A childhood belief about tv shows

As small children our grandfather would force all of us (his grandchildren) to watch The Incredible Hulk on tv (with Lou Ferrengo). This never really did it for me, but my cousin would repeatedly say "the hulk's nice, isn't he," whenever the hulk appeared. As a birthday treat, his father decorated his room with Hulk wallpaper, as he always talked about the Hulk. That night, my cousin lay in bed, unable to sleep as he was actually frightened to death of the hulk. It seemed that he was actually extremely scared, but believed that by repeatedly saying nice things about him, he would become his friend and would therefore be safe. My uncle was not pleased at having to strip all the wall paper down the next day.