© 1996 - 2024 Linda M. Young

Perhaps for you it began in a darkened movie theatre, breathlessly watching the story of a dog's faithful devotion. Or maybe you were a child of the '50s sprawled on the carpet before a wooden television console, eyes fixed on flickering black-and-white. Perhaps you became acquainted later, on a color set or by syndicated rerun. Maybe, like so many of us, you always awaited those revival series and movies with anticipation. Whenever it began, the attraction has never gone away—you still enjoy love, loyalty and adventure with a collie named Lassie.

Lassie remains one of my earliest TV memories: one of sitting cross-legged in front of one of those big polished wood monochrome sets with their woven speaker boxes and Bakelite control knobs, watching snowy reruns of Jeff's Collie on Boston's WBZ as I also watched the new Timmy episodes on Sunday nights at 7 p.m. on CBS, sponsored always by Campbell Soups. I remember the advent of the ranger and the all-animal episodes, being disillusioned as the stories grew steadily more "relevant"—and, sadly, (for me, anyway) more boring, of having high hopes for The New Lassie, and finding only one outstanding story—and one real "howler"—in the lot. A decade later the Cinar series that ran on the Animal Planet network caught my attention.

Whatever my own disappointments, the call of her adventures has remained strong. If there's a Lassie rerun on, I can't resist it, and have caught reruns (first in syndication on various Providence and Boston stations, then on Nickelodeon and Animal Planet, Discovery Kids and WHT, now on Angel2 and FETV and whomever else will broadcast it) when I can. I have all of the DVDs released in the U.S. and even a couple of videotapes and Region 2 offerings. Like Lassie, we fans remain faithful.