I have just one word for you, and it's...

Holiday greetings to you one and all as we local turkeys give thanks for this day and for every day, sharing with friends and loved ones the abundance in our lives.

Several of us middle-aged and above fellows were discussing abundance the other day around the beer-bellied stove, delineating our appreciation for our respective age groups.

"I'm sure glad that I am not a kid growing up in this day and time."

"You got that right."

"Can you imagine having Dr. Phil as a hero?"

"It ain't the heroes. Look at the damn television. Where have all the good shows gone? We got all that reality crap. Did you see the promo last night for 'Bones' and 'House'? Where do they get off on all these one-word TV shows? 'Medium'? What about 'Small' and 'Large'? 'Surface'? What about 'Subcutaneous'?"

Which got me to thinking how thankful I am that we grew up in the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s with some really great one-word TV shows.

Do you remember "Mama"? First telecast on July 1, 1949, this CBS Friday night live television broadcast was certainly the forerunner of the "watch our family grow comedies" like "Ozzie and Harriet," "Make Room for Daddy," and "Father Knows Best."

Ratings must have been a bit heavier in our Northwest neighborhoods as this show featured "Mama," played by Peggy Wood, orchestrating her Norwegian-American family of five through turn-of-the-century San Francisco on Maxwell House coffee and lutefisk.

The longest running but more slow-walking one-word TV show was "Gunsmoke." Twenty seasons from 1955-1975 of Miss Kitty, Doc Adams, Chester and Marshal Matt Dillon. While I never liked "Gunsmoke" as much as "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" -- which also first appeared the same week in 1955 -- I do appreciate that my first fantasies of Dad and me hanging out in a saloon were in the Long Branch, right there in Dodge City.

Of course, I did have to give up Saturday nights with "The George Gobel Show" for Miss Kitty.

Many of our early detective shows were one-worders. "Dragnet," "Climax," "Kojak," "Cannon," "Mannix," "Ironside" and "Checkmate" were a few of those top 20 shows in their time.

The one-worded, one-woman comedies like " Maude," "Julia," "Bewitched," "Hazel," "Rhoda," "Flo," "Alice," and "Phyllis" kept audiences laughing on tracks even when nothing was funny. Notice how today's television does not supply audience reaction sounds for those grotesque comedies like "Fear Factor," "Law and Order" and "CSI-Body Parts."

Whatever happened to Miss Francis and "Ding Dong School?" If she came back to join Chuck Barris, we could have "The Ding Dong Gong Show."

But if Tuesday Weld married Ted Knight, she'd be Tuesday Knight.

"M*A*S*H" is really not a one-worder TV show, but we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge this powerhouse acronym and its cult of cynical liberals. Were I programming one-word TV shows for 90 minutes on a Wednesday night, I would add a show called "Potatoes" to the lineup of "M*A*S*H" and "Ed."

Yes, an abundant life we lead and are led by as we remember more great one-word TV shows like "Cheers," "Soap," "Taxi," "Seinfeld," "Friends" and "CHiPs." Remember the early '80s when Erik Estrada posters were outselling The Doors' Jim Morrison posters? Thank goodness we have survived those days.

How can we forget 14 seasons of "Dallas," 17 seasons of "Lassie," 14 seasons of "Bonanza," or too many seasons of "Dynasty"?

How can we forget those great male role models like "Cheyenne," "Sugarfoot," "Zorro," "Maverick," "Tarzan" and "Alf"?

What about those great female role models like "Cher," "Roseanne," "Ellen," "Cybill" and "Flipper"?

One-word TV shows may have been the previously unacknowledged great teacher for me as I continue to pattern my life after the kindness and courtesy of "Benson," the firmness of "Hunter" and the sarcasm of "Coach."

Thank goodness I am not growing up today, influenced by the greed of "Survivor," the stupidity of "Elimidate" or the unsettledness of "Cops."

This Thanksgiving weekend I can be thankful for the dollar DVD bins sporting such finds as "Mr. and Mrs. North," "The Jackie Robinson Story" and "Bela Lugosi Meets the Brooklyn Gorilla." I can be thankful that I have a choice on how and when to waste my time, whether it be one word at a time, or a series of words that appear as TV shows.

Oh no! Did I forget to mention "Daktari?" What a show! Can it get any more exciting than watching Marshall Thompson walk around a wild animal park near Los Angeles with his pet lion Clarence, his pet chimp Judy and his better-not-pet daughter Paula? Talk about an action adventure. Those veterinarian shows have always been a real crowd pleaser.

And with that, thanks to all you veterinarians who have stayed out of the turkey and ham trade so that we may bless our bounty in the tradition of our holiday eating habits.

Jim Freeman can be reached at fun@whidbey.net.

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