# Kid's TV when you were a kid. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366 "2015-08-30T02:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/41 "2015-08-31T22:47:14Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It was “[The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_BJ_and_Dirty_Dragon_Show)”, and it was one of my favorite shows (we lived in Chicago until '75, when we moved to Green Bay). BJ was a guy named Bill Jackson. > > The other Chicago-based kids’ shows from that era were mostly on WGN: > > - [The Ray Rayner Show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Rayner) (home of Cuddly Dudley, Chelveston the Duck, Warner Brothers cartoons, and truly inept arts-and-crafts projects) > - [Garfield Goose and Friends](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_Goose_and_Friends) (home of Clutch Cargo!) > - [Bozo’s Circus (the Chicago version)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_the_Clown#Chicago_TV) My thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/42 "2015-09-01T03:35:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > KUSI had Shotgun Tom Kelly, a middle-aged guy in a tux and fedora hat, who I got to have my picture taken with at the Del Mar Fair one year when I was 7 or 8 or so and I thought it was the most amazing thing to ever happen to me. Actually, it was a drill instructor/Smoky the Bear hat. That guy is a radio DJ in Los Angeles on [K-Earth 101](http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/show/shotgun-tom-kelly/) these days. The only time I’ve ever seen him on TV up here was during the MDA marathon several years ago. He started harassing one of the phone operators while she was in the middle of a call, asking what her total was, and she just shot him a look like “Asshole, I’m on the phone!”. Like a lot of people here, I grew up in Chicago in the '70’s, and I think channel 32 was the greatest UHF station ever. The perfect blend of cartoons, Three Stooges, Our Gang and sitcom reruns. If you were real daring, you could switch to channel 44 for Ultraman and those weird Popeye cartoons where Bluto was known as “Brutus”. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/43 "2015-09-01T03:42:18Z")
On Sunday our local station kept my attention with reruns and old stuff. I watched Little Rascals followed by Abbot and Costello. Then Shirley Temple Theater and Judy Garland Theater. After that, Bowery Boys. I remember not liking quite a few Bowery Boys because sometimes they were not funny at all. They were all fighting and gangs and police and wise guys. But only some. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/44 "2015-09-01T03:46:40Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > I like the show with the nasty frog always making the guy do stupid things… Sounds like Andy’s Gang, with Andy Devine. It ran from 1955 to 1960. “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!” (perhaps a little double-entendre for the adults? Nah, probably just my dirty mind.) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/45 "2015-09-01T04:12:10Z")
I remember many of those already mentioned from the 50s and 60s. Two more: Winky Dink and You [Winky Dink and You - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TdRhNLOPk) Susan’s Show [Susan Heinkel...Susan's Show On CBS TV 1958 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i08fCLurn-g) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/46 "2015-09-01T04:18:58Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > I remember many of those already mentioned from the 50s and 60s. Two more: > > Winky Dink and You [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TdRhNLOPk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TdRhNLOPk) > > Susan’s Show [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i08fCLurn-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i08fCLurn-g) One of my very earliest memories was getting into trouble for drawing on the TV with a crayon during Winky Dink. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/47 "2015-09-01T04:21:54Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Winky Dink and You [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TdRhNLOPk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TdRhNLOPk) Way ahead of its time. The first interactive TV show. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/48 "2015-09-01T04:48:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > For me it included: > > Howdie Doodie > Captain Kangaroo > Kukla, Fran, and Ollie > Shari Lewis > > My favorite, though, was Andy’s Gang, especially the subversive [Froggy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFpzTaICKQU) [the Gremlin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H35odPm7b3w), whose main function was to teach kids disrespect for authority. > > I think much of the turmoil of the sixties is directly attributable to Froggy’s pernicious influence on kids.😉 > > I heard a similar tale concerning Bozo, in which the kid said “Eat it, clown!” Yeah that the show I was talking about ! I loved that frog ! LOL! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/49 "2015-09-01T06:07:25Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > One of my very earliest memories was getting into trouble for drawing on the TV with a crayon during Winky Dink. Ditto. My mother was really pissed off when she caught me. I remember looking at my drawings and being amazed when I saw how small the images on our TV set really were! I forget how she managed to clean all that guck off the screen, though. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/50 "2015-09-01T06:46:01Z")
Are you seriously telling me I’m the only one who remembers [Gigglesnort Hotel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEUl127RspM&list=PL284F8A1AC62B3F2D)? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/51 "2015-09-01T07:02:40Z")
Does anybody else remember [TV Powww](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Powww)? One lucky kid would get the chance to play a crappy primitive video game from home by yelling “pow!” over the telephone while watching the game on television. If I hadn’t found the Wikipedia page, I would doubt my memory that this was really a thing. The local version in Rochester was hosted by a character called “Buckaroo Bob” or some such, who also hosted a Western-themed kids’ show on the same channel. My brother told me the host got fired when he performed drunk on the air once too often. Good times, good times. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/52 "2015-09-01T07:38:09Z")
I forget what year it was–1965 or '66?–but Saturday morning one year was just Mighty Mouse and some old Warner Brothers shorts, and then suddenly the next year, all three networks had a full slate of new, first-run cartoons, many of them from Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, et al. That gradually faded in the 90s, I think; an animator of my acquaintance told me that NBC stood for “Not Buying Cartoons” and within a couple of years, neither were the other non-cable stations. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/53 "2015-09-01T13:16:19Z")
The local kiddie-show host when I was growing up in Rhode Island was [Salty Brine](http://www.pagesintime.com/ri/salty.html). He now has a state beach named after him, which recently [exploded](http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/08/20/rhode-island-beach-explosion-power-lines/). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/54 "2015-09-01T13:22:13Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I forget what year it was–1965 or '66?–but Saturday morning one year was just Mighty Mouse and some old Warner Brothers shorts, and then suddenly the next year, all three networks had a full slate of new, first-run cartoons, many of them from Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, et al. That gradually faded in the 90s, I think; an animator of my acquaintance told me that NBC stood for “Not Buying Cartoons” and within a couple of years, neither were the other non-cable stations. My memories (cited above) were from the early sixties. At least where I grew up (New York metropolitan area) there were multiple cartoons on prior to 1965., Nut it’s true that the cartoons on al three networks exploded in number as the Baby Boomers came into their own\*. By 1967 there was a solid block of cartoons from at least 8AM until noon on the networks. Some was re-run stuff (Tom and Jerry cartoons re-packaged. Warner Brothers cartoons bundled together, although they did start making some new Road Runner cartoons for Saturday morning), but a lot was new Hanna Barbera, Filmation, an d other companies (even Jay Ward and Total Television). \*It has always annoyed me that culturally the “Baby Boom” is taken to be people borm circa 1945. Baby Boom actually encompasses 1945-1964 in most accounting, with the peak of the hump being in 1955. Most of us were too young for Howdy Doody or even the first run of Mickey Mouser Club, were way too young to be hippies or attend Woodstock, and weren’t yuppies until well into the trend. We were turning ten in 1965, prime age for TV carooons ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/55 "2015-09-01T13:56:49Z")
Who here remembers Commander Tom? Davey and Goliath were cutting-edge Claymation back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/56 "2015-09-01T14:01:17Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Who here remembers Commander Tom? > > Davey and Goliath were cutting-edge Claymation back in the day. Davey and Goliath was one of those pre-1965 animation shows, like _Gumby_. I have to point out, pedant that I am, that although Davey and Goliath featured characters made of plasticine animated through traditional stop-motion techniques, it’s not “Claymation”. Although “Claymation” appears to be going the Kleenex/Q-tip/Band-Aid route to becoming a generic word, it’s actually a copyrighted term used by Will Vinton studios. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/57 "2015-09-01T14:34:47Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Does anybody else remember [TV Powww](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Powww)? One lucky kid would get the chance to play a crappy primitive video game from home by yelling “pow!” over the telephone while watching the game on television. If I hadn’t found the Wikipedia page, I would doubt my memory that this was really a thing. Absolutely. In Green Bay, where I lived as a teenager, this was on one of the local stations; they called it “Clubhouse Powww”. They had some puppet “hosting” it. It was horrible. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/58 "2015-09-01T14:46:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Davey and Goliath was one of those pre-1965 animation shows, like _Gumby_. > > I have to point out, pedant that I am, that although Davey and Goliath featured characters made of plasticine animated through traditional stop-motion techniques, it’s not “Claymation”. Although “Claymation” appears to be going the Kleenex/Q-tip/Band-Aid route to becoming a generic word, it’s actually a copyrighted term used by Will Vinton studios. Interesting, thank you. I just used the word “Claymation” because I remember it not being a cartoon and couldn’t remember the term “stop motion”. (I learned something new today! :)) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/59 "2015-09-01T21:10:05Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Are you seriously telling me I’m the only one who remembers [Gigglesnort Hotel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEUl127RspM&list=PL284F8A1AC62B3F2D)? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/60 "2015-09-01T21:27:28Z")
Anyone from the NY/NJ region remember a Sunday morning show circa 1970 called _Around the Corner_? Not sure if it was on WOR or WPIX. I only remember it because one of the hosts was my school’s phys ed teacher. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366.md?page=4)