TV Shows of the '90s

When I was awakening to life in 1992, we didn't have electricity at home. Neither did we have a TV. My family relied on a battery-powered radio to stay informed. I can still see them in my mind's eye, eating supper in a lantern-lit living room as they listened to the radio.

In 1993, something magical happened at home: we got connected to electricity. Not long afterwards, we acquired Greatwall, a black-and-white TV that caught my fancy. I would stare at it with the curious eyes of a small child.

The Greatwall TV had an adjustable antennae and knobs that made it look like a microwave. The knobs were for changing volume and switching from one station to another. That was before remote controls became household items.

Because Kenya had only one TV station (the state-owned KBC), we didn't have a variety of TV shows to choose from. We just watched what KBC aired.

And KBC aired a number of delightful shows in the '90s. One was "The Bold and the Beautiful", a foreign soap opera that I heard Mum mention. I was too young to follow the show but I'm sure it was about love and sex.

The TV show I enjoyed then was "Tahamaki", perhaps because it was acted in Swahili by locals. I found it riveting and on the last episode, I remember seeing a snake crawl in the grass and bite a boy.

Another TV show I enjoyed was World Wrestling Federation (WWF) which aired on Tuesday nights. My favorite wrestler was Shawn Michaels. The other wrestlers I remember were Yokozuna and Undertaker.

One Tuesday night in 1994, I was displeased when KBC aired parliamentary proceedings instead of WWF. It turned out my friends were also displeased because we expressed displeasure at not watching WWF when we went to school the following day.

As the '90s rolled on, I enjoyed other TV shows like "Vitimbi" and "Tausi". Once when I went to Nairobi International Show, I felt honored to see the main actors of "Vitimbi": Mama Kayai and Mzee Ojwang'.

The "Tausi" actors I remember were Mjomba and a young girl whose stage name has faded from my memory. When I was in high school, a classmate told me the girl was a schoolmate of his in primary school.

My story on the TV shows I enjoyed in the '90s would be incomplete without mentioning a quiz show called "Omo Pick a Box". Winners were awarded money and princely items like TVs, fridges and cars.

Though I was only nine when "Omo Pick a Box" was at its peak, I could answer some of the questions adults taking part in the show were asked. I longed to appear in the show, answer the questions right and walk away with a TV, a fridge or even a car!

Our Greatwall TV really did a good job at keeping us entertained, primitive though it was compared to modern-day flat-screen TVs. Here's a shout-out to KBC for airing delightful shows in the '90s.

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