I remember I Love Lucy from the 50's with affection, and the early westerns like Gunsmoke and Hawkeye, and The Lone Ranger. Oh, and Whirlybirds, which was about a pair of blokes who flew Bell 47 helicopters. Then there was the Canadian series Cannonball about a trucker.
I also loved the early Dr Who series, and Lost in Space. I've always been a sci fi fan, so both of those were a given. Also Star Trek (both Kirk and Picard), and later on Babylon 5, of which I've got the complete boxed set that also has the 3 films that were derived from it.
Being a Brit, I can also remember the satirical show TW3 from 1962/3. The full title was, 'That Was The Week That Was', and Millicent Martin sang the introductory song each week, with lyrics that were relevant to the news items that week, and that day even. It was a live show in front of a live audience that went out at 10.30pm on Thursday evenings, and you never knew what might happen from one minute to the next.
For instance, there was a theatre critic called Bernard Levin who did a spot each week. One night I was watching him eviscerate yet another West End show when a tall man suddenly appeared on camera. He walked over to Levin and proceeded to punch him hard several times before being subdued and removed by various camera and technical people. Apparently Levin had severely criticised a play that the attacker's wife was heavily involved in (I think she may have written it) and he wasn't happy about the way Levin had ripped it to pieces on TV.
TW3 was also the show that David Frost cut his interview teeth on, and every week he would utterly destroy a politician to their face by interviewing them live in the studio. The funny thing was that politicians of the day were lining up to see if they could beat Frost intellectually, but none of them ever did. They all left red-faced with embarrassment when Frost had finished with them.
The show was finally taken off air when the then comptroller of the BBC, a man named Stuart Hood, was bullied by the Tory government as they were afraid the show could influence the outcome of an upcoming General Election. As it was, it made no difference, the Tories were voted out and Harold Wilson became our Prime Minister for the next 5 years.
Other than those shows, I also liked all the old westerns that we imported from the USA. Ones that stand out were the Mavericks, of which there were several I recall. Apart from Bret, there was also Beau (played by Roger Moore) and I think Bart, but I can't remember who played him. I enjoyed the gentle humour of the series as well as the gun play.
Wagon Train, was another one from the early days, and then Rawhide with Clint Eastwood and Gil Favor, and eventually Bonanza with big old Hoss.
Shifting to more modern cowboys there were the Beverly Hillbillies with their 'fancy eatin' table' and the not too subtle sexual comedy of the girl with the sports car who was always trying to bed Jethro, but never succeeding.
Speaking of Hills, Hill St Blues still stands out for me, as a gritty cop show with some built in humour, and I was very sad when it ended on a low point, with the short fat detective walking out muttering under his breath about the way he'd been treated by the higher ups.
Other shows that stand out are Monty Python (of course) although I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't a show about barnstorming aircraft when I watched the first ever episode (I'm an aviation fan!). Instead it was a rather off the wall sketch show that just ended one bit and went into 'something completely different' without any break or pause.
'Sykes and a...' shows that starred Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques. They played brother and sister, and each week saw them trying a new job or occupation. Deryck Guyler was a co-star of these shows, where he always played the jobsworth who tried to stop them from succeeding at whatever they did.
Then there was M.A.S.H. and Cheers, from which we got Frazier, and mustn't forget Golden Girls, and much more recently Big Bang's been a cut above the rest, and returning to the sci fi theme I like Resident Alien, of which the fourth series is just starting on UK television.
I'm sure there are many others as well, but I can't think of them off hand.
