Obscure children's television shows that you still remember

Mr Bear's Cellar on Caledon Local 21.

Who needs a talking Canadian moose when you can have a talking Canadian mouse.

I loved Today's Special, R2!

Pinky and the brain. I loved the theme song.

You Can't Do That On Television!

Southern California 1960s-70s: Sheriff John, Hobo Kelly and Dusty's Treehouse. I believe those were local (Dusty's was later shown in syndication, I think). I liked these shows more than Bozo the Clown, Romper Room or Captain Kangaroo.

The nineties goosebumps series

San Francisco circa late 50s early 60s:

Mayor Art (KRON)

Captain Satellite (KTVU)

#6 - So Cal Girl here - I think we were watching the the tv shows - I loved Dusty’s Tree House. Also Sunday mornings on KTTV channel - Bob McCallister hosting Wonderama - I still remember the song “Excercise.” ….. New Zoo Revue … Skip and Woofer …Tom Hatten dressed in a sailer outfit drawing Popeye on KTLA channel 5.

The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. With my first crush Biff Warren who played the sweet Doomsday, he the one in the far left corner.

Captain Tugg and his parrot Fantail.

Mr. Rogers' Pants

Magic Garden is a NY area classic

Ark 2 with Terry Lester....I also remember a show with Fred Grandy and a chimpanzee.

Not very obscure, but Kukla Fran & Ollie.

Also Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

Greatest of all was the Soupy Sales show.

The Bugaloos

Pixanne

Mate, Britain has a lock on freaky kids’ tv. Especially involving camp, gunge, borderline pagan paranormalism, and nonsense to do with puppets, for some reason.

One of the best and most obscure was BUG ALERT! An absolute classic. Kids’ tv is so much less intelligent and well-plotted, nowadays. Watching it back, there’s quite a few adult jokes snuck in to the script; bet the performers had a right laugh making it.

^^ROGER & THE ROTTENTROLLS is another fantastic U.K. programme, with a dry sardonic humour to keep parents entertained while kids enjoy the silliness. Featuring the voiceover talents of Martin Clunes!

^^^and of course there’s ART ATTACK.

As a kid, The Head’s humour went, erm, over my head..

Zoobilee Zoo

Yes r13 - actually I didn’t know it was aired only in our area.

New Zoo Revue

Steampipe Alley starring Mario Cantone. Only shown on channel 9 out of Secaucus, NJ on Sunday mornings. Such a strange show.

Romper Room.

"Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?"

R2 Why were they still wearing 70’s fashion for a 1980’s show? Was Canadian fashion a bit behind the times in those days?

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (1968 to 1970).

Once you've heard that theme song you can never get it out of your head.

I challenge anyone to find something as mad and chaotic as DICK & DOM IN DA BUNGALOW. You won’t, but you can try.

It barely squeaked past censorship in fifteen years ago—there’s no way it would see airtime now, parents would bay for its immediate cancellation due to ‘child abuse’, ‘unsanitary conditions’, ‘inappropriate innuendo’, etc.

Skip to the end of the linked episode to see a man pretend to give birth to multiple plastic dolls and custard for amniotic fluid...in front of his real-life mother, and a gaggle of random schoolkids (who do look a bit traumatised in fairness...)

“NAEBODAY MAEOUVE!”

‘Make Dick Sick’ was a real game...

Does anyone here remember this? This is a smorgasbord of childhood memories. Take a look and see if you see something you had forgotten all about!

^^^ The Children's Film Fest was a weekly showing of Foreign made-for-children films from all over the world. There are some real masterpieces in there and some of them are up on Youtube.

Gene London in the Philly/South Jersey area in the 70s. He also had a costume shop here in NYC and a large collection of movie costumes I believe.

I certainly remember Gene from BITD, r35. Do you remember:

-Uncle Pete Boyle(father of actor Peter Boyle, of "Where's Raymond" fame) He drew pictures for us, and showed cartoons and IIRC "Three Stooges" shorts.

-"Pixanne" Hosted by chanteuse Jane Norman. She dressed like Peter Pan, was able to fly, had friends in a magical forest and showed cartoons.

On Sunday mornings we'd race home from church to watch "Bertie the Bunyip." There were several puppets, manipulated by Pete(?) Dexter and his sister: the titular Bertie(some sort of bizarre animal, maybe a platypus) Sir Guy deGuy( a fox who was the resident villain, always trying to get the next two characters to do his dirty work) Fussy and Gussy(brothers, one smart, one less than), maybe one or two others.

"Wee Willie Weber" A radio and TV personality who hosted a kids' show. Every day he put coins in a cat-shaped piggy bank, and the bank would purr. Had a funny little wind-up toy that was supposed to be a tightrope walker, or maybe it rode a bicycle(it's been a few years)

"Chief Halftown" Native American Lenni Lenape Indian(they were a local tribe) Wore authentic garb, including a big feathered headdress.

"Happy the Clown" Kids' show geared to pre- pre-schoolers. Lots of music and marching around.

"Captain Noah and His Magical Ark." Captain and Mrs. Noah, dressed very nattily nautically.

"Al Alberts" Talent show for local kids. I believe he had been in a singing group with his brothers.

"Sally Starr" Our "ol' gal Sal" as she used to refer to herself. Western-themed kids' show, full of cartoons and songs and a little down-home wisdom occasionally. Used to make lots of public appearances all dressed up in a spangly cowgirl outfit, usually atop a beautiful white horse named Pal. She was most beloved, had a varied but not easy life and was dedicated to kids. From what I've read, she was the real deal.

I'm gettin' all misty.

R27, I remember watching Romper Room as a very young child. Was it based in Chicago?

Dusty's Treehouse

That's Cat

Wonderama

In Los Angeles our Romper Room lady was Miss Mary Ann.

Zoom = I'm Bernadette!

On Nikelodeon in the 80s: The Elephant Show features the adventures of the Canadian singing trio Sharon, Lois & Bram - and Elephant (Paula Gallivan in an elephant costume). Elephant doesn't speak but is voiced by a tuba (played by Scott Irvine), which conveys thoughts and mood by its pitch and inflection. The four are usually accompanied by a group of children and a sidekick, family entertainer Eric Nagler.

I remember one show when they talked about Lisbon having a tradition of really sad songs - and they sang one. Still remember "Liz-boah" whining out in my mind...

After their show was this real chill (stoned?) guy who walked around a forest and occasionally sat down to sing a folk song or talk about nature or something. Can't remember the name of him but his voice was so intoxicating!

R13, do you remember Magic Garden coming on Monday through Thursday, and Friday they aired Joya's Funschool? I seem to remember being bummed on Fridays, but watched Joya's Funschool anyway. But it was no Magic Garden.

R41 That sounds like Fred Penner's place!

I remember getting up early on Sundays (in the NY area) and watching Timothy the Church Mouse and Davey and Goliath on channel 9. Then I got a little older and realized Insight came on another channel. I remember kid me thinking that show was weird, but so much better than what I had been watching.

Maybe some of these things are regional like "Buster and Me", "Getting to Know Me", "The Perkins Family" (which starred a young Chandra Wilson from "Grey's Anatomy"), "Kidd Video".

[quote]Davey and Goliath

I loved "Davey and Goliath". I went to a Catholic school so when it was a rainy day or teachers just couldn't be arsed to teach, they put that on.

As a Brit, it’s really weird and off-putting to me that you all saw so much religious programming at a very tender age.

The only religious show I remember being on kids’ telly when I was growing up was THE ARK, a short-lived documentary-type show that featured animal puppets going around interviewing real people about religious tales & fables. It was Christian-led, but also featured stories from other faiths. Think it was cooked up as a diversity tick-in-the-box for one of the main four channels back then, because it didn’t last more than a series and no-one remembers it.

The Doubledeckers!

R29 swear down Australia has the best kids’ tv.

The theme to ROUND THE TWIST was well catchy, too. What a batshit programme that was (and I loved it!).

What show had the dark haired queen with a mustache who drew? It had an outer space theme.

Davey and Goliath is a big memory for me. Also, the Wallace and Ladmo show, which was a big deal in the Phoenix area.

Wishbone on PBS. It wasn't obscure but it wasn't available to everyone. I wish it would be repeated. It was a great introduction to literature for kids.

Cecil the Sea Sick Sea Serpent

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.

When I was in Baltimore in college there was a strange kids show on in the mornings, I think it was called "Captain Chesapeake" It involved a continuos green screen of a boat wake and the "captain" who was bearded sitting next to the edge talking to various sea creature puppets and then the usual cartoons. It was really weird.

Growing up in New Jersey we had Wonderama, The Chuck McCann Show on WNEW, Soupy Sales and that cartoon show where the host would always make chocolate milk.

From Toronto, Uncle Bobby!

R29, I had a French friend who told me they had Skippy, too. The lyrics were,

Skippy, Skippy

Regardez tous avec nous

Skippy, Skippy

Notre ami kangaroo

:D

Gigglesnort Hotel

WONDERAMA

Kid's are people too. Loved the theme song!

Shenanigans!

Anyone remember The Great Space Coaster? How about Fraggle Rock? Bonus points if you can still sing the theme songs!

Flint/Detroit-area 60s shows: "Rae Dean and Friends", "Alley Cat and Pansy", "Poopdeck Paul and Captain Muddy". "Johnny Ginger", and, of course, "The Soupy Sales Show". Also, on channel 9, from Canada "The Land of Play".

What was that New York-based one someone posted on DL a while ago with the guy in a uniform strutting around the set while kids shouted out his name over and over. It was so creepy!

Daddy’s Meat Marathon Suckfest

Before my time but there was one called Winky Dink. It was the first INTERACTIVE kids show.

Winky Dink and You was a CBS children's television show that aired from 1953 to 1957, on Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Eastern / 9:30 Central. It was hosted by Jack Barry and featured the exploits of a cartoon character named Winky Dink (voiced by Mae Questel) and his dog Woofer,

The central gimmick of the show, praised by Microsoft mogul Bill Gates as "the first interactive TV show",[3] was the use of a "magic drawing screen"—a piece of vinyl plastic that stuck to the television screen via static electricity. A kit containing the screen and various Winky Dink crayons could be purchased for 50 cents. At a climactic scene in every Winky Dink short film, Winky would arrive on a scene that contained a connect-the-dots picture that could be navigated only with the help of viewers. Winky Dink then would prompt the children at home to complete the picture, and the finished result would help him continue the story. Examples included drawing a bridge to cross a river, using an axe to chop down a tree, or creating a cage to trap a dangerous lion.

----------------------

The end result was a lot of kids without the protective kit just using their crayons directly on the television picture tube.

I remember Winky Dink. My parents refused to buy the kit and told me that if I drew on the TV I'd get the worst spanking of my life. I thought they were mean.

Meanwhile, the interesting thing about Romper Room is that although I think it eventually became syndicated, for years it was a franchise and local stations bought the rights to do their own version with their own Romper Room lady, Miss Whoever, within the franchise's guidelines.

Do they still make television shows for obscure children?

[quote]Anyone remember The Great Space Coaster? How about Fraggle Rock? Bonus points if you can still sing the theme songs!

Yes to both.

Virginia kid here….I used to love Wow on WDCA in the 80s.

And for the NYC kids..

Locally we had The Captain Penny Show (a locomotive Captain) and Barnaby (an elf)

The Puzzle Place

Wimzie's House

Low-budget Evangelical kids show Quigley's Village

Garfield Goose with Frazier Thomas and Romberg Rabbit and Beauregard Burnside III.

"A Serbian Children's Television Show," directed and produced by Srđan Spasojević

Was the Bozo Show national or local to Chicago? The wizard dude always freaked me out.

I grew up in Indiana watching “Cowboy Bob's Corral.” I seem to recall it having a lot of stuff about animals but I don’t remember much else.

The late 80s/early 90s Nickelodeon show Hey Dude

Ding Dong School is nearly forgotten today but in the early 50s it was the Sesame Street of its day. It predated Romper Room by a year or two and Miss Frances, aka Frances Horwich, was a highly distinguished children's educator. It began as a local show in Chicago but after just a few weeks, NBC picked it up and started broadcasting it nationally. Watching the handful of episodes that survive today is bizarre.

I loved 3-2-1 Contact. It was a science-based kid's show on PBS and helped start my lifelong love of science.

Bozo the Clown

This episode of Ding Dong School has the more famous opening with Miss Frances ringing a handbell. Fuck the dings, Miss Frances, tell me about the Dongs.

R81 just traumatized at least ten people!

WBGH's Zoom

Winky Dink

Gumby.

Roundhouse

Dawson's 50-Load Sing-a-long

Eureka’s Castle

OMG, PEOPLE!!!! HELLOOOOOO?

Kroft Superstars!

Sigmund, the Sea Monster!

Wonder Bug!

HR Puff-n-Stuff!

Land of the Lost!

Electro-Woman and Dyna-Girl!

Lidsville!

Isis!

Shazam!

Houston: Kitirik

Jabberwocky with Tucker Smallwood and JoBeth Williams

A Boston oddity, cartoon wrap around show called "Willie Whistle". It is one of those local kids shows that's hard to wrap your head around today. It made Rex Trailer's "Boomtown" look like "Citizen Kane"!

[quote] Gumby.

Mrs Gumby was stacked

Hodgepodge Lodge

Pixanne

Jabberwocky

New Zoe Review

The Banana Splits

The Whistling Wizard.

This was way back when ouppets ran television--Howdy Doody, Rootie Kazootie, etc. The WW used thye Bil and Cora Baird marionettes, which fascinated me. There was a horse (I think) named Heathcliff, and a little boy (maybe real or another puppet).

I was very, very young, so I don't really remember the details, except that it wasn't available in most markets. I think I could only watch it when I visited my cousin.

There was a recording tie-in, I do remember. It had a song that ran "Practice makes perfect, in reason or in rhyme; practice makes perfect, so practice all the time."

Or something like that.

^^^ Not "ouppets." PUPPETS.

Kukla, Fran & Ollie, on CBS early Saturday afternoons!

i wish people would stop posting The New Zoo Review as obscure. It was not only popular and successful during its time but it will always remain well known, if only for this famous outtake:

Under the Umbrella Tree

Kansas City. Ws

Captain Kangaroo…….with Mr.Green Jeans……..he set me on the path to growing plants…………..yep…. it’s all his fault

The Wuzzles.

I loved that show as a kid for some reason.

It was cancelled because one of the voice actors died.

There were several local Bozo shows (Chicago, LA. DC, etc.). I did watch it, but even at age 6 I knew it was creepy.

"The Froozles", aka "The Land of Frooz" aired on a few local stations in LA back in the late 70s/early 80s, usually at 6:00am Saturday morning before the good cartoons started. I think this was the "Hobo Kelly" actress's followup series.

Warning: loud, distorted audio.

[quote]What show had the dark haired queen with a mustache who drew? It had an outer space theme.

Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine?

Portland area Gen X: Ramblin' Rod (on channel 12?)

All I remember was a middle-aged man (creepy-looking in hindsight) who wore a vest with a ton of buttons/badges as the host. Groups of local schoolkids as guests, interviewed by the Rod.

I too had the Winky Dink and You plastic TV screen cover and crayons.

On Saturday mornings network television was all devoted to kid's shows before 12 noon. There was Andy's Gang with character actor Andy Devine ("‘Plunk your Magic Twanger, Froggy!"). Other kid's shows (now very obscure) were Captain Midnight, The Paul Winchell show (with his dummy Jerry Mahoney), Rootie Kazootie (a puppet kid in a baseball uniform), The Pinky Lee show (a holdover from burlesque), Sky King (a flying cowboy), Annie Oakley, The Cisco Kid (filmed in color - but nobody had color television yet) and the king of all the kid's shows, Howdy Doody (with Buffalo Bob, Clarabell the Clown, a whole cast of puppets and the Peanut Gallery full of screaming, wildly rambunctious little kids).

Kid's shows were fun and entertaining, in a primitive sort of way, back then. Television was new and still a novelty so kids were not jaded or demanding...they were easy to entertain.

Sky King had a great intro

Ramar of the Jungle was a favorite of mine. Jungle adventures with Ramar, a 'great white hunter', complete with pith helmet.

Gumby wasn't obscure then but may be now.

Mighty Mouse cartoons.

Tom Terrific and his dog the Mighty Manfred.

In the NYC area: The Sandy Becker Show. Cartoons and skits mostly.

Oh, and Diver Dan, featuring a deep-sea diver wearing an old fashioned scuba suit that looked like a spacesuit, with two hoses coming out of the top. All his underwater friends were fish puppets, and the villain was a barracuda. The fish would get into scrapes, and Diver Dan would have to help them.

He protects and he saves

His friends under the waves…

That’s where you'll find Diver Dan (dum dum)

Romper Room.

Mr. Dressup

R77 I also watched Cowboy Bob's Corral on channel 4. He showed cartoons and occasionally sang and played guitar. Sometimes he would do tricks with his dog Tumbleweed. Another popular channel 4 kid's show was Popeye and Janie. School kids spread rumors that Cowboy Bob and Janie were married (not true). Also, channel 4 had a late Friday night show that was never supposed to be a "kid's show" but the vast majority of his audience were kids: Sammy Terry's Nightmare Theater. He showed old monster and horror movies (usually bad ones).

On the Twin Cities when I was very small in the late Sixties and early Seventies we had:

Casey Jones (who had a sidekick named Roundhouse Rodney)

Carmen the Nurse

Clancy and Willie (Clancy the Cop, and his sidekick in crimefighting, Willie Ketchum--get it?)

They were all cancelled by about 1974.

*"In the Twin Cities," rather.

I remember wishing "Uncle Al, the Kiddies' Pal" was a real show...it seemed much better than any of the shitty kids shows on TV at the time...

The most creepy, weird and disturbing kid's show ever: Clutch Cargo.

Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer

R36 Thank you, I definitely remember:

"Pixanne" and "Wee Willie Weber"

"Chief Halftown" and "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark."

"Al Alberts" and "Sally Starr"

Nobody remembers Uncle Floyd? His local kiddie show out of New Jersey in the '70s and '80s became popular with adults. His persona was kind of like that of a classic burlesque comedian and the atmosphere of the show was kind of tongue in cheek and even subversively urbane, if that makes sense.

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp

In Dallas-Fort Worth in the 60s and 70s, we watched Slam Bang Theater on channel 11 in the mornings while getting ready for school. The younger kids watched Mr. Peppermint on channel 8. In the summer, we watched Cartoon Carnival on channel 11 while eating our lunches of bologna sandwiches with Cheetos and grape Kool-aid.

Adventures in Wonderland from 90s Disney Channel

I remember Hammy Hamster / Tales from the Riverbank which ran endlessly in re-runs in the 1980s. I think you'd need to be really high to appreciate it today as an adult.

I often wondered just how many rodents died during the production of each episode...

Cartoon Corners General Store on Channel 8 in Lancaster, PA.

There was also a cartoon produced by the Lutheran Church called David and Goliath complete with cheesy moral lessons.

R124 who is that fake bitch???? I hate her!!!

Vegetable Soup on PBS, a fucking terrifying mix of animation, low budget skits and creepy wooden puppets like a bad acid trip version of Sesame Street. Bette Midler played an animated spoon.

"Who do I see through my magic eye?

I see Jane, and Frank, and Ronnie.....and Rylee, Caden, Jaden, Brayden and Hayden! I see LaQuisha, Sahid, and Mhjrhani!"

I absolutely loved this show called 'Gather Round which featured the world's fastest artist and a fussy story teller. The best. I showed it to my kid and he said, "That scares me".

There was a show on Saturday morning called Kids are People too hosted by Randy Hamilton - i fapped to him repeatedly.

sorry pic here

I loved "Winky Dink and You." Though we never got the drawing screen you were supposed to get, I just "drew" on the TV screen imaginary lines with my finger.

There was a kid's show on Sunday mornings in the early 80s called Big Blue Marble. It had sciencey segments and kid reporters interviewing people.

Diver Dan

There was a British children’s show called Everybody Here that ran for maybe one season. I distinctly it remember being broadcast on PBS in LA when I was a kid. I still remember the word play portion of the show: Everybody, verybody, erybody, rybody, ybody, body, ody, dy, y!

In Denver we had Blinky the Clown...

^ Began as Sears-O

Circus Boy

Growing up in Chicago, it was BOZO's CIRCUS....It rocked...

Cram it clown.

Late '60s-early '70s: Curiosity Shop (with DL favorite, Pamelyn Ferdin), Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine, Vegetable Soup, Big Blue Marble, Carascolendas (PBS)

Sacramento-Stockton, CA: Miss Pat's Playroom; Captain Delta; Captain Mitch

San Francisco: Summer Camp

"Hot Hero Sandwich"; think "Saturday Night Live" meets "60 Minutes" for pre-teens. It was taped in SNL's Studio 8H, and if I recall correctly, produced by Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video company. It was critically acclaimed, and even won a Daytime Emmy and a couple of national education awards. NBC blew it by repeatedly bouncing it all over the schedule and bumping it for sports.

I loved it; if NBC would release it on home video I'd buy it.

There was a weird stop-motion BBC show about a Cockney caveman called Hairy Jeremy (dubbed from French). I'm fairly certain my siblings and I are the only people in the world who remember it. Jeremy shouting "Chucklesaurus! What have I done? What have I done?" always cracked us up.

The Boston Bozo ruled!

I think we only ever had one local kids show hosted by Ricki Wertz. I remember friends talking about her dog Copper. But that was a decade or more before my time.

BUT our local kids show became an international phenomenon - Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

(We did have scary nighttime shows like Chiller Theater and the bowling program that was rigged, but different topic.....)

Xuxa!

The Piss n Shit Hour in St. Louis

I liked the Xuxa "hello" song. I wonder how long her American show would have lasted if they hadn't found out she did a kiddie porn movie in Brazil

DB’s Delight every Saturday morning on KMOV in St. Louis, MO.

In Denver, the Fred and Fae show was the the place to be on your birthday.

Pete & Pete on Nickelodeon - no idea if it's considered a children's show but I loved it.

r155 here...

Growing up in Toledo Ohio it was Patches and Pockets....

[quote]The most creepy, weird and disturbing kid's show ever: Clutch Cargo.

R117 Those mouths creeped me out but I'd watch it every week.

R138 Was 'Circus Boy' the series with Mickey Dolan? I remember that I didn't like it.

There was a late night show from Lorne Michaels about all the wierd TV shows kids would stumble on late at night. I've tried to Google it and can't find it but I'll keep trying. It was NOT part of SNL. Anyone else remember this?

[quote] Clutch Cargo

When that went out of production the same people did a similar sci fi show called Space Angel. Roddenbery stole the Scottish sidekick's accent for his own later program.

Mr Peppermint from WFAA-TV in Dallas.

The Bugaloos with Martha Raye. Supersonic Sneakers - that song was my jam!

The Fluppy Dogs, a one-off special from 1986.

Does anyone remember The Land of Ziggy Zaggo, a local Chicago show that aired weekday mornings on WLS?

r160 - yes

Except Thunderbirds all the Supermarionation shows have been forgotten. I liked Captain Scarlet though. I once showed a video of an episode to my kids and they thought it was hilarious I was watching Barbies.

R152, Was it hosted by native son, Chuck Berry?

Hodge Podge Lodge. Another spiffy theme song. Miss Jean lives in the forest with only wildlife and children who upon her lodge for company.

Here's Benita Bizarre (Martha Raye) - socking it to them

what the fuck was THAT?

The Hot Fudge Show from the 197'0's, a low rent Sesame Street with guest Artie Johnson.

R52, it was Beany and Cecil. It started as a puppet show and later it was animation.

R79, I was on Rex Trailer's Boomtown a few times. One time we got in a helicopter and visited the U.S.S. Carrier Wasp.

Does anyone remember The Great Foodini? Foodini and Pinhead puppets.

Re Boomtown, I meant R92, not R79.

Miss Judy and The Land of Hatchie-Milatchie from the Scranton-Wilkes Barre PA area in the 70s.

I remember Miss Frances of Ding Dong School. She seemed creepy even back then.

r148, r149 I only remember "The Righteous Apples" because it was the first time I saw E.G. Bailey. She's been a jobbing voice-over actor since.

As a child I felt the grandmother in 'Gettin to Know Me" was such as hard ass.

I hated "Voyage of the Mimi". My cousin loved it.

Fred & Fae!

"Hot Dog", a 1970 documentary series for kids made up of several short clips about how things are made -- hot dogs, baseball bats, toothbrushes, etc. Hosted by Jo Anne Worley, Woody Allen, and Jonathan Winters (who replaced pilot episode co-host Tommy Smothers).

When NBC dropped it after one season, the Los Angeles affiliate KNBC rebooted it five years later (minus the hosts) as "That's Cat".

^^ "That's Cat"s theme song, originally performed by John Sebastian.

Any of you Houstonians on here remember Cadet Don? He was a HOTTIE. I was only5 or six - but I LOVED Cadet Don. Fawning over hot guys starts at a young age, I guess

From Denver - Noel & Andy and Blinky's Fun Club.

r183, see r136 and r137

Found on youtube. This is about as obscure as they get.

THREE D DANNY A children's science fiction / space adventure show with Danny Williams as Dan D. Dynamo shown on WKY-TV Oklahoma.

The star was mainly an early television wrestler and merged that into the sci fi kids show, putting the "villain" wrestlers with their masks and Russian accent onto this show as aliens and spies where he ultimately would wrestle them into defeat.

There are only a couple of clips on youtube with this being the best. A chase and shootout during the afternoon traffic of Oklahoma City with the local citizens oblivious or just curious about all the "flying bullets".

Either that or the Oklahoma City citizens are just so used to gunfights on the street there is no novelty to it.

R136 when my cousin Denise was five (1968 or so) she got to be on Blinky's Fun Club for her birthday and after he sang Happy Birfday with the kids standing around him he picked her up so she could blow out the candle.

[quote]Bette Midler played an animated spoon.

😳

I have two friends that were on Fred & Fae, r186 ...see r155 and r179. What was the other character Blinky did on his noon show? He was Blinky in the afternoon.

I liked the Japanese Wizard Of Oz cartoon when I was a kid.

In the early 80s when arcade games were big, WPIX in NY/NJ had a call-in for kids between afternoon cartoons. The kid caller saw a video game on the screen and had to shout "PIX" into the phone (at the television) to shoot the bad guys (or something?) as it was broadcast while the viewers watched. Except there was a delay, so you needed to shout "PIX" before you needed to shout "PIX." It was infuriating.

And also I suck at explaining things.

Téléfrancais!

Cadet Don gives me a stiffy!

R138, yes that was Mickey. I liked the elephant

The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley from 1988. Starring Martin Short with Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara.

The Patchwork Family

I remember this bizarre short lived cartoon called "Foofur" ... and for some reason I never forgot the theme song. Anyone else remember this one from around 1986 or so?

r195, I didn't even remember this show until you posted it! Wow, that brought back memories I didn't even know I had.

Anyone from Upstate NY remember The Magic Toy Shop with Merrily and Eddie Flum Num?

Kidding Around, it was on in Chicago, think Channel 5 (WMAQ) after cartoons on Saturday mornings. The hosts were a man, Steve Smith, who was a mime or looked like a mime and then a younger girl who I think was switched out every season. I know they had various segments but all I can recall is them interviewing a very young Tina Yothers right as Family Ties was just starting and Tina saying that she wanted to be a supermarket check-out girl when she grew up...well, Tina, dreams do come true!

Romper Room was a franchise based in Baltimore, with local hosts. In Cleveland, we had Miss Barbara when I was little (who also was the weekend/sub weather presenter) and later Miss Sally, who was frankly a bit blowsy, flirting with the fireman.

Bozo also was a franchise, owned by Larry Harmon.

Cleveland had tons of these shows: Captain Penny, who showed the Three Stooges and Little Rascals and sadly committed suicide years afterward (as did his 1st wife), Barnaby the elf who showed cartoons and had a drinking problem and broke down (on the air) after the death of his wife, and then some second stringers like Woodrow the Woodsman and Franz the Toymaker who did early morning shows with cartoons.

Romper Room was indeed a franchise and there were a number of them - list in this article. My grandfather ran the camera for one of them!

Denver had Miss Jeannie.

r200 -r205, see r65.

R203, yes, we know, Little Miss Flappingly Nellie Prisspot. You're just trying to get an education.

What does that even mean r204? Are you still drunk from last night?

Romper Room was insidious. It acclimated boomer kids that being spied on in your own home was not only normal but something to joyously grasp.

They played the long game there.

Miss R203, policing the world

The Huggabug Club with those fun loving Landers sisters.

Ooh, ooh, I got one ... Romper Room!

That's not obscure, R209.

This is obscure. I'm probably the only one here who's even seen an episode in my life.

Did you grow up in the Raleigh/Durham area in the 80s? My cousin did, and that's where I watched Big Blue Marble. We never watched Frog Hollow, but I remember knowing who Ernest was from the Pine State commercials long before my friends in NJ.

I don't remember [italic]Big Blue Marble[/italic]. What station was it on?

I'm not sure... he lived in Durham and it was before they got cable. It was on Sunday mornings before my aunt and uncle took us to church, somewhere between the years of 1981-1985. You should listen to the theme song. If you saw it once, you'd remember.

Fireball XL5

R213: It was canceled when I was a baby so it was before my time.

Mr. Wizard, of course. Though not obscure, I suppose.

I saw Mr. Wizard only a few times. He seemed crabby.

Oh he was a major league asshole in real life.

Laurel & Hardy & Chuck (McCann)

The Merry Mailman

Popeye (hosted by Officer Joe Bolton, I think)

The Fabulous Reggae Dogs

count me as one who colored right on the TV during Winky Dink

Birthday Party with Paul Tripp (and the song "Hi Mic!" Winchell Mahoney Time Office Joe Bolton (three bells and all is well) - and Dick Tracey cartoon

How were Bozo and Romper Room franchise deals? How did that work? Why weren't they on a network?

What a CLASSIC DL thread. Thanks OP!

[quote]Téléfrancais

LOL

Samurai Pizza Cats

"How do I look?"

"Oh you look super sexy.... Tramp."

I remember as a kid I originally saw Thunderbirds 2087 and then saw the original Thunderbirds--after my babysitter suggested it--which was that marionette garbage instead of the anime I originally saw and was incredibly disappointed because I was expecting the Japanese version.

Silverhawks was another show no one else remembers

I regret my local stations never carried the Canadian show Space Teens.

wonderama - but the original with Sonny Fox. He would balance a pencil in his cleft chin

Sonny Fox (good one, R228)

Ray Heatherton (Joey's father)

Sandy Becker

Claude Kirschner

All names from our New York/tri-state area childhoods.

For the Canadians: Bookmice!

A show about mice that live in a library.

In Chicago, Ray Rayner w/Chauncey the Duck and Cuddly Duddly the dog

I remember Big Blue Marble (just barely). There was also a Sunday morning Bible-based cartoon called "Jot" that focused on teaching kids basic moral lessons.

I loved Wishbone the literary puppy. But they wasted much too much screentime with the kid and the mother.

Pride and Prejudice and Puppies.

TimeSlip. It was nasty and crazy and scary and amazing. I ADORED it.

Follyfoot. Steve was as hot as chips. The girl was such a drip, with her no chin face.

Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Land of the Lost

Tumble town tales. It’s Canadian.

Was Space 1999 a kid's TV show? It was the one thing I was allowed to watch as a kid and I loved it. I remember that.

I grew up in New Zealand so this would have been around 1980 I guess. New Zealand only had 2 TV channels then. TV1 and TV2.

r222, no. During the morning and early afternoon hours, most local affiliates had local programming. (Local news, talk shows, etc.) To a certain extent that is true today. For instance, that mean and nasty lesbian talk show might air at 4 pm in one market, but 10 am in another. The local station buys it and puts it on when they want instead of producing their own content.

I'm not sure exactly how Romper Room worked. Maybe the local stations just bought the name of the show, or perhaps it was more developed where they got scripts, set design plans, etc. But they each produced their own version. I think though by the 1980s, it was one syndicated version.

Drizzle drazzle drozzle drone.

Time for this one to come home.

Okay...

Only a brief mention of Chicago above, so here we go...

Bozo's Circus - Garfield Goose and Friends - Ray Rayner and Friends - BJ & Dirty Dragon - The Gigglesnort Hotel - The Magic Door

One of my favorite childhood memories is watching "Family Classics" on WGN-TV Channel 9 in Chicago. A show which introduced me to two of my absolute favorite movies: "Boys Town" (1938) and "A Christmas Carol" (1938).