tv-intros.com

I have been out of town for the past week in New Mexico speaking at a conference. I do like to travel. It’s fun and I enjoy the rest stops and all the trinkets and silly things that people always tend to buy. I love the open road on the highway and finally I take pleasure in coming home. So last night after a long trip on the road, it was great to be home. I was tired and actually quite beat. I sat in my recliner, turned on the TV, and there it was, in front of my eyes, in living color something I have not seen in years and years, and it got me thinking…

Hee Haw was a show my mother and father watched from the very first day it began in 1969 to the very last day it aired in 1993. It was the country version of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in, only filled with a bit of twang and music. Watching Hee Haw was like a family gathering. My father never missed it. He was a real disciple of Buck Owens and Roy Clark who hosted this show for twenty years.

I myself, who was not a country music fan, caught myself begrudgingly watching as I loved variety shows as a kid. I have to admit, there were times when I laughed at these country bumpkins from this TV fictional rural area known as “Kornfield Kounty”. Yes indeed there were some fairly funny skits. I think my favorite was the Gossip Girls. They sang a song that went like this;

“Now, we’re not ones to go ’round spreadin’ rumors
Why, really we’re just not the gossipy kind
No, you’ll never hear one of us repeating gossip
So you’d better be sure and listen close the first time!”

 The girls would then start to gossip. For me it was funny because it described the very thing that surrounded me. Gossip is just what you did in those days, and I think I learned what gossip was at a very young age, so of course this skit made me laugh.

Variety shows in those days showcased regular skits. I enjoyed many of the skits of Hee Haw which included, The Moonshiners, Empty Arms Hotel, Colonel Daddy’s Daughter, The Cornfield, The Haystack, The Culhanes, Doc Campbell, Justus O’Peace, Misty’s Bedtime Stories and actually the list goes on for quite some time. There was a plethora of skits and guest stars.

Hee Haw attracted hundreds of celebrity guests from virtually every segment of the entertainment industry and not just country music. You never knew who would end up on the show, which made it even more fun to watch. In all reality, some of the regulars were a real hoot to watch. Minnie Pearl, Archie Campbell, George Lindsey (Goober) Alvin “Junior” Samples, David “Stringbean” Akeman, Barbi Benton, John Henry Faulk, Gordie Tapp, Grandpa Jones, Jeannine Riley, Grady Nutt all contributed humor to this one time number one show.

The show had a skit called Hee Haw Salutes where they would salute a selected town. So today, after seeing Hee Haw for the first time in probably 20 years, I salute Hee Haw with fond memories and a kind heart.

Recently I stopped at restaurant that I have driven by many times. I was surprised by the feeling of comfort and nurturing that I encountered as I ate my meal and met the friendly, warm people, and it got me thinking….

 Family owned and run restaurants are becoming a luxury of the past. At Viro’s they actively try to create the atmosphere of Sicily here in Tucson. This includes the family embracing its patrons. 

 Vito and Rose have been in the food business in Tucson since 1985 when they opened a bakery on Speedway and Swan, and as the business grew they moved to Broadway and Old Spanish Trail. Their current location is at 8301 E 22^nd St.

The Italian Club

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the arrangement of the restaurant. There are glass casings that surround a small dining area that is casual and quaint. Vito stated the glass casings came from Sicily and that his goal was to “bring Sicily to Tucson.” That is just what he and his family have done with the help of their front room manger Robert.  

 In fact, they have done such a great job that when you walk in, you feel as though you are walking into a family-home dining experience. They are kindhearted and greet you with smiles and warmth. They ensure that your dining experience is what you want, not what they want.

 Ginny Roos, a regular that eats there at least once a week if not twice said, “We’ve been to the most expensive places, and this is by far the best place. The food is fresh, it’s healthy and you tell them what you want and they will do just as you say.”

 Let’s be honest, that doesn’t happen very often. This restaurant is not a chain and clearly does everything a chain restaurant does not. Each dish is cooked individually and precisely the way you ordered it, if you want roasted garlic rather than plain garlic, so be it; that is what you will get! You will also receive it at a price that you can afford because Vito and his wife Rose want to make authentic dining affordable.

Owners Vito and Rose

 How do they please every person that walks in? Why does the Italian club meet there monthly, and why are people so happy when they walk out? Vito says, “I’m an authentic Italian, I try to cook like my mother taught me.”  You can see his pride as he looks over at his family and his wife Rose, who does most of the baking. “We try to make our own unique things that are different and introduce them to people.”

 I have been there at least six times in the past three weeks. Each time, I have eaten excellent Italian dishes, the best homemade mozzarella cheese that I have ever tasted, and gelato, that Vito makes himself, and I have to admit I am addicted to. One of the best treats was a cannoli, made fresh for me, and I know it is an old saying, but if my mouth had legs it would have danced all night.

 Viro’s is retro in the fact that it has been around for some time now, but what makes it more of a blast from the past is the family comfort and atmosphere they give you when you enter their Sicilian haven. People who eat there are friendly as well, and each time I have been there I have spoken to total strangers as if they were my neighbor.

 Although I don’t write many restaurant articles like I used to, my visits to Viro’s have inspired me to venture out into Tucson’s culinary classics again. Please visit Viro’s in person or check out their webpage at http://www.virosbakery.com/

 If you would like to see more restaurants that have been in business 20 years or more, drop me a line and a suggestion.

 In the meantime, I think I am going to head over to Viro’s and order a nice Italian meatball sandwich with a piece of Rose’s cheesecake on the side.  Hope to see you all there….

I went on youtube today to fetch something, and I ran into an old clip of The Dating Game. It was interesting to watch a few moments of this show that first aired in 1965. I glimpsed at clips of a young John Ritter, Steve Martin, Farrah Fawcett, and even Michael Jackson as a young child asking three young girls questions. Although I felt old for a moment as I watched these clips, it got me thinking…

America sure has had a love affair with game shows. These games started to hypnotize people during the golden age of radio and eventually carried over to television. The first radio game show was The Pop Question, which was a news quiz show. In the 40s, when TV first hit the airwaves, games like Spin to Win, Break the Bank, Hit the Jackpot, and Winner Takes All made us all realize that game shows were going to take over daytime TV.

The 50s gave birth to TV game shows such as Twenty Questions, What’s My Line?, Beat the Clock, You Bet Your Life, I’ve Got a Secret, Name that Tune, The Big Payoff, Strike It Rich, People Are Funny, To Tell the Truth, G.E. College Bowl, Play Your Hunch, and, yep, good old Bob Barker in The Price Is Right.

The 60s ushered in so many game shows that it would be impossible to watch them all. TV game shows like Beat the Odds, The Dating Game, Dream House, The Hollywood Squares, It Takes Two, Jeopardy!, Let’s Make A Deal, The Newlywed Game, Password, Reach for the Stars, Sale of the Century, Supermarket Sweep, What’s this Song?, and You Don’t Say all captured our attention as we played along. It was as if we were part of a never-ending contest.

They say the 70s were the year game shows. We were still tuned into shows like Password, The Dating Game, Jeopardy, and Let’s Make A Deal when new game shows like The $10,000 Pyramid, The $25,000 Pyramid, Anything You Can Do, Card Sharks, Celebrity Charades, Celebrity Sweepstakes, Dealer’s Choice, Double Dare, Family Feud, The Fun Factory, Gambit, The Gong Show, High Rollers, The Joker’s Wild, Musical Chairs, Shoot for the Stars, Three for the Money, Wheel of Fortune, Whodunnit, and You Don’t Say! Hit the airwaves.

I remember growing up with these game shows. I recall hearing “Will the real John Brown please stand up” in What’s My Line, or “You did not tell the truth, so you must pay the consequences.” In Truth or Consequences. And come on, how about “Come on down,” how can we not think of The Price is Right when we hear that phrase?

TV game shows are not like they used to be. I doubt if we will ever capture the magic that the old shows offered us. It was real entertainment. People played to have fun and be on T, and, yes win money, but really today’s TV game shows are simply about winning money, it seems like the fun has been stripped away, and one would have to ask, whatever happened to TV games shows?