Yeah, yeah. I know. Most blogs tell you not to let your kids watch TV. It’s bad for them. It rots their brain. Instead they give you lists of classic books your kids should read.
Well, I’m not most people.
Not that I’m against kids reading books. Kids should read. A lot.
A little TV now and then doesn’t hurt either. I love television. I know that’s not PC to admit, but I do. It’s great entertainment. I can’t see a Broadway show every night. I have to get my comedy and drama fix somehow.
I started this list after I made a reference to Happy Days during a conversation with David the other day. He had no idea what I was talking about. So I think some Classic Television Appreciation lessons are in order.
Now, I don’t promise all of these shows are Emmy award-winning work. However, they all do at least one of these four things:
- They poignantly capture another time in American History. (The Waltons)
- They capture the popular culture or the mood of the country during their era. (The Brady Bunch)
- They are permanent fixtures in American pop culture or the American psyche. (Star Trek)
- They provide great entertainment from great entertainers. (I Love Lucy)
25 Classic TV Shows to Introduce to Your Kids
1. Happy Days
2. The Andy Griffith Show
3. Leave It to Beaver
4. The Three Stooges
5. The Little Rascals
6. Alice
7. My Three Sons
8. Green Acres
9. The Waltons
10. Little House on the Prairie
11. Donna Reed
12. The Flying Nun
13. Mr. Ed
14. I Love Lucy
15. Ozzie and Harriet
16. Star Trek (The Original Series)
17. The Cosby Show
18. The Facts of Life
19. Family Ties
20. The Dukes of Hazzard
21. I Dream of Jeanie
22. Bewitched
23. The Dick Van Dyke Show
24. The Brady Bunch
25. Mork and Mindy
So what shows would you add to the list?
We’ve been introducing our five year old to all the 80s cartoons we loved when we were little. The original Transformers and Carebears. Yesterday my husband introduced him to Voltron (which I had never heard of) and he loved it. But I think it’s time to add a couple from this list before my husband completely warps our son into a mini-him 🙂 Maybe it’s time for The Cosby Show ….
My youngest loves the Original Carebears!
Great list! I let my kids watch way too much TV. Don’t tell anyone! My kids have only seen around 5 of those, guess I should tell them to watch more tv!
Laverne & Shirley or the Muppet Show!
Really there are so many classic tv shows that I love to watch and my kids even watch many of them with me.
Oh, those are both good ones Jackie! How could I forget Laverne and Shirley? I even remember drinking milk and Pepsi as kid because I saw Laverne do it.
Great list. I used to love the Flying Nun! And Mork & Mindy… so great!
Yes, and to think Robin Williams got his start on Mork and Mindy!
I like to watching a variety of shows from both yesterday and today (crime shows being my favorite). As far as my children, we have a few others we like to watch . . . one being the show . . . Different Strokes.
Hey, what about the A-Team and Knight Rider?
Oh, yes! Kit and Mr. T!
I agree with Missy about the 80’s cartoons! My kids love all the old cartoons – and are especially into the old Mario Brothers cartoons from that time. We’ve also been watching old Muppets episodes and movies. From your list, I have to get them to see two of my favs, The Brady Bunch and Dukes of Hazzard.
BTW, It’s my first time visiting your blog, so saying hello! And I love your list!
My seven year old started watching some old Mario Brothers show on Netflix recently. It’s so funny to me to watch it, because it’s so 1980’s.
How do you like Netflix BTW? I have been renting movies at Redbox and was wondering if Netflix is cool to have as well.
We like Netflix. It’s good especially for all the old movies you can’t get at Redbox. We have the streaming and DVDs through mail. Their streaming service it pretty good for TV, but you still have to get a lot of stuff on DVD.
I watched most of these growing up, and have fond memories of them.
We’ve been watching a lot of old shows on Hulu with my daughter recently. She is a HUGE Dick Van Dyke fan, and is also really loving Mr. Ed.
It’s so great to be able to find these shows on things like Hulu and Netflix.
The Love Boat! (for older tweens and teens) The Smurfs (for the younger crowd)
Love this list — Now, I want to sit at home and watch The Brady Bunch!
Oh, yes. I wanted to be Julie and work on a cruise ship when I was a kid.
Gidget– to go with the flying nun! When I was probably 10 or 11 I remember staying up late on summer nights and watching Gidget and the Flying Nun re-runs…..I absolutely loved them! I also like the Addams Family and the Munsters.
Those are all great shows! I loved the Munsters. Wow, there are so many when you start really thinking about it.
I love your list! I’d actually never seen My Three Sons until recently when my husband introduced our kids to it – it was nice to have something on that I knew wasn’t going to be over-commercialized or violent.
Your comment about Happy Days made me laugh – yesterday my 7 year old daughter told me she didn’t know what disco music was. sigh
Oh, I know. It’s so sad all the things our kids don’t know about. I spent a good 20 minutes one day trying to explain what camera film was.
Great list! I remember watching a lot of these as a child when I went to go visit my grandparents. They didn’t have cable so these things were pretty much alI I could watch. I also watched Laverne and Shirley. As for my kids I do let them watch tv but it’s usually pbs, ket, or the Disney channel for my youngest.
First of all, lets be honest, my daughter watches TV and I have no qualms about it. It’s not like she watches it all day, ever day. But really, what’s the harm! Second, we’ve been watching the first two seasons of The Brady Bunch and loving it. And I’ve already introduced her to the Ingalls family. Classics in my book!