I spend the first half of the 80's in California, living in a beach appartment. At that time, simply having a cable box with HBO and a Beta VCR hooked into my 19" portable TV seemed state-of-the-art. When I moved to Houston in 85, I bought a house and had a backyard big enough to hold a 10" C Band Satellite dish. Back then, all channels were broadcast in the clear, and I could watch all the movie channels, news feeds and Canadian TV for free. Great variety but not terribly great programming.

Here are some of my favorite shows from back in the day.