Some TV Shows of the '90s

Back in 1992 when I was awakening to life, we didn't have electricity at home. We also didn't have a television set. Senior members of my family kept abreast of world affairs by listening to a radio we owned. I can still see them in my mind's eye, feasting on supper in a lantern-lit room while listening to the radio.

In 1993, something magical happened at home: we got connected to electricity. Soon afterwards, my family acquired a black-and-white television set called Greatwall that caught my fancy. I would stare at it with the curious eyes of a small child.

The Greatwall TV had an adjustable antennae. It also had knobs that made it look like a microwave. The knobs were for switching it on and changing stations. That was the era before remote controls became household items.

Because Kenya had only one television station back then (the state-owned KBC), we didn't have a variety of shows to choose from when watching TV. We relied on what KBC had to offer.

And KBC aired quite a number of delightful shows in the '90s. One of them was a foreign soap opera called "The Bold and the Beautiful". I was too young to understand the soap opera but it must have been entertaining because I once heard my late mother mentioning it.

The TV show I enjoyed in the early '90s was "Tahamaki" which was produced locally and acted in Swahili. It was always full of riveting drama. During its last airing on TV, one of its main characters - a boy whose stage name I can't remember - was bitten by a snake that crawled beneath the grass he was sitting on.

Another TV show I enjoyed in the early '90s was the unforgettable WWF wrestling program which aired on Tuesdays after 7:00 p.m. news. I enjoyed it so much that some of its actors are etched in my memory, namely Yokozuna, Undertaker, Owen Hart, Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels.

One Tuesday night in 1994, KBC aired parliamentary proceedings instead of the WWF wrestling program, something that displeased me. It turned out I was not the only dissatisfied TV viewer, for when I went to school the following day, my friends expressed displeasure at not having watched the WWF wrestling program.

As the '90s rolled on, I became a fan of other TV shows. Among them were "Vitimbi" and "Vioja Mahakamani". Once when I attended the Nairobi International Trade Fair in the mid '90s, I saw the main actors of "Vitimbi": Mama Kayai and Mzee Ojwang'. I felt honored to see them with my two naked eyes.

Then there was "Tausi" which aired at prime time on a weekday. Though the show captivated me, I only remember two of its actors: a handsome fella called Mjomba and a young girl whose stage name has faded from my memory. When I joined high school several years later, a classmate of mine told me he had been a schoolmate of that girl.

My story about the TV shows I enjoyed in the '90s would be incomplete without mentioning "Omo Pick a Box" in which people would be invited to answer questions. The winners of the quiz were awarded money and such valuable prizes as TVs, fridges and even cars.

Although I was only nine when "Omo Pick a Box" was at its peak, I could answer some of the questions that adults appearing in the show were asked. I longed to appear in the show, answer questions right and walk away with a princely prize, perhaps a TV or a car.

That was me remembering some of the TV shows of the '90s. Our Greatwall television set, though primitive compared with modern-day flat-screen TVs, did a good job of keeping me entertained. Here's a shout-out to KBC for airing delightful shows in the '90s.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on some TV shows of the '90s, you might also enjoy another one on "Tracing My Roots" which I wrote several years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.