Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Whatchoo talkin' about Chickus?

I recently discovered, much to my complete delight and joy, that my cable package includes something called "Tube Time" on Demand.

Which means, in case you don't know, I can watch Diff'rent Strokes whenever I darn well please.

As a child in the late seventies and early eighties, I wished desperately for the following things:

1) Two brothers to come from Harlem and teach me how to disco dance
2) A fancy penthouse apartment in New York city
3) A goldfish named Abraham
4) A housekeeper with a big cinammon bun hairdo, who made me pancakes daily
5) A hot tub (which I still want, by the way)
6) To go to private school
7) Ballet lessons


All of which I discovered, because of this program.

So deep was my love for this program? My kittens were named Arnold and Willis.

I watched the show with the Boy Child and the Girl Child recently and they thought it was hilarious. I commented to Jason while we watched that the show was really groundbreaking. A lot of the early episodes focus on racial issues. Understandable, because at the time there weren't any Angelina Jolie's adopting little different colored babies, so it wasn't in the focus of the American public.

Amazing really, how the world has changed since the days that Arnold and Willis Jackson came to live in the big city with Mr. Whitest Man Alive and his spoiled brat daughter because their momma died.

And really, wouldn't it be great if there WERE Mr. Drummond's (or Mrs. Drummonds!) in the world? Men with lots of money who went into the not-so-nice places to live and picked up the kids and said, "I want a better life for you," and then proceeded to give it to them? Even if the better life included those horrible Bill Cosbyish sweaters (I'm talking to you Willis)?

Didn't it seem like life was simpler then?

20 comments:

Dave Carrol said...

Why is it that the only episode i remember was when the saw the Mighty Mouse porno?

"What's that mouse doin Willis?"

Anonymous said...

I always wanted to redecorate the apartment.

Anonymous said...

LOVE me some on demand channels...this one ROCKS!!

Also, loving your new look....smashing!!

frannie said...

so much simpler--- scares me raising a little one this day and age.

Rachel (Crazy-Is) said...

Maybe life was simpler for us because we were still kids. We still had that wide-eyed innocence about everything. We didn't know about war and death and bills and parenting and all that comes with it.

Then again, maybe it was just simpler.

Rachel (Crazy-Is) said...

Also, I LOVE the new look!

SJINCO said...

OH MAN! I loved that show! And I also loved Three's Company. Any chance I get to watch marathons of either - I do!!!

Oh, and I love the new look!

Anonymous said...

I just remember being really disturbed by the episode where the daughter (was her name Kimberly???) was kidnapped by some freak! And he loved Strangers in the Night.

That song STILL scares me today because of Three's Company...

The concept of comedy back then was slightly different... Nothing terrifying ever happens on Friends!

And your new look is quite hot! Makes my little blog seem like it was dusted off after coming out of the trash!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

I was about to leave the most wittily wonderful comment of all time.

Then Becca's tush let out a very frightening sound. I'm gunna run now.

You look pretty in purple.

EE said...

"Wachu talkin' about, Willis?"...one of my all-time favorite tv lines.
Love your new banner!!

BS said...

Love the new look - pretty awesome! I used to watch Different Strokes with my kids ... funny how they would laugh at me now and scrunch up their faces in digust if I asked them to sit down and watch. Those were the good 'ole days.

Unknown said...

The purple is rocking. Love it!
Unfortunately, I never watched Different Strokes, so I have nothing constructive to contribute.
But still....I'm loving the purple!

Bethany said...

I have five brothers and sisters. When we were kids Diff'rent Strokes was one of the very few we could all agree on!

Love the new look!!

Alpha Dude said...

Yeah. Those were the days, huh?

Diggin' the new look.

Creamy Silver said...

I was always jealous of the bonus, spiral staircase in the kitchen.

I think of that show and all I can think of is 'yellow'. Was there a lot of yellow? I haven't seen an episode in a hundred years.

Unknown said...

Wow. We could do a lot of blogs on the shows we watched as kids in the 70's and 80's.

I watched that show, too. Now I have the theme song running through my head. Thanks.

Ditto everyone else on your new look, Chick.

Heathie said...

I think wishes 2, 4 & 5 sound like things I would never grow out of wanting.
Those purple vertical stripes have a slimming effect. I would like a shirt made out of those.

my4kids said...

I loved Diff'rent Strokes when I was younger I would love to watch the reruns! We don't have cable right now though

Love the new look.

Shanilie said...

Great list. How's it coming? Love your new template. How and where did you do that? Did you make it yourself?

Heather K said...

Love your template..it's so pretty... and your pics on flickr are neat, I like alot of them, but the one that stood out was of Dad making a gingerbread house with the munchkins.
Just popped over from my4kids.
Heather