Here are some e-mails I have been sent regarding this site and other TVOntario shows. These people share many of the same fond memories I have. Some recall shows I didn't watch. Some need help trying to remember show titles. Others offer more links. Have a read and feel free to send me an e-mail
January 3/04 from Erin:
I love this site! Do you have any info on "Dear
Aunt Agnes"? My sister and I were talking about that show the other day.
I'm pretty sure it had Heather Conkie starring in it.
Keep up the good work!! I just wish they would start re-airing some of the old
favorites. It would be a great trip down memory lane for us and I have a feeling
the younger generation might appreciate it too.
(No info on Dear Aunt Agnes I am afraid - except what other people have posted here)
Jan 5/04 from Dan:
I'm looking for a pic of the skunk from that show. Can't find one anywhere. Closest I've got is your site.
I used to watch that show all the time. Was the source of a lot of interesting dreams I used to have.
For some reason, I liked the skunk. Can't remember him being in a lot of episodes, but he was on the intro.
Would *love* to have a nice picture of him, and maybe find out his name. :)
(Skunk images provided en masse!)
Jan 5/04 from John:
Someoneone showed me your page today after I was hunting down possibly the only two animated shows I couldn't remember from my childhood. I could remember them but not well enough. Well once I saw your page I went completely nostalgic. I was a huge viewer of TVO when I was very, very young back in early 80's when I was maybe 4. Oddly I have intact memories from back then including me watching some of these shows.
The two shows I couldn't remember were 'Fables of the
Green Forest' and 'The Little Prince'.
Fables is one of my favourite cartoons of all time and if I were a millionaire
Iw ould buy it. :-p Sadly the last time I watched it was in grade 2 when my
teacher brought in a copy for the class on a day we were going on a field trip.
Little Prince seems like it was on so long ago and I can't remember when it
was actually on TV. Do you know when these shows actually aired? I saw on IMDb.com
that 'The Little Prince' was made in 1979 as a movie? Anyways it also says it
was listed as a TV show in 1982. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287191/
As for the other shows, I saw a few. 'Today's Special' sticks in my mind well because I think it was still shown until the end of the decade in repeats. I find it creepy I know all of their names and the themesong and different episodes.
The show 'All About You' was a pleasant shock too. I had forgotten about that show! I remember it so well now and I haven't seen it since 1991 when I saw part of an episode in my grade 4 class.
Well anyways thanks for the site, it really helped. TVO cartoons were great back then. I would watch 'Today's Special', 'Fables of the Green Forest', 'Astroboy' and other shows on there when I was younger. All were great too...... except Sharon, Lois and Bram...... I only liked Elephant but my sisters liked that stuff. I was more into Polka Dot Door.
While I was trying to make a website like this you already had one!
(Thanks for your great memories)
Jan 6/04 from regular contributor Karasu:
This is becoming a habit, I think. I keep checking your
site's feedback when it's changed, and coming up with more information for the
people there.
Either I have no life, or my memory's all too good about these shows. Probably
more the first. ;) Incidentally, did you know you're linked off the
IMDB for 'Read All About It'? Happened to find that when I went looking for
series information. Congratulations!
Anyhow, for my first comment, I think the reason people
might be having so much trouble finding Barbrapapa stuff is that... well...
it's spelled wrong.
The show is (was?) titled 'Barbapapa'. It's right in the show-listing, though.
Amazon.co.uk has a little bit on it, but not a lot. However,
according to http://home.t-online.de/home/claus-wunderlich/barbaeng.htm,
there are some new shows out in a couple of places, and in others, it seems
it's still running. Maybe they would be help in finding some releases in Europe
as well.
I don't remember the show Julia (November 3) is talking
about right off the top of my head, but it _could_ be H.R. Pufinstuff. Boy,
witch magic flute;
it was the first thing that came to mind. I don't remember TVO airing this show,
though, so I may be way off base, this time.
I'm almost positive that Grahm is talking about a show
called 'Take Part', done by Lois Walker. I could very well be wrong, since it's
not just a craft
show and it seems to me that it's a bit more recent, but they do have crafts
on it, and the postman character is one of theirs. http://loiswalker.com/
is
her homepage. However, before you start posting her any mail, make sure you
check http://loiswalker.com/letter.html.
YTV had this show on their kids
schedule for some time, so it might still be around.
Anne (November 5) was wondering about the main character
on Dear Aunt Agnes. Well, the star was Heather Conkie as Aunt Agnes as reported
by the IMDB
(http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0088502/).
Definitely a famous Canadian!
If you're interested in themesongs, I've got a few of
them from the Theme Exchange that I can transcribe. Plus, I'm the local Google
pimp; I might
well be able to find the themes on the web, given some time. If you're interested,
drop me a line! And if there's any particular shows you want
more than others, drop those, too!
And for a final suggestion, have folks give 'www.amazon.co.uk'
and 'www.amazon.ca' a try for finding some of the things they're looking for.
Sometimes, you can find stuff in the UK and Canada Amazon listings that you
can't find elsewhere. For instance, Simon In The Land Of Chalk Drawings,
Will O' The Wisp, and Jamie And The Magic Torch can be found on amazon.co.uk.
They're in the PAL format, unfortunately, but wise folks can
work around that in one way or another.
P.S., for a very funny take on Jamie And The Magic Torch,
take a look at http://www.rathergood.com/jamie/
(WARNING: Not work-safe, though it's more
'naughty' than downright pornographic). It's very British humor (Jamie Theakston
was a public figure who was caught at an S&M place, just so you
know who the face is that they're using) but I find it amazingly funny.
(Great e-mail as always - thanks for the regular visits)
January 6/04 from Andrew:
Fantastic site, good work! Just thought you might want
to know that many of the shows you list were sold to other stations in other
provinces, as
this may help you find copies of things from video collectors in other parts
of the country. In my case, I grew up in Montreal where many of the
shows you list ran weekdays on CBMT 6, the local CBC station. In particular,
the CBMT weekday morning block used to include All About You,
Mathmakers/Math Patrol, Parlez-Moi, Read All About It, Readalong, Vision On,
and Write On.
(Always great to hear from other provinces other than Alberta and BC!)
January 9/04 from Duncan:
I dont know how many times i've had arguments in the
past trying to remember the TVO shows we grew up with in the 80s. One show i
didnt see listed on
your site is Willo the Wisp. Im positive this was shown on TVO, i included some
pics to maybe jog your memory... I almost forgot about this cartoon
until someone brought it up during another one of those heated TVO debates.
Thanks for 'solidifying' my memories, its a shame TVO
hasn't done much to 'remember' these shows with a tv special or something...
Hey! that could be
an idea for a documentary or something, i guess getting the rights to all the
shows (or tracking them down for that matter) would be pretty tricky...
oh well, just a thought.
(Great stuff!)
January 11/04 from Tracey:
Re: the question: November 3/03 from Julia:
Thank God for you
I lived in Ontario for twenty something years now in the US.
I would love to get my hands on some eposides of barbapapa? Or jeremy My son would just love them!
also there use to be a show l use to watch with a boy,
witches and a magic flute do you remember it?
I think the show she means is H.R. Puffinstuff. One of the many bizzaro kids
shows by the Krofft brothers. Though I don't think this was a TVO
show... it had the boy, witches and the talking magic flute! You can buy these
on video.
(Always great to get feedback and answers to questions)
January 12/04 from Tess:
A million thankyous for your wonderful TVO website. I
am writing in the hopes that you can settle a dispute twenty plus years in the
making. My cousin and I both remember a song from "Readalong", where
Mr. Bones is singing a song....... we agree as to most of the lyrics;
" I got the shakes, I got the shakes, because my _________ she bakes,
big, fat snakes for lunch!" ( I say Princess, she says girlfriend)
Can you settle this for us?
(Anyone???)
Janaury 13/04 from Peter:
Just stumbled upon your website while randomly searching
for information on the series "Timothy Pilgrim".
Very interesting information about the various shows that I too grew
up watching
up watching.
January 14/04 from Drew:
Hello, my name is Drew, and I live in Nashville, TN.
I really enjoyed your TV Ontario website. It was nice to come across another
addict of 70's and
80's public television! Some of my favorite shows were"Thinkabout","Mathmakers",
and "Readalong." My favorite show, however, was
"Today's Special". I think I've seen every episode of that show 100
times! There is a really good Today's Special website that you may be aware
of:
http://www.schuminweb.com/todays-special/main-page.htm
Also, I noticed you had an icon of "Safety Scouts".
I've seen that show on the PBS station in Nashville a few years ago. I don't
know if it was a
remake or not. The episode I saw discussed safety issues for rural environments.
They had a song, "Poison ivy, poison oak. Do you know which is
which? If you don't, prepare to ITCH!" One show I used to like was a science
show called "Take a Look". The theme song went "Take a look,
take a look,
there's much for you to see...don't remember all of it..but it ended with "right
here with Kate and me". There was an episode about plants where they
were eating peanut butter and sprouts sandwiches. I'm pretty sure this was produced
by TV Ontario, but it was probably late 80's early 90's.
(Always great to hear from people South of the Border)
January 15/04 from RJ:
Love the website! I was just remembering yesterday how much I used to love the show "Read All About It" when I was a kid, and decided to look for it on the internet. I was so glad to find your site with so many details. Thanks so much!!
January 18/04 from Shaun:
I have a TVO kids show memory to share that is maybe a little bit more bizarre than the others posted on your site. One of my absolute earliest memories in life involves Harriet's Magic Hats. I can still vividly remember a dream I had about the show when I was no older than 3 or 4 years old (I'm 23 now). In the dream I am standing on the front lawn of my house and a car pulls up and out of the car comes the young neice character from the show. She was there to see me and the two of us hold hands and skip across my lawn while the theme song to the show spontaneously starts playing in the air. It's not so much the dream that sticks in my memory, but the feeling associated with the deam. I remember feeling 'in love' during the dream. It was a feeling of having met a real close life-long friend. I did'nt necessarily have a crush on the girl from the show, she was just sort of the personification of the feeling of love, which was the basis of the dream I think. I was'nt particularly obsessed by this show at the time either, although I watched if fairly regularly (I was more a fan of Read All About It and Green Forest). I guess it was the first time I was consciously aware of the feeling of love for someone of the opposite sex (other than family). I think about this dream every once in a while and it just brings a smile to my face. When I do think about it I sing the theme song in my head, but all I've been able to remember is the line the chorus of kids sings, "Harriet's Magic Hats..." and then the little cheesy synthesized sound effects. So, when I found the link on your site to the theme songs page, it blew my mind to find the theme to "Harriet's..." which enabled me to figure out the rest of the words.
(I think at one time or another, we've all had a dream - or nightmare - about some of these shows)
January 19/04 from Scott:
I'm sure you're accustomed to getting e-mails regarding
"I'm a Bear called Jeremy" by now. Your site was a great find in my
search for more information on this childhood hero.
I am wondering if you know how I can get videos of Jeremy as I would love to
see him again.
(I have some Jeremy videos)
January 20/04 from Diana:
What a wonderful job you have done. Thank You very much. My favorites were Fables of the Green Forest, Jeremy and Simon in the land of chalk drawings. I find myself singing the theme songs to my two children as lullabies, I dont live in Canada, but in the azores now were I am married and have a family. But you cant take the TVO out of a canadian. I have just introduced my children to Raffi, and have done endless searches on the web to try and get Fables and Jeremy on video for them. I guess I can show my 4 year old your web site. Once again, thanks from the bottom of my canadian heart.
(Azores - nice!!!)
January 21/04 from J & M
My sister has a record with this name. On the back cover notes it says that Jan Rubes did this show in another country. I believe it was Czechoslovakia. have you checked this web site? http://www.northernstars.ca/actorspqr/rubes.html The program is listed there.
(Thanks for the info!)
January 24/04 from Garrett
WHere did you get all those screen shots. i, for the
longest time was trying to rememeber that french show that came on in the morning
(5 or 6am) on tvo as a kid and now i know it's parlez moi. was a huge fan of
jeremy anf fables of the green forest along with readalong.
I was just looking up some of the old cartoons as i just heard captain kangaroo
passed away.
(A sad day in indeed)
January 26/04 from Graham:
Oh My God,
MAJOR thanks to "Karasu" for answering my question, posed WAY back in November...YES it WAS Lois Walker and Take Part.
I CANNOT thank you enough.....and if the webmaster wishes to forward my email to you, as I have added it in this msg, feel free to contact me
(Glad I was able to help you)
January 26/04 from Kenny the Vampire Slayer:
Kenny here. I had lost your e-mail address and I had forgot to bookmark the site (dummy me) so that is why I have not e-mailed you in quite some time.
In case I never said thank you, THANK YOU for dubbing
me the 2 videos of Read All About It Series 1 and 2. I can't tell you how many
times my sister and I have
have wathced the tapes. And now I am happy to say that my 6 year old niece loves
the show as well. She likes Theta and Otto the best.
I also wanted to write again to respond to a letter
in the feeback section from back in August. It was from Jonathan. I too remember
Slim Goodbody and as you
already know, "The Electric Company" will forever be my fave. Sesame
Street, take a back seat. And he mentioned "ZOOM" as well. And yes,
I remember the
tri-colored PBS logo with music. It didn't scare me though, I was always mad
that they changed it!
And as for Aaron's e-mail from Sept, the only Spellbinder that I remember was from The Adventures of Letterman, also from "The Electric Company".
Also from Oct was an e-mail from SV asking about another
goody, "Vegatable Soup"! Bette Midler provided the voice of a cartoon
spot on the show Woody the
Spoon, she would have different recipies (spellcheck I know) to try all of the
time. It was produced by the New York State Dept of Education. Live actors,
puppets, cartoons, life lessions, it really was a good show. Another kids show
with a message. Why are they so hard to find now? Sad. I found a few volumes
of
Vegatable Soup on Ebay. I am 33 and I want to put SV's mind at ease, the show
was quite real!
Julia Nov, sounds like HR Puffinstuff from Sid and Marty Kroft.
I'm sorry that I have gone on so long but it has been
a long while since I have been here and I wanted to play catch up and hopefully
give some info and learn
something new. Keep up the great work and thank you a 1000 times for dubbing
me Read All About It. Bye for now.
(Excellent to hear from you as always - thanks for all the input - glad you like the tapes)
January 26/04 from Cindy:
Thanks for your website. My husband and I were just complaining
how everytime the weather is a little too cold, etc. they keep our kids in at
school and play the latest stupid Disney movie which I believe is an exploitive
commercial trap. When we were kids the only time we saw tv at school was when
they wheeled in the big TV to watch Readalong or something. So much for the
good old days.
Thanks for your effort
Cynthia, a grownup 70's kid who lived in the country and TVOntario was our favourite
channel (out of the six we got)
(Thanks)
Jan 26/04 from Michael:
Glad to see your website is up and running again! One
show I didn't see on your website (which I think was on TVO but I'm not 100%
sure) was called
"Oopsy Daisy". It was about a clown with that name who lived in a
town called Daisyville. Some of his friends were a postman, a milkman, and a
worm
called "Auntie Wiggleworm" That's about all I can remember from it
- maybe you'll know it!
(Oopsy Daisy I recall airing on Kitchener or Peterborough stations)
Jan 27/04 from Greg:
hi,..i have the 30 episodes of inside out on tape,...and
would be interested in perhaps trading for readalong. i would like the read
all about it 1&2
series as well,..but have nothing else to do any trading with.is there any other
way i could get copies of these series? i know you claim no rights to these
shows,..but i really want copies of them, and other great old educational shows
from tvo, and ait, and others. surely there is a way to work something out
for the "raai" series. well, thanks for your time, and for the great
site.
p.s. i would absolutely love a copy of the "thinkabout" series. any
leads on any of those?
(We'll talk)
Jan 28/04 from Giselle:
I was so happy to find your site! I remember so many
of those shows. Even ones people told me were figments of my imagination (!)
I was a big fan of
Vision-On.
I remember some stuff about the Guess What! show, if it helps...
They had an episode where Jan Rubes talked about how
people's last names come from the occupations of their ancestors (like Smith
was a blacksmith or
Livingstone was a lazy person). I remember he talked about how salt used to
be very valuable and expensive so it was bad luck to spill it. There was also
an episode
about early animation and they showed footage of a horse running. Unfortunately
that's all I remember. I liked Jan Rubes's accent.
Keep up the good work!
Oh yes..And I'm pretty sure Jan Rubes sang the theme
song of Guess What! It was sort of nonsensical. Like "guess what! rum pum
pum pum pum. Sort of
operatic sounding.
I remember the show "All About You" too. Now there was a twisted show! Here's what I remember:
A character called "Iris the Virus" A
picture of a really nasty looking, dirty face and them saying "this is
what happens if you never wash your face" The
host of the show eating Indian food with her hands and saying that not
everyone eats with a fork, but it's important to wash your hands. Maybe
it was a show to teach kids hygiene? I don't know, but I think it
turned me into a bidding hypochondriac.
Through hypnosis, I recall a few more shows that I didnt see mentioned on your site:
There was a French show in black and white with live talking animals (like Hammy Hamster). There was a duck with a tuxedo collar and bow tie.
I remember the Secret Railroad cartoon too. Only the girl with the Star shaped hair.
What was that show with the guy who told a story and drew it in pastels at the same time?
How about the 2,000 year old mouse?
(WOW! Thank YOU for the memory - I totally forgot that Guess What episode with the horses and the running and the pictures/movie they made!)
Jan 29/04 from Dean:
I was a huge fan of READ ALL ABOUT IT. I still have the
book and all of the news papers. The book and news papers were offered when
the series was first
put out by TVO. If it wasn't for READ ALL ABOUT IT I don't think I would have
read any books!!!
I am looking for series one on video. I have series two, all 20 episodes on
one tape(I taped them every Sunday at 11 for 20 weeks straight not missing one
episode!!!!)
If you could help me get the first series on VHS, I would really appricate it.
When I have kids I would love to show them what got me into reading.
Thanks for the great website and images.
(Always great to hear from the RAAI fans)
Feb 1/04 from James:
I saw your website and thought it was great. It's about
time someone gave credit to TVOntario and their children shows. After all, this
was my era (I
feel so old).
I'll give you what information I can remember or dig up.
Cucumber:
This series lasted 2 seasons. It was either 1974 &
75 or 1975 & 76. The
exact 2 years for it can be found in the John Candy biography "Laughing
on
the Outside". I don't have this book in my library anymore.
You will be suprised to learn that one of the news segments
on young
talented children was done on a young blind guitarist (I think he was 9
years old then) named Jeff Healey.
The adress I remember for the Cucumber club was:
Cucumber
c/o Station Q
2180 Yonge St.
Toronto, Ontario
M4T 2T1
Note: When you sent off a letter to Cucumber, there was
a chance they would
send you a badge (with moose and beaver on it) and a membership letter with
your name on it and a Cucumber letterhead. Both the badge and the membership
letter were green.
The opening theme song I beleive was:
Come and sing a song of the forest
come and sing a song about animal kind
water, trees and land spread out the forest
looking for some things, seeing what we can find
children's underground club of united moose and beaver
for enthusiastic
reporters
children's underground club of united moose and beaver for enthusiastic
reporters
(end song)
The Body Works:
According to the "Canadian Children's Film &
Video Directory" from "The
Children's Broadcast Institute"
The Body Works
40 episodes: 10 minutes: 1980
live action: information: english
6-12 year olds
Production Company: ACCESS Network & TVOntario
Distribution: TVOntario
Eureka:
30 eps: 5 mins: 1980
animation: information: english & french
6-12 year olds
Production Company: TVOntario
Producer: David Stansfield, Denise Boiteau
Distribution: TVOntario
These short programs are designed to present concepts
in physics, using
comic animation to illustrate the concepts.
Awards:
Honourable Mention - National Educational Film Festival
Red Ribbon - American Film Festival
Bronze Plaque - Columbus Film Festival
Electra Certificate for Best Math & Science Video - Birmingham Film Festival
International Council for Education Media Award
24 shows focus on exercise and 16 shows focus on fitness & nutrition.
Harriet's Magic Hats:
52 eps: 15 mins: 1980-1986
live action: information: english
preschool - 12 year olds
Production Company: ACCESS Network
Producer: David Flux
Distribution: ACCESS Network
This series provides children with information about
the community around
them - the people, their roles, lifestyles, occupations & workplaces.
Jessica Owen was then known as Jessica Schonenberg before
she was married.
The last lead child actress was Ashley Bristowe (I think).
Hope this helps.
If you ever consider tape trading, I wouldn't mind trading
for copies
of some of those shows. Just let me know what you're looking for.
(This info is going to go onto the various pages - thanks!)
Feb 1/04 from Paul:
I just wanted you to know that I'm very greatful for
making this website on the shows I grew up with. I couldn't believe my eyes
when I found myself on
your site. I told my cousin :" Sean, you have got to look this up ...it's
just Gold!"
The next day at work, I starting bringing up some of the names, most people
didn't remember (poor sheltered children) and one guy couldn't believe I was
bringing up all this. Then someone overheard us and said...oh my lord you're
bringin' back some old memories!
I was just wondering. Do you know of a place where I could find some old archived
videos? I'm in Toronto myself but grew up in Timmins. If you do
have an idea where I could get my hands on some of that stuff I'd be really
gratefull.
My favorite show was probably Doctor Snuggles, but Read All About It was a very
close second.
My sister used to hate the GreenForest but my little brother and I would take
the tv over when it came on. hehe
(It's always hit or miss with people - they either remember they shows vividly or have zero recollection)
Feb 4/04 from Greg:
hey! sorry it took so long to reply about a trade with
me, but between work and the flu,..ive pretty much stayed in bed the last few
weeks. im not sure how to
grade my tapes, as ive never really given it much thought. the tapes arent recycled,..but
arent brand new either. i mean,..they were only used for the
inside/out series i have on them,..but ive had them awhile. im going to rewatch
the tapes and make sure the audio and video are still in good shape, and to
tell you the quality of the tapes. i wouldnt want to send you tapes that didnt
work. i would like to tradefor the "readalong" series first,..and
then we can
work out something on the "read all about it", series one and two,
tapes. also,...i am currently talking to a guy who says he has "thinkabout"
on tape,...but im
not sure how many of those he has. i will keep you posted on that if you are
interested. this show was perhaps my favorite,..i would be completely mesmerized
from the opening notes of the theme to the fade out at the end of the show....lol.
i also have a reply to a post left on your site on dec. 23, 2003...
"cristina" wrote:
"do you know of a safety frog series or the letter people?"
well,..im not sure of the letter people, i dont think
ive ever seen it. but i think the other series you are referring to was "about
safety" which starred clyde
frog, and chronicled his experience with safety at school, and at home, and
on the playground, etc etc. clyde would come across dangerous situations, and
would make decisions about what to do in them. sometimes he came out of the
situation ok,..but others, he didnt do so well, and would pay the
consequences of making the wrong choice. other times the show would look at
clyde's ancestors,...such as phinneas frog,..who went around the world in a
balloon, using safety all the way,...and one, which i cant remember the name
used for clydes ancestor, was like the peary and edmunson race to the poles,
with
clydes relative donig the best he can to avoid danger in antarctica and be first
to the pole. all the frog characters were basically clyde, and he had other
"little kid" puppets to interact with in each episode. the would do
little skits like saftey at the water fountain,..or safety on the playground,...my
favorite
was safety on the school bus,..with clyde getting in trouble before making it
all the way onto the bus by slipping on the steps. many other mishaps occur
along
the trip to school,..but with everything coming out ok at the end of the show.
im not sure if it was a tv ontario show,...but then again,..i didnt know some
of
the others i liked so well then were either until recently. i would love to
find this show on tape somewhere. well,..i guess thats enough for now,..sorry
this letter is so long, and i hope the above information was of some help.
(Always appreciate having questions answered!)
Feb 8/04 from Rob:
I just wanted to take a second and say "great web site"! It brought
back all kinds of memories...especially of Adventures of Timorthy Pilgrim, and
more so, Read All About It. It's just too bad that these shows cannot be seen
or purchased, it'd be great to see them again for nostalgic reasons.Again, thanks
for creating the site, it did bring back lots of good memories.
(Glad to help)
Feb 11/04 from Andy:
Hi, I have about 20 episodes of Fables of the Green Forest
(TVO version) You mentioned in the TVO website that you will look into the VHS
tapes
"Peter Cottontail in the Green Forest", "Peter Cottontail, Summer
Fun", "Winter Fun", etc... I was wondering, do the tapes contain
the TVO version
of Fables of the Green Forest? I want to collect every episode of the show (TVO
version).
(Good Luck!)
Feb 11/04 from Sabina:
At work We were just talking about the show with talking
shoes and the skeleton... I "Googled" and up came your site with "my"
name. I guess it IS
possible that someone else has "my" name (I thought how do they know
who's searching the site?) You freaked me out!It's a great blast-from-the-past
site. As well as others, I remember Today's Special with the manikin (Jeff?)
and a girl that came to life once the store closed, I think there was a mouse
too?
(Too funny!)
Feb 12/04 from Sheila:
This site Rocks! I have been trying to find information about these shows forever. Just recently everyone at work thought I was losing it because nobody could remember a guy dressed in a Kangaroo suit doing math equations. Now I have proof!
Keep the shows coming!
(Math Patrol canmake anyone lose it)
Feb 14/04 from Mike:
Just wanted to thank-you for bringing back so many memories.
There's 2 childrens shows that I remember that go back to the days of the Little
Prince - but for the life of me I can't remember the names:
One is about an inventor that has a robot maid named Matilda, and I believe
a talking computer. (not animated)
And the other is about a boy and his dog that are searching everywhere for their
mother...Sebastian was the dogs name I believe. It was quite the cute animated
series.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks much!
(Hope someone can help!)
Feb 15/04 from Judy:
You are one of the only sites I had ever found with info on those cute shows I remember watching....Readalong was my favorite!! Owl Tv was pretty good too! Don't forget the edison twins!
(Tom & Annie!!!)
Feb 16/04 from Jason:
Thanks for your site! I'm impressed at the Jeremy material!
So much so, in fact, that I went all the way and transcribed the episode guide
into plain text.
I'd like to make it available online, if you think I could...Here's
how it looks so far...
http://www.geocities.com/topspeed_jmv/jeremy/index.html
The 8 episodes of Jeremy you mention; how often do you get people asking for
copies of that?! I would love to get such a copy if at all possible...
Sorry I don't have any other footage to offer, though if you're going to be
in Paris next Wednesday, you can perhaps see three more...
http://www.forumdesimages.net/education/amde/progfevavr04.pdf
I do have a Colargol jigsaw puzzle and brochure...
Let me know what you think of my episode guide! I'd like to spiff it up eventually...
(That episode guide is amazing!!!)
Feb 18/04 from Heather:
HEllo :) I'm just writing to tell you how great your
website is.... All these shows are exactly what my childhood was made up of!
I too collect
tapes of all my favorite shows, but some are very hard to come by. One show
I'd REALLY like to get me hands on is "dear aunt agnes"... I'm sure
you
remember this tvo classic which I can't find anywhere!
Actually, I am most jealous of you because you own episodes
of "read all about it" and "jeremy"... Would you consider
making me a couple of copies?
I would pay you of course :) It's totally ok if you can't... Let me know!
(We'll talk)
Feb 20/04 from Robert:
I found your site thru google, looking up "Louise
McNamara". I enjoyed the site very much and remember watching "Vision
On" in early 70s here in the US
(I believe it was on the CBS network).
Would you happen to know if Ms McNamara had a previous
series relating tolearning the alphabet? Theme still sticks on my mind ("A
is for Apple and B
is for Bear..." and part of the lyric went "H is for Happy when I
am with you..."). Thanks again for the enjoyable site.
(I have no idea - I am sure someone out there would know!)
Feb 22/04 from Simon:
I just happened to stumble onto your site and it was a real walk down memory lane!! I had forgotten a few of the shows but as soon as I saw them it all came back to me. Does anyone remember a show on TVO called Monkey Bars? I have asked everyone I know my age (37) the same question and no one remembers. Keep up the great work with the site!!
(Anyone know it? I don't)
Feb 22/04 from Michelle:
Hello there!
First of all, I would like to commend you on putting
this site together! Very cool! I was laughing out loud at seeing some of the
images and reading
details that I had completely forgotten!
I was an AVID TVO watcher as a kid (I'm 29 now...) and
remember a lot of these shows like it was just yesterday. I thought I would
give you some
details and memories that I could dig out of my brain. I seem to remember a
lot of the music, hahaha. (I also still remember the TVO posal code: M4T
2T1, hehehe)
Okay, here goes:
ARTSCAPE: I thought this show had a bit of a scary feel to it. All I can remember is these kids trapped in what seemed to be a big, white maze. (?)
ALL ABOUT YOU: This show wasn't just about hygene, it
was a show that was on health in general. I remember this woman would often
refer to those
plastic models of organs etc., and I also seem to remember her including her
daughters in most (if not ALL) of the film footage she would cut to. The
woman's mannish look, gummy smile and toothy grin is unforgettable!
BARBAPAPA: I used to love these shape-shifting blobs!
(I liked the black scruffy/hairy looking one) I remember the end credits were
white on a blue
background, and a rapidly speaking male voice over would say: "There's
Barbapapa, Barbamama, Barbazoo, Barbalala, Barbatrick, Barbabeau,
Barbabelle, Barbabright and Baaaarbabravo! Did you miss that?" Then he
would repeat it until it faded to black.
THE BODY WORKS: We used to tune into this on those edu-TV's
at school when I was in grade 2, and do the exercises. I still remember the
warm-up
sequence (especially the knee thing...) I think there were words to the theme
song. (The Body Works, Let's see how your body works, You've got to
find the beat, get up and leave your seat, get up and move your feet its easy,just
repeat I'm on my feeet, and my body works!)
CUCUMBER: I too was a member of the Cucumber Club! I
remember John Candy vividly, singing in a really bummed out tone: "Whether
its sunny, or whether
it's not. Whether it's rainy, or terribly hot...."
JEREMY: I think this is how the theme went: "I'm
a bear called Jeremy, I can do most anything, I can play, and I can sing, little
tunes like
do-re-me. When I was a cub, my dear father said to me, these three words I say,
I do love you Jeremy, tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet...TWEET!" I
found this show VERY sad and heartbreaking when Jeremy was in the circus cage.
This is about when I stopped watching.
LET'S ALL SING: LOL! Good ol' Tony Salatan! I remember learning the "Ting-a-lay-o, come little donkey come..." song.
MATH PATROL: I think the lyrics for this one went something
like: "The Math Patrol, Oh The Math Patrol, Help Sydney solve the riddle
of the Math Patrol,
Come on hey, help us find the clue, the _______ needs someone and that someone
is you. The Math Patrol, The Math Patrol, The Math
Patro-o-o-o-ol......MATH PATROL!"
PARLEZ MOI: I loved this one too! I remember the music
and can do it on command. (Unfortunately I can't translate it into words as
it is more of
just a "Wah-wah" sound....)
READALONG: I remember the one little girl with the short
hair in one of the live-action shorts, and she was bouncing a ball. (I think
her name was
Samantha?)
THINK ABOUT IT: "....Through the Agency For Instructional
Television" This show and Inside Out always make me think of inner-city
kids in Brooklyn or
something....
VISION-ON: This show was pretty intense. I used to get seriously freaked out when that fuzzy red wormish thing would go flying around the set!
Here's a few more random thoughts:
THE LETTER PEOPLE: American made. Theme under animated
opening with a dog running around letters: "Come and meet the letter people,
come and visit the
fam-i-ly, Words are made of the letter people, A-B-C-D- follow me! Cheap and
freaky looking puppets talking about making words and their letter
sounds. The used to focus on two letters per episode. For example Mr T. was
a puppet letter t with tall teeth. Let's make the letter sound...tuh!
Tuh, like the letter sound that starts Tall Teeth.
THE PASTEL DRAWING/STORYTELLING GUY: I can't remember
what this one was called. I think the guy's name was Tony or Tim, and I can
TOTALLY remember
his voice. He would be stting at an easel in the intro, then we would be immersed
in a voice-over of him reading a story, and we would see a close up
of him drawing a picture along with the story. It was pretty cool.
PASSE-PARTOUT: This one was en francais, but I still
liked to watch it. There were a couple of puppet characters, and I specifically
remember a
woman, and a guy who had some sort of butterfly tie on.
LUDWIG: about 5 minutes in length. Opening was a British
male voice-over: "ahhh, Ludwig." It was an gemstone-like egg with
Brogues or saddleshoes on.
Some sort of man would be hiding in the bushed with a BIG pair binoculars, and
Beethoven played throughout.
WHEW. okay. I'm done. i think........
Take care and keep up the great site!!
(Thanks for the great memories on the various shows. Including Passe-Partout - I never could figure that show out!)
Feb 24/04 from Joanna:
I just wanted to give some feedback on your website about
the old children's programs. I agree that children's programs are way too commercialized
these days. I have a little one who watches Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer,
and Sesame Street. When you walk into a toy store, you see every toy imaginable
with these characters on them.
I am 27 years old and I watched the shows that you have on your website. I can
remember Readalong, Read All About It, and Parlez-Moi, among others. Read All
About It fascinated me when I was a child. I was so afraid of Duneedon, yet
I was glued to the set. It was definitely my favorite educational program as
a kid. And I don't remember ever having a Duneedon T-shirt or VHS tape or backpack
or lunch pail...
I remember watching Parlez-Moi and also being glued to the set. I never realized
until I read your site that Sol and Marc Favreau were the same person, ha ha.
I actually had forgotten all about that show until I read your site. It has
been such a long time.
Thanks for bringing back some of my wonderful childhood memories. I wish they
would put them back on tv so that I could watch them all over again with my
kids. (Are they on any cable channels?)
(We all wish these shows would come back!)
Feb 25/04 from Andy:
Hi! I watched Readalong in elementary school, and I loved the theme song. I just found the theme song to The Electric Company today, which I adore. Do you have the Readalong theme for download somewhere? I would love to hear it again.
Feb 26/04 from Steve:
I really like your TVO page! Some of those
old shows are classics. I miss them so much.
There was a certain cartoon which used to air on TVO in the 80's and it was
one that I never forgot. It was called "The Secret Railroad" dubbed
into english from its original french dialogue.
It was just great, man! Looking back, it must have been influenced by the Beatles'
Yellow Submarine cartoon. There was definitely some trippy-dippy stuff going
on in there. Do you remember this old cartoon, and do you know if it's still
out there somewhere?
(Anyone know? I think some people have mentioned this previously)
Feb 28/04 from Shana:
I think this is great what you are doing. I wanted to say I remember this show called Clyde Frog that I havent been able to find. It is a PBS show that was on around 1980. It came on there right along w/ "Read Along" If you find it great.
(Another show I am not familiar with - is anyone?)
Feb 29/04 from Jody:
I am looking for some readalong shows on vhs, how many episodes/seasons do you have and how much are they? I am also interested in Body works, please let me know if yu have these and have acquired any other PBS series.
Feb 29/04 from Michael:
I enjoyed the updates made to your website. There was
one show I remember that was a stop-motion show called "The New Adventures
Of Pinoacco" and it
started off with a song being sung by him and then I think it went to the workshop
where Gepetto would tell us that Pinocco was looking for the blue
fairy to turn him into a real boy. He would then tell us what had happened in
his adventures so far.
That's about all I remember. Hopefully this information is helpful!
(Every little bit helps)
Mar 2/04 from Bob:
I never realized how much TVO I watched as a kid, but
I remember with great fondness all of the shows listed on your website.
"Fables of the Green Forest" - I loved it. I remember colouring a
picture and sending it into Cucumber.
There is one show I don't see any reference to, and maybe you remember it also.
I'm reasonably certain it was Japanimation, and it was
an animated series about the history of the world. Each episode would feature
the same characters at different periods in history. The only real standout
I
remember is there was this old man (kind of like a white haired Cousin It) with
antennae. Sounds weird I know, but I swear I'm not making it up.
It was also dubbed into french because I'd see it on the french channels as
well. I'd love to try and track it down for my kids to watch.
Anyway, great site. Thanks for the memories.
(Japanimation I am not at all familiar with that)
Mar 6/04 from Matt:
Just a comment ... I used to watch "All About You"
when I was home sick from school in the very early 1980s.
I was vaguely frightened of Louise McNamara. She's probably a nice woman in
real life, but she reminded me of those longtime, jaded elementary teachers,
given to rebuking kids for no discernable reason. Characters like "Iris
the Virus" and "Dumb Dora(?)" didn't help much. I sensed contempt
radiating through the television screen.
And, seeing Ms. McNamara for the first time in more than 20 years, I'm still
somewhat intimidated! Like she'd yell at me for reaching upward to touch the
banjo on the shelf in the background. :)
That said, you've got a teriffic site, and one of the very few I've ever added
to my "favorites" list. I thought I was the only one who remembered
this stuff!
A lot of fond memories here.
(She did have that stern grade school teacher look about her - didn't she?)
Mar 6/04 from Justin:
hi there.. just letting you know there's a lot of information
about Today's Special you might be interested in, or at least provide a link
to, over here: http://www.schuminweb.com/todays-special/main-page.htm
Great site by the way.. still sifting through it. :)
(Thanks!)
Mar 9/04 from BJ:
I have been looking for alot of these programs. Brings back old memories. I remember most all of them. The All about You show cracks me up. I remember watching that all the time. Read all about it was awesome. Where can you find or buy if any of these shows? I doubt if any are available, but it would be interesting to see. Have a nice day!
Mar 9/04 from Jeremy:
Thank you for your TVO compedium. These shows defined
my childhood in Vermont as I would completely devour them when staying home
sick. Not only that, I recall an episode of either Inside/Out or Thinabout which
permanently freaked me out. Something about a plane crash.
In college I found several 16mm reels of Inside/Out in the basement of one of
the school's building's. I incorporated some of it into a film I was making.
It's still weird.
(I recall the Inside/Out could be a little mind warping)
Mar 12/04 from Katherine:
i don't know how long your website has been up, but a friend just alerted me to it, and WOW-- it's great! i have very fond memories of watching these kids' shows (Fables of the Green Forest, Jeremy, Cucumber, Today's Special, etc.) with my little sister and our neighbours. my sister and i grew up in a tv-free house, so we used to spend most of our time next door watching TVO and other parent-approved shows. sharon, lois, and bram were important figures in the formation of my personality. :)
thank you for the wonderful trip down memory lane, as they say, and best of luck with this project.
(Over one year now and still going strong!)
Mar 13/04 from Terry:
I loved these shows..especially read all about it and
readalong. Could I get VHS copies of the episodes of these shows? I would totally
pay for everything. There is such crap on TV today.
Whats funny is, i think i got as far as Samantha moving on Read All about it.
Id kill to find out what happend next.
(What a crucial point in the story to stop watching!)
Mar 14/04 from Sarah:
Hello I happened to come across your website by a link from a friend. I must say that my all time favourite children t.v shows are Today's Special and Polka Dot Door. However, I was wondering if you could help me remember the title of this one children's show that I used to love as well. This is what it was about: There we these three people in their 20's who all lived in an apartment together. Their names were Jabob (who was an painter), Zach, (who was an actor) and Nicki, (who was a musician). They always used to have this small toy train that would transport their juice from the kitchen to the balcony. And that's about all i really remember. But if you know which show I am talking about or if you could find out, I would be greatly thankful.
(Anyone know?)
Mar 15/04 from Clinton:
Information on question posted by Mike on Feb 14/04,
regarding a show about an inventor who had a robotic maid named Mathilda. The
show's name was, "Dr.
Snuggles". He had a rocketship built from what looked like a gigantic barrel,
but also travelled using his umbrella as a pogo stick that had a talking duck
head
for a handle. It was a really fun show, with a great imaginary world. But looking
back, one has to wonder what the creators/writers were smoking.... :-) The
only active web site that has information on the show I've found in English
is
http://www.geocities.com/drsnuggles_2001/english.htm
Great website you're running--brings back logs of fond
memories. I'm surprised that you don't have an entry for "Polkadot Door".
Although very few kids I knew
actually liked that show, I thought it was pretty good anywa, and almost always
watched it before dinner time, from 6:00-6:30pm in the afternoon.
Finally, I'd like to know the name, if any one knows,
of this show which was aired as short 5 minute clips in between other shows,
of these two claymation guys.
I believe one was yellow and the other was blue, and they would always get into
all sorts of adventures/troubles.
(I think Polka Dot Door already has a site ot two dedicated to it - hence why it's not here)
Mar 18/04 from Marlene:
My sister just found this site and I just wanted to say
that it's fantastic! Those shows were way better than anything produced nowadays.
Do you have anything on Jaime and the Magic Torch or Simon (the guy who liked
to do draw-rings)? Or does it not count because it wasn't educational
or produced by TVO (I don't know if it was or not)? Anything on the Reading
Rainbow?
If you're including non-educational shows that aired
on TVO (and if not, you should create another site for those!), do you know
of a trippy cartoon show
about an underground railroad, a guy with a top hat, and I think it had a girl
and cat in it as well. The cartoons were done a la Yellow Submarine 70s
style. There's also another one that used to air in the early morning. It was
large puppets on a black background that sort of glowed using backlight
(like the Famous Peoples Players). There was a skeleton and some other weird
things. It was pretty weird and only my sister and I seem to remember it.
Anyways, great site and keep up the good work!
(I have Jamie and the Magic Torch on DVD - I had never seen it before, until recently - quite entertaining)
Mar 18/04 from Juli:
Every so often I bring up the programs I remember on
TVO in discussion but rarely do I encounter anyone who remembers beyond Today's
Special and Polka Dot Door. One of my personal favourites was Read All About
It. My Grade 6 class was HOOKED on it. My teacher showed us the entire series
and never have you seen a room full of kids become so quiet and mesmerized!
I actually emailed TVO once and asked if they would air all the shows for nostalgia
but of course I received no response. It's really sad how when something has
had it's day it just disappears forever. I was just on Ebay in the hopes I could
find some episodes of anything and came across Today's Special so I bought the
first one. I want more though! I want to share all this with my kids one day.
About Barbapapa - I noticed most people think it's hard to come by but Ebay
is pretty good for stuff. I just bought slippers. Apparently it's pretty big
in Japan. They just love it!
I am happy I stumbled across your site. It brought back a lot of fond memories.
Thanks! I know that this stuff is really hard to come by
(Would grade 6 classes be mezmerized by this show now? I certainly hope so!)
Mar 19/04 from Kristina:
Great Site!! Thanks for bringing back some very cherished
memories. It's amazing how those shows actually influenced who I have became
(i.e.
Readalong, Read All About It and Write On were my favourite shows.... I went
on to get a degree in English and am now the director of communications for
a non-profit organization).
I'll send you what I can remember as I remember it, but
here's a song from "Let's All Sing" that is still stuck in my head
to this day.
http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/t025.html
Thanks again for the great site! Keep up the good work!
(That is amazing!)
Mar 19/04 from Corinne:
I found your website while trying to get information on an old children's TV show. Back in the 60's, on Canadian Television (being in Detroit it would have been our channel 9 which is CBET CBC) I have asked several Canadians and many others and no one seems to remember it. It may not have been a show but may have been just a segment on another show. Anyway, the show was about a little mouse that used to pop up from a table top. The name of the mouse (forgive my spelling) was "Che Helen". This mose was some sort of puppet and there was an adult on the show also. Mind you this show was on in the early 60's so not many remember it, but any information you could give me would be appreciated (I'm going crazy).
(I hope someone can help - anyone?)
Mar 21/04 from Joe:
Hi. Do you remember Chatter the 1960's television monkey? He would get into all kinds of funny situations as he tried to immitate humans. In the theme song were the words "Chatter whats the matter with you?"
(Another request for help!)
Mar 22/04 from Anna:
I really like your website, it's good when you need to
take a walk down memory lane. However, I have something to ask you since you
seem very
resourceful. Do you ever remember a record (or plate maybe) whose name might
be Doobie, and he used to hold a fork and a spoon and hit them
together while singing some song. My friends don't remember this character at
all, and are convinced its just some figment of my imagination. I
remember the segment with this character was short, or maybe it was part of
another show. I've tried to look up Doo-bee on the internet, but all I get
is Doo-bee from Romper Room (but I'm not looking for that bee, I remember him
being a record). Either way, any help would be greatly appreciated.
(And still another)
Mar 22/03 from Daniela:
Hi there...at a Saturday night party, we started talking
about TVO shows we used to watch as kids...Out came the laptop and we all had
a laugh! Your
website was just what we needed to jog our memories about all our favourite
former shows.
We couldn't believe all these shows were so well categorized
with tons of info and links, but mostly that it was being update constantly
(something
which is never done on most web sites).
Keep up the good work! Thanks so much for bringing back all these great memories!
(Glad the site was enjoyed by so many people at one time!)
Mar 23/03 from Karen:
A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about
children's shows, and a show with a character named Mr. Bones came up. I remember
him best doing
the "foot bone connected to the leg bone..." song. I cannot for the
life of me remember what show it was. Going through your website, I found one
reference to Mr. Bones and talking shoes. THAT IS WHAT I AM THINKING OF, and
I cannot think of the name of that silly show! Can you please please
please help me? Thanks so much in advance.
(Readalong!)
Mar 25/04 from Alpha:
I found your site doing a search for the program Harriet's
Magic Hats, which I used to watch on my U.S. PBS station along with the shows
All About You, It Figures and Calling All Safety Scouts. There was another one
that I just can't figure out the name to. It was on around the late 80's early
90's era I'm thinking it aired on my U.S. PBS station more around 1989. It was
a show that opened with two puppets riding up to a mansion of some sorts in
a fancy carriage. The host of the show was a lady who wore a long lavender gown
and had her hair tied back in a bun. The only name I remember from the show
was the name of the bear puppet which was Bear Facts. I'd really like to find
out the name of this show. If you can help me out in any way I would really
appreciate it.
Your site brings back many nostalgic memories.
(More help needed here)
Mar 27/04 from Max:
Hi, I found your websie looking for a educational cartoon from the 70's called Vegatable Soup, About these kids with big hands in a spaceship. Any help on locating or any info would be awesome
(And still more help needed)
March 28/04 from Ted:
Great site! I grew up in the midwestern US and watched
tons of Canadian educational TV on our public broadcasting station, in the late
1970's and
early 1980's. For years I've been trying to remember the name of this show,
with the grammar and punctuation, and the newspaper editor... I finally
decided to search on the net this weekend. After an hour of searching, I found
up your site! I'm surprised to note how many other TVO shows I
remember from seeing their title cards!
I'll keep reading more on the site, but I wanted to thank you for having the site up at all, it answered a question that has been nagging me for ages!
(Write On! One of my favourites!)
March 29/04 from Simon:
Simon here to give a little more info on my question
about Monkey bars. It was a variety type show with 3 girls and 3 guys all in
their early teens or late pre-teens. They also had 4 supporting adults. It was
very simular to Kidstuff that aired a few years later on CTV.
I also have an answer for Max that was asking about Vegatable Soup. That was
a PBS produced show and Bette Middler did the voice of a singing spoon that
gave out easy recipies. I think the spoon's name was Woody! Does anyone else
remember this? I hope so! I am starting to think I was in a dreamworld in the
70's.
Great Site!! It is bringing so many memories to so many people. There was life
before the Smurfs!!!!
(So true!)
March 29/04 from Marc:
Hello there! I like this site very much! It certainly brings back my childhood into perspective! I watched and surely remember most of these shows! They were NOT only educational, but entertaining at the same time! I also recall a few more of these oldies like Dear Aunt Agnes(ALSO starring Heather Conkie), Dr. Snuggles(Dennis The Badger, Noby Mouse, Ms. Nettles, The Spaceship Dreamy Boom-Boom, etc.), of course, Polka Dot Door(Polkaroo and friends), Doctor Who(British show, did air on TVO at that time), Kidsbeat(with David Hatch) etc.! They SHOULD bring some of these shows back, on VHS/DVD, and, for TODAY'S younger generation of fans! If I think of any more of these classics, I'll surely let you know! Bye for now!
Hello again! I thought of a few more shows from this specific time period! I believe all of these shows were made in England, however, TVO was airing them as well when I was a young one! Oh, that seems so long ago now! They are Gran, Willo The Wisp, Paddington Bear, Noddy, Simon In the Land Of Chalk Drawings(Mike Myers skit-SNL!, 'Ello, my naime is Siimon, and, I like to dew drawrings! Very funny!) and Magic Shadows with the one and only Elwy Yost! Elwy's trademark series "Saturday Night At The Movies" just celebrated their 30th anniversary on TVO! Congrats Mr. Yost!
(Thanks for your memories)
March 30/04 from Daniel:
I remember those shows. They are what occupy most of my nightmares, these days. Especially, "Read All About It". That scared the crap out of me. The ambient, low-toned music, rustic set and Duneedon's face drove me insane. If it also scared my mother, imagine it's effect on a 4-5 year old. I caught it when it was on it's reruns ( I was born in 1980) *shakes*. At least now me can now spell good. Thank you "Read All About It" and your creepy approach to grammar and spelling.
(The makers of RAAI certainly scared their share of people)
April 1/04 from Carly:
i was wondering if you could tell me the name of a show
that i used ot watch in the 80's it had a little cottage that the windows for
the eyes and the door was the mouth....it also had a person dressed up as a
record player playing wooden spoons (perhaps in a band!!) i would really like
to know the name so please get back to me if you have a chance!!!
thanx!
(We Live Next Door is my guess, I could be wrong)
April 2/04 from Carla:
greetings from Australia!!!!
In the early 80's we had the tv program Read All ABout
it as well, on our channel 2 network "ABC". I loved that show but
didn't see the whole series
but a few here and there. We didn't have a video back then so I couldn't tape
it.
I rang the network and sadly they said it discontinued long ago.
I was wondering if you could help me, I'm after all the
episodes of read all about it, seasons 1 and 2. I can play your version of tapes
NTSC, but
just wondering what I could offer in return.
(RAAI tapes are making their way overseas!)
April 5/04 from Dwaine:
I just want to say that I think your site it really great.
I grew up in Ottawa to all those shows, and what memories come back when I see
all the information you've gathered.
It is almost Haunting to see some of the shows you have displayed. My favorites
were Jeremy, Read along, and Read all about it. As a matter of fact I remember
being scared of Read all About it. The opening music was very chilling back
then.
The only other show I watched that you haven't put in on TVO was Doctor Who...
but I suppose there are plenty of other site just dedicated to that. You have
some pretty rare stuff.
On several occasions I have sat with people from my place of work saying "
hey do you remember this show?" Well, next time I'll give out your web
site. Thanks Again.
(Glad I could help!)
April 7/04 from David:
I came across your website tonight as I was googling for "Read All About It"... Let me tell you, RAAI was hands-down my FAVOURITE tv show as a kid!!! I have been so desperate to watch the entire series again that I emailed TVOntario and then Tele-Film International to see if I could order a copy for personal viewing; of course, I was quoted $3270 which was just a bit ridiculous, especially considering that I'm still a University student!!
Anyways, I was incredibly excited to see that you have the complete set yourself!! What I have been dying to do is get my hands on a high-quality copy of the series so that I can convert it to a set of DVDs. Naturally it would amazing to get a copy that was dubbed from the masters, but I doubt anyone has shelled out the thousands of dollars to Tele-Film for a personal set of their own.
(Got to love International Telefilms!)
April 7/04 from Pat:
Please help us! My sisters and I watched a show in the 1970's on saturday morning with a strange magician like man in a tuxedo with a live audience and question marks. We are going crazy trying to figure out this show! This show played on a Canadian station (we are American) and are desperate to figure this out. Please help desperate Americans!
(Anyone know?)
April 11/04 from Peter:
Saw your TVO site; it's fantastic! I got all misty eyed about Timothy Pilgrim, I REALLY identified with it at the time.
I was actually on the Cucumber show! It was the episode
on advertising; the producers came to our school after my class had all paired
off to produce
little "TV commercial" skits. Although my skit wasn't chosen to be
filmed, I was picked with another boy to talk with Beaver. Imagine my surprise
in the studio
when Beaver took off it's head to reveal a woman inside! She said the costume
got hot. She was very friendly and it is a treasured memory; my Dad had an
early videotape and we still have a copy, along with my badge and letter of
acceptance into the club!
I'm sure I remember a short-lived show called something
like "Dr.Whom and the Case of the English Language" done as a tie-in
to Dr.Who. Any memories of
that one?
(So Beaver was a girl!)
April 11/04 from Rachelle:
First off, to answer Sarah's question on March 14, the show with the three people in the apartment was "Join In". I believe that series ran sometime in the early 90s.
Anywho, it's totally GREAT to see another TVOntario fan
page! I run a fan page for the TVO series Prisoners
of Gravity (a series aimed at adults that
ran from 1989 to 1994), so it rocks to know that there's other TVO fans out
there. Heh, you probably get feedback like that alot, but once more isn't going
to hurt. At least, I don't think it's going to hurt, unless your ego overinflates
to the point that it explodes.
Err... never mind. Once again, thank you so much for running this webpage. It brings back such wonderful memories.
(TVO..use to rule!)
April 11/04 from William:
No sir, there were 30 episodes in the ”All About You” series of 30 years ago. I happen to have all 30 titles:
ALL ABOUT YOU (Produced by WGBH/Boston for AIT, 1974)
(Episodes titles added to All About You page)
April 17/04 from Nick:
Love the website, Thanks for the memories...was wondering if maybe you could help. My Girlfriend remembers a Television show in which a house had windows for eyes...door for mouth etc.. But the main thing she remembers is a man dressed like a record playing wooden spoons...by the way its was a childrens show hehe.. any help would be appreciated.
April 18/04 from Anne:
I remember my son watching a show in the late 1980s with three main characters who were artists working out of an attic studio. The characters were a young woman named Nikki; Rudy, an older man who painted; and Zack who was an actor, I think. Can you provide the title of this show as no one in my family is able to remember?
(Anyone know?)
April 19/04 from Tim:
Awesome site...nice to put a name to all those shows
I half remember.
There is another cartoon that used to be on TVO I'm wondering if you know the
name of..
It used to be on in both English and French, and each episode took place in
different periods of history, from the stone age to modern times. One character
I remember was an old guy with a long white beard.
The opening theme music to the show was (I think) Brahm's Toccato and Fugue
(spelling?), and it had a caveman walking, who turned into a modern man, then
a roman age man, middle ages guy, and so on, all the way up to the present day
when he would get into a spaceship and take off and the earth exploded behind
him.
Also, do you remember a show called "The Secret Railroad"?
(The show is Once Upon A Time...Man (or Il Etait une Fois...L'homme)
April 20/04 from Valerie:
I was wondering if you have more information on the Music Box. Was that the show with the two women and they were in a garden and they sat on the swings and they had a trunk full of stuff and they would play the guitar? This was aired back in the seventies
(I have limited info on the Music Box)
April 23/04 from Lillian:
it was so great to look at your website. a floodgate
of memories opened while watching an episode of bbc's changing rooms and i heard
music which
sounded like something i had heard on vision on. i quickly went onliine and
later found your link.
now i'm sure you have loads of requests for episodes from your video library.
i understand that you probably can't sell them, so i am wondering
what you consider as "tradeable". what peaked my interest was jeremy.
anyway, thanks so much for the great memories.
(Thanks!)
April 30/04 from Day:
I have been trying to find the name of a show I used to watch for months. It was JEREMY!!!
(Glad to help!)
April 30/03 from Sara:
I posted a message on The Straight Dope Message Boards
(http://boards.straightdope.com)
hoping to find the name of that mystery show with the sentient typewriter....and
the responses sent me to your site - where a flood of memories instantly came
rushing back!
I remember screaming, pitching a fit when Read All About It went off the air.
I made my mother call the local station that was carrying it, ferchrissake.
I was devistated when it was over after two seasons. I absolutely credit that
show with giving me my taste for strange, eerie, sci-fi/noir asthetics.
I've only ever found one person that has ever heard of the show (previous to
finding your website). I had done countless searches for the show, but without
a title to go on, and just some hazy recollections, I never found any information.
(Not that there's really a lot out there to begin with...) When you search for
"PBS" and "talking typewriter" you aren't going to get very
far.
Anyway, thanks for all the memories. I would like a copy of RAAI's two seasons,
but I'm still looking for stuff to trade that you might be interested in. Give
me a few days and I'll write back, as I have a big box of old VHS tapes, 8-tracks,
Nintendo games, etc. that my mom the pack rat kept from the 80's. I'll see if
there are any hidden treasures inside....
For the record, I remember watching All About You ( I always thought the lady
that did that show and Slim Goodboy were related), and Sharon Lois and Bram's
Elephant Show (but only the opening credits, the rest of the show was pretty
lame to my worldly 7 year old mind). I had mistakenly thought these shows were
on PBS, until I saw the TVOntario logo. Was the I the only one that thought
that image looked an awful lot like someone crawling on all fours? Ah, memories
of living across the border from Canada...
Anyway, thanks so much for all the work you've put into archiving these shows.
(Read All About it seems to be so many peoples favourite!)
May 2, 2004 from Lori:
Love your website.
I grew up in Hamilton (I'm 34) and was wondering if you remembered that kid's
show LET'S GO...? I believe it aired on Saturdays and it was on
CFTO (?)
I dig Chantal Kreviazuk (the Canadian singer) and I heard
she starred in it (circa 1980). The show featured a group of kids who put on
skits.
One adult (Janice?) was the leader.
Any info would be appreciated...even a little acknowledgment, as the memories are fading and it's driving me nuts!
(I vaguely remember this show - but it aired very early on Saturdays...to early for me to get up and watch)
May 4/04 from Steven:
First we should all thank the Webmaster for putting so much thought and time into this wonderful website for all of us to enjoy.
I loved the original Canadian educational programs that TVO created. I also loved some of the British imports as well.
Here are my top 10 TVO shows.
1) DR.WHO
2) Read All About IT
3) Jeremy
4) DR. Snuggles
5) The Adventures of Timothy the Pilgrim
6) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (TVO aired it as a series)
7) The Phoenix and the Carpet
8) Barbapapa
9) Today's Special
10) The Prince and the Pauper
Other shows I liked included: Once upon a time, Math
Patrol, Mathmakers, Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, Write On, Artscape,
Harriet's Magic
Hats, Kidsworld, Readalong, The Ghost of Motley Hall, and Fables of the Green
Forest
(Thanks for the Top 10 list - it'd be quite hard for me to pick my favourite ten)
May 4/04 from Brian:
I was wondering if you recall a French cartoon, or at least the little boy and girl spoke French; that aired on Nickelodeon in the late '70's and early '80's. They were kinda live action figures, the little boy alwyas wore blue and the little girl pink. Would really appreciate any info, this is driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!!
(Anyone?)
May 5/04 from Amy:
I came upon your website by mare chance, but it brought back so many good memories. I was looking for websites that would help me with my own children when I typed in the word "Math Patrol", And your site was the one that came up. I grew up watching most of the shows on your web site and it was great to be able to see those great pictures. Its like seeing a part of my youth again. I give a lot of credit to shows like "Readalong" to have shown me how to read and it gave me the love of books I have today. Not to mention Math Patrol that was one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. I wish there were shows like that still around full of education for the kids. I didn't even know that these shows were from Canada, anyway thanks for those lost memories that you helped me find
(These shows have Canada written all over them!)
May 8/04 from Peter:
need info and pics of the show i think was called kideo those three guys dress in red blue and green and they were like rockers.
(Terrible show that aired on Global. That's all I remember)
May 8/04 from Gretchen:
My name is Gretchen A. Graham and in the 1980's I was one of three original hosts of the original KIDSWORLD News show. At that time it was produced by Bob and Betsy Behrens out of Miami, Florida. I was just amazed to see anything on the Internet at all because there was no Internet when the show first started. I am now a Mother and have only my copy of the TV guide, that we appeared on to show my daughter as proof. Do you have any idea on how I could get a copy of the original show. I was your Andrea Davis but with long hair. Our names were Kent Hip, Janet Wu and Gretchen A. Graham.
(Hoping to get the scan of the TV guide to ad to the site)
May 11/04 from Septimiu:
I found your website when I was searching (just for curiosity) the net for the "Green Forest" series. Originally from Romania I was delighted (as a child) watching those cartoons in late 70s. Do you think I could still find the VHS to rent from a Blockbuster?
(I've never looked, but I doubt it)
May 12/04 from Alisha:
i've really enjoyed your site...esp the pics. i've been looking for some parlez-moi, and have had a real hard time finding anything at all. i don't even know anyone that even knows what i'm talking about!!! i think i was very young (like3-4) when i last saw Parlez-moi, and i desperately want to see it again. my parents used to record EVERYTHING when we were young, and i'm sure i can find something your intrested in. we don't have any tv shows, but some old, hard to find movies...please write back with any info. thank you!!
(Sol for Prime Minister!)
May 13/04 from a public library user in Cleveland:
Except for "Here's How!" (which will go off
the air here May 28, the people of Cleveland have no recollection of the great
ITV series that emerged from TVO. Nor do they have re-airing of Cleveland's
own ITV legends from the distant past of WVIZ. Mark my words, your service is
needed.
Before I go, I'd like to know if you remember what year TVO debuted "Read
All About It!" The site may suggest Sept. 1983, but can we be sure?
(I think it was produced between 1979-1982)
May 16/04 from Dave:
Just wanted to let you know that your page brought back
a lot of memories of what i used to watch as a kid. I am a 26 year old adult
now but, i wish i could
still go back and watch, math patrol and Jeremy. Its weird cause my friends
and i were talking about all the old tvo shows we used to watch, and i completly
forgot about 70 percent of them, but as soon as they were mentioned, its like
a whole bunch of dusty old photographs exploded in my brain.
Thanks for devoting a web page to these great shows, i was wondering if you
know where i can get all these episodes and others, like pee wees playhouse
and
degrassi street. I miss em, and i also want them to show my kids when i have
them. Its saddens me to know that they will grow up, watching these completely
self
indulgent commercialized crap thats on t.v now. Are there even cartoons worth
watching anymore other then the simpsons? anyway, i should end this rant and
just
say thanks..
(Today's TV is quite lacking)
May 16/04 from Jay:
I stumbled across your TVO page and I couldn't help but
notice a few program titles that I haven't seen in a long time. One of them
was Eureka. I saw a few episodes of this a couple years ago in science class.
They had a series of programs about basic chemistry. I recall each program began
with an episode number displayed on the screen, then some geeky-sounding person
would say, "Eureka!" The whole thing was a rather funny cartoon. Also
I noticed your screen pic of Telefrancais. I remember watching that in French
class back in grade 3 or 4. My teacher from that time loved Telefrancais and
would show it to the class now and again. I remember the start of the theme
included "Telefrancais! Telefrancais!"
Another item you might be interested in including on your site is the TVOvernight
programming from the 1980s. During the middle of the night, TVO would air educational
programs that teachers could tape and then show to their class. There was a
wide variety of shows produced. One series dealt with electricity and magnetism,
and was completely computer generated. Since the series was produced in 1984,
it was probably one of the very first computer-generated animated programs ever.
It was actually fairly good quality, and was in 3-D, as opposed to Atari or
Intellivision graphics of the time. Later on, TVO had a series called Paroles
D'Echanges, which was produced in 1989 and was broadcast during TVOvernight.
It was in French and was a dealt with kids from Ontario going on exhange trips
to Quebec (fictional, but realistic). The first two episodes took place in the
heart of Quebec City, and the third one was in a rural area. The theme of these
programs was the best part, and if you can get your hands on that theme it would
be so cool.
I invite you to check out my Yahoo! Ontario Television discussion group. A couple
of us were talking about TVO today and one of them gave me the link to your
site. The discussion group can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/onttelevision/.
New members are always welcome.
(Thanks for the link!)
May 17/04 from Mark:
I recently found your TVO tribute site and just love
what you have done. I grew up watching TVO as well and remember most of the
shows you have
listed. In particular, I liked ... I started listing them and have found that
I am basically listing almost all of the shows you have on your site.
I just wanted to add that there were a few more on TVO that liked as well.
The Phoenix and the Carpet
Doctor Snuggles.
I too have started to collect a few shows (when I can
find them) and have The Phoenix and the Carpet on VHS and will probably put
it on DVD sometime
soon. I have only recently started collecting VHS tapes and have noticed that
a number of shows are available on DVD. For example, Three's Company
has recently come out on DVD so you might even find Three's a Crowd out sometime.
But TVO stuff is definitely hard to find. I was wondering
where you got a copy of Read All About it from? I would be interested in seeing
that again. I was thinking about seeing if the local library could
get it in but just haven't had time to check. I remember that a lot of shows
such as Read All About it and Eureka were used in public school and
that various Boards of Education actually still have these videos sitting on
shelves somewhere - but again I do not know what it would take to
access them.
(I still need to make it out to the library one of these days!)
May 23/04 from Shilo:
Do you have any information on Electric Company? Or Big
blue Marble? (big shows for me when i was a kid. )
I also really enjoyed The Barbapapas, thats great that you have the song/lyrics
on your site.
I recall a show from very early 70's (maybe late 60s?) called Nik and Pik i
think. They were two little mice that went up in a hot air balloon... could
never nail down the actual title of the show, We watched these shows here in
vancouver , on the knowledge network maybe? Darn, I wish my memory was better,
lol.
(There should be a lot out there for Electirc Company...at least)
May 24/04 from Joe:
Hey there, just came across your web site on TVO in the
70's. Do you know if it is possible to buy old episodes off of TVO? Do you know
if anything has be rereleased on VHS/DVD?
Great site, its good that its out there. Thanks
(I am afraid not)
May 26/04 from M:
Well, I was getting wistful tonight so I started tooling
around old Nickelodeon sites and lo and behold, I came across your site looking
for something on Read
All About It (which I remember watching in 5th grade and that alien guy was
really creepy). Anyway, I want to thank you for a great site and ask if you
remember a show about a kid with magic gloves (probably welding gloves with
silver glitter) who rode a stationary bicycle (I think he put goggles on too)
into some kind of fantasy land where there were these bad guys always trying
to get his gloves or cause mischief or something. I remember the kid was kind
of
fat and not the typical kids show protagonist. Just curious as to whether you
have any ideas. Might not have been TVO or Canadian at all. Thanks.
(Anyone have an idea?)
May 29/04 from Jason:
Just wanted to thank you! I have been looking forever for info on this show(read all about it). I had no idea that it was a Canadian show. We used to have this program shown to us in my elementry school in Florida. Every week they would roll a tv and vcr into the libary and show us an episode.Years passed and I never gave the show much thought..Then I started looking for info on it, on the net..with no luck.. and finally found it.
June 3/04 from Lisa:
I found your website was a wonderful blast from the past. I had almost forgotten about Write On, and Readalong..lol such wonderful memories.
I was hoping you would help me with a name of a show. I remember very little of it.. It was a father and daughter mystery kind of show. She was a teenager andthere was mystery man named I think Mr. Big. It is vague memory of watching it on TV Ontario. But I keep recalling it...lol. Can you help??
(I can't - hopefully someone else can!)
June 4/04 from Kenneth:
Kenny here and it has been a while, once again, but I am very happy to see your
site is still going strong.
I am e-mailing to respond to a couple of prior e-mails
that I read. Robert from Feb asked about another great Louise McNamara show.
It was called
"Words Incorporated" It had that great theme song: A is for apple
and B is for bear, C is for candy and D is for deer, E is for easy and F is
for fun. I don't remember
what G was for but then the next line was H is for happy when I am with you.
Y is for yell..YELL!! What comes next won't you tell us? Z is
for zebra that's right! It was a really fun show as well with a segment called
Rhyme Time. She hosted the show with a guy but I so don't remember his name.
The
alphabet would go flying across the screen and the door would close at the end
of the theme song and the shows title "Words Incorporated" was on
the door. I
think I mentioned this show in my very 1st e-mail to your wonderful site.
Next was an e-mail from Max in March. About Vegtable
Soup. I talked about that show in my e-mail from January. There was a segment
on the show called
Outerscope and then Outerscope 2. It featured puppet kids and they did have
some big hands! They built there own spaceship to travel around in. I am sure
this is what Max remembers.
No one else has ever mentioned "Number's Game".
It was show where the woman host would roll dice or something and she would
back or forward. My sisters
always liked when she went back because when she went forward, it close to the
end of the show. She finally got to the end and the show was over. I remember
us
being very sad when it ended. Anyone else for "Number's Game"? How
about 3-2-1 Contact and "The Bloodhound Gang"! I would love to get
episodes of that
show!
Well that's all for now but I am always glad to help where I can and to the Vegetable Soup fans, I have found tapes on EBAY so happy hunting!!
(As always good to hear from you Kenny!)
June 4/04 from Melanie:
I forget what I was looking for when I found your website,
but it is great!! I used to live in Ottawa but now I live in the US. Everytime
my friend and I mention old TV shows I ALWAYS brought up "Read All about
it" and how scary Deneedon was, but of course no one had any idea what
I was talking about.
I looked up Today's Special and I found this link http://www.schuminweb.com/todays-special/main-page.htm
hope this helps! (BTW I still get that song "Hurry Jody, get there you
have to get before 9, 9 , 9, 9!" in my head everytime I am running late
for something).
I just wanted to thank you for such a great site and the memories.
(Thanks!)
June 11/04 from Heather:
Heather Conkie sat a green desk. On the wall behind her
was a big green and blue map of Canada. I seem to remember her pointing out
on the map where the kids who would send stuff in lived. I also remember the
theme song behing slightly different that what was posted. I remember part of
it being, "Report Canada discover who you are. (repeated)
Thanks for all of the information. I was almost in tears remember some of this
stuff!
(Thanks for the Report Canada info!)
June 16/04 from Liz:
iI came across your site looking for info about Telefrancais...I watched it in French class when I was in high school and a bunch of my friends and I were just reminiscing about t and we wanted to find more info....even just a pic of Ananas :) So I was just wondering if you have had any luck finding any info about Telefrancais. I enjoyed your site even though I am in the US and didnt watch any of the shows. it was fun to look at anyway :)
(Ananas picture sent)
June 16/04 from Holly:
Hi..I'm so glad I found someone who remembers Jeremy.
Everyone I know has no clue what show I'm talking about!! I've been trying to
remember this show - it was either on TVO or CBC, maybe from Quebec - it could
have been an hour long show I'm not sure - it was on in the 70's - there was
a team of
artists or craftpeople in this huge house (not sure if it was a house or just
a huge studio) and they created amazing pieces of arts, music played behind
everything - there was no dialogue at all. I can't find anyone who remembers
this show - do you?? I remember the head of the team
had white blond hair, but that's it. The show also featured a weird squiggly
logo. I know it sounds strange, but the show really did exist!!! Let me know
if you remember it!!!
(Vision On!)
June 17/04 from Bill:
Nice site! I've been trying to find the name of an old
show, and you may have given me my answer. The show was about some kids who
went different
places, one of those places I believe was Puerto Rico. I thought they build
a flying machine of sorts to get there, but your description of "What If"
makes me think maybe that was the show.
(Not sure)
June 24/04 from Mike:
I stumbled upon your TVO website and loved it! Total
flashbacks..
I noticed that you had some vhs copies of the shows. I was thinking it would
be great to transfer them to a
digital format - either dvd or vcd. I already have every episode of Simon in
the Land of Chalk Drawings
in divx format, and 25 episodes of "La Linea" would you be interested
in either copying or lending
me the tapes for a transfer, I would then return the tapes to you with a copy
of the digital transfer by the way, I'm in Montreal
(Working on it)
June 24 from Mark:
Im from Adelaide, South
Australia. Like many others, i just want to sincerely say thank you for your
site. It fills in so many
blanks, and restores a lot of forgotten memories for me. I'm a huge fan of childrens
television from the 70s/80s and was/am an avid watcher of our ABC,
which broadcast many TVO productions in the 80s/90s when i was a child. I'm
actually rather surprised by how many of these programmes we got down here.
The ABC provided us with a rather healthy diet of Canadian, American, English
and Australian childrens programmes. It's an absolute thrill to find
someone devoted to making a site, and providing a forum for discussion, about
this treasured nostalgia that many have forgotten about.
'Read All About It' has got to be one of the most incredibly
interesting, genuinely unique and disturbingly scary children's programmes ever
produced.
I recall watching it when i was home sick from school and hiding behind our
couch when Duneedon appeared. The theme music alone used to creep me out. Im
in the same boat as fellow Aussie Carla was, who emailed you recently. I was
also told by the ABC that they sadly no longer have rights to the program.
I would really love to get a copy of the entire series, both seasons 1 and 2.
I dont know what your policy is on these things, and i dont really have
anything to offer you.
(Cool to hear RAAI played in Australia!)
June 27/04 from Denise:
I just came from your website and I can remember some of the shows mentioned.But my fav was Today's Special, You Can't Do That On Television,Pinwheel,Eurekas Castle,Dusty's Treehouse(different Network seen here in California)Romper Room,The Great Space Coaster. I know there is a lot more shows I want to comment about,but can't remember at this time.I know there was a weird cartoon that was on Pinwheel about a boy named Tommy or Charlie that was always up in the tree and I guess he lived with his Grandpa it was weird cuz it was all narrated they never even talked.A lot of Pinwheels cartoons were like that but I really enjoyed the shows back then.I have 3 children and I am so tired of seeing the same thing over and over.Rugrats,Jimmy Neutron,Jenny the Teenage Robot,Spongebob,The Fairly Oddparents,All Grown Up, Amanda Show,Danny Phantom Etc...By the way I your site you put together, it is so nice to see the input of other fans and know that I am not the only one that misses all of those long lost episodes that we will never be able to see again.Thanks for taking the time to hear me
(So many agree!)
July 5/04 from Mr. E:
Just got word back directly from TVO Sales department, after asking about Bits And Bytes' availability. Gone. All gone.
So, now what?
Does anyone.....A N Y O N E .....out there have access
to this show??? I HATE when something like this goes into oblivion, forever
to
be forgotten. Just because the information is out of date doesn't mean it means
nothing to people. This show got me into computers in the
first place.
Google is pretty much useless for this topic, and I've even tried getting hold of Luba Goy!! (No luck so far, although, I doubt she'd be even if she got back to me.)
Thanx for what you've done with the surviving shows on your site. Let's see if we can't squeeze a few more out of the general population, hmmm??
(All I could find was this: http://kgf.swiki.net/10 )
July 6/04 from Heather:
So excited to find your site today. I'm sitting at my
computer procrastinating at work, and there is was! Great stuff. I was a huge
TVO fan too, and it was great to see shows like "Write On" and "Report
Canada" that I had forgotten about. (can't get the theme
to report canada out of my head at the moment though...:P)
Question: what is Artscape about? I remember a show that
was a craft show of sorts, and there was a segment where a guy would walk through
a mirror and end up in another place (usually outside on a lawn) walking backwards.
Is is this show? It's driving me nuts.
(Not sure)
July 7/04 from Kris:
WOW - your site just blew my mind (you must read that in all your emails)
Whatever I would say has probably been said by zillions of folks already so I will keep this short . . .
I am writing in at the request of the people asking about
the Secret Railroad. I don't remember the show ever being shown on TVO, I recall
it on Global at about 6 in the morning, every morning. The main character was
a boy named Simon who discovered a room in the basement
of his apartment building which was full of boxes and junk, when he stumbled
through them, and cleared them out he found a train. Not a big
train, it had a locomotive which was open at the back, two or three passenger
cars (also open on the top) and a caboose.
When he would don his tall blue Engineer's hat and drive through the wall he
would be traveling on a track, but nothing else around it, just
open space. After traveling a bit he would see a little house on the right with
a man standing near it. This was Mr. Passenger. He sported a long white beard,
past his knees and wore a very tall grey top-hat, and his black cat would usually
sit or sleep on top. I don't remember what the cat was named.
This is how every episode started. Whatever their adventure
was that episode they would invariably come across a girl named Stella whose
hair was shaped like a star. She was a vague character who would play different
roles in each adventure. For instance I recall they once came
across Dracula's castle, and Stella was a victim, and in another it was a Star
Wars rip off with a weird Darth Vader clone, and Stella was
dressed as Princess Leia, but with her regular star-shaped hair.
That memory has just paused me, because I was certain that the show dated from at least 1973, so its weird that they would have a Star Wars reference, but there you go.
The animation was identical to a version of The Sorcerer's
Apprentice I saw when I was young narrated by Vincent Price, in fact the Apprentice
in that show was drawn exactly the same as Simon from Secret Railroad.
Hope this might help someone . . .
Dear Aunt Agnes
I saw someone was asking about the theme song lyrics, so here they are if no one has given them to you yet (from the best of my memory)
Dear Aunt Agnes, remember
you said you'd help me out if you could
well my job has taken me far away
to move the children just wouldn't be good
if you would say you would come and stay
you'd be the best friend(aunt?) a girl ever had
Dear Aunt Agnes
Dear Aunt Agnes, won't you come and stay?
Dear Aunt Agnes
Dear Aunt Agnes, won't you come and staaaaaaay?
I would be my life Heather Conkie sang the theme song.
And I dont know if anyone mentioned this, but Dear Aunt Agnes was a spin-off
of the
Magical Music Box which Heather Conkie also starred in, as (i think) herself.
Her name was Heather on it, anyway. Agnes Peabody was her
upstairs neighbour, and I believe landlady. She was a somewhat cranky, if loveable
old lady who was very eccentric. She kept a stuffed parrot
she called Gertrude, which she would speak to. She also had a bust of Elvis
on her piano. I recall on Dear Aunt Agnes she was very confused
by their cordless phone and would often lose where she left it, sometimes in
the freezer.
hope some of this helps too. Whatever happened to Heather Conkie?
(This is some great info on both accounts. I am sure many people, myself included, find it very useful!)
July 7/04 from Joshua:
I beleive you missed out on one very important TVO show which I loved. Safety Scouts! There was a squirl that always needed the audiences imput.The theme: Be a sefety scout,(calling all safety scouts) I have quite a memory for these shows, so if you have unanswered questions, please ask me.
BTW The dreadful "Kideo" show was called 'Kids can Rock and Roll"
(Kids can Rock and Roll - yes, that show was beyond dreadful!)
July 7/04 from CC:
My brothers and sisters (and in-laws ... how old we have
gotten) were remembering all the great shows that we used to watch as kids ....
WHAT A
TRIP down memory lane. This is the only site that I have found that shows all
the ones that we remembered (and lots that I had forgotten). I wish that
some of them were available on DVD for my kids to enjoy. Keep doing a great
job! I will be sending more of my old friends to your site!!
July 8/04 from Jeremy:
was actually looking around the web for anything related to "The Green Forest" I was happy to find your page and so many other pages of childhood memories. I basically watched 90% of these shows out in Calgary on public access. Good times Good times.
In coming across your page I found that you had copies of Jeremy the Bear in your collection. I am guessing you get asked this a lot but I was wondering if you make copies of these for people. I have actually been looking for episodes for about the last year on and off and you are the only person I have found who actually has any. And you have 8 to boot. I would be only happy to cover any expenses you incur and additional funds if you have rates for doing this kind of thing. Anyways, my name is Jeremy and my nickname is Jer-Bear... loosely based on the show and it would be excellent to be able to show all of these people who have never experienced the likes of Jeremy the Bear and his fantastic suitcase.
Anyways, thanks for your help if you can make a copy. If not thanks for putting up the site and putting a smile on my face.
(How can I say no to someone named Jeremy?)
July 13/04 from David:
What an awesome walk down memory lane!!! Thank you so much for all your hard work in finding all of those shows, I remember then all. My favorites were Vision On, Jeremy, Read-a-long, and Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. They just don’t make them like that anymore.
I’ve been trying to find out where I can get copies of the Read-a-long shows to show my kids. They may be old but still very educational. If I find a source(s) I’ll email you with the info.
Thanks again for the great trip.
July 14/04 from an Ohio Library User:
Reading your fan's request on "Vegetable Soup"
got me thinking. I remember the show's heyday, back in 1982, when it aired on
PBS, commercial stations, Nickelodeon, and TBS. That in itself is an achievement
unmatched in children's television today.
I also remember more elements of "Vegetable Soup" because of this
multiple availability. It was more than "Outerscope." There were the
time travelers, The Big Game Hunt, the animated spoon giving recipes, The Big
Job Hunt, Nigel the boa, and I believe Professor Emeritus.
All of the "Vegeteable Soup" series - 78 programs worth - was produced
by the Bureau of Mass Communications, New York State EducationDepartment. I
have recently written to them, hoping they have info on the series. You may
do the same. Send correspondence to:
New York State - Education Dept, Cultural Education Ctr, State Archives Reception
Main Desk
3 Red Lane Drive, Albany, NY 12211
(518) 474-8955
(Thanks for the info)
July 16/04 from Jennifer:
All About You taught different aspects of healthy and
safe living. The was an episode on skin, and teeth, and one about safety.
I know you have the logos from some shows you don't feature do you have any
info on them? I'd really like to know more about The Science Alliance, Owl TV
and You Can Write Anything. I vaguely remember watching those show on PBS when
I was younger.
July 25/04 from Jenna:
Do you recall a show on TVO that was done in stop-motion
photography and involved a lot of characters made out of plants (i.e. "nightshade").
I'm
sorry, that's an odd question to randomly ask someone, but I seriously think
I'm going crazy, nobody remembers this show, I'm sure it existed. Maybe a
different station? I don't know. Sorry for bothering you lol, nice site.
(Anyone?)
July 28/04 Library User:
I am the one from Ohio who told you about "Vegetable
Soup" airing four ways simultaneously in 1982. At the same time, a group
in Virginia started a
16-part series called "Powerhouse," which, at one time, aired on PBS
and Nickelodeon. Only today did I discover a news item on "Powerhouse"
at
http://pages.prodigy.net/mbgels/page5.html. There could be other sites, but
this is the best of them. It includes pictures of the cast, of which the
only name I could nail down was Sandra Bowie (she played Brenda Gaines, the
centerpiece of the series). Bowie also had bit roles in episodes of
"ThinkAbout" and the short-lived "Tax Whys: Understanding Taxes,"
intended only for the U.S.
and
We learned late in our lives (i.e., after production
of "Harriet's Magic Hats" stopped) that Lynne Thornton played Aunt
Harriet in Series Three and
Four. I do not think Lynne was there for the first two series of "Harriet's
Magic Hats." You need to run through the credits of a show from the first
two series that featured Aunt Harriet (beyond the titles) and find her name
in the crawl. That way, you can add this name to Lynne Thornton who, as I
typed earlier, played Aunt Harriet in Series Three and Four.
BTW: Carrie was the last of Aunt Harriet's nieces, fronting Series Four. Stay
alert and a Clevelander will provide a scanned photo of Carrie and
Ralph the Parrot. Also BTW: yo