My Charlie’s Angels, My T.J. Hooker, and My Playhouse

Fun question for you. Did you have a random childhood obsession or fascination? My friend and radio co-host Mary-Katherine Maddox certainly did. She, in a very 'Wednesday Addams' kinda way, was morbidly captivated by the Titanic. The absolute blockbuster of the movie came out when she was a kid, so that may be the logical explanation.  Maybe it was Leonardo DiCaprio? Maybe it was Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"? Or maybe it was the mass casualties caused by an ocean liner plowing into an iceberg? Who knows?

READ MORE: Kentucky Woman Shares Childhood Obsession With Researching The Titanic Disaster

But it was her macabre fascination with the Titanic that made me think back to my childhood. Looking back, I also had a slightly strange obsession. And, I must point this out. It's only 'strange' because it didn't really translate to anything tangible in my life as an adult. However, when I was a kid, my favorite television shows were series about cops and detectives.

Here's my list of the shows that I watched the most and the ones that made lasting impressions on me. Remember these?

HONORABLE MENTION- LADY BLUE

Quick note- Lady Blue gets an honorable mention because it was on when I was in high school. That show was very short-lived. It ran for a season- 1985 to 1986- long after the series below inspired me to create my own detective agency in my neighborhood. If it had been on when I was 10-years-old, there would have posters of Jamie Rose in my bedroom.

That said, THESE are the shows that inspired Little Chad to become the mystery-solving, crime-fighting vigilante of Roy Clark Road in east Daviess County, Kentucky.

#5- T.J. HOOKER

#4- CHiPS

#3- CAGNEY AND LACEY

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#2- STRIKE FORCE

#1 CHARLIE'S ANGELS 

I loved those shows. I'm guessing the only one you may not be familiar with is Strike Force. It ran for just one season as well- 1981 to 1982. But, it was my favorite during that season. I still remember plot points from certain episodes and I haven't seen the show in 45 years.

It was Strike Force and Charlie's Angels that inspired me to build this!

Chad Benefield/WBKR/Judy Quinn

Notice that my mom referred to this as my "playhouse." She had no idea that I was using this as home base for my private investigation firm. If anything suspicious happened in our neighborhood, I sprang into action, collected evidence, studied the clues, and tried to piece together all the pieces of the mystery so I could solve it. The neighbor who was throwing their trash in the creek at the bottom of the hill?  On it. The neighbor who was getting porn delivered to their mailbox? On it!! LOL.

I think the bigger mystery may be the questionable structural engineering of my agency.  Was it really safe to use that table and chairs on the roof? Can someone with a physics degree chime in please?

At any rate, there you have it- the photographic proof of my childhood obsession. I mentioned earlier that it hasn't really carried over into adulthood, but scratch that! It absolutely carried over.

I do still love a mystery and those detective shows taught me a lot. I have often said that I should be a crime scene investigator. Ask any of my friends. I am- to this day- a savant at noticing things most people don't. I can walk into a room of table and instantly clock the ones who could be trouble. I am a whiz at researching data. And I can track people down like a bloodhound. If you need to find something out, holler at your boy.

Now that I think about it, I should totally build a new playhouse. I'll call it Cagney, Lacey, and Benefield.