What makes good television? I used to think I knew, but the truth is, I only know what I like. Tastes change, opinions vary, and, as a result, channels have climbed from 4 to 400 plus in my lifetime.

What’s my point?

Oh, I have many. Sometimes it might be difficult to figure out what will or won’t sell, capture an audience, cultivate spin-off shows, spawn imitators, become marketing machines, cultivate careers … make history?

There is no telling what people will think of as ‘good’ these days.

Take “Jersey Shore,” for example. I mean who would have thought…

And, while there’s no accounting for taste, we can harken back to a simpler time before Pauly D, Snooki and The Situation when shows were different.

Way. Different.

They were in black and white. We call them Classics. They appealed to wider audiences; they had to. Families sat down in one room and watched them. Together! Nobody had a remote control. It was the best of times…It was the worst of times…

Recently someone sent me a PowerPoint presentation of their take on what constituted the first three decades of Classics in television, representing everything from “The Lone Ranger” to “I Love Lucy” and from “Mister Ed” to “Star Trek.”

And, it got me thinking; dangerous, I know. My first conclusion was that those shows were incredibly diverse in their subject matter, even in a time with so few channels and so many taboo subjects. The characters had to be rich and the storylines compelling, because shock value sure wasn’t going to save the day!

Even though I wasn’t around to see some of the Classic when they aired originally, (as I am very, very young) I do have some favorites that I caught in re-runs, when I was playing hooky from school.

Here are some off the top of my head:

- The Dick Van Dyke Show
- Gilligan’s Island
- Three’s Company
- My Three Sons
- Leave It to Beaver
- All in the Family
- That Girl
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Charlie’s Angels
- The Bob Newhart Show
- I Dream of Jeannie
- Welcome Back, Kotter
- The Partridge Family
- The Brady Bunch
- Bewitched

Hey, maybe some of these aren’t even “Classics,” but just shows that I remember loving, and therefor they are “Classics” to me.

Have you seen them? Do you love them?

And this brings me to my final point: You never know what will be the next big thing! I mean, a show about a talking horse? Anything can happen, people. So what’s your idea?

Until Next Time…