# 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:** 5
**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 3, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/81 "2015-09-03T19:59:24Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I was much too old to still be watching kids’ shows when NZR was on the air – but, geez, Emmy Jo was _cute_. Did you know she and Doug were (and still are) married? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/82 "2015-09-03T20:59:55Z")
Wow, so much nostalgia! I grew up in southern California, and I remember: Romper Room (I don’t remember the lady’s name, but I do remember wanting, and finally getting, my very own pair of Romper Stompers!) Pixann (I loved her magic paintbrush) Speed Racer Kimba the White Lion (suck it, Lion King!) Captain Kangaroo Mister Rogers Sesame Street Davey and Goliath Wonderama (with Bob McAllister - and yeah, I remember the songs!) Bozo the Clown (early prototype for Pennywise, before everybody had clownphobia) Winky Dink and You (I, too, wasn’t allowed to have a kit, and got in trouble for drawing on the TV) New Zoo Revue and one I don’t think anybody’s mentioned yet, unless I missed it: Anybody remember Hodgepodge Lodge? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/83 "2015-09-03T21:23:42Z")
I remember Hodgepodge Lodge! I used to pretend the area between the big pine tree behind my house and the fence behind the neighbor’s was there. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/84 "2015-09-03T22:48:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 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. 🙂 Barney’s Clubhouse Powwww! Someone put up a late 1991 WLUK newscast on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FycLKnLiYsA) that had an interview with the guy behind the puppet. My favorite Green Bay broadcast TV memories of my early chlidhood are the Addams Family and a Sid and Marty Krofft show that cycled through their various shows (ElectraWoman and DynaGirl, the Lost Saucer, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, etc.). Also, Battle of the Planets (thanks to the comments thread from the YouTube video). ---
**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 4, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/85 "2015-09-04T05:07:30Z")
**WTCN 11, Minneapolis–St Paul:** Lunch with Casey (With Casey Jones and Roundhouse Rodney, weekdays at noon. Showed lots of old Harveytoons, the occasional Little Lulu, crappy Hercules cartoons, Felix the Cat, Krazy Kat, Popeye, other King Features cartoons.) Grandma Lumpit’s Boarding House (Also with Casey and Roundhouse, in the afternoon. Showed mostly Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Friends.) Popeye and Pete (With Dave Lee and Pete the Penguin, Grandma’s lead-in.) **WCCO 4** in the afternoon: Cap’n Dale (This one is going waaaaaaay back!) Axel’s Treehouse (With Axel and Carmen the nurse; I always though she was cute! I think they were the ones who introduced me to Clutch Cargo.) Officer Clancy (Who showed only crappy Japanese Marvel cartoons.) **KMSP 9** : Soupy Sales (Syndicated show, aired on weekday afternoons. I loved it when I was in sixth grade!) Uncle Ken (Sunday mornings, IIRC. I always thought he was creepy with his Amish-style beard and straw hat.) At different times in my life, I was in the studio audience on three of the above. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/86 "2015-09-04T05:24:03Z")
Australia, 1960’s: The Magic Circle Club (Aussie) Rin Tin Tin (US) The Mickey Mouse Show (US) Lassie (US) National Velvet (US) and later Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch and other such dreck. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/87 "2015-09-05T03:16:59Z")
My prime kidvid watching years were from about '76 to about '84, which was pretty much the nadir of children’s TV. I grew up in north Jersey, so we had the luxury of all the NYC area stations. Also, my family got cable very very early, I’d say in about '76 or '77. (My dad wanted HBO for the boxing.) Back then, cable was HBO plus a few independent stations from different cities (WGN out of Chicago, WTBS from Atlanta, etc). Cable networks with their own original programming came around later. I remember when Nick had a strict no-cartoons policy and ESPN had to resort to Aussie Rules Football to fill their daytime programming. My mom only let me watch PBS until I was old enough for kindergarten, but I later made up for it with a vengeance. Semi-Educational Shows: I really disliked Captain Kangaroo and was indifferent to Mr. Rogers and Romper Room. Like I said, I watched a lot of PBS, so a lot Sesame Street, Electric Company, and Zoom. I really liked 3-2-1 Contact and vaguely remember watching Big Blue Marble and Vegetable Soup, which had a bizarre segment involving odd-looking puppets traveling in space in a homemade ship made from junk. I was a big fan of The Magic Garden on WPIX, and Paula (the one who played guitar) was probably my first TV crush. I thought I was the only one who remembered Marlo & the Magic Movie Machine, (it was on early Sundays), but I see others have mentioned it. I used to watch The Patchwork Family because it was the first thing on in the mornings, but I can only remember the theme song. Other Live Shows: The high point was Sid & Marty Kroft’s Land of the Lost. Shazam & Isis were not that good, but since I was superhero obsessed, I watched them anyway. Joanna Cameron as Isis was pretty memorable. The Krofts had a mini-empire for a while, but I didn’t like their shows besides Land of the Lost. There was the Lost Saucer with Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors competing with The Far Out Space Nuts, which had Bob Denver and some other guy. Jason of Star Command, with James Doohan, was pretty much the last gasp of live action kidvid sci-fi adventure until Power Rangers many years later. Nickelodeon had an afterschool lineup in the early 80s that I liked: You Can’t Do That on Television, The Tomorrow People, and The Third Eye (several British or Canadian horror/mystery mini-series, with Children of the Stones being the most memorable). Saturday Morning Cartoons: Pretty bad during my childhood. Everything seemed to be under the heavy hand of educational psychologists and standard & practices people. Even classic Loony Toons shorts were heavily edited, with all the shots of, say, Daffy getting shot in “Duck, Rabbit, Duck” getting edited out. Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Filmation were in a race to the bottom in the late 70s and were regurgitating the same formulas they had hits with at the start of the decade. The predominant trends were a) Scooby-Doo/Josie & The Pussycats knockoffs (Speed Buggy, Jabberjaws, Captain Caveman, etc etc) and b) actions shows that were resolute in not showing any action and insisted on tagging a PSA on at the end. Which was worse: the Super-Friends with Wendy & Marvin or the Super-Friends with the Wondertwins? I don’t think a punch was ever thrown in either version. I remember Filmation doing adventure shows such as Tarzan and Blackstar ( a sort-of warm up for He-Man), where they would blow their budget on some impressive rotoscoped sequences and then re-use them over and over. Early 80’s Saturdays were dominated by Smurfs, Smurfs, a plethora of Smurfs knockoffs (Snorks, Wuzzles, Gummi Bears etc), shows based on video games, and blindingly saccharine “pro-social” pap like the Getalong Gang. I was old enough to be more selective and stop watching a lot of cartoons, especially since we had a VCR by then and could rent older, classic stuff. I was still on the lookout for decent action/super-hero shows could find a few decent ones: Thundarr the Barbarian, Spider-man & His Amazing Friends, Dungeons & Dragons, Jana of the Jungle (very short-lived, but created/designed by Doug “Jonny Quest” Wildey). Japanese Imports: In our family’s early cable days, one of the stations out of Philadelphia had an after-school block of Space Giants, Marine Boy, Speed Racer and Ultraman. I was also very into Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers (which was on at 6am). I started recognizing anime-style as an indicator of shows I would like, and you had to search them out then. Ulysses 31, Mysterious Cities of Gold, and the Robotech, which was pretty much the end of my U.S cartoon watching until I went to college except for some Duck Tales. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/88 "2017-01-31T16:42:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Brakeman Bill and Crazy Donkey > Wanda Wanda > J.P. Patches Reviving this because a person who’s name definitely belongs on this list just died-Stan Boreson, long time host of [“King’s Clubhouse”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsadNBgoPio). AKA “Yorgi Yorgesson”, he put out a few entertaining Scandawhoovian songs, such as “Walking In My Winter Underwear” and “Scandinavian Hot Shot”. It looks like the only local host that hasn’t died yet is Bill McLain(“Brakeman Bill”). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/89 "2017-01-31T17:13:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Reviving this because a person who’s name definitely belongs on this list just died-Stan Boreson, long time host of [“King’s Clubhouse”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsadNBgoPio). AKA “Yorgi Yorgesson”, he put out a few entertaining Scandawhoovian songs, such as “Walking In My Winter Underwear” and “Scandinavian Hot Shot”. > It looks like the only local host that hasn’t died yet is Bill McLain(“Brakeman Bill”). My husband and I were driving to his folks’ house for Christmas one year and heard on the radio one of his songs, “Oh I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas”. We heard it once, ever, and yet during December we sing the first line (all we can remember) often. ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/90 "2017-01-31T17:32:11Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > These might be local (Baltimore, '60s) > > Romper Room - ours had Miss Sally > Professor Kool’s Fun Skool > Bozo the Clown > Captain Chesapeake > Wonderama - Bob McCallister (already mentioned) > > Couldn’t stand Mickey Mouse Club Also in Baltimore: Jan the Janitor in the mornings, played by Stu Kerr, who also played Bozo. There were other local shows, too: Pete the Pirate, Officer Happy, a few others, and, for the older kids, The Buddy Dean Show. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/91 "2017-01-31T18:35:39Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > The Pittsburgh, Johnstown, and Altoona TV markets all overlapped where I grew up. It was the 60’s and early 70’s, so I watched all the same CBS/NBC/ABC network shows on Saturday as all the rest of you 50-somethings. As far as locally produced shows, Pittsburgh had the best. Actually, WTAE channel 4, specifically, had the best: > > - **Popeye with Joe and Sandy** which featured [Joe Negri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Negri) > - **[Adventure Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Time_%281959_TV_series%29)** which has been credited with reviving the popularity of The Three Stooges. Paul Shannon was a great entertainer in his own right, as well as just the host. > WIIC Channel 11 (now WPXI) had Cartoon Colorama which showed all the old cartoons that weren’t Warner Brothers, it seemed, and often sucked. OTOH, they also had [Chiller Theater](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiller_Theatre_%28Pittsburgh%29) and [Studio Wrestling](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Wrestling). They might not have been conceived as kid shows specifically, but both were wildly popular with every kid I knew. > I don’t remember the Altoona and Johnstown stations (WFBG and WJAC respectively) having a whole lot of locally produced kid shows. WJAC had a locally produced [Romper Room](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romper_room#Johnstown.2C_Pennsylvania), but even when I was a little kid I never cared for that show. WFBG had, IIRC, something called Cartoon Clubhouse, but it showed the really, really low-rent cartoons like “Clutch Cargo”…and they couldn’t even be arsed to show the episodes in order. Cartoon Clubhouse started their video broadcast programming each day. They broadcasted audio-only farm reports and such for a half hour or so first. I remember _Adventure Time_. I grew up with the Three Stooges. Paul Shannon appeared in their final feature film _The Outlaws Is Coming_. He played Wild Bill Hickcock. Do you remember his rocket to the North Pole around every Christmas season? He would read kids’ letters to Santa Claus and stuff them into a fake rocket, then a stagehand would set off a fire extinguisher underneath the rocket so that it looked like it was being launched. Another show I remember on WTAE was [Ricki and Copper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricki_%26_Copper). It was a kids’ show hosted by Ricki Wertz who had a big red dog named Copper. The dog would mingle with the kids and was as popular as the host. I also remember _Studio Wrestling_ and _Chiller Theater_. Bill Cardille hosted both shows. He passed away just last year. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/92 "2017-01-31T22:22:50Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > This will age me for sure.Today I was talking with my son about how weird kid’s TV always was and that started me reminiscing. > > In another thread a long time ago, I mentioned being a very disappointed preschooler when Miss Julia never mentioned my name. According to Wiki, it should be a Miss Louisa who disappointed me but I remember a Miss Julia. I was a tiny tot, so I could have imagined the name. But I sure as hell remember even now how sad I was when she never, ever saw me through her looking glass which, as I explained to the boy, was a big, plastic hand mirror with the mirror taken out. > > My introduction to snake-in-a-can was watching Wonderama with Bob McCallister. I knew all the words to Kids Are People, Too and loved the segment where an audience member had a few seconds to find the can with the paper bouquet in it. All the other cans had snakes. As I explained to my son, the cans were just lined up on a table. The kid had a few seconds to open cans until he or she got a bouquet. The Boy didn’t get it. > > Watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood for two things-- Neighborhood of Make Believe and the original How It’s Made video segments. The Boy didn’t believe me when I said The Science Channel ripped off Mr. Rogers. > > The Boy grew up with purple dinosaurs and giggling suns. Not so different from Witchiepoo and Hippo Hurricane Hollers. I was always extremely let down when I was never seen in the magic mirror. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/93 "2017-01-31T23:31:08Z")
> [@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. Ironically, this would be impossible with modern technology. Voice transmission over a landline telephone call is basically instantaneous. You say “pow!”, and the receiver at the other end says “pow!” less than a millisecond later. With a modern digital cell phone, the voice data has to be digitized, then digitally compressed to take up less transmission bandwidth, then decompressed at the other end before it can be rendered via an audio digital-to-analog player. The compression stage is, from what I understand, the most time-consuming part of this whole process. The upshot is that the sound comes out the other end between half a second and a full second later. Not only can you not play “Pow!”, you can’t sing a duet with the person on the other end. ☹ ---
**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:** [January 31, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/94 "2017-01-31T23:45:41Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Ironically, this would be impossible with modern technology. > > Voice transmission over a landline telephone call is basically instantaneous. You say “pow!”, and the receiver at the other end says “pow!” less than a millisecond later. > > With a modern digital cell phone, the voice data has to be digitized, then digitally compressed to take up less transmission bandwidth, then decompressed at the other end before it can be rendered via an audio digital-to-analog player. The compression stage is, from what I understand, the most time-consuming part of this whole process. The upshot is that the sound comes out the other end between half a second and a full second later. Not only can you not play “Pow!”, you can’t sing a duet with the person on the other end. ☹ Progress! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/95 "2017-02-01T00:43:29Z")
> [@RunSilent](#): > > Also in Baltimore: Jan the Janitor in the mornings, played by Stu Kerr, who also played Bozo. There were other local shows, too: Pete the Pirate, Officer Happy, a few others, and, for the older kids, **The Buddy Dean Show**. Surely you mean “The Corny Collins Show.” 😉 😃 I’d have a tough time recalling anyone who was “Baltimore” more than Stu Kerr. (Maybe John Waters) > [@cochrane](#): > > I remember _Adventure Time_. I grew up with the Three Stooges. Paul Shannon appeared in their final feature film _The Outlaws Is Coming_. He played Wild Bill Hickcock. > > Do you remember his rocket to the North Pole around every Christmas season? He would read kids’ letters to Santa Claus and stuff them into a fake rocket, then a stagehand would set off a fire extinguisher underneath the rocket so that it looked like it was being launched. > > Another show I remember on WTAE was [Ricki and Copper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricki_%26_Copper). It was a kids’ show hosted by Ricki Wertz who had a big red dog named Copper. The dog would mingle with the kids and was as popular as the host. > > I also remember _Studio Wrestling_ and _Chiller Theater_. Bill Cardille hosted both shows. He passed away just last year. “Chilly Billy” was, without doubt, the best actor in the original _Night of the Living Dead_. This was probably not kids’ TV, but when I turned eight, I discovered monsters, horror movies, all that good stuff. I stumbled onto: **Dark Shadows** one afternoon and could not turn away and had to catch it every afternoon until it ended its run. It was just as lame as any other soap opera, but I couldn’t NOT watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/96 "2017-02-01T01:09:50Z")
Barney. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Wild West C.O.W.-boys of Moo Mesa Timon and Pumbaa Aladdin Courage the Cowardly Dog Dexter’s Laboratory Rugrats Doug Catdog The Angry Beavers Bill Nye the Science Guy Are You Afraid of the Dark? Tailspin Darkwing Duck Goof Troop Sesame Street Blue’s Clues Time Squad Foster’s Home for Imaginery Friends Pokémon Digimon Dragon Ball Z Wishbone Bob the Builder A Pup Named Scooby Doo Animaniacs Tiny Toon Adventures Simpsons Yu-gi-oh ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/97 "2017-02-01T01:27:55Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > … > My introduction to snake-in-a-can was watching Wonderama with Bob McCallister. Someone has brought [Wonderama back](http://www.wonderamatv.com/) but without Bob McCallister. My siblings are older and remember Sonny Fox instead. I love the [list of Guests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderama#Guests). My other shows were Captain Kangeroo, Sesame Street (from the very first episode), Mister Rogers and the Saturday morning shows from say 1969 like Scooby Doo, The Archies, reruns of the Monkees, etc. and of course Bug Bunny cartoons. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/98 "2017-02-01T01:30:48Z")
> [@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. > > 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. In NYC we had Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX and you had to shoot down space invaders by shouting “PIX! PIX!” Lately I read an OP and think, “I wrote a similar one a long while ago” and then realize it is the OP I wrote a long while ago. ---
**Author:** ![sms339](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@sms339](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sms339)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/99 "2017-02-01T01:53:23Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Canadian kids TV shows back in the day were awesome. > > Readalong > Today’s Special > KidsBeat (news show geared towards kids) > Hilarious House of Frightenstein > That show about Simon and his chalk drawings > Uncle Bobby > You Can’t Do That on Television (“Duuhh I heard that.”) > Rocket Robin Hood > Hercules > Fraggle Rock > Eureka! (learning physics, etc.) > Tales of the Wizard of Oz I did not watch all of those, but I remember them all. I could go on for an entire thread about “Readalong”. Mr. Bones scared the hell out of me, and IIRC, none of the puppets were particularly nice-looking. The theme music still brings on weird feelings of dread. I’ll add… “Fred Penner’s Place” “Under The Umbrella Tree” “The Toothbrush Family” “Astro Boy” “Mr. Dressup” “Doctor Snuggles” “The Green Forest” “Camp Cucumber” I don’t think all of them were Canadian and from what I understand some of the shows might have originally been from the '70s though I would have been watching them in the 1980s. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366/100 "2017-02-01T03:27:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Reviving this because a person who’s name definitely belongs on this list just died-Stan Boreson, long time host of [“King’s Clubhouse”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsadNBgoPio). AKA “Yorgi Yorgesson”, he put out a few entertaining Scandawhoovian songs, such as “Walking In My Winter Underwear” and “Scandinavian Hot Shot”. Harry Stewart was Yogi Yorgesson. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-tv-when-you-were-a-kid/729366.md?page=6)