...with a bowl of Alpha-Bits and Milk

Do you guys realize that there are a generation of people out here who have never watched a black and white television? The first TV I ever owned was a small black and white set with one speaker and two channel nobs. I used to watch all kinds of TV shows on that old set. I remember at one point my youngest sister Kima stuck a damned Italian ice(y) wooden spoon/scraper into the speaker and broke it. I had NO SOUND! My mother being the resourceful woman she was, found a radio which could broadcast television channels and gave it to me. I remember watching Pryor's Place on a Saturday using the radio to hear the audio of what I was viewing.

Those were some good times. I watched so many cartoons on that set with NO COLOR. It didn't matter (until I got my Nintendo) to me. I was happy watching Different Strokes and Yogi Bear on this black and white set. I was happy to just have a television. I used to play my Colecovision (yeah I'm going way WAY back!) on this set. Donkey Kong and Turbo into the wee hours of the morning with my cousins on a black and white set. I must admit that after a while I got bored with the lack of color and began messing with the vertical hold to add an effect to my video games. This was the time where TV Guide was a very important thing. You looked forward to a new Saturday Morning Cartoon line up. The fall preview was a big deal. My family would eat together at the dinner table and watch an after meal show before heading off to bed.

I eventually got a color TV from a neighbor who was moving on to better sets. My video game playing days took off from that point on. So thanks to Ms. Geneva and the color TV she gave me. To my very first TV set I will never forget thee.

So this is close to what I had.



This is what my sister used to assault my television.

And this is what I would watch on my beloved B/W TV set.



Peep Ray Parker Jr. on the intro. You can see an early hip hop influence with the cop dancing. I think this show was only on for one season and I didn't know Sid & Marty Krofft were involved.