Classic Children's Television Shows.
Jul. 26th, 2017 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWhy is it I'm wide awake and raring to go, now, but want to sleep between 6 -10 am, and 1-3PM?
Sinuses are bugging me a bit. I feel like I have a catch in my chest or some congestion. Probably combination of allergies and chemicals (paint and pesticides ie. Raid).
Off and on over the past few years, I've been discussing children's television programming with Doctor Who fans. Who keep telling me that Doctor Who is a treasured British children's series, and they didn't have much children's programming.
Culture shock. Television more so than movies depicts some of the cultural differences between our countries. For one thing when I visited France in the 1980s, I was surprised to see US series in French, same with Australia (they had US television shows, but not the new ones, reruns from five years ago). As did Wales and Britain. Actually, I found watching television during the summer in England and Wales to be a painful experience in the 1980s...not that I had reason to do it that often. Did see a lot of Fawlty Towers.
Anywho...I thought I'd skip down memory lane in regards to kids shows.
In the 1970s, I watched the following television shows as a child, near as I can remember. And my brother and I loved Saturday morning cartoons. We'd eagerly await the new cartoons...which premiered the third Saturday in September. They were on from 7 am to roughly 12 noon, on all the networks. We only had four networks and UHF back then. Prior to showing up on Saturday morning, the networks would air a preview of the upcoming series as a sort of advertisement on the Friday night before. So you could plan which ones to check out.
* Hong Kong Phooey -- sort of a take on Superman and Mighty Mouse. Except with a mild-mannered dog.
So imagine cartoon dogs playing all the roles in Superman.
* Sid and Marty Krofft's HR PufnStuf (aired from 1969 - 1971). I loved this show, but only vaguely remember it. (I was born in '67). A young boy named Jimmy has in his possession a magic flute named Freddie that can talk and play tunes on its own. One day he gets on a magic talking boat that promises to take him on an adventure. The boat happens to belong to a wicked witch named Witchiepoo, who uses the boat to kidnap Jimmy and take him to her home base on Living Island, where she hopes to steal Freddie for her own selfish needs. Fortunately Jimmy is rescued by the island's mayor, a six foot dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf, and his two deputies, Kling and Klang. Then his adventures begin as he attempts to get back home.
* Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids -- hosted by Bill Cosby (this was in the 1970s, when Cosby was still a cool guy, before all the allegations came out against him. And before you say anything about Cosby, keep in mind the same allegations came out about Trump -- actually they were worse, and people elected him President. Lando wouldn't let me hear the end of it. He's not wrong, we are a racist society. Sexist and racist. Just not bloody sure what I can do about it.) The show however was pretty good -- it was about a bunch of black kids in the inner city learning how to help each other and stand up to bullying and racism.
* Battle of the Planets (1978) - adored this cartoon
* The Muppet Show -- basically a light children's satire on variety shows and various cultural and political issues of the time, starring the Muppets.
* School House Rock - 1973 - 2009 (Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.) -- this was the result of the Children's Television Act of 1969, which was updated in 1996.
* The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty (which was an illegal adaptation of the Secret Lives of Walter Mitty starring cats and dogs...and got into trouble with James Thurber's estate, for well doing it without permission)
* Sesame Street (1969)
* The Brady Bunch (1960s, early 70s, mostly in reruns)
* The Monkeeys (1966 show, in reruns in the 70s)
* Batman (1966 -- in reruns in the 70s)
* The Addams Family
* The Archie Show (1968) -- became Archie Funnies in 1970s
* The Flintstones...
* The Jetsons
* Lost in Space - 1965 (A space colony family struggles to survive when a spy/accidental stowaway throws their ship hopelessly off course. This is basically the American version of Doctor Who.)
* The Pink Panther (1969) -- a cartoon based on the Blake Edwards films, except without the adult content.
* Tom & Jerry
* The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show
* The Hannah Barbara Hour
* Sid & Marty Krofft Super Show
* Free to be You and Me
* ABC Afterschool Specials
* Reading Rainbow
* Kimba - the White Lion (basically the story that Disney co-opted for The Lion King, except he didn't grow up and we just followed Kimba's adventures as he eluded his evil uncle, Scar.)
I googled and UK had kids shows.
See here: Classic Kids TV Shown in the UK in the 70s and 80s
We actually had some cross-over. But Tarzan the cartoon never to my knowledge aired in the US, nor did Book Tower, we had Reading Rainbow instead.
Sinuses are bugging me a bit. I feel like I have a catch in my chest or some congestion. Probably combination of allergies and chemicals (paint and pesticides ie. Raid).
Off and on over the past few years, I've been discussing children's television programming with Doctor Who fans. Who keep telling me that Doctor Who is a treasured British children's series, and they didn't have much children's programming.
Culture shock. Television more so than movies depicts some of the cultural differences between our countries. For one thing when I visited France in the 1980s, I was surprised to see US series in French, same with Australia (they had US television shows, but not the new ones, reruns from five years ago). As did Wales and Britain. Actually, I found watching television during the summer in England and Wales to be a painful experience in the 1980s...not that I had reason to do it that often. Did see a lot of Fawlty Towers.
Anywho...I thought I'd skip down memory lane in regards to kids shows.
In the 1970s, I watched the following television shows as a child, near as I can remember. And my brother and I loved Saturday morning cartoons. We'd eagerly await the new cartoons...which premiered the third Saturday in September. They were on from 7 am to roughly 12 noon, on all the networks. We only had four networks and UHF back then. Prior to showing up on Saturday morning, the networks would air a preview of the upcoming series as a sort of advertisement on the Friday night before. So you could plan which ones to check out.
* Hong Kong Phooey -- sort of a take on Superman and Mighty Mouse. Except with a mild-mannered dog.
So imagine cartoon dogs playing all the roles in Superman.
* Sid and Marty Krofft's HR PufnStuf (aired from 1969 - 1971). I loved this show, but only vaguely remember it. (I was born in '67). A young boy named Jimmy has in his possession a magic flute named Freddie that can talk and play tunes on its own. One day he gets on a magic talking boat that promises to take him on an adventure. The boat happens to belong to a wicked witch named Witchiepoo, who uses the boat to kidnap Jimmy and take him to her home base on Living Island, where she hopes to steal Freddie for her own selfish needs. Fortunately Jimmy is rescued by the island's mayor, a six foot dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf, and his two deputies, Kling and Klang. Then his adventures begin as he attempts to get back home.
* Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids -- hosted by Bill Cosby (this was in the 1970s, when Cosby was still a cool guy, before all the allegations came out against him. And before you say anything about Cosby, keep in mind the same allegations came out about Trump -- actually they were worse, and people elected him President. Lando wouldn't let me hear the end of it. He's not wrong, we are a racist society. Sexist and racist. Just not bloody sure what I can do about it.) The show however was pretty good -- it was about a bunch of black kids in the inner city learning how to help each other and stand up to bullying and racism.
* Battle of the Planets (1978) - adored this cartoon
* The Muppet Show -- basically a light children's satire on variety shows and various cultural and political issues of the time, starring the Muppets.
* School House Rock - 1973 - 2009 (Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.) -- this was the result of the Children's Television Act of 1969, which was updated in 1996.
* The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty (which was an illegal adaptation of the Secret Lives of Walter Mitty starring cats and dogs...and got into trouble with James Thurber's estate, for well doing it without permission)
* Sesame Street (1969)
* The Brady Bunch (1960s, early 70s, mostly in reruns)
* The Monkeeys (1966 show, in reruns in the 70s)
* Batman (1966 -- in reruns in the 70s)
* The Addams Family
* The Archie Show (1968) -- became Archie Funnies in 1970s
* The Flintstones...
* The Jetsons
* Lost in Space - 1965 (A space colony family struggles to survive when a spy/accidental stowaway throws their ship hopelessly off course. This is basically the American version of Doctor Who.)
* The Pink Panther (1969) -- a cartoon based on the Blake Edwards films, except without the adult content.
* Tom & Jerry
* The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show
* The Hannah Barbara Hour
* Sid & Marty Krofft Super Show
* Free to be You and Me
* ABC Afterschool Specials
* Reading Rainbow
* Kimba - the White Lion (basically the story that Disney co-opted for The Lion King, except he didn't grow up and we just followed Kimba's adventures as he eluded his evil uncle, Scar.)
I googled and UK had kids shows.
See here: Classic Kids TV Shown in the UK in the 70s and 80s
We actually had some cross-over. But Tarzan the cartoon never to my knowledge aired in the US, nor did Book Tower, we had Reading Rainbow instead.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 12:46 pm (UTC)That list of UK shows actually contains very few I ever saw or remember and there are several ones that were important to me which are missing.
Noticed much the same thing with the US lists. Which was interesting.
I guess ones experience of tv varied a lot depending on when you were allowed to watch.
Very true. Most of the television I saw as a kid aired either on Sat mornings, or in the afternoons between 3-8pm.
I was in bed by 8pm.
I didn't watch that much, was outside most of the time -- since I lived in rural Pennsylvania and was busy wandering about the creeks and woods and playing with frogs and toads during the summers. Saw most of it during the winter months and on Sat's. But my best friend who was allowed stay up later, saw them and would tell me about them on the way to school. We also watched a lot of shows when I spent the night at her house.
Lost in Space, Batman, Little House on the Prairie, Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man, along with Night Gallery, Twilight Zone and various Japanese Horror Films and American Bandstand we saw at her house. Also the Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. (The forbidden shows)
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 02:09 pm (UTC)Whoever complied the lists was using some odd criteria of their won no doubt. They have for example missed out Blue Peter and Newsround, which I would call the epitome of children's TV from that era.
Yes, the same here, we only watched a little. A lot of the shows mentioned were on early in the afternoons before we got home or on Saturday mornings when we never watched because we were playing outside. We really only saw the second half of the children's TV slot on weekdays and the early evening shows at the weekend - things like Doctor Who, Emu, Basil Brush.
Most children's TV was home made, with the very occasional serial imported - I remember a few Australian and New Zealand ones and a handful of American shows (Batman, Little House on the Prairie, The Red Hand Gang, and later the Muppets) so the main imports were the cartoons. But of course we had loads of films from America so we had a good sense of your culture from those.