I just finished watching

Kung Fu, the Complete Third Season.

Kicked ass, just as I remember.

I loved that show from the first moment I saw it.

Well, actually, I think my first reaction was, "Huh? What happened to our show?" We were sitting down to dinner with the TV pulled around so we could all see it from the table. "Our show," really, was no great loss. I don't even remember what it was. We'd just gotten into the habit of eating dinner that way. It was a bummer when all seven of us were home and somebody had to sit in the way of the screen.

I can't believe that was 1972! That must have been the second year we had a color TV. We weren't even in the new house yet!

But that's when the third season was made. There's a lesson in there about formative memories and how they seem more recent to you than other things. And more vivid. You remember where you were when Kennedy was shot, I remember my first viewing of "Kung Fu."

I didn't catch every show the first time around, and it seemed like I always caught the same three shows every time I watched the reruns. I became a more diligent rerun watcher when I snuck my Dad's boat TV into my bedroom while he was home for the winter. (And a much worse student, though it's amazing what you can learn from Johnny Carson - I'll tell you about that someday...it figures into my Seven Deadly Sins score. Ron wasn't responsible for everything that's wrong with me.)

My mother used to warn me not to take that Buddhist crap too seriously. She was worried about me.

In the special features, there is a scene in which the Abbot of the Shao Lin Monastery in China thanks David Carradine for what he's done for Shao Lin Kung Fu and Buddhism. Carradine answers, I think consciously "channeling" Kwai Chang Caine, "I live to serve." The Abbot nodded.

Carradine, his Kung Fu master and the other buddy they brought along on the pilgrimage seemed very deeply moved by their visit there.

There is also a demonstration of what Shao Lin monks are capable of these days, and it's pretty astounding.

Now I gotta get the first two seasons. I'll probably be disappointed with them. Those were the shows that were repeated endlessly on our local ABC affiliate.

Don't tell the wife I'm on the hunt.

Though, I bet she already suspects it.