Nonfiction | December 01, 2009

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In those early days we watched Get Smart, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Joker’s Wild (“Joker, joker, joker!”), The Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Welcome Back, Kotter. A captive audience, we watched greedily, singing along with every theme song, falling over ourselves at every punch line, following every story line as though they were our story lines instead of some schmuck’s on the television. When Dr. Johnny Fever was forced to wear a disco suit to host a dance show, we shook with the outrage; when Mr. Kotter’s wife walked out on him because of the Sweathogs, our hearts shattered; and when Bobby Brady got to play catch with “Broadway” Joe Namath, we fell silent with awe.

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