My husband was not my first love. There were many others before him. And, by that I mean many, MANY others.

The first was Wally Cleaver. Deep in my heart, I knew he was way too mature for a girl of 7. He was in high school, after all. His younger brother, Beaver, was a more age-appropriate match. But Wally was so cute with his wavy brown hair and big blue eyes. I loved him unabashedly and was bitterly jealous of his girlfriend — that pert and perky Mary Ellen Rogers — who was so unworthy of him.

Mary Ellen notwithstanding, Wally was unattainable since he was one of the characters on “Leave It to Beaver,” a baby boomer TV classic and, tragically, not real.

Do you think that stopped me? Not on your life. Soon, I cast Wally aside and fell into a string of heady (albeit one-sided) relationships with other swoon-inducing on-screen characters:

Little Luke (“The Real McCoys”), Little Joe (“Bonanza”), Keith Partridge (“The Partridge Family”), Davy Jones (“The Monkees”), Ricky Nelson (“The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett”), Jeff Stone (“Donna Reed Show”), Dr. Kildare (“Dr. Kildare”), Barnabas Collins (“Dark Shadows”), Moondoggie (“Gidget”), Illya Kuryakin (“Man from U.N.C.L.E.”), Will Robinson (“Lost in Space”), Mike Douglas (“My Three Sons”) and Dr. Richard Kimble (“The Fugitive”).

Dr. Kimble, played to perfection by David Janssen, was not only a handsome doctor who was kind to strangers and wrongly accused of murdering the wife he adored, he was my ticket to staying up past my bedtime. Why? Because my mother had a crush on him, too.

Every Thursday night, Mom and I would hunker down in her bedroom to watch the handsome Dr. Kimble barely elude the persistent Lt. Gerard, while doggedly searching for the one-armed man who killed his beloved. Once in a while, when the camera zoomed in on Richard’s brooding face, my mother would audibly sigh.

Children (and adults) have been stricken by TV crushes since the birth of the boob tube, and each generation has their own heartthrobs.

“The one I loved the most was Erin Gray who played Colonel Wilma Dearing on ‘Buck Rodgers,'” confesses Ian Cahir, 36, communications coordinator for Kansas University’s School of Engineering. “I was 10. She wore this white spandex outfit and it was, ‘Oh, yeah!’ She was the love of my life. She was also in ‘Silver Spoons’ after that, but then she got all domestic on me and was really disappointing. I think it was the white helmet and laser that did it for me.”

Like most of us in TV Land, Ian’s loyalties were split between multiple crushes.

“I was also a big Blair (Lisa Whelchel) fan from ‘Facts of Life’ because she was so out of my league,” Cahir says.

Emily Peterson, 26-year-old senior account executive at Callahan Creek, shared a crush with millions of other teen girls on the quintessential sitcom hero of the early ’90s.

“Zack Morris from the ‘Saved By the Bell’ was my to-die-for crush,” Peterson admits. “He was kind of like the charming, smooth, class clown personality. He didn’t fit into a jock or nerd category; he was friends with everyone. I always liked that. I wasn’t really jealous of Kelly Kapowski (Zack’s girlfriend on the show). I just wanted to be her.”

Emily’s husband and Eldridge Hotel chef, T.K. Peterson, 27, counters with a mad childhood crush of his own.

“My crush was Jody Sweetin who played Stephanie Tanner in ‘Full House,'” he says. ” She was the first blonde I was ever attracted to. I can remember feeling really bad for her every time she cried on the show. I really hated her boyfriend, oddly enough, and I felt really protective of her.”

Later, T.K. Peterson’s tastes graduated to Jennifer Love Hewitt, who played Sarah Reeves Marin on “Party of Five.”

“She was more sophisticated (than Jody) and, I must say, voluptuous,” he says. “More mature. She was the main love interest for Scott Wolf in the show. But, once again, it seemed like she got treated like crap, so I always thought I’d be a better boyfriend. I was always thinking, ‘Now, what would I do if I were Jennifer Love Hewitt’s boyfriend?'”

Of course, most people outgrow their childhood TV infatuations. Some of us, however, merely substitute new crushes for old.

Don’t tell, but my husband still isn’t my only love. There are many, MANY others:

Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Matt Lauer (“Today Show”), Anderson Cooper (CNN), Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”), Mark Harmon (“NCIS”), Sam Trammell (“True Blood”), Taye Diggs (“Private Practice”), John Krasinski (“The Office”) …