Without a doubt "Star Trek". It was by far the coolest show on our little one channel TV. That was in the days before cable, when the TV had a VHF and UHF dial. I remember my step brother and I would pretend to be be Kirk and Spock. He had blond hair and mine was black, so of course I was Spock and he was Kirk.

Star Trek was way ahead of it's time, and talked about things that as a kid went way over my head. It was only until later that I understood the message the show was trying to send. It asked questions that we still ask today, and showed us things about ourselves that we didn't want to see. That we are barbarians: , but we wont kill. Today! A Taste of Armageddon. http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/A_Taste_of_Armageddon_(episode). That we can look past our differences to solve problems, and that in one way or another, we are all just as frail. All the other Star Trek spin offs have there place in the galaxy, but only in the way a new Corvette is just as good as the original. The original might have only had an A.M. radio, but when it went by, people stopped to look. And they still do. Even if you don't want to admit it.

Just as the memories of the original series start to fade, there seams to be a new Star Trek movie or spin off coming out to remind us that the story line was a good one.

I know the question was "what was my favorite TV show when I was a child". But, you can't just say "Star Trek" and leave it as that.