"joxer the mighty...roams through the country side..."

"Maggie, are you going to leave to go on another adventure?"
"Ass, you know that the Littlest Hobo only left when there was a resolution. That's Hobo Law."

We laughed... both products of childhoods sans cable. we had channel 3, channel 5, channel 7 and then 9. 11 and 12 were just different versions of 9. Channel 5 was everything to us and we were enriched from years parked in front of the CBC unless it was to watch classic re-runs on 3. The balance between being taught the basics of arts and crafts with Mr. Dressup and the eerie episode knowledge of I Love Lucy, Leave It to Beaver, Mork and Mindy and All in the Family. Of course there's more... more more more shows with fuzzy colours from the 70's... black and white tones and my secret desire for the professor from Gilligans Island. All shows that my parents had long seen, but they formed the better part of my time in the 80's. My parents glibly let me watch all of it and didn't drop the hammer when i stayed up until 4 am in the summer months during grade school watching the heady line up of Knight Rider, Magnum PI, Perry Mason, Emergency, Gilligans Island, The Munsters and a whatever show was tacked on the end as i was passing out in the recliner chair. i can't even profess enjoying television now other than what i wind up buying on dvd to watch on my own time schedule.
The 90's were equally good on me... Xena and Hercules offered up on channel 3 was ready soft-core porn for a teen baby queer. men running around in leather with sticks and unwieldy hard weapons? Okay, yeah I'm there...
It's elitest to try and differentiate between a childhood with and without cable... Maggie and I got the shit kicked out of us for various reasons, one being totally out of the loop on what was popular. Punky Brewster kiss my ass... Anway, miscreants to our peer groups, but always impressing the older set with our reams of Andy Griffin show trivia or knowing who exactly was Mr. Mooney and why he was trapped in a bank vault with Lucy.
Comfort on the couch and the silent tv in front of us. a nice break from my usual cycle of loathing and morose contemplation....