Losing Pockets
July 2, 2011 8:19 PM Subscribe
When I was watching "children's programming" in the USA circa 1970s
I had
Romper Room
Captain Kangaroo
Sesame Street
Electric Company
Zoom
Great Space Coaster
Kids Incorporated
... as well as Patches&Pockets (Previously)
Patches & Pockets was an exclusive children's show for the WTOL audience 1971-1989
Patches was a female portraying a male character
We recently lost Pockets. Here is her guestbook.
Patches & Pockets was an exclusive children's show for the WTOL audience 1971-1989
Patches was a female portraying a male character
We recently lost Pockets. Here is her guestbook.
I was on Romper Room and I used to think that made me cool and special until I found out in college that most kids my age in the area were also on Romper Room. I no longer felt cool or special.
posted by ephemerista at 8:24 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by ephemerista at 8:24 PM on July 2, 2011
Does anyone else remember Villa Alegre? [SLYT, audio only]
posted by pianoboy at 8:27 PM on July 2, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by pianoboy at 8:27 PM on July 2, 2011 [6 favorites]
pianoboy -- Yes -- eerily familiar that theme song ...
posted by TangerineGurl at 8:29 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by TangerineGurl at 8:29 PM on July 2, 2011
Same here, Hippybear, only even closer to the border for me! I loved me some Villa Alegre and looked forward to it in the afternoons.
posted by pianoboy at 8:33 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by pianoboy at 8:33 PM on July 2, 2011
That Electric Company intro is 1:26 long. No wonder I never watched it.
posted by Camofrog at 8:38 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by Camofrog at 8:38 PM on July 2, 2011
Pianoboy: yes! Wow. I hadn't thought of it for decades, until you brought it up. But it turns out the theme song is safely tucked inside some brain cell or other that I haven't killed yet (LAAAA la la la la la...). And I also grew up not far from the Mexican border (though for me it was more like 70 miles). I wonder where-all Villa Alegre was distributed?
...er, sorry to diverge, TangerineGurl. And sorry to hear about Pockets.
posted by theatro at 8:46 PM on July 2, 2011
...er, sorry to diverge, TangerineGurl. And sorry to hear about Pockets.
posted by theatro at 8:46 PM on July 2, 2011
Morgan Freeman was |SLYT Easy Reader on Electric Company!
posted by TangerineGurl at 8:50 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by TangerineGurl at 8:50 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Jesus, I can't believe you linked to "New Zoo Review", hippybear. That shit was saccharine when I was a ten-year-old, and the puppets creeped me out.
Ugh. It gives me the shivers to think of the atmosphere of that show. I'm scarred.
posted by Red Loop at 9:05 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Ugh. It gives me the shivers to think of the atmosphere of that show. I'm scarred.
posted by Red Loop at 9:05 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Wow, look at Morgan Freeman! I think I love him.
posted by Knowyournuts at 9:09 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by Knowyournuts at 9:09 PM on July 2, 2011
I'm scarred.
Well at least it had some effect on you. The stuff today is so banal it makes me sick. The 70s era Sesame street animations helped me to become the freak I am today, and I am very grateful for CTV's not-so-hidden counterculture agenda.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:11 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well at least it had some effect on you. The stuff today is so banal it makes me sick. The 70s era Sesame street animations helped me to become the freak I am today, and I am very grateful for CTV's not-so-hidden counterculture agenda.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:11 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
I love this post. I so remember Patches and Pockets. I was a fan of Mr. Rogers. The trolly, soft voice, puppets, gueststars and crafts.
Morgan freeman is my favorite actor, great post Tangerinegurl.
posted by clavdivs at 9:25 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Morgan freeman is my favorite actor, great post Tangerinegurl.
posted by clavdivs at 9:25 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
. for Patches, you brought joy and that is a hard thing to do.
posted by clavdivs at 9:26 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 9:26 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Meatbomb: "The stuff today is so banal it makes me sick. The 70s era Sesame street animations helped me to become the freak I am today, and I am very grateful for CTV's not-so-hidden counterculture agenda."
Oh, I agree that much of the programming at the time was interesting and I love being reminded of some of it.But I just always hated New Zoo Review, no offense. I'm sure they were well-intentioned.
posted by Red Loop at 9:32 PM on July 2, 2011
Oh, I agree that much of the programming at the time was interesting and I love being reminded of some of it.But I just always hated New Zoo Review, no offense. I'm sure they were well-intentioned.
posted by Red Loop at 9:32 PM on July 2, 2011
I am now going to bed with the theme of "Villa Alegre" looping through my head. Goodbye, amigos. Until tomorrow.
posted by Red Loop at 9:34 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by Red Loop at 9:34 PM on July 2, 2011
3 2 1 Contact was a favorite.
Here's an obscure one: That's Cat.
I can't find any samples on YouTube and that's not Cat.
posted by loquacious at 9:42 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Here's an obscure one: That's Cat.
I can't find any samples on YouTube and that's not Cat.
posted by loquacious at 9:42 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
He gets plenty of love here on MeFi, but for the sake of completion, here's Mister Rogers Neighborhood
posted by ShutterBun at 10:02 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ShutterBun at 10:02 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
I still remember the confusion of my 4 year old mind trying to figure out how my favorite droids, C3P0 and R2D2 had stumbled into Sesame Street. Some of the Electric Company's Spiderman bits were mind-boggling too; wondering how he got out of the Marvel universe and into the world of PBS people.
posted by p3t3 at 10:03 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by p3t3 at 10:03 PM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
This was my Romper Room, and I think you're cool and special, Katie.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:15 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:15 PM on July 2, 2011
I learned how to whistle at a precocious age by watching Mr. Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo.
Much to my parents' almost immediate dismay.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:20 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Much to my parents' almost immediate dismay.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:20 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
I worked a Captain Kangaroo book signing, about 24 years ago, at a big bookstore in Atlanta
It was amazing. Seeing this ordinary, avuncular, old man talking abut his work, to a RAPT audience of 20-somethings, some with toddlers in arms.
We were allowed to have a private signing/meet with him, on condition that we avoided certain upsetting topics, like what happened to Mr. Green Jeans.
posted by thelonius at 11:20 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
It was amazing. Seeing this ordinary, avuncular, old man talking abut his work, to a RAPT audience of 20-somethings, some with toddlers in arms.
We were allowed to have a private signing/meet with him, on condition that we avoided certain upsetting topics, like what happened to Mr. Green Jeans.
posted by thelonius at 11:20 PM on July 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Almost four decades on and the world still does not contain enough beer to burn the atrocities of Sid and Marty Krofft out of my brain.
Those two should be in the Hague.
posted by Lon Mem at 11:35 PM on July 2, 2011 [4 favorites]
Those two should be in the Hague.
posted by Lon Mem at 11:35 PM on July 2, 2011 [4 favorites]
Re The Electric Company. One day not too long ago, I suddenly remembered:
"Fargo North, Decoder"
And fell over laughing. I hadn't got it as a kid, and had forgotten it until that moment. Talk about a long fuse.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:36 PM on July 2, 2011 [12 favorites]
"Fargo North, Decoder"
And fell over laughing. I hadn't got it as a kid, and had forgotten it until that moment. Talk about a long fuse.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:36 PM on July 2, 2011 [12 favorites]
I used to kinda hate kid's shows like those. But I watched them anyways, because who was I to deny the blessing of television?
I have some amusing memories of Wonderama with Bob McAllister. It was shown here in L.A. that goofy exercise song and those snake cans...
I remember That's Cat somewhat. The theme song by John Sebastian was nice enough. I thought the Me was a bit creepy. Maybe he was supposed to be a Harpo-like character, but there was something weird about finding "Me" in the picture.
A couple shows I liked better were The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, and later on, a show called Hot Hero Sandwich. I think these were aimed at a bit older crowd than shows like New Zoo Review.
The Sid & Marty Krofft shows were mostly goofy, and entertaining enough. But I did like Land of the Lost quite a bit. I thought that was pretty good science fiction for the under 12 crowd, presenting some good ideas for the young mind to chew on, rather than lots of dumb action, which is kid's science fiction shows were usually about.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:55 PM on July 2, 2011
I have some amusing memories of Wonderama with Bob McAllister. It was shown here in L.A. that goofy exercise song and those snake cans...
I remember That's Cat somewhat. The theme song by John Sebastian was nice enough. I thought the Me was a bit creepy. Maybe he was supposed to be a Harpo-like character, but there was something weird about finding "Me" in the picture.
A couple shows I liked better were The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, and later on, a show called Hot Hero Sandwich. I think these were aimed at a bit older crowd than shows like New Zoo Review.
The Sid & Marty Krofft shows were mostly goofy, and entertaining enough. But I did like Land of the Lost quite a bit. I thought that was pretty good science fiction for the under 12 crowd, presenting some good ideas for the young mind to chew on, rather than lots of dumb action, which is kid's science fiction shows were usually about.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:55 PM on July 2, 2011
But what about Lidsville? Or The Far Out Space Nuts? Krofft Supershow?!
posted by markkraft at 1:32 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by markkraft at 1:32 AM on July 3, 2011
Speaking of Sid & Marty Krofft... How about H.R. Puffinstuff?
posted by Bartonius at 1:37 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Bartonius at 1:37 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
o man, those H R Puffinstuff talking trees scared the crap out of me, no matter how many times they sang "one banana two banana three banana four" while everyone was having SO MUCH FUN
posted by thelonius at 1:43 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by thelonius at 1:43 AM on July 3, 2011
Sid and Marty Kroft made unique shows. No one made anything like those before, and pretty much no one has made any since. I think they're sorely missed in children's TV.
posted by JHarris at 1:54 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by JHarris at 1:54 AM on July 3, 2011
Cannot forget The Friendly Giant.
"Look waaaayyy up"
loved Rusty, hints of Bob and Doug, just a smidgen.
posted by clavdivs at 2:07 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Look waaaayyy up"
loved Rusty, hints of Bob and Doug, just a smidgen.
posted by clavdivs at 2:07 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Sigmund the Sea Monster was pretty far out too.
As for Sesame Street, I remember being enamored with just how damn cool they made NYC look. It wasn't until many years later that I made my first visit to the Big Apple, and by golly, they were right. It was cool!
posted by readyfreddy at 2:35 AM on July 3, 2011 [5 favorites]
As for Sesame Street, I remember being enamored with just how damn cool they made NYC look. It wasn't until many years later that I made my first visit to the Big Apple, and by golly, they were right. It was cool!
posted by readyfreddy at 2:35 AM on July 3, 2011 [5 favorites]
Tell me someone else loved Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine, please?
This was my absolute favorite show when I was three or four, and I still remember the day I turned on the TV and PBS gave me McNeil-Lehrer instead. Bastards!
posted by Flannery Culp at 4:36 AM on July 3, 2011
This was my absolute favorite show when I was three or four, and I still remember the day I turned on the TV and PBS gave me McNeil-Lehrer instead. Bastards!
posted by Flannery Culp at 4:36 AM on July 3, 2011
Nostalgia for 70's and 80's kids television. Let's just call it what it is -- Metafilter Catnip. :)
Here is my own contribution to the cause: Stevie Wonder performing "Superstition" in 1973 on Sesame Street.
posted by zooropa at 5:27 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Here is my own contribution to the cause: Stevie Wonder performing "Superstition" in 1973 on Sesame Street.
posted by zooropa at 5:27 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Carole and Paula in The Magic Garden. ("See ya (see ya!), hope you had a good, good time!")
posted by steef at 5:31 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by steef at 5:31 AM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
In my neck of the woods we had Boomtown starring Rex Trailer and a series of companions like Pablo and Sgt. Billy. We also had Major Muddwho capitalized on the space race.
OK, gang, let's sing the Major Mudd theme!
"With an I and a B and a B and a Y
Means 'I'll Be Blasting You!'
We'll take a trip In a rocket ship
Up in the sky so blue!
With Major Mudd
In the Nervous One
Means lots of fun for you--
With an I and a B and a B and a Y
Means 'I'll Be Blasting YOUUUUU!'"
posted by Gungho at 5:41 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
OK, gang, let's sing the Major Mudd theme!
"With an I and a B and a B and a Y
Means 'I'll Be Blasting You!'
We'll take a trip In a rocket ship
Up in the sky so blue!
With Major Mudd
In the Nervous One
Means lots of fun for you--
With an I and a B and a B and a Y
Means 'I'll Be Blasting YOUUUUU!'"
posted by Gungho at 5:41 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm reposting this from a previous comment, via my profile page, with repaired andexpanded links:
Q: What is the best thing you saw on television growing up?
A: The psychedelic animated shorts from Sesame Street are among the top 1 things:
12;
lost boy;
I remember;
That's About the Size of It, etc.
What makes these items so particularly excellent is not that they teach you how to identify clocks or phones, or to develop memory skills, or even to learn about funky pimps who can morph into living elephant / fountain / plastic homes: the mission critical bit is the subliminal message that when you grow up you should take LSD to make you a better person. Counting to 12 was great, but it was the "take LSD" part that I found the most valuable lesson from 1970s Sesame Street - muchos gracias Children's Television Workshop!
Protip for when the trip gets too intense: try to remember everything you passed, but when you go back make the first thing the last.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:58 AM on July 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
Q: What is the best thing you saw on television growing up?
A: The psychedelic animated shorts from Sesame Street are among the top 1 things:
12;
lost boy;
I remember;
That's About the Size of It, etc.
What makes these items so particularly excellent is not that they teach you how to identify clocks or phones, or to develop memory skills, or even to learn about funky pimps who can morph into living elephant / fountain / plastic homes: the mission critical bit is the subliminal message that when you grow up you should take LSD to make you a better person. Counting to 12 was great, but it was the "take LSD" part that I found the most valuable lesson from 1970s Sesame Street - muchos gracias Children's Television Workshop!
Protip for when the trip gets too intense: try to remember everything you passed, but when you go back make the first thing the last.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:58 AM on July 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
I wonder where-all Villa Alegre was distributed?
I can report seeing it in Eastern Connecticut in the mid-late '70s, if that helps. (I totally forgot all about it until maybe 2 years ago, when I was having a conversation with a friend who grew up [in Pensacola] and he mentioned it and suddenly I had this instant flashback to the opening credits with the song, and the ferris wheel...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:58 AM on July 3, 2011
I can report seeing it in Eastern Connecticut in the mid-late '70s, if that helps. (I totally forgot all about it until maybe 2 years ago, when I was having a conversation with a friend who grew up [in Pensacola] and he mentioned it and suddenly I had this instant flashback to the opening credits with the song, and the ferris wheel...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:58 AM on July 3, 2011
I loved Zoom! Look at that intro - so loosely rehearsed and imperfect, but so much energy. And of course the Electric Company. Made babysitting fun.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:07 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:07 AM on July 3, 2011
There is not nearly enough love for The Magic Garden in this post. See also: Pinwheel. (great, now I have the chapi chapo theme song stuck in my head.)
posted by elizardbits at 7:20 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by elizardbits at 7:20 AM on July 3, 2011
I loved watching The Great Space Coaster every weekday morning!I feel bad today that kids today will never know such fun or groovy programming. Kids shows are surprisingly sterile and just lack the sort of glee that CTW, TV Ontario and other homebrew shows had. You don't see local children's programmng any more either...I remember Paul Hann and Friends while my husband, who grew up in Calgary, remembers The Buck Shot Show.
Speaking of groovy TV shows, I remember one that was unfortunately titled World of B.J. Vibes. Oh man! I can't imagine that flying today at all :-D
posted by Calzephyr at 7:26 AM on July 3, 2011
Speaking of groovy TV shows, I remember one that was unfortunately titled World of B.J. Vibes. Oh man! I can't imagine that flying today at all :-D
posted by Calzephyr at 7:26 AM on July 3, 2011
I hated Captain Kangaroo.
posted by limeonaire at 8:10 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by limeonaire at 8:10 AM on July 3, 2011
Wonderama, represent! I remember Bob Mcallister interviewing Eddie Money & him performing "Two Tickets to Paradise". Also caught Villa Allegre growing up in Rockaway Beach, NY.
And pretty much everything Sid & Marty Kroft ever did takes on a whole new context once you grow up and smoke a joint. Having just googled up the "Miracle of Birth" song from New Zoo Review, I think I need a FAT one.
Zoom was a the gang of friends I always wished I had. Electric Company were the grown-ups I thought I wanted to be.
And in case you haven't seen it, Mr Rogers rescues PBS' funding from a hostile congress with one speech.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:51 AM on July 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
And pretty much everything Sid & Marty Kroft ever did takes on a whole new context once you grow up and smoke a joint. Having just googled up the "Miracle of Birth" song from New Zoo Review, I think I need a FAT one.
Zoom was a the gang of friends I always wished I had. Electric Company were the grown-ups I thought I wanted to be.
And in case you haven't seen it, Mr Rogers rescues PBS' funding from a hostile congress with one speech.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:51 AM on July 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
what happened to Mr. Green Jeans.????
We didn't get a PBS channel growing up--so we didn't get Sesame Street, the Electric Company, etc. But we sometimes got Canadian channels: Mr. Dressup
posted by vitabellosi at 9:10 AM on July 3, 2011
We didn't get a PBS channel growing up--so we didn't get Sesame Street, the Electric Company, etc. But we sometimes got Canadian channels: Mr. Dressup
posted by vitabellosi at 9:10 AM on July 3, 2011
I wanted to be a Zoom-er so badly when I was a kid! I even wrote to Box 350 Boston Mass (oh two one three four!) to ask about it, but a main qualification was that you had to live within driving distance of the TV studio, and we lived in Michigan, and Dad wasn't going to uproot the whole family just because I could do the Bernadette arm thing...... so that was that.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:17 AM on July 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:17 AM on July 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
Beat this: Captain Satellite. Probably predates most MeFites and wasn't broadcast widely enough to reach the rest.
I watched it as a little girl and was absolutely convinced that the opening sequence, which showed a rocket blasting off, was totally real and the kids on the show really went into orbit with Captain Satellite. I was so adamant about this that my mom arranged for me to be on the show. I kept hopping off the soundstage and running around the studio looking for the real rocketship. I wonder if they ever broadcast that day's filming ...
I never believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny (my parents got that part right), but man, Captain Satellite really let me down. I still want to be an astronaut when I grow up.
posted by Quietgal at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2011
I watched it as a little girl and was absolutely convinced that the opening sequence, which showed a rocket blasting off, was totally real and the kids on the show really went into orbit with Captain Satellite. I was so adamant about this that my mom arranged for me to be on the show. I kept hopping off the soundstage and running around the studio looking for the real rocketship. I wonder if they ever broadcast that day's filming ...
I never believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny (my parents got that part right), but man, Captain Satellite really let me down. I still want to be an astronaut when I grow up.
posted by Quietgal at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2011
Meatbomb: You forgot the most important life lesson (other than the subliminal message, of course): Even when you're small, you can still understand the theory of relativity. Because that's about the size. It's where you put your eyes. That's about the size of it.
(Seriously, this is probably my most favorite non-Muppet Sesame Street song ever, and I thank you for posting it, from the bottom of my middle-aged heart.)
Now I'm weepy, because this song has always been the one damn song that can make me break down and cry-hyyyy.
posted by bakerina at 9:33 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
(Seriously, this is probably my most favorite non-Muppet Sesame Street song ever, and I thank you for posting it, from the bottom of my middle-aged heart.)
Now I'm weepy, because this song has always been the one damn song that can make me break down and cry-hyyyy.
posted by bakerina at 9:33 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I was on Romper Room. True story.
posted by secondhand pho at 9:35 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by secondhand pho at 9:35 AM on July 3, 2011
I was on Romper Room, too. Fellow alumni, were you all from Pittsburgh, too? I got to meet the great Fred Rogers at WQED back then.
posted by Shike at 9:52 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by Shike at 9:52 AM on July 3, 2011
Sesame Street debuted when I was in the fifth grade, so I was probably slightly above their target age demographic, but my friends and I loved the psychedelic animation effects, the songs and the Muppet humor. One of my favorite "trippy" songs was the animated counting thing that highlighted a particular numeral - I have since learned that that bit was called "Jazzy Spies" and that none other than Grace Slick was the vocalist. And even though I was older and knew it all (ahem), I still managed to learn a thing or two from Sesame Street - for example, I distinctly remember some skit where they were teaching the difference between long and short vowels (which I already knew), but they also gave names to the long and short diacritical marks, macron and breve. I'd never known the names for those "marks" before, and I don't remember my teachers ever mentioning their technical names during all my years in school.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:23 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:23 AM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sesame Street debuted the year I was born. My mom used to tell me that she remembered sitting with me in her lap, watching the first episode, and thinking, "Wow, this is great! It'll never last."
posted by That's Numberwang! at 10:32 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by That's Numberwang! at 10:32 AM on July 3, 2011
We were ALL on Romper Room, don't you know. (Me, Boston, 1976).
I wish to god I could find video from that.
I was also in the audience of Candlepins for Cash (bondcliff and trisetza represent!) and I'd probably literally kill someone to see that clip of my mom bowling.
posted by tristeza at 10:46 AM on July 3, 2011
I wish to god I could find video from that.
I was also in the audience of Candlepins for Cash (bondcliff and trisetza represent!) and I'd probably literally kill someone to see that clip of my mom bowling.
posted by tristeza at 10:46 AM on July 3, 2011
Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?
posted by nickyskye at 10:53 AM on July 3, 2011
posted by nickyskye at 10:53 AM on July 3, 2011
Oh, boy! What didn't I watch of kids shows back in the day.
Villa Allegre, Zoom, The Gigglesnort Hotel (big ups for that, Chicago!), Vegetable Soup, Rebop!, Readit with John Robbins, The Write Channel - and for you Milwaukee kids out there - The Polka-Dot Door and Readalong imported from Canada.
But for all your Great Space Coasters and 3-2-1 Contacts, no one's mentioned:
"We're off to the forest to see Miss Jean
She lives in a house that is mostly green
Except for the chimneys and windows and walls
and one or two places just down the halls.
It's filled with rabbits and snakes and snails
and fat little puppies that wag their tails
and a whale and a tiger and elephants, too...
...well, maybe not elephants."
(Bass note!)
or
"The world's a big blue marble when you see it from out there..."
posted by droplet at 12:32 PM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Villa Allegre, Zoom, The Gigglesnort Hotel (big ups for that, Chicago!), Vegetable Soup, Rebop!, Readit with John Robbins, The Write Channel - and for you Milwaukee kids out there - The Polka-Dot Door and Readalong imported from Canada.
But for all your Great Space Coasters and 3-2-1 Contacts, no one's mentioned:
"We're off to the forest to see Miss Jean
She lives in a house that is mostly green
Except for the chimneys and windows and walls
and one or two places just down the halls.
It's filled with rabbits and snakes and snails
and fat little puppies that wag their tails
and a whale and a tiger and elephants, too...
...well, maybe not elephants."
(Bass note!)
or
"The world's a big blue marble when you see it from out there..."
posted by droplet at 12:32 PM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
And in case you haven't seen it, Mr Rogers rescues PBS' funding from a hostile congress with one speech.
Oh my. I hadn't seen it. I never knew.
Whatever is good and right and worthy about the universe, well, I just want to say thanks for Mr Fred Rogers.
posted by Mike Mongo at 1:49 PM on July 3, 2011
Oh my. I hadn't seen it. I never knew.
Whatever is good and right and worthy about the universe, well, I just want to say thanks for Mr Fred Rogers.
posted by Mike Mongo at 1:49 PM on July 3, 2011
You know, I'm sorry to have to break the mood ofthis thread with a complaint. But, everybody's posting a 4 minute clip of their favorite kids show - why aren't whole seasons of these shows available? I'd gladly pay 3x or 4x the price of an equivalent amount of, say, Dora, who, for all the nice things are said about her, is formulaic, hardly educational, nearly divorced from reality, and annoyingly shrill. Everyone will concede (sp?) that Mr.Rogers is excellent childrens' television. But in total a handful of episodes are available in their entirety. The man was on the air for what, thirty years? And you may run down the list in this thread with not much better results for any of them, though nice box sets for Sesame Street and Electric Company are just starting to scratch the surface. Whoever owns the source recordings of these cultural properties needs to be good stewards and make them more available before all the people who originally benefitted from them being on network TV are no longer around to advocate for them. Any nightI snap on Nick JR (or any tv) for my own kids is a night I regret not being able to truly show them the TV I grew up with.
posted by newdaddy at 3:19 PM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by newdaddy at 3:19 PM on July 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
newdaddy - i agree. i just showed my kids clips of Electric Company last week and now they're all screaming "Hey You Guys!".
I really really wanted to show them whole episodes of 3-2-1 contact but there's just nothing out there than one episode of the bloodhound gang.
posted by carlodio at 7:04 PM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I really really wanted to show them whole episodes of 3-2-1 contact but there's just nothing out there than one episode of the bloodhound gang.
posted by carlodio at 7:04 PM on July 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Letter People, including theme, as I recall it.
I was too old for the content when I was watching it... but there was something deeply eerie about the production that hooked me.
posted by Rat Spatula at 8:28 PM on July 3, 2011
I was too old for the content when I was watching it... but there was something deeply eerie about the production that hooked me.
posted by Rat Spatula at 8:28 PM on July 3, 2011
I love you, newdaddy! You have it totally right!
I got to meet the great Fred Rogers at WQED back then.
I met Mr. McFeely, but he wasn't as friendly as he appeared on the show (probably because he didn't want to be autographing headshots at a crowded suburban mall), and I never felt the same way about him again.
The only show that I loved that hasn't been mentioned in this particular post was Today's Special. I loved the fact that it was about a mannequin coming to life in a closed department store, and I've been oddly drawn to mannequins ever since. And, actually, that reminds me of my favorite episode of Reading Rainbow which was about LeVar having to do a mysterious scavenger hunt on his birthday. And I think there was a mannequin that came to life.. or else there was a mime. I don't know, but I liked something I saw on that episode a whole lot. And my local PBS would show the episode every year for his birthday, so I actually had LeVar's birthday on my calendar so I wouldn't miss out on seeing it every year. Kind of like how I would watch Maury Povich every Christmas because he would have a show about baby animals (who KNEW who their daddies were, thank you very much).
posted by Mael Oui at 8:45 PM on July 3, 2011
I got to meet the great Fred Rogers at WQED back then.
I met Mr. McFeely, but he wasn't as friendly as he appeared on the show (probably because he didn't want to be autographing headshots at a crowded suburban mall), and I never felt the same way about him again.
The only show that I loved that hasn't been mentioned in this particular post was Today's Special. I loved the fact that it was about a mannequin coming to life in a closed department store, and I've been oddly drawn to mannequins ever since. And, actually, that reminds me of my favorite episode of Reading Rainbow which was about LeVar having to do a mysterious scavenger hunt on his birthday. And I think there was a mannequin that came to life.. or else there was a mime. I don't know, but I liked something I saw on that episode a whole lot. And my local PBS would show the episode every year for his birthday, so I actually had LeVar's birthday on my calendar so I wouldn't miss out on seeing it every year. Kind of like how I would watch Maury Povich every Christmas because he would have a show about baby animals (who KNEW who their daddies were, thank you very much).
posted by Mael Oui at 8:45 PM on July 3, 2011
While we're reminiscing: Peppermint Place, starring Mr. Peppermint (he was the Captain Kangaroo of the Dallas-Fort Worth TV market). The audio in the clip is off, but the honk when he "summons" Muffin cracks me up quite a few years later.
posted by fireoyster at 10:53 PM on July 3, 2011
posted by fireoyster at 10:53 PM on July 3, 2011
I hated Captain Kangaroo.
i've heard tell (third hand) that Bob Keeshan was kind of an asshat. Even more reason to cheer when Mr. Moose dropped all those damn ping pong balls on his head!!!
posted by kuppajava at 7:25 AM on July 4, 2011
i've heard tell (third hand) that Bob Keeshan was kind of an asshat. Even more reason to cheer when Mr. Moose dropped all those damn ping pong balls on his head!!!
posted by kuppajava at 7:25 AM on July 4, 2011
Newdaddy...it is a conundrum about why we can only find clips of the shows. I'm thinking that a lot of masters were recorded over, they're sitting in someone's basement or the videotape has degraded to such an extent that it can't be digitized well. A lot of educational tapes from channels like Access (in Alberta), and probably other places actually had a destroy by date on them, so unless someone absconded with them from the library, they have long since been landfilled. The destroy by date was a way of enforcing term usage, I suppose.
posted by Calzephyr at 7:52 AM on July 4, 2011
posted by Calzephyr at 7:52 AM on July 4, 2011
I had to laugh upthread when someone described The New Zoo Review as being too saccharine, considering this outtake clip that has been floating around for awhile now [WARNING: Homophobic slurs, generally NSFW]
One of my favorite kids shows growing up was Buster and Me, about a rambunctious chimpanzee, his younger sister, Vanilla, and best friend, Russell. What always cracked me up about the show was how these chimps seamlessly fit into regular society without question, attending public school along with regular human kids without anyone blinking an eye or thinking it at all odd that there were two chimps in class with them.
As I grew up and started to get nostalgic for the symbols of my youth, I was surprised to discover it was nearly impossible to find any evidence of this show's existence anywhere on the net, and when I would ask people about it, nobody had any idea what I was talking about. It almost got to the point where I honestly started to wonder if this had been a hallucination from an acid trip rather than a legitimate childhood memory. Only later did I discover this was a locally produced show for the San Francisco market only (I had moved to So Cal by this point).
posted by The Gooch at 10:46 AM on July 4, 2011
One of my favorite kids shows growing up was Buster and Me, about a rambunctious chimpanzee, his younger sister, Vanilla, and best friend, Russell. What always cracked me up about the show was how these chimps seamlessly fit into regular society without question, attending public school along with regular human kids without anyone blinking an eye or thinking it at all odd that there were two chimps in class with them.
As I grew up and started to get nostalgic for the symbols of my youth, I was surprised to discover it was nearly impossible to find any evidence of this show's existence anywhere on the net, and when I would ask people about it, nobody had any idea what I was talking about. It almost got to the point where I honestly started to wonder if this had been a hallucination from an acid trip rather than a legitimate childhood memory. Only later did I discover this was a locally produced show for the San Francisco market only (I had moved to So Cal by this point).
posted by The Gooch at 10:46 AM on July 4, 2011
Sid and Marty Kroft made unique shows. No one made anything like those before, and pretty much no one has made any since. I think they're sorely missed in children's TV.
I grew up on those wonderful shows. I even went to Kroft World when I was a kid. My toddlers and I watch Yo Gabba Gabba, and that's pretty different from other kid's shows these days.
posted by candyland at 6:00 PM on July 4, 2011
I grew up on those wonderful shows. I even went to Kroft World when I was a kid. My toddlers and I watch Yo Gabba Gabba, and that's pretty different from other kid's shows these days.
posted by candyland at 6:00 PM on July 4, 2011
No love for Bozo's Circus? I got to go to a taping of Bozo in Chicago when I was around 7. At the time, it was the thing to do - if I remember correctly there was a 10 year waiting list to get tickets at one point.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:03 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by SisterHavana at 11:03 AM on July 5, 2011
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posted by MrLint at 8:23 PM on July 2, 2011 [3 favorites]