Late Night Shows

When I was twelve and living with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Queens, I never really stayed up late.  I shared a bedroom with my mom, and she usually went to sleep early, around 8 o'clock at night.  On weekdays, she had to wake up very early to get to work in Brooklyn.  Some Saturdays, she would have to work also, and on Sundays, we would go to church.

After a few months, my mom and I moved to Jersey City.  It was kind of odd, but it seemed like we wore out our welcome.  I'm not too sure why.  First of all, when I was first coming to America, my expectation was that I would be living with my mom in her apartment in Brooklyn.  And then when I got to JFK Airport, my uncle picked us up and took us to their home, and there was. "Welcome Dave" sign in the living room.  

I mean, I didn't mind it.  It was a nice house in a nice quiet neighborhood.  And my aunt and uncle even gave us the big room.  My mom talked about how Brooklyn wasn't that safe.  And she dreamed about petitioning my dad and two brothers and that we would all live together in the basement.  I'm not sure if these plans were shared with my aunt and uncle.

I got there in August, and I never really got close with my aunt and uncle.  I got along with my little cousin at first, but then I found her to be a bit spoiled and annoying.  And then I pretty much kept to myself most of the time.  My uncle kind of sorta tried to get along with me at first, like offering me chocolate pudding and stuff, but I didn't like those new foreign things and eventually he just kind of stopped trying.

And then one night around November, I noticed him and my mom talking in the bedroom.  I couldn't quite hear what he was saying but it was something like his daughter was growing up and needed her own room and stuff.  And then after that, my mom told me we would be moving.  I always thought it was odd that they kind of welcomed us for just a few months and then expect us to be on our own just like that.

When we did move, I found myself alone a lot.  And TV was basically my company.  I was a quiet kid who didn't really know how to make friends.  At least, not in America.  In the Philippines, I was quite popular in school, and so the change was quite traumatizing, to be honest, although I didn't quite realize it at the time.

Mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, I began to stay up later and later and watch the news or whatever else was on at 10pm.  At the end of the news, Channel 11 would always say, "Cheers" is next.  And I ended up watching that.  Then "The Honeymooners" would follow it.  On Saturdays, I would watch "Saturday Night Live".  I had overheard a couple of older kids at school talk about it one time, so I got curious.  Also, I think the movie "Wayne's World" came out around this time.  

Usually around 1am, World Championship Wrestling would come on on Channel 2.  It was interesting.  I didn't know there was any other wrestling outside of WWF.  I thought WCW was a bit inferior though, but there was nothing else on at that time.  Also, a lot of their matches were the same formula.  I especially remember Brian Pillman and Steve Austin were tag teammates, and would always cheat and win.  

I ended up liking "Cheers".  I watched the new shows on NBC on Thursday nights, and then I recorded the 11pm reruns on weeknights.  I would then watch it in the mornings while getting ready for school.