John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #167: Bad TV You Loved As A Kid

"Television is a medium, because anything good on it is rare."

-Fred Allen

Weekend Assignment #167: You watched some bad TV as a kid. Tell us your favorites. Now, this doesn't mean you realized at the time it was bad. Just now, in the fullness of time, you recognized that your viewing choices left something to be desired. For the purposes of this assignment, try to stick with shows that were aimed at kids, although if you can't think of any, prime time shows are okay as well.

Extra Credit: How much TV did you watch when you were a kid? A lot? A little?

-John Scalzi



I loved TV when I was a child, although I didn't watch very much daytime TV, because that was when my mother and sister would watch their favorite soap operas. When I was very little, I could most often be found drawing or outside or riding my bike with my best friend Mike, although I would come back into the house late in the day to watch Dark Shadows with my sister. I don't think that would qualify as a show for children, but what can I say? I loved scary stuff even when I was a little girl. Most of my TV viewing started with the evening news, then whatever prime time had to offer. I loved the sitcoms, and variety shows. Laugh-In, That Girl, The Monkees.

Speaking of monkeys, I did enjoy a Saturday morning show called Lancelot Link , Secret Chimp. It had good guys, bad guys, and each week it was another case for the secret agents at A.P.E (Agency to Prevent Evil). See, they had to thwart the evil doings of C.H.U.M.P (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan). The meanest of the mean of that organization was Baron von Butcher, and he was assisted by his fellow evil doers, Creto, Dr, Strangmind, the Dragon Woman, Wang Fu, among others. They didn't get very far with their nefarious plans, thanks to, Lancelot Link, Secret Spy. Yep... it was indeed actual chimpanzees in the roles, with the voices provided by Bernie Koppell, Dayton Allen, Joan Gerber and Malachi Throne. The show was only on the air for two seasons, back in the early 70's, but I watched every week. Was it bad? Well, yes, but gitchy kind of bad, you know? :) Lancelot Link replayed on TV for a short time on Nickelodeon during the 1980's, but recently it was made available on DVD. I might just have to put this on my Amazon wish list for Christmas! LOL. Gosh monkeys are fun! :)

Extra Credit: I watched tons of TV. I was a weird kid, I like everything but westerns. I even watched the Watergate Hearings! LOL.

-OndineMonet
"Television" By Julia Gilmore