Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: The New Adventures of Zorro (1981)

Apparently Zorro is a very popular TV character -- unless, of course, you are a Chicano militant. But unfortunately Chicano militants don't have a whole lot of clout in the TV industry. Thus, a character whose stories were often described by Chicano writers as unrealistic depictions of the old American Southwest proved to be one of the few Hispanic characters to have more than one animated show made about him. Of course, that doesn't include the various live-action versions made about him as well.

This version is particularly impressive when you consider that the most popular pop culture incarnation of Zorro around this time was that silly George Hamilton movie Zorro the Gay Blade, a comedy which basically made fun of the Zorro movies.

Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: Zorro

I remember hearing about Zorro the TV show growing up but I never watched it. If I did, I would have remembered this rather cool theme song. And it was from Disney too. And starred Guy Williams -- best known to young Tonio Kruger as Professor John Robinson from Lost in Space -- in the title role.

Hey, I Remember This Show: The Cisco Kid

Many of my older cousins just loved this show. Unfortunately, the closest I ever got to getting involved with it was agreeing to wear a straw hat like Pancho's every Halloween -- and even then the main reason I wore it had more to do with my parents' not being able to afford store-bought costumes than any actual interest in the show.

That said, I cannot help but wonder if I was a bit hasty in judging it. Moreover, I wonder what author O. Henry -- the creator of the Cisco Kid -- would think of this version of his character. I would like to think he is flattered.

Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: The High Chaparral

According to the IMDB, this series was one of the first Western TV shows to feature Hispanic actors actually playing Hispanic characters -- apart from, of course, The Cisco Kid -- so naturally I never watched it.

Okay, to be fair, I was not a big fan of Westerns when I was growing up and while I would not have minded seeing a TV show with Hispanic characters when I was growing up, the only such show I remember watching on a regular basis when this show was on the air (1967-1971) was I Love Lucy.

I suspect such a failing is my loss since Argentine-born actress Linda Cristal -- who played Victoria -- was quite the looker in her day and the rest of the cast does not seem so bad either.

If I was more politically correct, I could say something snarky about the fact that the show was set in 19th century Arizona but then some of my favorite celebrities -- Linda Ronstadt, for example -- hail from Arizona -- and anyway, it is not fair to blame a show made in the late 1960s for the politics of the 21st century. Especially when the politics of so many TV shows of the 21st century leave much to be desired.

Hey, I Remember This Show: Miami Vice

The one cop show that almost everyone in America watched back in the mid-1980s. It made stars out of Don Johnson and Edward James Olmos and was even quite popular with some of my Mexican cousins. (One of my Mexican second cousins even had a die-hard crush on Don Johnson.)

Of course, nowadays everyone likes to pretend they never watched it. But, hey, we know different, right?

Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: The Middleman

I've heard about this show for years but never watched it while it was on the air. Which is such a shame because for a kid's show, it's not all that bad. Star Natalie Morales is not only easy on the eyes but has a way with fast dialogue that one rarely sees anymore outside of Pushing Daisies. And her co-stars aren't bad either.

Granted, this show has moments that make The Sarah Jane Adventures seem like Masterpiece Theatre. But for an American children's show, it's actually quite good -- which probably explains why it's no longer around.

Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca

They made a TV show like this in the 1950s? It almost seems too good to be true -- especially if you consider the real-life person who inspired this show.

Hey, I Remember This Show: I Married Dora

Wow! I used to have such a crush on Elizabeth Peña back in the 1980s and her role as Dora Calderon (the "Dora" of the title, natch) on this show was one reason why. (Her role in 1987's La Bamba was another.)

Unfortunately, the show didn't exactly showcase her abilities to any great extent. And I suppose it says something about how well it showcased the rest of the cast that I keep forgetting Juliette Lewis was on this show too.

Plus there's the whole "Dora is an undocumented immigrant who has to get married to an U.S. citizen to stay in the country" angle which I could have done without. Indeed, it seemed funny that at a time when I was running into Anglo-Hispanic couples all over the place, the only way network TV could conceive of such a pairing on a prime time show was as a green card marriage. Somehow that doesn't say anything flattering about how far we Americans had come in the 1980s from the days of I Love Lucy.

Oh, well. I've seen worse.