch in RRF…

Cartoons

· Merry Melodies

· Felix the Cat

· Astro Boy

· Road Runner (inc. Whacky races, Mutley and GP races)

· Birdman

· Wait till your father gets home

· Abbott and Castello

· Archies

· Beatles

· Fat Albert

· Marco (Japanese dubbed cartoon)

Science fiction

· Space 1999

· Gemini Man

· Invisible Man

· $6million Man

· Bionic Woman

· Bionic Boy

· Flash Gordon

· Batman

· Voyager

· Voyage to the bottom of the sea

· Wolf Boy

· MacGyver

· Man from Atlantis

· Incredible Hulk

Japanese Sci-fi

· Ultraman

· Golda

· Godzilla

Crime Drama

· Men from UNCLE

· Baretta

· Starsky & Hutch

· Mod Squad

· Kojak

· Hawaii 5-0

· Saint

· Cannon

· Sheriff Lobo

· Mannix

· Barnaby Jones

· Run for your life

· Dunkirk and Hobson(Deceased)

· Ironside

· Jake and the Fatman

· Charlie’s Angels

· Mission Impossible

· Fugitive

Family Drama

· Little house on the Prairie

· Waltons

· P. Ramlee’s movies

Sit-Com

· Wonder years

· Gilligan’s Island

· Petticoat Junction

· Happy Days

· I dream of Jeannie

· I love Lucy

· Different Strokes

· One day at a time

· Laverne & Shirley

· Jeffersons

· Prince of Bel Air

· Cosby Show

· Brady Bunch

· Three’s a company

· Beverly Hillbillies

· The three stooges

Mystery

· Mystery Movie series

· Twilight Zone

· Thriller
* In search of (with Leonard Nimoy)
* Cosmos (with Carl Sagan)

War Drama

· Combat

Law Drama

· Crown Court

· Petrocelli

· Paper Chase

Western

· High Chapparal

· Wild Wild West

· Rifle Man

· Have gun will travel

· Rawhide

· Gunsmoke

· Bonanza

· Virginian

· Zorro

· Walking Tall

· Laredo

· Lone Ranger
* How the West was won!
* The Quest

Soap Opera

· Dallas

· Dynasty

· Peyton Place

· Bold and the beautiful

…And the unbelievable and laughable ‘Wrestling’. Just to reiterate the words of my Modern mathematics teacher, Mr Chai Poh Keong, one should watch TV in their free time, not free their time to watch TV! Words of wisdom indeed.

Gory historic details or gore fest?

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The products of a romantic star of the yesteryear!

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Chicken's Invite? (Ajak-ajak ayam)

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RIFLE RANGE BOY

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