I like the topic of Olive Tree Genealogy’s Sharing Memories this week, so I’m back in.

I know I watched Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Captain Kangaroo when I was little. And of course, there were always cartoons like Bugs Bunny and others. I don’t remember much of them, just that I watched. The Muppet Show was also popular in our family. Again, I remember more of that from watching re-runs during my college years. Every now and then, I’ll catch an old clip on YouTube from any of these shows and somehow vaguely remember it.

I also know that I watched Star Trek with my Dad. This is another one of those memories where I know that I did something but can’t specifically remember.

I remember arriving at junior high school to find everyone talking about the same TV shows that I had never seen. I was somehow able to convince my parents to watch, or let me watch, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Growing Pains (I remember Leonardo DiCaprio before Titanic). There might have been others, but those are the ones I remember best. My parents liked the shows too, so finally I wasn’t a social outcast in those conversations.

Of course, once you start watching prime time shows, you get all the commercials for the others and you keep going. Senior high school viewing included 90210 and Melrose Place. And Dinosaurs. Our family loved Dinosaurs. BTW, “I’m the Baby! Gotta love me!”

I don’t know how I started watching MacGyver in high school, but I remember that one specifically. I was allowed to watch it because no one else was interesting in watching anything else from 7-8pm. Unfortunately, my best friend at the time loved to call me during that hour, so I’d just ask her the time and she’d call back later.

During college, I finally watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and loved it. Oddly, I had no memory of watching the pilot when it came out when I was 14, but I knew it was relevant to the finale, so I rented it — and remembered half of it. So I figure my Dad and I did watch that episode, but he prefers the original.