Alfred Hitchcock's TV series is true classic

When you reach a certain age — in fact, before you reach "a certain age," during pit stops all along the way, from maybe 25 or 30 forward — you begin to lose touch with current pop culture.

Maybe you're going to college, starting to raise kids, working long hours to get ahead in your chosen field, working part-time jobs to make ends meet — and before you know it, real life has crowded out all that recreational time you used to spend reading books, listening to music, keeping up with your favorite team, and watching TV shows and movies.

I can remember grocery shopping with a couple of my teenagers back in the day, and after overhearing a pair of cashiers talking about current bands, my kids had to explain to me who these bands were and what kind of music they played.

You know you're old when you still think of Elvis and the Beatles as "classic rock," but when you listen to a classic-rock radio station all you hear are songs that your own children were into when they were growing up.

So what is 1950s and '60s music today, "dinosaur rock"?

Anyway, I began thinking about all this after an encounter last week at a local entertainment store while perusing shelves that were filled with alphabetized TV series on DVD. I was looking for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 5," which had just come out. I saw lots of "Alf" (remember that orange alien hand puppet?) but no "Alfred."

As I'm giving up, a young 20-something clerk approaches me and identifies himself as the one in charge of the store's inventory of TV shows. "What are you looking for?" he asks. I tell him. "What's that again?"

So I repeat the title: "'Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' an old anthology show that Alfred Hitchcock hosted."

Then he asks the question that cuts to the bone: "Alfred who?"

"Alfred Hitchcock. You know, the guy who made 'Vertigo' and 'Strangers on a Train.'" (Apparently it's too much information.) "OK, how about this one — 'Psycho'!"

He mulls this for a moment. "Oh, I think I've heard of 'Psycho.' But not that Alfred guy."

I was tempted to ask if he knew the names James Stewart or Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn … but then I realized I was talking to someone who probably considers Adam Sandler and Sandra Bullock over the hill.