In the early 80’s, personal computers were a new innovation. Films like
WarGames made it seem as if a kid with a keyboard could hack into anything: a school or corporate mainframe, NORAD, the US nuclear arsenal or your neighborhood bank. Hoping to capitalize on this, in 1983 CBS premiered a show which could have been considered
WarGames’ intellectual successor. It featured a group of resourceful kids who solved crimes by hacking and cracking, led by Matthew Laborteaux, child star of
Little House on the Prairie, and advised by a
Gavilan SC-toting, mustachioed reporter played by Max Gail, formerly of the show
Barney Miller.
Whiz Kids lasted only a single season: 18 episodes, but all of them live on in cyberspace, on YouTube.
Complete episode links contained within. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 8, 2012 -
41 comments
Earth, 2147. The legacy of the Metal Wars, where man fought machines—and machines won. Bio-Dreads — monstrous creations that hunt down human survivors... and digitize them!
In 1987, before he created Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski was a writer for
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, a live-action sci-fi show for kids. 24 episodes were produced. Straczynski wrote or co-wrote 14 of them, including multi-episode plot arcs. A
line of interactive toys brought the battle into kids’ living rooms, and
Captain Power was also one of the very first shows on television to feature computer animation in every episode. But in an attempt to appeal to both children and the adults who watched with them, the campy show included some concepts and scenes critics deemed too violent for children and lasted only a single season in syndication.
The full run of the show has now been uploaded to Youtube. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Apr 1, 2012 -
28 comments
Actor, Playwright, Artist, Comedian, Magician, "Man of A Thousand Voices" (including Mighty Mouse,) "Beloved Herring Maven"
Mr. Ira Stadlen (Stage name: "
Captain" Allen Swift) has
passed away at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Mr. Stadler voiced characters in more than 30,000 television and radio commercials, as well as cartoons such as
Underdog,
Tom and Jerry and
Diver Dan, but some might remember him most as the man who saved
Howdy Doody. His nephew
has posted a remembrance on his blog, which includes a link to a "novelty 45" mp3 recording of Swift's
"Are You Lonesome Tonight."
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Apr 28, 2010 -
13 comments
Just over sixty years ago the
Reverend W. V. Awdry told his sick son a series of stories based on
real life incidents with trains,
which he later wrote up as the Railway Series. Now
Thomas the Tank Engine and
the other engines of the Isle of Sodor (somewhere
between Barrow-in-Furness and the Isle of Man) are a global phenomena, with
toys, books and of course the TV series - filmed using model trains on
more than 70 1:32 scale 16-by-20-foot sets, and voiced by the likes of Ringo Starr and Alec Baldwin. 2008 has been a rough year for Thomas: George Carlin, who voiced the series in the US up until 1998, passed away (
previously), as did
David Mitton, who had written and directed over 180 episodes (and who has previously worked on the special effects for
Thunderbirds). There's changes ahead for Thomas as well - this year saw the faces of the engines, which had previously been cast in silicone and attached with double sided tape, replaced by
CGI faces, and from 2009 onwards
Nitrogen studios in Canada will be taking over production with an
entirely CGI Thomas. Meanwhile a group of British students continues the tradition of model engine-based storytelling with their YouTube based
British Railway Series.
posted by Artw
on Dec 21, 2008 -
74 comments
Whatever Happened to all the Great Kids' Shows? When my wife was growing up in central Connecticut, she was a big
Sandy Becker fan. (The original host of
Wonderama, also seen
here with a very young Linda Blair). She still remembers the characters he created for his show -
Norton Nork, the
Big Professor, and of course
Hambone. She was naturally pleased to discover
Christopher Gross' excellent site celebrating the popular kid's show host and his show. Even though so much early television has been lost to the ages, the site has accumulated several
video clips, including a few, um,
off-color clips. (Warning - both RealPlayer and a brief dirty word). Now if only someone would give the same treatment to the show
I had growing up -
Foreman Scotty, on channel 4. Sigh.
posted by yhbc
on May 19, 2002 -
6 comments
Bozo to hang up his nose. After 40 years on the air in Chicago, the final episode of
The Bozo Show will air in August. One of the personalities ingrained into the head of every Chicago kid is going away.
posted by hijinx
on Mar 25, 2001 -
14 comments
