Comments on: Square One TV

Square One TV

interrobang — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:09:01 -0800

I always hated math, but I loved Square One Television .

By: taumeson

taumeson — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:13:52 -0800

oohooh! i want to be the first to say i loved Mathnet! and also, i wanted kate monday to have my babies. i could do without pat tuesday, though.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:22:19 -0800

I thought "Mathman" (the pac-man parody) was so funny. When he got in trouble for choosing the wrong number, he'd go: "Mathman! Mathman! Mathman! Of course, that was the only thing he could say. Mathnet was so great. They both walked without moving their arms and spoke in a quick monotone, a hilarious and subtle tribute to "Dragnet".

By: interrobang

interrobang — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:27:47 -0800

Watch this (mpeg) and tell me that "Mathman" isn't funny.

By: taumeson

taumeson — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:32:41 -0800

also, they don't have the greatest square one song.... "palindrome" it's a tango. "first i go forward, then backward <something something> i'm a palindrome".

By: Down10

Down10 — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:42:28 -0800

Count me as another fan of Square One TV. The show did the seemingly impossible: make math (and logic) look *fun*. i also dug the original music videos that they aired frequently. Mathnet was indeed a stroke of genius, though it did "jump the shark" with either the casting change or the move from L.A. to New York City. Jeers to Noggin for removing this great show from its airwaves! I propose a "PBS Classic" station to give all these beloved old PBS shows (3-2-1 Contact, Wild America, Vegetable Soup, et al.) some real airplay.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:49:25 -0800

1...1...2...3...5, Eureka!

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:56:16 -0800

Awww, man. I used to cheer with my sister when Mathman actually won. I swear to god, I still remember that.

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 23:59:36 -0800

My sister and I were reminiscing about Mathnet at dinner tonight--first time I've thought about it in years--how wonderful to find this here!

By: UKnowForKids

UKnowForKids — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 00:36:08 -0800

Thanks for the links. I used to love this show, watched it ever afternoon after school. Watching the Fat Boys, Super Spy, and Angle Dance brings back some memories, as does the Mathnet episode they have up.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 00:51:43 -0800

Here's one where Mathman wins, XQUZYPHYR. Cheer away.

By: jacobsee

jacobsee — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 01:07:34 -0800

sweet. coolest metafilter post ever

By: CommaTheWaterseller

CommaTheWaterseller — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 01:25:18 -0800

At college we planned to have a Square One Marathon once, but we couldn't get the tapes out of PBS. More's the pity. Nerd bonding over TV shows other than Star Trek is a rare thing...

By: gramcracker

gramcracker — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 02:43:06 -0800

Brings back memories. Thanks!

By: aws17576

aws17576 — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 03:13:59 -0800

I have trouble believing it today, but, when in fourth grade, I persuaded my teacher that Square One was educational enough to show daily in class. That's just what he did. Many of the other kids actually shared my enthusiasm for it. It's strange, looking back, how warm they were to my evangelism of the nerdly gospel. Perhaps three quarters of my peers would still then show interest in an exhibition of the Apple II, or in play with puns and anagrams, if that was what the charismatic leader (who oft en happened to be me) was doing. It was only a couple of years later that everyone began to reject math and other such egghead pursuits as uninteresting, too hard, useless, &c. But where Square One was concerned, I'm not sure I cared whether anyone else liked it. The local PBS station had just moved it from an after-school time slot to 10:00 in the morning. My evangelism was purely instrumental to seeing that school did not pre-empt my favorite show.

By: mojo80

mojo80 — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 05:44:17 -0800

I abhor math with a burning passion but I loved this show. I loved Mathnet, I remember stealing one of their stories for a book I wrote myself. Well, stealing's the wrong word.. It was the first time I was exposed to the dinner murder mystery plotline and well I adapted it for... talking cats. I was eight...

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 06:12:28 -0800

In highschool I was wishing they had a version of this show to help me solve integrals.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 06:31:18 -0800

I hope your mother sold your Colecovision on eBay for that little plagiarism stunt!

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 07:03:25 -0800

I hate math. I am no good at math. I have never been any good at math. But I loved, loved, loved Square One. (D'da d'daa da, daa da daaaa).

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 07:40:35 -0800

My absolute favorite PBS show. Mathnet was the Bomb, yo. I remember on Fridays, they also aired a complete Mathnet compendium of the entire week's story.

By: palegirl

palegirl — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 07:48:02 -0800

Great post! I loved square one, watched it right before dinner with my brother--like the rest of you, we were totally into it. Good classic!

By: Succa

Succa — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 08:01:44 -0800

Square One even had the Fat Boys do a rap video for them, on the subject of (I believe) divisibility by 9. What a world we live in. I always cheered for the tornado, just to hear his mutterings after he eats Mathman.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 08:07:43 -0800

Hey, don't forget about Dirk Niblick. And Mr. Glitch used to scare the hell out of me for some reason. But I loved the show anyway.

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 09:03:03 -0800

When I finally saw Casablanca, I was disappointed they didn't force everyone to get weighed before getting on the plane, like the Square One version.

By: Melinika

Melinika — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 11:55:01 -0800

Oooh, Square One. Mathnet was my favorite. And that Weird Al video.

By: zixyer

zixyer — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 13:20:24 -0800

Does anyone remember the Mathnet episode where the bad guy had kidnapped several people and was holding them in a prison in his basement? His motive was that all the people he kidnapped were let off of crimes at trial because it was shown that it was mathematically impossible for them to be guilty .... I remember thinking that this was an unusually creepy plot for a kid's TV show at the time.

By: iamck

iamck — Sun, 06 Jun 2004 18:26:44 -0800

"Please do what these people say..." /singing

By: skechada

skechada — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 07:03:22 -0800

Great post. Can't believe I totally forgot about Mathman. I still remember there being a song about the number 9 that was tooo funny...

By: mouthnoize

mouthnoize — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:25:08 -0800

I rolled the tape machines for our PBS affiliate and this was one my faves - along with Electric Company. Thanks, ?!