Saturday, April 30, 2011

Z is for Zenith

Zenith televisions.  I remember these.  We had one and my grandparents had a Zenith CONSOLE television.  I can remember watching professional football and golf on our Zenith.  I remember getting to stay up late and watch the Beatles on the Zenith and drooling over Kurt Russel in Disney movies (back in the day when I liked Disney...I still drool over Kurt Russel).  When I was little I watched Captain Kangaroo on the Zenith.  When I was older, after school I would come home, fix a snack and watch Gilligan's Island or Batman or the Flintstones or the Addams Family or The Munsters...Do you remember Green Acres?  Bewitched?  I Dream of Jeannie?  The Brady Bunch?  Whether I liked them or not, I watched.  That's what the Zenith was there for, right?  And let's not forget about the NBC peacock! And those antennae!  What about rabbit ears?

Funny, though, I don't remember ever watching television during the summer months.  I remember spending days at the library where my dad's mother was librarian.  I remember playing with my cousins and neighborhood friends; riding my bicycle; going to the swimming pool every day; vacations...but not television.

I'm pretty sure the only thing my grandfather ever watched on their Zenith CONSOLE was the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite; baseball games; gospel music on Sunday mornings and LAWRENCE WELK.  My grandmother, on the other hand, loved the soap operas on CBS.  As The World Turns and The Guiding Light were her absolute favorites.  And then, on weekends when I spent the night, she and I stayed up late and watched Elvis movies (I started to write 'old' Elvis movies but they weren't really that old then, were they?).

At our house, we would eat supper on TV trays while watching television.  Not at Grandmother and Granddaddy's though.  At their house, supper time was family at the table time.  We had that at home once my parents adopted my three wonderful brothers.  But I think it was because the den was a bit small for 6 of us to sit with TV trays and watch that smallish television.
 
I remember my mother telling the story of my grandparents' Zenith when I was three years old.  Apparently, I liked to turn the knobs on the set but, for some strange reason, that little pleasure of mine was not all that pleasing to anyone else.  So, one evening I was about to turn the knobs and my mother said, "Pam, do NOT turn the knobs on the television."  She says that I stood there and looked at her, looked at the television, and then back at her.  Suddenly, I took off running and, as I passed by the set, I reached my hand out and turned every single knob without slowing down one bit.  Sadly, I haven't changed much when it comes to having my way.

And that's the way it is- Saturday, April 30, 2011.   


      

26 comments:

  1. You have done it what an achievement. What ever will you find to post about next I wonder.

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  2. I remember the Zenith well, even that was in the day before couch potatoes. Kids actually played outdoors, built forts, sailed boats in the creek, read books on a branch of a tree in the backyard, rode horse, etc.

    Fun post. :-)

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  3. Lindy-It's bittersweet. I am glad it's over and sad at the same time! I think I'm just going to lay low in May-then again...LOL

    Judy-I was actually reading a book sitting in the Magnolia tree the day I fell out of the Magnolia tree...LOL Nothing broke, thankfully!

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  4. This posts brought back a lot of good memories for me!

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  5. Bio-diesel...ya, I think you're right on that!! NOW I remember thanks to you.

    Oh boy, this is gonna age me totally and completely. I remember when my parents bought their 1st tv....black and white...test patterns, tv going off scene at midnight with always the playing of the national anthem. Oh boy, oh boy...I'm ancient!!!

    Fabulous post...good memories are made of posts like these.

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  6. Betty- I am so glad!

    Anni- I saw it on Sunday Morning a few years ago. It was quite the touching story about a man in Carl (or something) Texas and losing all of his sons and Willie stepping in...I'll have to find that episode again. Glad you got some good memories stirred up!

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  7. I have a very limited recollection of this Zenith you speak of...seems like there were the size of a pool table? Did it come with a hi-fi? ;)

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  8. Congratulations you made it to Z! Blimey I must be getting old, I remember nearly all the programmes you mentioned. So tell me, what are you gonna blog about now me dear?!

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  9. I remember Zenith TV's. We had one until about 10 years ago. Congratulations on finishing your quest.

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  10. Wow, you did it, all 30 posts, I am seriously impressed. I remember so many of those shows, actually I still watch them when they're on. So, what are your blogging plans for May?

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  11. WELL DONE!!! You did a marvellous job of this challenge...each post showed you'd really put your heart into it :)

    Now you can relax and enjoy a few days off!!!

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  12. Kipp- No, our hi-fi was separate. LOL

    Annie- YES! Finally! I have no idea what to do next...no idea.

    Michele-Thanks! But now the question is- What to do next?

    Alessandra-I will watch some of the programs I used to watch now too. I don't know what to do next...I'm looking at a few options, including taking it easy.

    Josh- Thank you!

    Desiree-Thank you so much! And that's exactly the option I'm leaning towards!

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  13. Congratulations on making it through "Z"!
    I enjoyed all of your posts very much.
    Yes, I remember Zenith..."The quality goes in before the name goes on..was their slogan, I believe.
    We've had several Zenith televisions throughout the years--and also watched all of the shows that you mentioned :)
    Now I'm wondering...do they make Zenith tv's anymore? The last Zenith that we owned(about 15 yrs ago) blew up right after the 1 yr warranty expired. It was a big screen, and the repair bill would've been $700.00! We gave it away to our daughter, and bought another tv. The tv repairman told me he repaired A LOT of Zeniths, so we switched brands after that. Our daughter spent the money to have the Zenith big screen repaired, and it lasted about 2-3 years, then went out again. She junked it after that.

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  14. oh the memories...thnaks for stopping by and commenting on my sons engagement pictures!!!! Have a great weekend!!

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  15. Oh! I remember all of those shows! And...Mr. Ed. I loved horses and my dad and I would watch Mr. Ed. A horse is a horse of course of course! This would have been in the mid-60's. I don't know if our tv was a Zenith, but we had one of those fancy ones in a cabinet with a radio and record player.
    My grandparents had a tv with a remote. Click click click! At my house, as the youngest, I was the remote! :-)

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  16. Kathy- Thank you! It was definitely a challenge but also fun. My parents switched from Zenith to RCAs.

    Pam-Congrats on the wedding! It's so exciting--and a lot of work! LOL They truly are a gorgeous couple!

    Laura- No one in our family had a remote, except, like you say, me! LOL I think we finally did get one when I was in high school. But I didn't really care about TV at that point---boys held my attention way more. LOL

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  17. Those truly were the good old days weren't they? All of those shows were great after school. We watched TV at night after dinner but you're right. In the summer we played outside and spent time doing things. Only if it rained did you watch tv. Now our kids are glued to TV. It's no wonder there's a serious issue of childhood obesity in our country.

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  18. Barb- Agreed! I made sure that my girls played outside-and they preferred it to television. Although they, too, enjoyed watching Nickelodeon after school.

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  19. I remember my Mother and her Father, my Grandpa, screaming, laughing and hooting as they watched the world series baseball, back in the day. I also remember listening to my parents hoot and holler as they laughed to "I Love Lucy", which came on after my bedtime. And I remember getting my dog, Trixie, to catch popcorn as we watched "Davey Crocket" on Sunday nights.
    Thanx for the memeories.
    Rosemary

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  20. Great memories. I remember my dad propping the medicine cabinet mirror on a chair in front of the tv and watching for it to clear while he fiddled with the antennae and vertical settings till it cleared.

    Very pleased to find you. I'm currently one daughter out, and two to go!

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  21. Been a busy day so just arriving at this party.
    I remember watching the Queens coronation at a friend's because we didn't have a TV set. Our first was an RCA - we had it forever. My Dad watched Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night - he got the tray!- and we stayed quiet in the kitchen.
    My Grammy watched ATWT and I guess I get my soap addiction from her. have you noticed that there are only a couple of the old soaps left?

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  22. Rosemary-You are quite welcome!

    Mom-Oh yeah, those old televisions were a hoot, weren't they? Glad you stopped by!

    Stephanie-I only watched soaps in college because, well, that's what we did. I heard that All My Children is going off soon.

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  23. You did it, way to go. And I loved every single one. We had an old console TV too. But only watched Little House on the Prarie on Monday nights and Grizzly Adams on Wednesday nights. Oh church TV on Sunday when we couldn't make it to church. We had an attenta that was turned by reaching out the window with a crescent wrench and turning it to get a good signal. I do remember daddy watching Lawrence Welk too but not to often.

    Take care Pam and have a blessed weekend. So far so great here.

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  24. Hello Empty Nester! Thank you for finding me and following me! What a wonderful surprise for the last day of the challenge! I'm also a TV addict, and enjoyed watching many of the same shows including Captain Kangaroo with Mr. Greenjeans! We spent many nights dining on our TV trays too. I look forward to seeing more of you! Julie

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! It makes me feel connected to everyone even though we may live far apart! Have a wonderful day!

 
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