Confession of A Couch Potato

I have a confession to make. I was a serious couch potato back then. I still am a couch potato but now I’m hooked on television shows that are more sophisticated with complicated human dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, the O.C and Heroes.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I would quietly sneak downstairs and switch on the tv to watch Golden Girls and Three’s Company and sometimes Dynasty or Dallas. Even when I had exams the next day I would still find time to watch television the night before. My favourite shows were the sitcoms. I lusted for John Stamos from Full House and Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains. I’m sure you guys have your own favourite sitcoms / comedy but I’m going to list down 10 of my favourite shows. Call it a trip down memory lane.

1. Full House

After his wife is killed by a drunk driver, Danny Tanner, a talk-show host, is left with his three daughters (D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle). Danny's brother-in-law Jesse and best friend Joey move in to help him raise the three girls. Later in the series Jesse gets married to Rebecca Donaldson, Danny's co host of the talk show. Jesse and Rebecca eventually have twins, Alexander and Nicholas Katsopolis.

Don't you think Michelle was much cuter when she was little? And John Stamos was so hot back then! No wonder he could bag Rebecca Romijn...heheh...

2. Facts Of Life
You take the good,
You take the bad,
You take them both and there you have the facts of life.
The facts of life.

This 80's TV show chronicles a group of girls attend a boarding school and experience the good and the bad of adolescence under the guidance of housemother Edna Garrett. I always thought Blair was like the younger version of slutty Blance from the Golden Girls, Jo was the sarcy Sophia, and Tootie was blur like Rose. Don't you wonder whatever happens to them?

3. Growing Pains

The series centered around the Seaver family, who lived on Long Island in New York. Dr. Jason Seaver is a psychiatrist who works at home because his wife, Maggie, has gone back to work. So it's Jason's turn to supervise the kids: Mike, more interested in having a good time than in responsibility; Carol, the smart one; and Ben, no slouch himself at getting into scrapes. The show's producers then introduced another character named Luke Brower played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who briefly lived with the Seaver family. They brought in the young Leo when the ratings of the show were going down and hoped it could survived a few more seasons. The show however got cancelled after the 8th Season. It was good while it lasted.

4. Family Ties

Steve and Elyse Keaton (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney), once 1960s radicals, now find themselves in Reagan-Era American trying to raise a traditional suburban family. Son Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) is an ambitious Young Republican and his sister Mallory (Justine Bateman) is a shallow victim of the corporate culture, obsessed with music, clothes and boys. Their only normal kid is young Jennifer (Tina Yothers), a bit of a tomboy.

5. The Wonder Years
This TV show chronicles the life of Kevin Arnold, his friends and family, as he transitions from child to young adult during the late 60's.

6. Cheers

The main charachters are Sam Malone, the owner of the bar and a retired baseball player; Dr. Frasier - the "resident psychiatrist" who frequents the bar and could often use a little analysis himself; Norm - a semi-professional beer drinker and Cliff - a thirtysomething mailman who still lives with his mother. To get away from their "hum-drum" lives, they all come to the bar where "Everybody Knows Your Name".

7. The Cosby Show

My favourite character from this show was the cutey Rudy. Dr. Huxtable is like the perfect dad who is always understanding and forever making funny faces that could make you laugh no matter what situation you're in. Denise was the rebellious one and Theo was your typical male teenager.

8. Three's Company

Not the longest running sitcom by any stretch of the imagination, but by far one of the most pure-comedy shows of the decade. In any case, whether you prefer Chrissy or Janet, Mr. Roper, Larry, or Mr. Furley, this show managed to make everyone in the room laugh until they were in tears and on the floor. Perhaps John Ritter was so good at his role that he could never be cast as another character. R.I.P. Mr. Ritter.

9. Alf (Alien-Life-Form)

Well, what would you do if an alien's spaceship crashed into your garage? Call the police? If you lived in a TV sitcom, you would probably do just what the Tanners did--hide him in the kitchen and enjoy years of laughs. Actually, there was little more to the plot of ALF than that. The furry little creature, nicknamed ALF (For "Alien Life Form"), landed on the Tanners' garage when his spacecraft went out of control. Unfortunately the ship couldn't be fixed, and anyway, his home planet of Melmac had just blown up, so ALF took up residence in the pleasant suburban Tanner home, disrupting their formerly boring life and commenting sarcastically on the foibles of earthlings. The dense neighbors, never figured out what was going on.

10. The Perfect Strangers

In the beginning I found Balki Bartokomous annoying but then the show kinda grow on you after a while. Balki, a sheep herder from Mypos came to Chicago and decided to crash in with his cousin, Larry. Not only did he create havoc in Larry's life but he also became Larry's confidante. I just wish he would loose the accent though coz that was the annoying part about the whole show.