Oh, the wonders of Netflix, reminding us of things we had totally forgotten we knew. Recently, I watched the first episode of ‘Emergency’ from Ninteen-Seventy-Mumble-Mutter, and perfectly remembered an entire scene, despite the fact that it’s been years since I’d ever actually sat down and watched the show. Interestingly, I found quite a few of those moments in the episodes I watched, from the show’s opening narration to the kinetic closing theme song, all of which seemed as familiar to me as the layout of my own living room. It’s a solid show, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t believe how much of it stuck with me. Had it been ‘Gilligan’s Island’ or ‘The Brady Bunch,’ I might have understood, as those programs often served as video wallpaper for whatever it was that I did as a latchkey kid in the early to mid-1980s, when there wasn’t any decent science fiction or cartoons to be had…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) loves the strange sensation of “I don’t watch this show, but this episode is the one that I’ve seen!”, asking: What do you consider the most inexplicable bit of pop culture to indelibly stick in your memory?
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When I was in 2nd grade (back in 1972) there was a show called “Temperature’s Rising” that featured Cleavon Little among others. In the opening credits they featured an old fashioned thermometer with red liquid rising to the top of the screen.
The only reason I remember this is that my 2nd grade teacher had a red yardstick in a slip case hanging on the wall that she used for discipline purposes. When one of the students misbehaved and she drew the red yardstick out of it’s slipcase. The students would mummer “Temperature’s Rising” as the red was exposed (just like the thermometer)
As a side note, always thought the primary actor was Bill Cosby not Cleavon Little (Blazing Saddles fame) until I researched it today.
‘It’s Your Move’ starring Jason Bateman and David Garrison (Steve Rhodes on Married…With Children). Only 18 episodes before it was cancelled, I eagerly awaited EVERY single episode. “You’re gonna laugh…” The 2 part Dregs of Humanity episode is a very fond memory.
Quark, from 1978, this ridiculous Sci Fi spoof about…a space garbage man, starring Richard Benjamin. It was kind of like Police Squad! (another favorite), maybe a touch more serious than that. We were so desperate for any good genre TV back then…
Oh, and it had the Barnstable twins. Look ’em up.
Man, I loved Emergency, especially how you could tell how big the situation they were about to face would be by how long the Eeep Ooop Onk went on in the station house.
I can still sing every lyric from every song in The Jungle Book even though I haven’t seen the movie in over thirty years.