Iam a sucker for old Tv shows. The Tv shows which gave us the first taste of the land of mcdonald, during the early days of cable Tv revolution in india. Iam talking about post 1994 onwards, When StarTV gave us Star plus Channel, which was a true blue English channel unlike the crap it is today. I remember, as a kid, i used to eagerly look forward to few shows which were my favorites at that time. Shows, that had substance, which you could enjoy watching and you would actually be eager to watch the next episode, shows which will always hold a special place in the hearts of people of my generation. The trash these days that are being aired in star world are no match for these classics! Starplus has gone to dogs for sure when took the worst decision to become a half baked hindi channel and now are nothing but Ekta Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan's butt kissers for Trp Ratings. I always used to wonder, if at all the classic Tv Shows that i grew up with, will make a return? wasn't there a sensible soul in Star TV, who the brains to bring back these classics for a rerun?
Well, Some one in Zeetv had brains! Now, thankfully, we have reruns of the classics, classic serials that i grew up with and everytime i watch them, it's like travelling through time machine and going back to the era, when life was simple, the era when mobile phones were nonexistant or were in it's infancy. Ahh, i miss those days! :( But Watching ZeeCafe after i reach home early morning from work, brings me smile and few memories back from my childhood. They have this OldSkool series running everyday, where they air most of my favourite Tv shows of the 90s. Early mornings by the time i reach home, iam lucky enough to watch reruns of three of my favourite serials from 90s.
My Favourite Classic TV Shows:
Papapa Papapa papa paapapa .... Mind Your Language begins with this song :) I get my smile back whenever i get hear this show's jingle. Set in the Early 80s, this show is about an adult class full of migrants in London, who have come to learn english. The teacher is Brit and he is Mr Brown. What i like about the show is the comedy which is derived out of the english language itself! The way these migrants who are of various nationalities, speak english and phrase sentences, has me in splits. But this show is clean of any form of racial remarks or abuse. It pokes fun through multi culturalism and the way these people interact with each other. I always loved the 70s to early 90s period when life was simple and people were more humane, this show is so simple and drives home the point with out any unnecessary drama. It's more of spontaneous humour. Even though there are 2 indians and a pakistani as students, there are no swear words even when there are humourous verbal duels between these two, especially between indian sardarji Ranjeetsingh and the Pakistani Ali Nadim. I like our ranjeetsingh's trademark phrase "a thousand apologies" !:P Life was simple and liveable those days!
Doogie Howser, M.D Set in the early 90s, this show is seen through the eyes of Doogie, who's a normal teenager, but is also a doctor! The whole show revolves around doogie, being a normal teenager and a child prodigy, who becomes a doctor and works as surgeon in a hospital. It shows the lessons of life learnt through his interaction with his patients, his friends and classmates. He struggles as he copes up to be a normal teenager and doctor. His best friend is Vinnie, who always drops by doogie's room through the window :P never through the door! Also vinnie is light headed and a flirt, the way he blurts out things, gives doogie a perspective of a normal teenager's point of view. At the end of each episode, doogie writes his thoughts in his dairy, which by the way is on the computer of those days, in MSDOS (!!) the camera follows the blue screen background and white text he enters, he sums up the entire episode in two lines max, what he learnt from that day's experience, which has it's relevance to us too and holds true even today.
Full House
Set in early 80s in Sanfancisco, is a story of a windowed father who has to raise 3 girls with the help of his friends. This show really has the 80s theme written all over it! be it the locations or costumes, they really take me back to 80s. This show promotes family values. The show if full of cute kids, Michelle is the cutie, who out of her innocense, lands some adults in embarassing situations :P Also the twin boys, Alex and Nicky, they are oh soo cute :P The entire show is full of goody goody feeling and is set in an ideal world where all people are good and good things happen always, Family comes first, no matter what and each member of the family always backs up others. Show, that makes your drool and makes you wish that your childhood should have been on that lines.
Lastly, my Favourite Show of all time, The Wonder Years Well, what is there to tell about this show? it's a masterpiece and one of it's kind, no other show can ever replace it's place. Set in late 60s and early 70s, it is about the life of Kevin Arnold, Who is born in a typical american middle class family of those years and how he copes with his life, deals with his problems related to growing up! I used to watch this show every single day when it was being aired on TV in early 90s. I could relate to Kevin in so many ways, so could others, it was realistic, the lessons he learns through his Dad, Jack Arnold was fabulous. Kevin's best friend paul is a nerd and geeky. Kevin's brother wayne, is a bully and dumb when it comes to studies, Kevin's sister Karen, is a hippie and a confused teenager almost ruining her life, Kevin's mom Norma, is the most loveable mom in the world to him and who can forget Kevin's love interest, Winnie cooper! The way he describes or the way he tells us his thoughts running in his head is simply superb. Iam fortunate enough of get my hands on All seasons DVD set of this show through one of my contacts! I no longer have to endure commerical breaks in zee cafe to watch Kevin's life. Whenever i feel down and out, i pop in a DVD of this show and watch to my heart's content. This show always leaves me with a heavy heart and also with feel good factor. This show is a must watch for all!
Phew! that was one heck of a nostalgic ride! :P But i never get tired of it, these shows will always hold a special place in my heart, especially The Wonder Years because, they give a option to go back in time and seek comfort and solace in a world, which was simple, whenever i want to get off my mind from the rat race that iam in to and from my monotonous life, i watch one of these shows and always, i end up feeling better.
God bless the soul in Zee Cafe, who had the heart to bring back these classics. Am sure that person would have grown up watching these shows, only people who grew up watching these classics will understand their timeless importance.
