I guess I'm showing my age . . .

[Bucky]

Tonight, I watched the Finale of American Idol.  After the program was over, I'm thinking to myself . . boy, you just wasted two hours of your time!   

I guess there is too much of a generation gap or something between what I watched and how old I am.  Some really "strange" stuff.  I'm just not "into" all the girls stomping as they strut their stuff across the stage.  All the screaming, growling, body shaking, etc. that the "singers" do.  Let's not EVEN mention Lady Gaga (one strange chick, for sure!!).

There were a few good performances tonight - Lauren and Carrie Underwood, and Haley and Tony Bennett and Scotty and Tim McGraw.  The rest . . . I could have done without!

It just seems any more the more extreme a show is, the better the ratings or something.  I just don't get it.

Feeling old tonight,
Bucky

[Joe S.]

Lets really show our age! Remember when "Hound dog" was new? Causus Clay (sp?) becoming heavy weight champion of the world? How about getting excited because The Lawrence Welk Band was headlining at Grandpa's Barn dance (mom's memory). Walt Disney announcing plans for a new amusement park called Disney World on his TV program? What about Fess Parker's Coon Skin Cap?

Did man ever walk on the moon? Where is my rocket car and ray gun?

[Liz D.]

My family's highlight of the week was our watching Saturday night programming on our black & white TV (we couldn't afford a color TV at that time!).  We watched Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart Show (w/ Suzanne Pleshette) and the Carol Burnett Show.  Now THAT was TV!!!  I don't know what they can call the things they show on TV now!!  Times have changed!

Liz D.

[Carolina]

Lol Bucky!

I'm past showing my age.  I don't even WATCH, not American Idol, or DWTS (Dancing with....) or anything.   Entire decades of shows have come and gone and had 20 year reunions and I've never seen them.   

I did go on line and found a song by the Scotty guy, since he lives just down the road from us and is front page news in the Raleigh paper.   I figured I would at least listen to what someone doing well on American Idol sounds like.

I was amazed.   His picture shows him looking about 18, and he sounds like a 50 year old country singer who's been through the wringer!    Where is that VOICE coming from?

Other than that attempt to see what the fuss was about, I'm completely clueless at all times.

And I don't mind it a bit.   Funny thing is all the women around my age are GLUED to AI and DWTS and Oprah.   So it really isn't JUST an age thing.

NOT knowing a thing about Kanye West, is probably an age thing.  and all those faux stars like Paris Hilton or whatever.......

And I left music when Disco hit, I think.   :-)

A few things have filtered up from children and grandchildren over the years.  I made a CD of Eminem for my French grandchild.
In order to make it I had to LISTEN to the music to be sure the songs were complete.  The lyrics were outrageous, but I knew that I could barely understand them and English is my first language.  I was pretty sure my 12 year old French grandson had no idea what was being said.   Or maybe he did, and I'm even MORE clueless than I think?

Right now I"m busy reading the first book in a fantasy series that I think my older grandson here in NC will be able to enjoy when he's about 15.   He's 12 now.   I'll give him the series when he's old enough.   It's pretty good:   A Game of Thrones.  I think it's a TV show now, and maybe a video game, too.   

He's not old enough for it now.

And I'm in two book groups.   Just read Room, for a group meeting tonight.   Reasonably interesting!  A best seller.

I just love thinking about the current crop of 'youngsters'.   When they are in a nursing home, they'll have wrinkly tattoos, pierced wrinkles?, and the sing-alongs will be Metallica and Dr. Dre music I guess?

Hugs

Elaine

[quilt4fun]

I don't watch American Idol, Dancing with Stars, Survivor, Lost, or Oprah, or those so called reality shows.  How about The Waltons reruns?  Little house of the Prairie, Highway to Heaven?   Found them on INSP, we are enjoying them, missed some of them the first time around.

[Joe S.]

Remember the family sitting down with TV dinners to watch the "Flintstones". Remember "I Dream of Genie"? What about "George Burns and Gracie Alan" & the "Nelsons"?

[Cheryl]

I don't watch tv anymore for all the reasons you mentioned.  Family values used to be at its core, but it's mostly trashy now.  I hate that the younger generations are exposed to it. 
Cheryl

[Pisces24]

What bugs me the most is that I remember when prices were Soooooo much cheaper. When I was a kid, my dad sometimes would have me do additon and subtraction in the grocery store on items - so I remember the prices.

Also, my folks were Grand Ole Opry music fans. So I remember a lot of the music and musicians from back then though I am not old enough to be in "their time".

Elaine: Just think of these "youngsters" very old & in nursing homes with names like: Missy, Princess, Candy, Cookie, Sissy, etc. LOL

[Carolina]

Well, Pisces,

My mother used to talk about a loaf of bread for 15 cents, etc.

BUT the average annual income in 1939 was about $5,000.   Think about it!

Our first house in 1969 was $24,500, but our income was only $10,000 a year.

Relative to income, prices haven't changed much at all.   Some things, yes.

Movie tickets have increased much more than, say, the price of gas.

It's only relative.

My younger son asked why we didn't buy TWO houses when they were going for $25,000, in 1969.  One for us and one for him!   Course he wasn't born yet.

And on 10K a year we couldn't afford $50 K worth of houses.

Even tho' the same house was worth $234,000 25 years later.

Interesting thoughts.

Hugs

Elaine

[Patze]

Anyone race home from school to watch "Dark Shadows"?  That oh so daring soap opera of the vampire world?  I so adored that series, whew, drove the others insane!

Then there was Bill Cosby the comedian, and lets not forget about George Carlin and the seven things that you can't say on the radio/TV?  Where did the time go?


Patze

[hikerknees]

Dark Shadows!  I haven't heard that one in a long time!  We don't watch much tv, it puts us in a bad mood.  Sometimes we record a show so we can skip the commercials--we have a "no violence" rule and even the ads are over the top a lot of times.  I preferred the old Hawaii 5-0!

[lynnmarie219]

Patze,

I remember Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows! Whew.....that took me back quite a few years!

[Meld256]

Patze and lynnmarie,

Oh, my goodness-Dark Shadows!!  I was in 6th grade at the height of it's popularity and had 7 blocks from school to run home to see it.  I loved that it was so different, and I am still surprised that my mother allowed me to watch it! 

hikerknees, That's good that you have a "no violence" policy.  If I had children at home no, I would really restrict tv and the internet.  There is so much "trash" out there.  Thankfully, when my sons were growing up there weren't the options we have now, and I limited tv then.  We had lots of reading time and outdoor play time. 

[hikerknees]

Melinda,
Outdoor play time?  What a great concept!!!  They had an outdoor play time in Central Park and 50,000 people showed up!  We all miss it in one way or another.  Growing up I lived in trees, and had a special one where I loved to read. 

[Meld256]

I know!!!   Outdoor play time- we didn't even call it that.  They were just ready to GO when they got out of school.   

They rode their bikes, I rode sometimes.  They had impromtu neigborhood baseball games and made ramps for bicycles.  They made up games on the swing set. They built "forts" out of anything they could find. In cold weather, we played in the snow and made elaborate snowcastles, and we'd see who could slide on the ice the farthest without killing themselves.
They played with friends!  We had dinner, homework and read before bed. They helped their Grandpa in his garden. My parents helped me a lot since I worked long hours in a restaurant, serving and managing.

As a single mom for 8 years, I only had a 12-inch tv with no cable, and I'm glad of it. I spent whatever little extra I had on family memberships to the zoo, we went to free library programs, and bought books at the second-hand store.
Sounds like life in the 50's or 60's?  This was the 80's! 

Working so much, I always worried if I gave them enough of my TIME.  One of my best "rewards" has been that now that my sons are 30 and 34 years old, they've told me that even though we didn't have a lot of money or gadgets, they had a good childhood and memories, and knew they were always loved.  Puts a little tear in my dry eyes!