Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
Are you a TV watcher? Remember when we only had three channels to watch. but we thought that was great. Then remember at first we all had were black and white TVs with small screens? There were shows like “Gunsmoke”, “Have Gun will Travel”, “I Love Lucy”, “I’ve Got a Secret” and oh, don’t forget Groucho Marx and the secret word.
How times have changed. Today, we can see news live as it happens, have choices of 100 or more channels, record shows and play them later and rent movies with a touch of the remote.
I still have my own favorite show, just like everyone does. I am a big fan of Reality Shows; especially “Big Brother”, “Survivor”, “The Bachelor” and “Dancing with the Stars”. One older show though that I enjoy watching is America’s Funniest Videos which airs on Sunday evenings. Years ago, there was another show that I enjoyed called “Candid Camera”. “America’s Funniest Videos” features animals, kids, people falling and all kinds of situations.
My favorite part of that show has to be the cute animals that seem to be able to do almost everything. Some dogs and cats are dressed up and can really do remarkable things. The host of America’s Funniest Videos said that they get thousands of videos in and how they choose the ones to be aired.
Right after America’s Funniest Videos there used to be a show hosted by Steve Harvey called “Little Hot Shots”. This show featured some of the most talented kids I have ever seen and quite a variety of talent. One show had a girl who loved horses, but her talent was running and jumping like a horse.The gal had pretty long legs, and she would put her hands on the floor and run and jump fences just like a horse. She even broke her own record on one of her “horsey” jumps.
Another episode had a little 5 year old boy who called himself a cowboy. He came out swinging a rope and could rope about anything you wanted.
Then there was a five year old little girl who knew how to pray. And pray she did. She told the audience to bow their heads and close their eyes. She then prayed that Steve Harvey would stop saying bad words, the sick to get healed and for almost everyone in the audience. The thing was this little girl was dead serious in her praying and here at my house I bowed my head and closed my eyes.
Another little boy was the youngest knife thrower in the world. He had quite a variety of knives and proceeded to throw them all around his little sister. What a showman and he never missed a target.
One little boy from China could do any kind of math in his head. All you had to do was tell him the numbers and he could add, subtract, square root, multiply and you had to wonder, “How does he do that?” Speak of talent!
One little gal had a duck that followed her all over. The big white duck would be always right back of her wherever she went on stage.
One especially entertaining act was a group of brothers who all sang and played bluegrass music. They were known as “Salty Dogs”. They must have been from blue grass country. because they could play banjo. fiddle, guitar and mandolin. Plus, they had just the right amount of “twang” in their voices.
One little girl could do bird sounds, while another little girl could sing. These kids were all multi talented and made a bright spot in TV watching on a long winter evening. It is good to know and see all these kids who did and do have special talents.
Well, while I do miss some of those old shows, these shows will tickle your funny bone and make you right proud of our young generation.
Have you ever watched Americas Funniest Videos or did you ever watch Little Big Shots? We all have some type of God given talent. Let me know what yours is and I’ll give you a Penny for Your Thoughts.
