Anyone remembers this showfrom the early 80’s about a group of kids who solve mysteries using technology. I remember enjoying it a lot when I was a kid . Some of the episodes are up on Youtube and they are quite fun to watch: the show itself is pleasant enough and I really enjoy the retro technology and the way it’s worked into the plots.
I am somewhat surprised the show doesn’t have a bigger presence on the Internet. I would have thought many tech types growing up in the early 80’s would have fond memories of the show. It was canceled after a year so perhaps not many people got to watch it.
I remember that I always wanted to watch it, but I was never home. I wonder if it ran on Saturdays. I do remember the one episode with the singer whose voice had been sampled so the bad guys created a bunch of forged “lost” recordings of his. That was neat.
I only remember three things from that show – the main character’s indignant claim that “I’m not a nerd, I’m a hacker”, the time they reprogrammed the highway signs to display messages to their kidnapped colleague, and the time they had a crossover from Simon & Simon - the Cute Chick ™ had a major crush on one of the Simon brothers, much to the disgust of the rest of the geeks.
I saw it once or twice, I think it doesn’t have a bigger presence today because the technology and language is so outdated today. Tech things don’t hold up well.
It’s kind of like my favourtie show an old Australian soap opera Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H)
The show holds up pretty well, it ran from 1979 - 1986 as long as the plot stays in the prison. As soon as they step outside of the gate into Melbourne the fashions and outside things make is SO dated.
A bunch of crims walking around in uniforms never goes out of date
I don't know, personally I find the retro-technology the most charming thing about the show. And I like the fact that for the most part it seems to be technology that actually existed in 1984.
And wasn’t one of the kids on the show the guy that played Albert on Little House? He must have recovered from that addiction to morphine, and the bloody nose hemophilia incident, I guess!
I’ll have to go do some Youtube surfing and check it out, I guess.
Hello.
I came here with Google. I see you talk about the Whiz Kids. In Europe, the series still has many fans.
There were only two broadcast for France and Belgium, first in 1984 and then 1995. For French-speaking countries the name of the series is: “Les Petits Génies”, the little geniuses in english. I was surprised too there was not much presence on the Net especially in the USA ! In Europe there are a few sites dedicated to the series and many people who now work in IT claim to do so because they have seen the series at the time.
I know in Europe the series was aired in France, Germany, Italy and Spain may be in other countries too, but I’m not sure.
I realize a blog dedicated to the series, it’s in French but feel free to come and see if you like. Regards, SK2000. Sorry for my bad english !!!
Interesting that the show appears to be better remembered in Europe. Anyway I was watching a few episodes and it is interesting how some of the plotlines anticipate trends which were very nascent in 1983. For example there is one episode about cyberwarfare where the Soviets try to hack into US databases. There is another about cybercrime and identity theft and another where Richie’s mother uses online dating. And while obviously the idea of kids solving these mysteries is far fetched, the actual technology and the way it’s used seems quite realistic. Overall it provides a nice glimpse into what the technological frontier looked like in 1983.
I remember liking Matt Laborteaux, who made his way up from little Albert on Little House on the Prairie. I was in sixth grade at the time. Ahh memories.