Which educational children's program had the greatest impact on you when you were growing up?
I was weaned on Sesame Street (which just turned 40) and The Electric Company. Any time I hear a partially sung, “Noonee noonee noo.”, I immediately picture this.
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The Mickey Mouse Club and Engineer Bill.
Fuck yeah Sesame Street. I still watch clips of Cookie Monster and seriously HOWL at them. He’s so funny.
Carmen Sandiago or however it is you spell that. I used to play those games ALL the time.
I grew up loving Sesame Street but more so Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I wasn’t allowed to watch much TV at all. Only what came on Saturday mornings and one half hour show each evening which was Full House, lol. Except when I was at grandmothers, then I got to watch as much as I wanted, hehe.
School House Rocks!!
I loved it because it came on every Saturday morning. I learned many things and didn’t realize it. The songs were great “Conjunction conjunction what’s your function? Hooking up words, phrases, and clauses.”
I agree with School House Rock. Though it wasn’t really a show, more of a pause between shows, it did teach me a lot. “I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill…”
Magic School Bus! I loved traveling around with Ms. Frizzle and the gang. To this day, I can tell you how salmon mate because of that show!
Oh! Kukla Fran and Olly! And Beanie and Cecil!
no one but me even remembers Engineer Bill. I’m an old Jew.
Bill Nye! Bill Nye! The Science Guy!
Also, Arthur and Magic School Bus.
Electric Company all the way! I loved that show, I can still sing the song (“We’re gonna turn it on! We’re gonna bring in the power!”) I also loved School House Rock and Fat Albert. I could not get enough Fat Albert.
I tried to watch Captain Kangaroo but his haircut freaked me out, just like those puppets on Mr. Rogers!
@Chikipi hell yes. i have all the grammar school house rock songs on my itunes, i listen to INTERJECTIONS daily :))))
Sesame Street…this was a great show for me and had the most impact on my life. When I was 2 my mom said I potty trained myself and decided i wanted to be like the grown-ups. I grabbed my porter potty and sat in front of the TV and watched Sesame Street until I learned.
@augustlan- true it was short and brief, but it was a cool skit… “and I’m sitting here on capital hill”
I loved Mr. Greenjeans, but wasn’t a huge fan of Captain Kangaroo. He looked like a very strange girl. We also liked Soupy Sales, Crusader Rabbit, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and George of the Jungle. I used to watch Bozo the Clown when we lived near New York.
However, the earliest TV shows I can remember were two. The first was The Mickey Mouse Club, with Mouseketeers Annette and Cubby and Nancy and Tommy and Doreen, and with the grown ups Jimmie, Roy and Bob. It looked like this.
The second was Romper Room with Miss Nancy and Mr. Do Bee and Mr. Don’t Bee. For some reason I loved Mr. Do Bee. I guess I was a bit of a suck up as a child
@pdworkin – I suspect you also had to live in Los Angeles. Here just for you.
School House Rock all the way!
“Conjunction junction, what’s your function?”
What about Mr. Rogers? Did anyone like him?
Sesame Street and Magic School Bus. I loved those shows. I even had books that went along with the latter. My favorite was the one about electricity. :)
Mister Rogers (I’m convinced he was a Bodhisattva)
Sesame Street (I have the 1st Old School DVDs, which have a disclaimer that kids today won’t get it, so don’t show it to them! :/)
The Electric Company (I have the DVDs! Righteous! Delighteous! And plain outtasighteous!)
Schoolhouse Rock (I have the DVDs!)
Readalong (Thanks for selling it to my town’s PBS station, TVOntario!)
The Gigglesnort Hotel (Yup, we got stuff from all over, even Chicago!)
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (Yes, all over!)
Hodge Podge Lodge (“Well… maybe not elephants!” ::bass note!::)
@skfinkel Honestly, when I was at that age, I couldn’t really ever get into his show, it felt all so old and antiquated, and I just got bored.
But, now I love him for what he did and I think he was brilliant.
what do you mean by impact?
I recall plenty of shows from my childhood, Sesame Street being one of them. I loved Big Birds movie a lot. Eureeka’s Castle was a fave. So was Magic Schoolbus.
I also recall watching Cops at the tender age of 4, with my older brother. I don’t know what sort of impact that had.
Strawberry Shortcake impacted my bed sheets and room decorations
Oh my sister loved Reading Rainbow.
My children loved Reading Rainbow. My daughter loved Barney and my son Bob the Builder.
@Drawkward, Oh yeah I forgot about Arthur! That show taught me lots about friendships and stuff.
@Darwin, I loved Barney too! I think I still have a video somewhere…
How could I forget 3–2-1 Contact? It had one of the best intro songs ever and The Original Bloodhound Gang!
@aprilsimnel . . . whenever there’s trouble we’re there on the double . . .
My brother, sister and I used to sit around the radio in our room, letting our parents sleep in late, and listen to “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic” with Big John and Sparkie. I liked to listen to Sargent Preston of the Yukon and Space Patrol. My visions of the adventures were just as good as the later TV production.
I would like it to be known that I now have “Lolly, lolly, lolly get your adverbs heeeere” stuck in my head. Someone may have to die.
@augustlan . . . were you aware that a noun is a person, place, or thing?
Hilarious House of Frankenstein (many characters done by the late, great Billy Van). It was a Canadian Show. That shit was trippy. It had a great opener.
The Hot Fudge Show. “Right on!” Show based out of the D (Detroit). Have a listen to Hot Fudge Holy Moly.
Hot Fudge? Ho-leee! Moly! That’s reaching very far back for me, like the periphery of my memory!
Oh, I’ve got one:
That’s ZOOM!
Z-Double O-M
Box 3–5-0
Boston, Mass
0… 21… 34…!
Send it to ZOOM!
I will have to repeat the plug for Mr.Rogers. Not only did both my husband & I love him as children, but we now see the joy of Mr. Rogers and Mr. McFeely all over again when our son watches. I’ve never seen anyone so excited over the Land of Make-Believe!....As a kid (yes, I was allowed to watch everything I ewanted) I loved Eddie Murphy’s skit on SNL of Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood, too ;)
I also have the School House Rock DVD’s.
EDIT: OH wait I forgot to mention one NO one said above… Picture Pages I Loved this show!
@pdworkin mentioned a couple of mine – Kukla Fran and Ollie, along with Beanie and Cecil. In Chicago, we also had Garfield Goose—with Frazier Thomas, Romberg Rabbit and Beauregard Burnside III. Also Lunchtime little Theater with Uncle ned and Aunt Dodie.
Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mighty Mouse.
@mramsey The cartoon? My son loves that show.
Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Electric Company, J.P Patches and Zoom were the most memorable. I also loved the New Zoo Review, though I’m not sure how much influence it had on me.
Zoboomafoo.
Pappyland.
Schoolhouse Rock.
Sesame Street.
Mr. Rogers.
Blues Clues.
Eureka’s Castle.
Those were the ones that I have strong memories of. Zoboomafoo and Schoolhouse Rock taught me the most.
@SpatzieLover – I forgot all about Picture Pages, loved that show!
Sesame Street hands down, my mother always thought Mr Rogers was a bit to strange so i never got to watch him.
Sesame street
Timmy the Tooth
Eureka’s Castle
Dudley the Dragon
The Puzzle Place
Mr. Rogers
Reading Rainbow
Lamb Chop
Gala Gala Island
Arthur
Wishbone
Fraggle Rock, I just love Cotterpin Doozer
David the Gnome
Well, there is a bunch more, I just can’t remember all of them.
@mramsey Wow I completely forgot about Reading Rainbow. Thanks for jogging the memory :)
Oh yeah…how could I forget Mr. Rogers and Reading Rainbow. I miss being a babby.
@tinyfaery she never said my name either and I wanted her to soooo bad!
Do any of you Southern Californians remember Tom Hatten on weekend mornings? He showed the Little Rascals, Popeye cartoons, Martin & Lewis movies and other stuff. It might even be considered educational because he showed how to draw Popeye.
Of course. He also hosted the Family Film Festival. I just brought him up the other day. How funny.
Has anyone here heard of The Puzzle Place? It’s not really “educational”, so I didn’t include it in my list along with Arthur, but I really liked it. It ran from 1995 to 1998 and it was about these kids (puppets) who were from all different backgrounds/ethnicities and they hung out together and confronted issues, even things like racism/sexism. It was great. :)
@DominicX I remember watching that with my kids. :)
@DominicX I forgot about that!! And Allegra’s Window.
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