Nostalgia Topic!

[Smiles2us]

I used to sort of like Garfield and Friends by I always found it dry, even as a kid. I never liked the US Acres part of the show.

Same!

[Anyponedrawn]

I wasn't a fan of the animated Garfield series but it was the best one when compared to the terrible CGI one made in France.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Fan or no, you must admit they pulled in some pretty A-list voice talent...  and gave much-needed work to quite a few faces, if you're a classic TV show buff such as I, you might know: Don Knotts, Pat Buttram, Marvin Kaplan, Eddie Lawrence, Rip Taylor, Buddy Hackett, Imogene Coca, Harvey Korman, June Foray, Arnold Stang, Stan Freberg, Paul Winchell, John Moschitta, Jr., and, of course, Howie "Ernest T." Morris.

 Not, sadly: Charles Nelson Reilly, who was busy doing Space Cats and that new Pink Panther show about that time... but Frank Welker's impression of him is pretty funny.   Welker would do the voice again for another character in The Garfield Show. "Hmmm-mmm-mm!"

[Anyponedrawn]

As a kid, I never knew any of the voice actors, but looking back I can at least appreciate it.

[Soda]

Saw this in the AT&F topic. Probably fits better here. Nostalgia? Old play places of McDonald's.  I remember the more plastic tubes and ball pits. Not what is pictured below.

^ Those things bring back cold, metal, memories! I can't believe those were a thing at one time. I don't exactly know which era these McDonald's play land sets were made, but it makes me think of the 70's and 80's, but I know some of these were still around in the 90's. I remember them!

[NostradamusTheSeer]

I don't remember ball pits at Mickey D's... I do, though, have a photo, circa 1986, of me and my friends playing in one at Showbiz Pizza Place, which is what Chuck E. Cheese used to be called in my day.  They were removed after horror stories came out in the press of people finding soiled diapers, used syringes, live snakes and even scorpions hiding under their balls.
[long pause]
...Well, you know what I mean.   

Oh, speaking of great places for a kid to be a kid... anyone here old enough to remember Adventure River? Their ads were all over local television in the eighties, even used as the setting for a segment on an episode of the Joe Cool show. Man, does that water look inviting.

He was the face of Memphis children's TV for two decades. I might have to do a whole separate post on that guy, actually...a lot of kids from my generation fondly remember him.  It was like Bob Saget had a twin brother, who frequently raided Dave Coulier's closet for his extra Hawaiian shirts.

[FoxTail]

Sadly I don't know anything about local Tennessee theme parks but I can relate to old McDonald's play areas. I remember they had shoe shelves, U shaped pieces of colorful plastic to place your shoes while you ran into the maze of plastic tubes and ball pits.  I remember some were elaborate tubes with windows looking down, bigger rooms to hang out in, and slides from the top to the bottom. They were actually kinda wild! I doubt kids today could handle it without having some sort of panic attack.

[RainySunshine]

I remember one of my McDonald's had a HUGE tube play area.  It went up like two stories and had a net bridge at the top level and crows nest. It was pretty incredible. They would NEVER allow this cool stuff now days. As Fox said, kids would probably have panic attacks because they are so weak now days.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

The things I remember from my youth would probably make them fart blood and die...    From candy cigarettes to paddling in schools to uncensored and mildly ethnically-insensitive cartoons shown on television every afternoon at three, and for five straight hours on Saturdays.  And then there were my college days. One snowflake told me after seeing the words "fresh clam buffet" she stopped reading right in the middle of the page.         (demonic laughter)

[Anyponedrawn]

Chuck E Cheese, or places like it. Remember those? Think of the decor, the neon, the dirty floors, the snell of pizza, games, etc!

[Silverwing]

Chuck E Cheese, or places like it. Remember those? Think of the decor, the neon, the dirty floors, the snell of pizza, games, etc!

Of course! I remember going to kid's birthdays (when I was a kid) to those places. Usually the animatronic band was disabled and did not play.   I used to like claw machine games and the ski-ball board.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Madballs!

Popular in the eighties; has a brief resurgence in the late nineties.  Saw a display of them at Kaybee's Toys thirty years ago.

...Come to think of it, Kaybee's Toy Store. That's been gone awhile now, too.  In college I'd visit my family once a month, and together we'd all hit the Indian Mall--now chapter-elevened, shuttered, and home to nothing but a sea of old happy memories.  And a Kroger.

[Silverwing]

Wow, I remember Madballs! Wow!

I miss KB Toys & Hobby. That was a FANTASTIC chain store! I liked it more than Toys R Us.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Speaking of old stores that don't exist anymore, I miss FRED's.  I used to love their TV spots back in the late eightes/early nineties with the old couple, ostensibly owners Mr. and Mrs. Fred Baddour (played by actors, of course), where Fred's wife would admonish him about selling everything so cheaply. The last few stores closed for good less than a year after I moved to this new neighborhood, including this one right down the road from my apartment.  Guess that old fartknocker had the last laugh after all, huh? Maybe they should have done one more ad: it's late at night and Fred, a figure clearly gone mad, is using a shovel to tamp down the dirt over a small grave bearing his wife's name, murmuring, "Teach you to tell me not to give away the store, you mouthy old bitch. Heh heh heh."   

Also, Mo' Money Taxes.  Their ads always hit airwaves about this time each year at the start of Super Bowl playoffs. If their poor business practices hadn't killed them, the post-George Floyd flap in light of their company's unapologetically proud "whigger" mascot would've.

[Rainberry]

I've never heard of FRED's, must be a local thing.

I miss KB Toys & Hobby. That was a FANTASTIC chain store! I liked it more than Toys R Us.

We had a KB Toys in a strip mall, but boy was it fun! There was also one in a mall nearby! I remember two of those KB Toys stores and a Toys R Us in town!