Joan’s Boomer Blog

Want to watch not only 1950’s TV shows free in the internet but also old TV shows from the 1940’s and 1960’s, plus old and new movies? Retrovision Internet Television has hundreds of great TV shows from the 1950’s -plus many from other decades. Here are some new additions to Retrovision Internet Television.

Danger Flight (1939)

Tommy Thompkins is a pilot who’s not really a superhero, sometimes takes bad advice, falls into stupid traps, and fails to win any fights he’s in.

Bewitched (1969) on Hulu

One of my all time favorite “old” TV shows. I love Samantha, Darrin and the Bewitched crew. Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972. The show stars Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York (1964-1969), Dick Sargent (1969-1972) and Agnes Moorehead.

Billy the Kid Trapped (1942)

After Billy, Fuzzy and Jeff are rescued from a hanging by mysterious strangers, the countryside if terrorized by three men, posing as Billy, Fuzzy and Jeff. Sheriff Masters puts Billy and his pals.

Star Trek has been in the news lately with the release of the newest Star Trek movie. Watch old episodes of this great science fiction classic, which aired from 1966-1969.

Stage Fright (1950)

Jane Wyman was always one of my favorites. In this movie from 1950, she plays Eve Gill, an aspiring young actress, who shelters a fellow acting student, Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd), from the police. He is suspected of murdering the husband of his mistress.

Subscribe to Retrovision and receive email updates on new TV shows from the 1950’s and other decades, movies from all eras and old radio shows. New old shows and movies are added daily.

The changes in Guiding Light reflected the changes in society as I grew up. The Guiding Light of the 1950’s centered on the Bauer family, old “Papa” Bauer and his three children, Bill, Meta and Trudy. Life centered around the activities in Bill and his wife Bert’s kitchen, with Papa dispensing advice.

Even now, the Bauers are woven into the fabric of the show, though Rick Bauer’s occasional appearance, is the only real Bauer representation left.

Guiding Light is woven into the fabric of my own life in small ways. I watched it religiously all through college, making sure my class schedule didn’t conflict with being available at 2 pm each day so I could see what was going on with Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris. It was during those years too that Alan Spaulding and his clan made their first appearance and Kevin Bacon played an alcoholic teen.

When my daughter was young, I spent about 10 years with my own home daycare. Part of what kept me sane during that time was NAP TIME. All the kids took a nap from one to three each afternoon. I put on As the World Turns and Guiding Light, worked on my latest craft project and relaxes for two brief, wonderful hours.

When we got our DVR last year, I decided to try recording Guiding Light every day to watch while I was fixing dinner and it was easy to pick up the thread of the tale again. Many of the characters, Alan, Reva, Josh and Buzz, were still there, just older, heavier and grayer like me.

As the years went by, life in Springfield changed just as society changed. Women went out to work and had less and less time to spend with the Bauers in Springfield or watching any soap, for that matter. The fact is, life has become so rushed that even PBS’s Masterpiece Theater no longer makes a series that lasts 12 weeks because they don’t think the viewing public will commit to any show for that long.

These days, a TV series can air one or two episodes and suddenly disappear from the airwaves, Most viewers are afraid to get to liking a new show too much until it’s in it’s second year, at least, because their favorites can be gone overnight.

Imagine any network now days committing to a television show like Guiding Light for 72 years!

Life has changed all right but many times I miss Bert Bauer’s comfortable kitchen and Papa Bauer’s advice on family problems. Many young people have never known a warm, loving, close knit family like the Bauers or Don and Nancy Hughes’ family on As The World Turns.

For several years, the Guiding Light fans who are still loyal have been threatened with cancellation of the show. The actors were recently asked to take pay cuts and a couple of long-time Springfield residents jumped over to All My Children. I, too, felt the quality of the stories on Guiding Light had suffered in recent years and this probably didn’t help the declining viewership either.

I read this morning that the replacement for Guiding Light may be a new version of $25,000 Pyramid. Does the world really need another cheaply produced game show?

However, even with all it’s problems, if something that has been an institution for 72 years can disappear from the airwaves, what’s next? If all the soaps disappear, daytime TV will be a barren wasteland of game shows and more talk shows. Nothing worth setting the DVR for there.

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