Thursday, April 30, 2009

Do you remember pt. 2, the Canadians.

Like I said in my previous post, a lot of the shows I grew up loving were produced in Canada. That explains the way they spoke now. It was always just a little off, but I couldn't tell you why. Now I know. :)

My new friend LKP left me a few detailed comments containing thoughts that were already brewing inside my head. I'm glad that I'm not the only one that remembers shows like The Polka Dot Door. It was a live show with alternating human hosts intermingled with costumed characters like the Polka Roo. There were also stuffed animals and one little dolly, my favorite character, the rag doll Marigold, she reminded me of my beloved Raggedy Ann doll that my grandma had made me.

Was the Great Space Coaster Canadian? I vaguely remember that show, but my mom said I loved it. I'm sure I did actually. If it had anything that resembled my beloved muppets, I would have watched.

Then there was the treasure trove of shows on the new little channel Nickelodeon. When you could watch Pinwheel for 5 hours a day. I was never aloud to, but I was ready and willing. I remember all of the little shows that were on Pinwheel too. My favorites include The Magic Roundabout, Charlie's Climbing Tree, Chapi Chapo, Hattytown, King Rolo, Bod, Bagpuss, and Simon in the land of Chalk drawings just to name a few. I kinda liked the in between Sesame Street knock off parts. I always felt like that was just filler and the cartoons were the real show. I would LOVE to find videos from that list. I actually have a copy of some Hattytown episodes. I've seen Chapi Chapo on YouTube, then they got pulled for copyright. Blah.





























Oh man! Today's Special!!! Loved that show! How can you not like a show about a mannequin coming to life and hanging out in a department store all night? It had magic, miniatures, and puppetry. Very appealing to little Dorthy Hamill haircut Heidi.

There was always Mr. Wizard on in the morning before we got ready for School. I would wake up early for a few programs. Jeff recalls Mr. Wizard with much affection.

You Can't Do That On Television...{moment of silence} Greatest "edgy" kids show ever!!! Did anyone else have a super HUGE crush on Alasdair? If you ever wondered why Nickelodeon pours green slime on people, it's from this show. It's what would happen to you when you said "I don't know". Guess what would happen if you said water....I'll wait....yup, water would be dumped from above. Genius!!!

I'm sure there is more that I'm not remembering. Feel free to remind me in the comments. I'll probably be down for a while anyway. You see, I think I might have gotten the Mexican flu. I'm not totally sure, but I feel something coming on and it's starting in my chest. So, I'm going to get a bunch of orange juice and day/nigh quil. Wish me luck. :)

p.s. Hey Dude, and Salute Your Shorts, Count Duckula, Danger Mouse, Bananaman, Turkey Television, and Captain Kangaroo {ping pong balls}.

16 comments:

SuzanSayz said...

I had forgotten about almost all of those. I believe that Captain Kangaroo was the very first show I introduced you and Donald to, that had been there when I was a kid. I remember not caring for, You Can't Do That On Television
I didn't mind the Slime, or any of the other silly things they did. I just didn't like how ALL of the adults on the show were complete Bafoons. I thought then and I still think now that all that did was teach children to have NO respect for parents or teachers.

SuzanSayz said...

I just had an idea. Maybe you should write a letter to the good folk at Nickelodian, asking them to release those old shows on dvd. I realize that they may no longer have the rights to them but if they do, I bet that every dvd would be an instant Best Seller.

Heidi D said...

I think kids have always shown a "lack of respect" for teachers and parents. I'm sure it happened long before any shows were around to teach them how. That's just human nature. I also don't agree that they exacerbate the problem. I think those shows become a scape goat. What or who do you think Adam and Eve blamed for their son Cain?

Anyway, I think we were smart enough to know that the adults on that show were different from adults in real life. They were just characters. We didn't think Adults were that stupid or grungy when we were young. That didn't happen till we were much older. Now I see it all the time. :)

Mike 'n' Cindy Brinkerhoff said...

Oh man, I loved the Great Space Coaster!! There are shockingly few fan-sites on the web... Land of the Lost is another one I grew up loving, and now have a DVD of... The giant styrofoam dinosaurs are just as great now as they were then!

Oooh, I *do* have the Great Space Coaster theme song... I may just have to pull it out for a song of the day soon!

Amy said...

I loved Today's Special and Polka Dot door. I searched the library catalog in hopes that they would be on DVD. No such luck. It seems a lot of old shows are coming back. Maybe we will see those again in the future.

Kelly said...

My mind is being bombarded with vague memories of TV shows I may or may not have watched on purpose, or instead were watched by my older sister while I was in the room.

It's weird that I recognize a lot of this, but can't really place it.

Jan said...

I will be honest, I am totally lost. I can't recall many of them.

Brooke said...

Ahh... Pinwheel, Simon, You can't do that on Television... the memories are flooding back. I'm truly impressed with your memory!

LKP said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Count Duckula has been on my mind ALL day since I sent my last comment! =0) oh my goodness, Danger Mouse too! i always loved when people'd get slimed, but never wanted to get slimed-i'd take the water no problem. =) remember double dare? Today's Special rocked! i loved the old security guard, he reminded me of my grandpas kinda. what about gumby? babar the elephant? O G Readmore!!!!! i LIVED for that cat & would race home after school for old adam west batman episodes, the wonderful world of disney, and ABC's afterschool specials! i wanted to grow up and be mr. T from the A-Team & his cartoon show. punky brewster! 3 2 1 Contact! david the gnome---i don't know why i ALWAYS wanted to live in a toadstool, but i LOVED that show. i wanted to grow up and become Jem with her magic star earrings (my fav episode was the shangri-la one)! i TOTALLY talked about She-Ra the princess of power at volleyball the other night! when i was 4 i wanted to grow up and become wonderwoman (i had the complete underroo set even!)...used to be able to do a spot-on steve urkle impression from family matters...perfect strangers was the best because of Balki (his happy dance and "don't be re-diko-luss!")...i had the knight rider car, kit, in a spring-loaded hotwheels that shot off the orange key like a bullet....remember the micro machine man?....and Zak, Zak, he's a Lego Maniac?...kids incorporated?! that was the coolest show! way better than the new mickey mouse club! did you realize that's where Fergie got her start? lol...wow, i'm sooo old. speaking of age, i'll be 30 this year...so maybe we did meet at church dances...who else did you know from TCs growing up?

LKP said...

do you remember the show Just the 10 of Us? it was a spin-off from growing pains. i thought the 2 oldest,popular daughters (the blond & redhead) were the most gorgeous girls ever! my fav episode was when the redhead was sneaking off to DJ at night, and no one would believe she was gorgeous since she was soooo good on the air! lol, go figure-i WOULD love the radio DJ one huh?! too hilarious.

LKP said...

a-ha! the LITTLES!!!!!

LKP said...

what about that body guy? remember the geri-curled guy in the body suit neck to toes with all the organs on it? i can't remember the name of the show.

LKP said...

what about the show where the girl was half alien & half human? it was melissa joan hart i think, and she talked to her alien dad through this huge paper weight thing?? it was kinda triangle shaped i think....speaking of aliens, do you remember mork & mindy? i LOVED watching robin williams drink his orange juice with his finger! Na-nu Na-nu!

LKP said...

used to watch old star trek episodes on saturday evenings, then they were followed by flintstones, gilligan's island, then the CREAM OF THE CROP: SOLID GOLD!!! i wanted to grow up and be a solid gold dancer w/ the gold lamae pants w/ matching scrunchies & always in tina turner high heels! lol. wow i'm a complete uber dork! =) saturday afternoons i'd try and catch american bandstand. sundays were always at one grandmas or another so it alternated from the lawrence welk show or 60 minutes!

Debie Spurgeon said...

The only one that looks remotely familar to me is Bod. I am pretty clueless about the rest. I do remember my fav's from when I was little in England though, Magic Roundabout and Rainbow. I was a fan of T.V and used to look forward to watching my shows. After these kids shows I moved on to watching DALLAS. Nice huh!

David said...

i have never heard of chapi chapi before today. you're mentioning it all over the place. i hate it when youtube yanks videos.