T V GUIDED

Grand parents and parents when young, sat near a battery operated radio and listened to radio programs after supper. In the mid to early fifties, I sat on the floor of the neighbors and listened to the Lone Ranger with David and Julie. How else would a kid know The William Tell Overture?

In the past, we have looked at the television schedules listed in cities with daily schedules. Television started the broadcast around four in the afternoon and signed off after the ten o'clock news. For those of us who had television in the mid fifties, we turned the set on out side of that time frame to see a 'test pattern' with a Sioux chief in a head dress.

Mother bought the magazine TV GUIDE, most likely she had a subscription to it. She, like her daughter to follow later, liked to work the crossword puzzles. And one may not touch her puzzle. Old Trunks is not certain just when the magazine entered our household, she only knows the first issue had a picture of Lucy and Ricky's baby on the front--it was April 3, 1953.

And so it came to pass that spending fifteen cents became part of the grocery bill. If we were stumped on a word, we could hardly wait to get the next issue to finish the puzzle. I am remembering that Rachel was part of this sleuthing.

One day, before the new season began, the children in the neighborhood gathered on Bonham's patio. Some of these households had more than one child. The idea was to negotiate who got to watch what, and when. Contracts were drawn up. Discussions were hot. In the end, schedules were posted.

The idea of early morning cartoons became such an icon at our household that Rachel, who at that age, could not tell time BUT she knew she wanted her Saturday morning birthday party to start when a certain animation began and end with another. The invitations were send with the actual times following the show time.

TV Guide magazine slipped out of our lives for several years. It seemed as if by the end of October, the new shows had been picked and everyone had settled in. There was a time we didn't watch television. why would one need a guide?

A few years ago, now back into the pattern of watching television, I had a desire to renew my relationship with the little fifteen cent rag mag I had known in the past. I subscribed. How disappointing to receive a guide that was for all time zones, all programs, and the size of a piece of typing paper. The year ran out, I did not read it, nor did I use it.

Instead, I relied, once again, on the newspaper to find out what was on in the evening and made a spread sheet of favorites that are generally on. Seems to work for us:

Monday 9P Boston Legal

Tuesday 7P House

You get the picture.

Alas, I have recently read TV GUIDE has been sold for $1. The article states: "The sale demonstrates the difficulty faced by businesses that try to do in print what the electronic world can do better. Want to know what's on tonight? Sites such as AOL Television can provide up to the moment listings, with links and background. With a majority of Americans on cable, program listing are only a button push away. Traditionalists can still find listing in the newspaper.

The type of insider features that were once the meat and potatoes of TV Guide have become core programming for a multitude of magazines such as People and another dying franchise, Reader's Digest. The airwaves are replete with meta-TV programs about TV programs, such as Entertainment Tonight."

Wednesday 7P Bones

Thursday 7P Ugly Betty

Does your child know these terms?

Test patterns

Sign off

Little potato looking people with a sign saying network difficulty