Jonny Quest
Jonny Quest was an animated action series focused on the globe-trotting adventures of US government scientist, Dr. Benton Quest; his 11-year-old son, Jonny; his adopted Indian son, Hadji; family bodyguard, Roger "Race" Bannon; and their pet, black-masked bulldog,...
New Kukla, Fran, and Ollie DVD Set
For those of you who are Kukla, Fran, and Ollie fans, as I am, there is good news. Some of the earliest KFO kinescopes have been lovingly restored and are now available in a 2-DVD set, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, the First Episodes: 1949-54. The first run of these new...
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie
I have only fuzzy memories of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, a wonderful puppet show that was one of the first kids’ shows on TV. I wish I could remember it more clearly, because from all accounts, it was one of the most creative, sophisticated, and entertaining kids’ shows...
Fury
This is the range country where the pounding hooves of untamed horses still thunder in mountains, meadows and canyons. Every herd has its own leader, but there is only one Fury - Fury, King of the Wild Stallions. And here in the wild west of today, hard-riding men...
Wonderama
Wonderama was a very popular and long-running kids' show that aired from 1955 to 1978. It originated from WNEW-TV in New York City and also appeared on the Metromedia-owned stations in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Cincinnati, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Kansas City. ...
The Magic Garden
The Magic Garden was a locally-produced half-hour children's show that aired weekdays on WPIX in New York City from 1972 to 1984 and was also syndicated to other parts of the country. The show starred co-hosts Carole Demas and Paula Janis, who sang and played guitar...
The Mickey Mouse Club
Who's the leader of the club That's made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! In the 1950's, every child in America (and probably every adult as well) instantly recognized this refrain as the beginning of the theme song for The Mickey Mouse Club, another iconic...
The Wonderful World of Disney
From its debut on ABC in October 1954, through its final telecast on Christmas Eve 2008, the Walt Disney anthology television series commonly known as The Wonderful World of Disney (initiallycalled simply Disneyland) appeared on all three broadcast TV channels at...
Goodbye Art Clokey, Creator of Gumby
Art Clokey, the animator who created Gumby, the claymation star of one of my favorite kids' shows in the 1950's, passed away last Friday (see obituary in the New York Times on January 11, 2010). As I noted in my previous post about the Gumby Show, the program was the...
Clutch Cargo
Clutch Cargo was an animated show produced by Cambria Productions that debuted on March 9, 1959, as a syndicated series available to local stations around the country. It stayed on the air through the early 1970's, and could be seen on as many as 65 stations...
The Popeye Show
If you were a kid growing up in the Los Angeles area from the late 1950's through the early 1980's, chances are that you're familiar with The Popeye Show, which aired on KTLA Channel 5. The Popeye Show grew out of an earlier show called The Pier 5 Club and was later...
Diver Dan
Debuting in 1960, Diver Dan was a strange and distinctive kids' show that featured two live-action characters and a large cast of fish marionettes. The show was a continuing serial that was produced as a series of 7-minute shorts that aired in syndication on local...
Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!
It seems hard to believe, but Sesame Street just celebrated its 40th year on the air. I celebrated the show's birthday by attending a panel discussion on "40 Years of Life on the Street" at the Brooklyn Public Library on November 21. The panel was moderated by...
The Lone Ranger
"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty "Hi-yo, Silver!" Who was that masked man? Of course, it had to be The Lone Ranger, star of a TV series set in the Old West that aired in primetime on ABC from 1949 to 1957 and was hugely popular...
The Roy Rogers Show
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again... If you watched The Roy Rogers Show as a child, you probably have the rest of the show's theme song running through your head now. The Roy Rogers Show debuted on NBC on December 30, 1951, and ran there until 1957. After...
Sky King
"From out of the clear blue of the Western sky . . .comes Sky King!" Sky King was a modern-day (at the time) cowboy show with a twist -- the cowboy was an airplane pilot living on a ranch in Arizona, who used his small plane to chase down the bad guys or rescue the...
Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney
Paul Winchell was a superb ventriloquist, comedian, singer, and all-around multi-talented performer who appeared with his featured dummy sidekick Jerry Mahoney on NBC in the 1950's. Winchell and his wooden co-star were originally seen in primetime on the Spiedel...
Gumby
One of my absolute favorite shows as a kid was Gumby, a trippy, somewhat surreal series filmed using stop motion clay animation. There were 233 episodes of the show produced over the course of its 40-year history on TV, all featuring the green clay robot-like little...
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
It was always a beautiful day in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, as Mister Rogers entered his TV set house singing the show’s theme song, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” He would hang up his coat and put on his cardigan sweater, take off his shoes and put on his sneakers,...
Good-bye Soupy Sales
Sadly, Soupy Sales passed away yesterday at the age of 83 (obituary in the New York Times today). As my previous post about him noted, Soupy became an icon of children's TV in the 1950's and 1960's. Soupy was the master of pie-throwing (or should I say...
Captain Video and His Video Rangers
“Captain Video! Electronic wizard! Master of time and space! Guardian of the safety of the world! Fighting for law and order, Captain Video operates from a mountain retreat with secret agents at all points of the globe. Possessing scientific secrets and scientific...
Winky Dink and You
An interactive TV show in the 1950’s?!? That’s right, Winky Dink and You, which aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1953 to 1957, employed a simple but brilliant marketing gimmick that actually allowed kids to “interact” with the TV. The show featured host Jack Barry...
Soupy Sales
The Soupy Sales show was a unique kids’ show with lots of adult appeal that made us all feel like little hipsters. Soupy, a multi- talented performer, hosted several local, national, and syndicated children’s shows from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, with broadcasts...
Shari Lewis
Shari Lewis and her puppets Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse, entertained and delighted several generations of children during the five decades that they appeared on television. Unlike other kids’ show hosts who worked with puppets, Shari Lewis was a talented...
Watch Mr. Wizard
One of my favorite shows when I was growing up was Watch Mr. Wizard. This was one of commercial television’s earliest educational efforts for grade-school and pre-teen children. Conceived and hosted by the affable Don Herbert, it made science exciting and...
Bozo the Clown
There probably isn’t an adult in the US today who hasn’t watched some version of Bozo the Clown when they were growing up. In one form or another, Bozo was one of the longest-running kids’ shows in TV history. The earliest version of the Bozo show began airing in...
Romper Room
During its five decades on the air, Romper Room gave millions of young children their first exposure to a preschool/kindergarten environment. The show featured a hostess who would lead a group of 7-8 children in various educational and play activities. The children...
Captain Kangaroo
A lot of us can probably remember Captain Kangaroo, which was one of the longest running network children's shows of all time, airing continuously on CBS from 1955 until 1984 and then in re-runs on PBS from 1986 to 1993. The show starred Bob Keeshan as the Captain,...
Miss Frances’ Ding Dong School
Like other “graduates” of Ding Dong School, just thinking about the show and its motherly host, Miss Frances, gives me a warm and safe feeling. Airing nationally from 1952 to 1956 and in syndication until 1965, Ding Dong School set the standard for TV shows aimed at...
Andy’s Gang
If Salvador Dali had decided to create a kids' TV show, it would have been Andy’s Gang, probably the strangest and scariest show I remember watching as a very young child. There was something surreal and creepy about the show, which was sponsored by Buster Brown...
The Howdy Doody Show
“Say kids, what time is it?” If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of my age group, you know the answer to that question automatically: “It’s Howdy Doody Time!” Featuring the red-headed, freckle-faced, iconic all-American boy marionette, his human sidekick Buffalo Bill,...
The Pinky Lee Show
I know I’m not the only middle-aged adult with vivid, fond, and yes, sometimes even scary memories of the TV shows I watched as a child. As a very young immigrant to the U.S., these shows were my main source of instruction in the language, culture, and shared myths...