Did you hear? They’re bringing back The Electric Company. Not the original, with Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno. No, I don’t believe kids today would be adequately entertained by that. I imagine this revisited version will have more flashy content. For shorter attention spans. I wonder if Joan Rivers will reprise her narration of THE ADVENTURES OF LETTERMAN! Faster than a rolling O, Stronger than a silent E, Able to leap capital T in a single bound!
I have a lot of great memories of The Electric Company, not to mention Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Of course we watched them; there were only four channels. I was part of the original Sesame Street generation; the show debuted in November 1969, just as I was turning 3 years old. I was their target audience, and part of their broadcast experiment: Can we teach children to read with *gasp* television?? The answer was an unequivocal YES.
I remember Sesame Street as a very quiet, almost introspective show. I think of Ernie carrying on a quiet conversation about noses with a preschooler sitting on a wall. The most rambunctious segment of the show was when the baker sang “Tennnnn BananaCreammmmm Pieeeeees” and then fell down the steps and the pies went everywhere. I loved that scene. Occasionally there were musical numbers where the muppets would take a pop song - say, the Beatles “Let it Be” - and change it into a learning song like “Letter B.”
Now they have muppets with more annoying voices and I can only imagine that the sentimental Beatles songs have been replaced by Green Day punk or whatever these crazy kids are listening to these days.
What are your earliest television memories? Did you watch Sesame Street? What pop songs did they parody in your childhood? Who was your favorite PBS character?
Responses to “Heeeey Youuuuuu Guuu-uyyyys!!”
May 14th, 2008 at 11:17 am
1,2,3,4,5……6,7,8,9,10…..11…12!
Even when I’m 90 years old and likely completely senile, I won’t forget the pinball counting skit by the Pointer Sisters.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Love that one! I have a friend who lives in Holland and she says they have the same cartoon there, only they count in Dutch. Which I think is kinda cool.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
OK, I know this’ll make me sound like Grandma, but I can still sing the theme songs to all of my favorite after-school shows, from “Leave it to Beaver” to “Green Acres” to “Gilligan’s Island” to “The Beverly Hillbillies.” And my husband, who WASN’T ALLOWED to watch TV when he was a kid, actually has his own complete set of “Hogan’s Heroes” DVDs. Guess he caught up later in life.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I remember watching the inaugural “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” when I was about 2. I was so excited to see Dr. Seuss on TV that it sticks with me all these many, many years later.
It was in black and white, of course. We got our first color TV (it was 11″, I think) when I was 4 during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. We watched the fireworks over the stadium the first night we had the TV and I was enthralled.
I recall sad things on TV, too. When Apollo 1 caught fire and astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee were killed, my mom cried at the news reports. I also remember watching I think it was Dan Rather, reporting knee-deep in mud from Vietnam while Hueys carried in wounded behind him.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Oh! I used to watch Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans every morning. I loved it when the ping pong balls fell on Mr. Moose. Great memories.