And the answer is ... the Moors!

After eight years of living in New Mexico and learning about its history and culture we have come to this realization – the answer to most questions about the state’s past and practices includes the phrase “the Moors.” 

Q. What’s with all the dirt houses?

A. Its called adobe and it is a mixture of dirt, sand, straw and water.  The Spanish learned it from the Moors and brought the concept with them to New Mexico – where they discovered that the local Pueblo Indians used the same building material.

Q. What are those small beehive-shaped adobe structures that look like dog houses? 

A. They are outdoor ovens called “hornos” – and also started with the Moors.  The Spanish introduced them to the Puebloans.  

Q.  What’s that slender rounded rod with tapered ends that’s used to spin fiber into yarn?

A.  It called a “malacate” – and likewise originated with the Moors.  The Pueblo and Navajo Indians have their own versions. 

So the other day we were having lunch at “Little Anita’s” in Albuquerque after visiting that city’s Art Museum.   It is one of our favorite restaurants and possibly the one we have frequented the most in the 43 years we’ve been visiting/living in New Mexico.  In 1993, our second trip, we decided to spend our initial night in ABQ rather than driving to Santa Fe immediately after flying all day.  Our hotel was on the edge of the city’s “Old Town” – a Spanish plaza with centuries-old adobe houses that are home to New Mexican eateries and tiny artisan shops selling jewelry, rugs, pottery, art... – all watched over by 18th-century San Felipe de Neri Church.  

As we walked from our hotel to the plaza we passed a restaurant that looked local, not too fancy, not too expensive and not too crowded and decided to try it for dinner on our way back.  It became our traditional first-night-in-town dining spot.  As their website says “you had me at chips and salsa.”  We would add, “and sopapillas,” which come unbidden as a side dish and/or dessert. 

Square or triangular in shape and accompanied by honey, sopapillas are a light, airy, puffed-and-hollow-centered fried bread made from a simple leavened dough of flour, baking powder, salt, and water or milk.  From that first bite back in ‘93 they became our favorite New Mexican food.  They differ slightly from eatery to eatery.  Little Anita’s are, to our taste buds, among the best.

And you guessed it.  It’s history involved the Moors.

Like many ethnic terms, “Moors” has taken on various meanings across the ages. Shakespeare’s Othello is referred to as “the Moor” because of his dark skin color.  As used in this essay it refers to a Muslim army of Arabs and North African Berbers (many fair-skinned) sent in 711 A.D. by the governor of the Maghreb region of northwest Africa to seize control of the Iberian Peninsula – at the time controlled by the Catholic Visigoth kingdom.   

 

The takeover ended Christian rule and established Muslim control of the territory, which they renamed Al-Andalus.  It stayed that way until 1492 when the Moors ceded the city of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon whose “dynastic union” in 1469 formed the foundation for the unification of Spain.  This surrender solidified the de facto consolidation of Spain under the Catholic Monarchs.

So, in addition to the above, what types of changes did the Muslim Moors introduce?

They established numerous schools and universities (Córdoba and Toledo e.g.) and made education widely accessible leading to a period of significant scientific and intellectual development. Instituted the concept of a structured medical profession and developed new surgical instruments.  Introduced important mathematical and astronomical knowledge such as the use of Arabic numerals and the astrolabe.  Brought in new crops like oranges, lemons, and cotton grown using advanced irrigation and agricultural techniques.  And built a sophisticated urban infrastructure with paved, lit streets and public baths.

As to religion – during the Visigoth era (415-711 AD) Muslims were not a significant presence, while Jews were initially tolerated then increasingly persecuted after the Visigoths converted to Catholicism in the late 6th century.  Under Muslim rule Jews were initially considered a protected minority (“dhimmi,”) allowing their culture, philosophy, and science to flourish.  Many held influential positions in the government and participated in trade.  Catholics likewise were “dhimmi,” but not allowed as much social and economic freedom as the Jewish population.   Resistance to the Muslim occupation began almost immediately and as Catholics regained territory the Moorish rulers imposed harsher restrictions on both religions – who in turn sought refuge in the reconquered Christian areas. 

The period of Muslim rule is sometimes referred to as the “age of convivencia,” suggesting a coexistence, but it was actually characterized by a strict social hierarchy rather than true equality.  And it became even less convivial after the completion of the Reconquista in 1492.  

 

 

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand were extremely devout Catholics who saw religious uniformity as a sacred duty and the key to political power.   Jews and Muslims were given the choice to convert to Catholicism, be expelled from Spain or face harsh penalties such as enslavement or even death.  Jewish converts were known as “Conversos,”  Muslims “Morescos.”  Those changing from Islam enjoyed a greater degree of social mobility compared to those leaving Judaism – although both still still faced suspicion and discrimination.  A good number left the country.  Others chose a feigned conversion – living outwardly as Catholic while secretly retaining the practices and rituals of their real faith.  Many of these “Crypto” (“concealed”) Jews/Muslims migrated to the New World hoping that different surroundings and people unfamiliar with them would make it easier to maintain their disguised dual religiosity.  

The principal purpose of the Spanish Inquisition was rooting out and punishing these non-converts and sham Catholics.  Thus the tribunal set up a New World branch office in Mexico City.  “The courts of the Inquisition published lists of suspected Jewish practices to encourage others to report them …  ‘observing Sabbath, wearing clean clothes on Friday, eating kosher food, fasting on Jewish holidays, burning hair/nail clippings, washing hands before prayer, celebrating Passover … drinking kosher wine...’” (jlifenj.com)  Punishments ranged from imprisonment to confiscation of property to public execution, often by burning at the stake.

No one was immune.  In 1662, the ecclesiastical tribunal arrested New Mexico Governor Bernardo López de Mendizábal and his wife, Teresa de Aguilera y Roche, on suspicion of Crypto-Jewery.  The charges were fabricated by Franciscan priests with whom he had political differences.  The couple was jailed in Mexico City where he died and she was eventually released due to a lack of credible evidence.   In 1671 his case was formally dropped.

 

Most Crypto Jews however were never discovered – even by their descendants.  Aided by organizations such as the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, some surprised families in New Mexico today are finding their real religious roots.

“One of the ways Jewish traditions were kept alive through the centuries was in the women’s cooking and baking. Many of the dishes prominent in New Mexico’s cuisines are strikingly similar to Jewish dishes passed down through the centuries. Case in point: biscochitos, New Mexico’s state cookie. ‘My Catholic family used to make them for Christmas,’ [said Crypto-Jew descendent Isabelle Sandoval.]  ‘My mother used butter, not lard. I use Crisco.’ 

“Many recipes of the Crypto-Jews … are preserved in a fascinating cookbook, ‘Drizzle of Honey: The Lives and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews’ by Dr. David Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, who use actual trial testimonies of the Inquisition, including recipes, to reveal how Crypto-Jews retained their Jewish practices in the home while seemingly leading a Christian life on the outside.” (jlifenj.com)

So, are there Crypto-Kosher sopapillas?

Well, it's complicated.

The Spanish Jews in Al-Andalus already had something quite similar to New Mexico sopapillas called Sephardic bimuelos in their stash of recipes.  Another fried dough pastry called sopaipa (from Mozarabic “xopaipa,” meaning “bread soaked in oil”) was popular among the Moors.  Spanish colonists (including conversos and cryptos) brought this Moorish recipe to the Americas and adapted it for local ingredients and tastes resulting in the sopapilla we know today.  After the Inquisition both dishes became associated with Jewish heritage, with families making either or both of them for Hanukkah and other holidays – served with honey.  

Secret family recipes have probably been around since the beginning of humankind. Today the Food Network has a multi-generational home-cooking competition that celebrates them. BUSH'S® Baked Beans uses their “spokes dog” Duke to hype theirs.  And dear reader it is likely that your ancestry boasts (perhaps only in private) of at least one such culinary item.  Ours does.

They all were good – or else why would they have lasted through multiple generations?  Some were very good.  And here in New Mexico a few, literally, were “to die for.”

Place-authenticity

In the Netflix series “Grace and Frankie” Lily Tomlin's character, Frankie derisively describes Santa Fe, NM – our home town – as a “woo-woo” city with an overabundance of “crystal shops and chakra alignments.”

While Google AI says it “is a hub for spiritual exploration, offering numerous centers, retreats …  workshops, and unique sites … for self-discovery, blending Native American, Spanish, and New Age traditions … everything from shamanic journeys, energy-healing, yoga, meditation, to retreats focused on mindfulness, creativity, and ancestral wisdom.” (Google AI)   

Not our kind of place.  Right?  But we’ve just self-discovered something that may explain the reason we are living in that “woo-woo” town.  As well as why other locales exert a similar magnetism for us.  And it’s real science – a psychological principal used in urban planning and design.  We both have a form of topophilia known as place-authenticity.  

The first indication should have been our eagerness to view the Smithsonian traveling exhibition “Jamestown, Québec, Santa Fe … first permanent English, French, and Spanish settlements in the New World” at the Albuquerque Museum in 2008.   

We’d vacationed in Santa Fe for 16 years and visited Quebec City the previous February for the destination wedding of the son of some our dearest friends.  The temperature where Fahrenheit and Celsius scales meet is -40 degrees.  While exploring the Canadian town we saw that number on an outdoor thermometer.  Still we loved it there.  In addition to the wedding, et al., the architecture – rectangular stone houses, thick walls, small-paned windows, steep snow-shedding roofs  – and “European French atmosphere” made us feel warm and at home.  Not to mention the pea soup, pâtés and poutine.  A place we definitely could comfortably spend much more time in.

As to to Santa Fe, America's oldest state capital, we’ve lived there since 2017 and visited for 25 years prior to that – initially to see what inspired Georgia O’Keeffe’s abstract landscapes.  (Hint – they’re not abstract.)  

We’ve never been to Jamestown.  But for 50 years lived as a couple (Marsha one decade before that) in Wethersfield – Connecticut’s first permanent English settlement.  Olde enough for us.  (New Englanders can be quite narrow-minded.)   Yet we knew little of our hometown’s past prior to retiring in 2005 and joining the local historical society.

British colonization of America began on Roanoke Island, NC with 117 colonists in 1587.  Three years later they all had vanished, leaving only the word “CROATOAN” carved into a post and inspiring America’s initial conspiracy theory.  The earliest successful settlement was Jamestown, VA (1607) – then Plymouth, MA and Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.

Plymouth was run by the Puritans.  And Puritan rules and regs were, well, Puritanical.  John “Mad Jack” Oldham was one of several who became exasperated by these strictures and was banished in 1624 for creating conflict and slandering leaders like Miles Standish.  He moved to Watertown in Massachusetts Bay Colony becoming a successful trader yet still still seeking more autonomy and opportunities. And finding it in the fertile lands of the future Wethersfield, which he briefly named Watertown.   Along with Oldham in 1634 came Nathaniel Foote, Abraham Finch, Sr., Robert Seeley. John Strictland, John Clarke, Andrew Ward, Robert Rose, Leonard Chester and William Swayne – Wethersfield’s “Ten Adventurers.”  

Two years later Oldham was killed by Indians at Block Island, RI.  The others built homes near the “Great Meadow” along the “Great Tidal [Connecticut] River” that attracted their late leader – learning to cultivate beans, squash, peas, and maize from local Natives.  Per the British colonization template they acquired land and established separate communities while discouraging intermarriage and cultural blending with uncivilized, inferior Indigenous.  And waged wars (e.g. Pequot and King Philip's,) which along with European diseases devastated Native populations. 

Other settlements were established in Windsor, and Hartford forming Connecticut Colony in 1637.   By decade’s end the Indians were crushed and pushed off ancestral lands into smaller, fragmented communities, while the Colony continued to grow.

In the 1700s Wethersfield became the hub for the booming trade of its eponymous red onions grown in the Great Meadow.  “Onion Maidens” were the primary cultivators and sellers shipping millions of onion ropes down the Connecticut River to the West Indies, Europe, and beyond – earning Wethersfield the sobriquet “Oniontown.”  

By the mid 1800s Wethersfield had changed from bustling maritime port to strong agricultural community – “the bread basket of Hartford” – and pioneering commercial seed producer, selling throughout the country.  The 1900s saw a transition from farming to a “bedroom suburb” of Hartford.  

Through all of this growth and change Wethersfield preserved its architectural heritage and today boasts over 100 17th, 18th, and 19th century houses – at least 50 built before 1776.  The late 17th century town-owned “Cove Warehouse” is maintained by Wethersfield Historical Society, which pays its annual rent in traditional red onions. 

We also knew little about Santa Fe until we began docenting at El Rancho de las Golondrinas living history museum.  (Interestingly another volunteer is a descendant of Wethersfield founder Nathaniel Foote – though she’s never lived there.)

New Spain began in 1521 with the fall of the Aztec Empire to Hernán Cortés – and was formally established as the Viceroyalty of Nueva España in 1535.  Exploration of New Mexico began 1540 with Francisco Vázquez de Coronado searching for the legendary gold mines of Gran Quivira but finding Pueblo Indian villages instead.  (They’d found gold around Mexico City and assumed there had to be more, hence “New” Mexico.)  The first permanent settlement was established by Don Juan de Oñate in 1598 across the Rio Grande from Okay-Owingeh Pueblo near present-day Española – 25-30 miles north of Santa Fe. 

Ten years later Oñate had not discovered gold and his colony was divided between “militarists” who believed more pressure on the Natives would reveal its whereabouts and others like Juan Martinez de Montoya who lobbied the Viceroy of New Spain for Oñate’s removal.  The Viceroy wrote King Philip III, “this conquest is becoming a fairy tale.”   

Some settlers and Franciscan priests planned to establish another “villa” (“town”) in what is now Santa Fe.  The King replaced Oñate with Pedro de Peralta and ordered him “to settle or found the villa in question,” as the seat of government.  In 1610 Peralta formally established “La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.” 

Unlike English settlers the Spanish were interested in “God, gold and glory”  – Catholicising Natives and acquiring gold – thus glory.  Indians were souls to be saved and bodies to be exploited – forcing them to work in mines and on large estates (haciendas) under harsh conditions while suppressing Native religious practices and forcibly assimilating them into Christianity.  This led to multiple clashes, most notably the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, which drove the Spanish out of New Mexico for 12 years.

 

A rigid social hierarchy developed with as many as 40 “castas” – Spanish-born at the top, Natives at the bottom.  Intermarriage was not discouraged but the hierarchy remained strict even as the multi-generational racial percentages became more complex.

New Mexico in the 1700s was a “closed empire” with trade restricted to the mother country.   The 1,500 mile El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro from Mexico brought Spanish and Mexican pottery and other goods, while trade with outsiders was prohibited.  Meanwhile settlers, soldiers, and missionaries co-existed with, and sometimes oppressed, the local Pueblo Natives.

Commerce was opened up in 1821 with the inclusion of New Mexico in the newly independent country of Mexico and its opening of the Santa Fe trail bringing American traders plus other diverse people, and commerce.   (Mexican ethnicity itself is a complex blend of Indigenous Meso-American and Spanish ancestry, with African and various other immigrant groups.)  New Mexican Spanish and Pueblo Native cultures continued intermixing – now adding Mexican and Anglo to the blend.  The 1848 change in governance from Mexico to U.S. plus the arrival of the railroad in the 1880s and the beginning of art colonies further complicated the societal situation.

New Mexico became the 47th state in 1912.   Santa Fe, its capital,  established itself it as a major art center and sought to be an important tourist destination.  This led to a codification of “Santa Fe Style” and Spanish-Pueblo Revival architectural renovations that defined the city's look.

Business Insider magazine describes Santa Fe today as “like wandering through an open-air museum … low-slung adobe buildings, soft curves, and natural colors are rooted in the traditions of Pueblo and Spanish Colonial architecture [reflecting] centuries of Native American, Mexican, and Spanish history in its language, art, food, and even street names.”  To which we topophiliac Santefesinos say, “amen!”

So what is place-authenticity?  It refers to the unique essence, history, and character that makes a location feel genuine, meaningful, and deeply connected to its roots – which in turn fosters a feeling of belonging and personal connection for individuals.  We discovered it here in Santa Fe.  But it’s also what made Québec and Wethersfield so special to us.

So that’s the “what.”  But why were we interested in these places in the first place?  On the face of it Quebec was due to friendship.  Wethersfield – family.  And Santa Fe – O’Keeffe.  

But the way we reacted –  it was more than just coincidences.   Karma?  Predestination?  Old souls revisiting past lives?  Some other psychic agency?   Would we even be considering these things if we weren’t living where we are now?  Best to end this digression before it gets too “woo-woo.” 

Remembering Kit, El Toro, Tod and Buz (sort of)

 

A couple of major anniversaries to celebrate this year in the Land of Enchantment.  2026 is the 200th anniversary of what some like to call “Kit Carson’s escape to Santa Fe.”  In addition “Historic Route 66” commemorates its 100th year of existence.  Both are important to New Mexicans.   And to us new New Mexicans whose east-coast memories include TV programs featuring the American frontiersman and one the first roadways in the Federal Highway System.

                

 

“The Adventures of Kit Carson” was a popular American Western that aired from 1951 to 1955, starring Bill Williams as the title hero and Don Diamond as his Mexican companion, El Toro.  One of the most watched programs of its time this classic TV western was a totally inaccurate, but entertaining, portrayal of frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and U.S. Army officer Christopher Houston Carson. The television Carson was a cowboy and lawman.  The series was set in the 1880s, but Carson died in 1868.  El Toro was totally fictional – and the actor an American of Russian ancestry.  To add to the inaccuracies, although the stories mentioned Taos they were filmed in California and Arizona.  

                

Carson’s 1826 “escape to Santa Fe” however is factual and refers to his departure from a difficult home life in Missouri at the age of 16 to join a wagon train on the Santa Fe Trail.  From Santa Fe he moved to Taos where he became a trapper, guide, and Indian Agent.  And became a legend in his own lifetime largely through dime novels that also told exaggerated versions of his exploits.  (For the real skinny check out the book “Blood and Thunder” by Hampton Sides.  For fantasy watch this video.)  

 

                

Five years after Kit Carson left the airwaves a contemporaneously set series followed the adventures of two young men driving across America in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible.  Unlike Kit’s Taos adventures this program was filmed entirely on the road with each story taking place in its actual setting.  (Here are the opening and closing credits.) Martin Milner played recent Yale graduate Tod Stiles and George Maharis was Buz Murdoc, a friend and former employee of Tod’s father.  (Maharis left during the third season due to illness and was replaced by Glen Corbett as recently discharged Vietnam veteran Lincoln Case.)  The duo stopped at twenty-five different places but only a few were in reality on Route 66.  The iconic highway’s name was meant to be emblematic of the freedom to travel the U.S. rather than the literal roadmap they followed.  One location that was on that interstate however was Santa Fe, which was featured in three episodes – “A Skill for Hunting,” “The New Born” and “Trap at Cordova.”  

                

Route 66 was a 2,448 mile highway (1/5 in New Mexico) connecting Chicago to Santa Monica CA and passing through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  It was created by a massive Depression-era Works Progress Administration/Civilian Conservation Corps (WPA/CCC) set of projects.   (Not the largest such undertaking however.  That was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA.))  The roadway was built in segments, often following existing auto trails – many composed of gravel and ungraded dirt.  In Santa Fe the original path of Route 66 followed the old Santa Fe Trail north from Santa Rosa, through the city, and then south to Albuquerque.  Portions of the Old Pecos Trail and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro were also used.  This so-called “Santa Fe Loop.” was a part of the historic roadway from 1926 until 1937, when it was replaced by a more direct route to Albuquerque.  

                

Google AI tells us that “the exact route of Route 66 is disputed and complex because it changed frequently, was often just a collection of existing roads, and parts were paved over by Interstates like I-40, creating gaps and multiple potential alignments, making a single ‘original’ path hard to define, especially in cities like LA where its endpoint wasn't clearly defined for years.”

               

 

This rusted 1932 Studebaker in Petrified Forest National Park's Route 66  "Highway of Dreams” 

exhibit in Holbrook AZ may be the most photographed abandoned car in the country. 

 

Thousands of workers were involved the asphalting efforts, allowing the highway to achieve “continuously paved” status by 1938.  The first transcontinental road to accomplish this.  Completion was particularly important to the nation’s defense capability at the outset of U.S. involvement in World War II.  The highway was decommissioned in 1985 having been replaced by the Interstate Highway System (IHS) initiated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  (One story goes that the terrible, muddy, and sandy roads, which then Lt. Col. Eisenhower's Army convoy had to deal with on its 1919, 62-day, 3,251-mile journey from Washington D.C. to San Francisco directly inspired his later push for a paved transcontinental roadway system.) 

                

Hundreds of small towns sprang up along Route 66 – many of which became ghost towns or near-ghosts after the IHS bypassed them in the 1960s – e.g. Cuervo and Endee in New Mexico, and Texola, OK.  Other towns like Seligman, AZ, revived itself by embracing their historic Route 66 identity. 

                

However the best known of the things Route 66 engendered were its motels.  They began as simple accommodations like motor courts and cabin camps and evolved into futuristically designed and themed motels (“Lariat Lodge,” “Arrowhead Motel”) – many with pools, diners, modern amenities and bright neon signs featuring cowboys, cacti, or teepees.  Most were small, local, family-owned-and-operated businesses.  

                

And like the pop-up small towns a large number faded into oblivion when the Interstate Highway System bypassed their locations.  It is estimated that more than 300 such motels once operated in the Land of Enchantment.  Sixty or so have been restored by their owners.  In Santa Fe there is the Pecos Trail Inn, Cottonwood Court Motel, The Mystic (formerly Silver Saddle) and, a personal favorite, El Rey Court – a beautifully restored adobe motor court from 1936, which (based upon a recommendation from our Primary Care Provider in 1992) was our first layover spot on our first NM vacation.  And became our go-to stay-at place for several years after that.  (We loved the free breakfast of tortillas with jelly and Baskin Robbins Ice Cream just across the street among other things.)   Did not know until this writing exercise of the hostelry's history.

                

 

Albuquerque offers more renovated classics such as the El Vado, Monterey Motel, Hotel Zazz, Luna Lodge, Piñon Motel, and Pioneer Motel along with many more gone-but-remembered ones along Central Avenue in the heart of the city.  In the town of Tucumcari (230 miles east of Albuquerque) the Blue Swallow Motel (estab. 1939) is one of few anywhere in America still operating in its original Motor Court configuration.

                

Along with other states New Mexico will be celebrating the Route 66 Centennial throughout the year with events such as Albuquerque's Summer fest and the Railyard Festival, Tucumcari’s “Fired Up Street Festival” plus vintage car shows, themed markets, music, parades, museum exhibits and historical talks in towns like Grants, Moriarty – and Santa Fe. 

                

Our hometown will not however be celebrating Kit Carson’s “escape” to here.  The famed frontiersman has become a problematic historical figure due in part to his actions against Native Americans.  In 1864, under orders from the U.S. Army he force-marched thousands of Navajo for 18 days over 300 miles from their homeland in Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.  At least 200 died.  In the same year Carson oversaw the destruction of Navajo crops, orchards, and livestock to force them into submission.  A statue in town memorializing him was vandalized and partially toppled in 2023 – and its future remains undecided.  

 

 

Carson and his wife are interred in a small cemetery in Taos located within the town’s main public park.  Each was named in his honor until November of last year when Taos Town Council approved a resolution changing the names of both to “Red Willow.”  (“Place of the red willows” is the English translation of the town’s name in Tewa, the language of the people that have occupied that land for over 1,000 years.)

                

99.9% of what we wrote in this essay is knowledge we have acquired since moving to Santa Fe.  We jokingly tell people that what we were taught about our New Mexico back in Connecticut was that Cortez showed up here in the 1500s looking for the “Cities of Gold” – didn’t find them and left.  Then it became the 47th U.S. state in 1912.  

                

Historical fiction is a genre of storytelling where a fictitious narrative uses real people or places from the from the past as characters or settings.  Sometimes these works pique the interest of their readers or viewers and inspire them to learn more about the real-life individuals and/or visit the actual sites.  Like what we are doing now, here in Santa Fe.  

                

But sometimes it’s the other way around – and real history causes us to look back on some of the happenings from our own past life.  As we did in this essay, revisiting two of the ‘50s and ‘60s TV programs that entertained and (we thought at the time) educated us.  It was fun looking back on them.  Despite the fact that, even though we were faithful viewers of both, neither of us can recall one single episode or storyline from either of them.