Blog From A Broad

a noun is a person, place, or thing

In the shower this morning, I was thinking about all the shows we used to watch as kids. It was early and I was a little sleepy, thus the odd train of thought.



Feel old and reminisce with me, won't you?

• Davey and Goliath - I never realised that this was supposed to be religious. All I knew was that it was about a boy and his dog, and the boy got into all sorts of wholesome trouble such as eating too many pies and feeling ill (or maybe that was an episode of Gumby.) It was on a variety show called "Rocketship 7" with Commander Tom (who was actually a weatherman and not at all a real commander). The Simpsons make a reference to it when Santa's Little Helper asks Bart, "What's the matter, Bart?" with the Stevie Wonder-like head movements we knew from Goliath's animation.
  
  
• Electric Company - only North Americans who grew up in the 70s know that Morgan Freeman was the Easy Reader before he ever drove Miss Daisy.
  
  
• Schoolhouse Rock - Also parodied on The Simpsons every now and then, I maintain that this was one of the best ways to teach children. Its creators knew that kids absorbed stuff in short, commercial-style segments set to music. 30 years later and I can still sing most of these songs from start to finish. This is where De La Soul got the sample for "Three". The Schoolhouse Rock Rocks CD is also rather amusing.
  
  
• Zoom - I can still remember the zip code "oh two one, three fouuuuur". I sent them art. They never showed it. Bastards.
  
  
• Vision On - I love how ads here still use the gallery music. I sent them art. They never showed it. Bastards.
  
  
• Don't Ask Me - With Magnus Pyke (you may remember him from Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science"), Adam Hart-Davis, and David Bellamy. A very fun science show (if there can be such a thing) that explained things like why you appear upside down on the back of a spoon.
  
  
• Various animated programmes that now make you go "WTF was that?" - Barbapapa, Jeremy ("I'm a bear called Jeremy! I can do most anything!"), Hattytown Tales (a UK reject), Willo the Wisp (I never understood why Mavis the Fairy sounded like a drag queen until recent years), and Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (odd that none of my British friends remember this one).

And of course those Canadian gems like Mr. Dressup, Polka Dot Door, and Friendly Giant. I feel old now.