For some reason, most of us feel that “things” aren’t as good today as they used to be when we were young. “Things” tends to cover a lot — cars, music, movies. You name it, and most of us who are getting up there in years will willingly spout off about “the good old days.”

In our case, and we don’t know if it generally holds true, our favorite things tend to be from our teen years and early adulthood. We loved the cars of the 1950s as well as rock ‘n’ roll music. We could listen to Oldies But Goodies all day, although we find that some younger DJs now tend to play songs from the 1980s, which they consider oldies. In a manner of speaking, they’re right, but we firmly believe that Oldies But Goodies should remain a term solely associated with the 1950s. Prejudiced? You bet!

This reminiscing about years gone by brings us to one more step back in time which we’re thoroughly enjoying of late: MeTV — Memorable Entertainment Television. In our household, it’s on WPXT, brought into our home by Time Warner Cable on Channel 87. While it hasn’t been offered on cable for too many months locally, we did a little research and discovered WPXT launched MeTV in Chicago in 2005. It is devoted exclusively to television shows from the 1950s through 1980s, many apparently from the libraries of CBS Television Distribution.

We admit it, we’re kind of hooked on MeTV. We watch the other channels, naturally, because there are some great shows available, lots of them. The variety of TV shows now is a far cry from the days before cable, when we had precious few channels to choose from. However, when nothing sounds especially intriguing, we find ourselves on Channel 87. The choices are endless: MASH, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Bob Newhart, Perry Mason, Ironsides, The Streets of San Francisco, Rockford Files, Wagon Train, Columbo, Dragnet, F-Troop, The Rifleman, Big Valley, Andy Griffith, Leave It To Beaver, Hawaii Five-O.

Hardly a month goes by but what another TV show from the past is added to the lineup. We enjoy many of these shows just as much as we did 25 or 50 years ago, but then, as the saying goes, “you had to be there to understand.”

Many young folks find these shows downright boring. My 12-year-old grandson, who has been at the house several times when we’ve been watching Dragnet at 4 p.m. asked one day, “Do you really like this show?” He was a bit disappointed when we told him we did, and when we didn’t change the channel to something he considered more exciting, like a hunting or fishing channel.

Just as it lifts our spirits to see a baby blue 1957 T-Bird or a 1965 bright red Ford Mustang convertible go down the street, or when PBS offers a two-hour show promoting rock ‘n’ roll music, so does a favorite television show from yesteryear.

MeTV is now available throughout much of the country. If your cable provider doesn’t offer it, drop a hint in the suggestion box.