TV Guide – A Peek Into the Past

Will (aka Grandmaster Faust)

Married with Children tv guide covers collection

It seems like it was a lifetime ago. A time before smartphones and streaming and subscriptions. A time before “content” and influencers. It may have been a simpler time, unknowingly right on the cusp of the digital age when everything would change and tangible items would become less meaningful and oftentimes just… trash. It was a time of phone books, address books, and TV Guide.

As I continue to share my collectibles here, I have come to realize it is a mixed bag of emotions. TV Guides included. On the surface it is exciting. It is exciting to share with like-minded fans that share a passion. Underneath the excitement, there are complex feelings of nostalgia fueled by love, loss, and introspection. How can a weekly miniature catalog of tv listings by day and time (essentially a spreadsheet) be so meaningful? For me, it is a mixture of the excitement that was youth, the transition into adulthood, the memories of watching an inappropriate show with my mom, the development of my personality and humor of the most crucial years of my life, and so very much more. Plus, who didn’t love to read Cheers and Jeers?

What ridiculous thing makes you nostalgic? I don’t want to be the only weirdo here!

5 responses to “TV Guide – A Peek Into the Past”

  1. Norman Jablonsky Avatar
    Norman Jablonsky

    Wasn’t the July 29-August 4, 1989 issue a point of contention between Ed & Amanda? TV Guide’s photographer should have included Amanda & David Garrison.

    1. Will (aka Grandmaster Faust) Avatar
      Will (aka Grandmaster Faust)

      I never knew that. If the article was specifically about the Bundys, then I guess no. But since it is about MWC as a whole, then definitely yes, they should have been included.

  2. Bud Bundy Avatar
    Bud Bundy

    TV Guide. Now there’s a relic. Al used to fight Peg over who got to read the Cheers and Jeers section first, which is funny because neither of them could focus long enough to finish a full paragraph. I remember flipping through those things looking for anything that mentioned our show, and half the time they spelled my name wrong. Good times. Also, you’re definitely not the only weirdo here. This whole club is built on it.

  3. Christin Avatar
    Christin

    Oh man, I love this. You’re definitely not the only weirdo here. 😄
    And I think it’s so wonderful what you can take away from this. Whether it’s posters, books, videos or, in your case, magazines — some of these things were with us back then. Through all the feelings, different phases of our lives and the people around us. They don’t only bring back memories of MWC, but also of our own childhood and youth.
    And yes, they’re objects. We can touch them. Just like we touched them back then. To put it a little dramatically, we left our childhood fingerprints on them — and now we can touch them again.
    And I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, so I can only speak for myself. But what’s happening here and now, digitally, feels a bit like integration to me. A part of the past somehow becomes part of the present. And maybe that’s why all of this still feels so unreal to me sometimes.
    And as much as I would have loved for my younger self to experience the Bundy Club and all these quick and easy connections, I’m also really grateful I grew up without the internet.

  4. Brendan Avatar
    Brendan

    TV Guides yeah a nice blast from the past and Married with Children oriented. Nice. Very cool dude.

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