When did you get your first VCR and what was the first sitcom you ever videotaped?

[bb]

At the local Target last night night I noticed they had VCRs on sale for $49.99.
Far cry when my parents ( both gone now ) bought their first VCR back in 1975 for $3000. I remember my dad making such a big deal about taping the Sunday football games and for some reason he always taped Emergency. Guess he was a Julie London fan or something.

First show I ever taped myself was Real People in 1980 ( I also taped Games People Play featuring Mr T. that same week ). Real People, Always did like that show. For awhile it was on a channel called CBS Eye on People then the channel cahnges to Discovery People and for some reason that channel disapeared. I remember when Skip Stevenson died. Also does anybody remeember the old HBO Sneak Preview shows they used to air every month starring Ben Stiller's parents?
They were funny as heck! They aired from the late 70s til 1982.

First Sitcom that I got on tape mysef was a show called Delta House. Based on National Lampoon's Animal House.

The oldest tape in my collection is from my dad dating back to the late 70s. Anybody remember Turnabout ( about a man and his wife switching with each other ) and Brothers & Sisters ( another Animal House )?
Also got Supertrain and Pink Lady, guess they could be considered sitcoms in a way as both were funny to watch as both shows were so bad.

Watching the older tapes I get a big kick watching the old network promos and commericals ( my dad for some reason always kept them in ). " ABC.. Still the one ", " NBC US ", and "CBS...looking good together ". Miss those old promos.

How many tapes do you have in your collection? I have about 5000 in mine including every ep. of Car 54, I Love Lucy, Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, I Married Joan, Dennis the Menace, Emergency, Dragnet, Mr. Ed, Donna Reed, Maude, Alice, Mama's Family,
The Ropers, The Fugitve with David Jensen, Dick Van DYke, and Good Times.

What is the most unusual/ rarest thing you captured on tape? I got the debut of Nick@Nite ( remember the Nick@Nite movie?) on a sad note I got the infamous NBC NEWS update ( think it was during Gimmie A Break ) of Jessical Savitch reading the news drunk ( some say she ws high on coke ) slurring through it. Even though its been 20 years almost- still difficult to watch. She died not too long afterward.

[ThomasE]

E-Mail me quick! I would love to have some original stuff. By the way my first time taping was 1986. The show: Webster when it was on weekdays at 11:30am on ABC. Then I taped it on a friday night at either 8pm or 8:30.

[TV Favorites]

Oh...I don't even remember what the first show I ever recorded was...it seems that it was probably I Love Lucy from Nick at Nite or some (then) current network series in the late 80's or early 90's.

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[dawsongirl]

bb, I am very jealous of you! That old stuff must be so cool to watch!!

I think we got our first VCR in 1987. I think I taped The Baby Sitters Club shows off, what, HBO maybe?

I have over 300 tapes, including store bought.

[LONEWOLF]

The show Dear John, with the episode with everybody talking about the worst Christmas they had and the best. Kirk's one was the best part when he played piano and sing and had all the women taking off theirs dresses only leave theirs underwear on. And gave him alot of money for charity for that little old lady he was helping out.

[DJM77]

In 1988 my grandparents gave my parents a VCR. Cheers was on that night and I taped it.

I think it was during The A-Team when Jessica Savitch did that infamous NBC news brief where she was slurring her speech and could not pronounce the word "handgun". At the time Savaitch blamed it on a malfunction telepromter or course it was later revealed that she had a severe drug problem. YOu are right, she died not long afterward, both her and her boyfriend ( and dog ) all were killed in a car crash. Both these events happened in the fall of 83. I remember watching it and remembering my mother saying whats up with her.

About VCRS, were there such things prior to the mid 70s? A friend of mine swears that he remembers some sort of video tape outift on sale at a Montgomery Ward for about $2000 sometime in the late 60s- early 70s. I read a book that even Elvis Presley bought a "video tape machine to tape football games and Sunday morning church shows while he slept during the day". The book says this was 1968. The book also said that the machine rarely worked.

Wonder what kind of video tape machine Elvis had back then?

[twinkle44301]

We bought our first VCR back in the late 70's. It was a Sony BetaMax and it was used. We paid $1,200 for it, and it was money well spent!!! Considering our house payment was around $500, it was a lot of money for the time...

[The Gooch]

My family bought our first VCR in fall of '85 when I was in the second grade. The first thing we taped was Superman III. Besides that, I still have an episode of Pee Wee's Playhouse and Teen Wolf the cartoon from December of '86. I remember taping it because that was the day we went out to get my Christmas tree. The funniest thing is to watch the old commercials from that time.

[Penny Lane]

We got our first VCR in 1988 and I think the first sitcom I taped was Mama's Family.Inow have all the episodes.

[bb]

about VCR's prior to 1975, before betamax and such I believe with the video recorders available at that time you had to thread the video tape by hand, much like the old reel to reel machines. And I dont think they recorded in color either.

I remember my school had a few of those ( this would be in the early 80s ) and recall my teacher getting mad about the threading process.

I wouldnt be a bit surpirsed if this is the system Elvis had but I dont know.

I once read a book that the very first home video systems came on the market in 1965, but with them costing thousands of dollars pretty much only Elvis could afford them.

[Attmay]

Oh god! I would love to get some of that old stuff! Would the following folks Please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me!!!!:

BB (need a complete list)
ThomasE (Webster primetime airings)
DJM77 (Cheers)
NewhartFan (Mama's Family)

I have stuff I can trade for!!!

BTW, my family got its first VCR in December 1984. We used to tape a lot of stuff off the Disney Channel in those days; a complete episode of The Guiding Light my Mom taped still is in my collection; the date is 9/26/1986 (which I have determined from the promos). The first sitcom I believe I taped may have been Webster. If I had known about syndication cutting, I'd have done a lot more.

The first show I taped regularly was The Simpsons; I still tape it to this very day as I did in December 1989.

[DJM77]

To Attmay - I would send you the tape of that Cheers episode off NBC from 1988 but that tape is long gone. I think I ended up taping over the Cheers episode but never the less the tape got warped a few years ago after I spilt kool-aid on it. I'm sorry. Anyway, good luck on getting the other tapes that you wanted.

[vienna waits]

Originally posted by Attmay:
BTW, my family got its first VCR in December 1984. We used to tape a lot of stuff off the Disney Channel in those days; a complete episode of The Guiding Light my Mom taped still is in my collection; the date is 9/26/1986 (which I have determined from the promos). The first sitcom I believe I taped may have been Webster. If I had known about syndication cutting, I'd have done a lot more.

OMG!!! You taped that on the day I was born!! Cool!

[Chelsea]

I got my VCR about 2 years ago. For a while, all I taped was movies. Then, a little racing, then, in Sep. 2000, I started taping FOL. I've taped a couple eps of other things (not counting the frequent game show tapings), but main;y, as far as sitcoms, FOL