Rib's Ramblings

We had great TV choices

I’ve often done columns about some of my favourite TV shows as a kid, but this week, I’ll try to ‘shop local.’

So I was thinking about some of the more local stuff we watched as kids.

Some of those shows were Canadian but many were American and aired out of Detroit or Ohio.

My mother was a fan of Bill Kennedy at the Movies and the Rita Bell Prize Movie shows. So I saw a fair amount of old classics and my share of ‘B’ movies from those two shows.

And although they were American, we considered them local because of Detroit’s proximity to home sweet home.

I remember when the train derailed near the Leamington Fairgrounds and Bill Kennedy actually announced it on his show. We immediately jumped in the old Pontiac Laurentian and sped into town to see the carnage.

Other movie host type shows included, of course, Sir Graves Ghastly, one of my personal faves. His show was broadcast out of Detroit every Saturday.

I saw movies like Creature From The Black Lagoon and the original version of The Blob.

The Ghoul, meanwhile was more prominent in my teenage years and originated in Cleveland. He did a lot of kooky stuff and was borderline crude on most things he said, but entertaining just the same. He was more late-night fare.

Of course you can’t talk about local TV without talking about Bozo.

I knew a few kids who went to the Windsor Tapings and won stuff. I absolutely loved Bozo, whether it was the Canadian version or the American.

Prior to him, we had ‘Twin Pines Dairy presents Milky the Clown’. By today’s standards, Milky would likely be creepy but he was fun to watch when we were kids. I loved Milky’s show, but now all I can picture is John Wayne Gacy. Weird how our outlook gets skewed over the years.

Oopsy came along as Bozo faded and then he moved from Detroit to Kitchener and had quite a run on CKCO down there for many years.

The older crowd will remember Soupy Sales, Poopdeck Paul, Captain Jolly and Johnny Ginger too.

Of course the great Canadian TV shows were always good whether they were local or not. Shows like Mr. Dressup, the Friendly Giant, Chez Helene and Polka Dot Door were classics for many years.

I remember getting to watch Friendly Giant in the morning before school. I watched it either before or after Captain Kangaroo.

I can’t forget to mention The Forest Rangers and Adventures in Rainbow Country. These were big parts of my childhood.

I think we were very fortunate in this area. We had the best of both worlds when it came to television.