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
Jan 7/09 from Green:
I am looking hard for videos from this show for my girlfriend
who was on it but never saw herself on tv
Since you mentioned it I'm hoping you may have recorded some of the shows.
(It must have been another post, since I am not familiar with the show myself. Hopefully someone has episodes)
Jan 12/09 from Randy:
Thanks for this awesome website. It was fun walking down
memory lane. There is a show I used to watch as a kid, but it may not have been
from
TVO. It is an animated series of a boy and a train traveling to many bizarre
places. The animation design is reminiscent of the Beatles
"Yellow Submarine" cartoon. I believe it was a bbc production.
(Maybe Magic Shadows?)
Jan 23/09 from Tina:
Hello! I see that you have helped many others with finding their forgotten shows, maybe you could help me. I believe this show aired in the early 90's on either TVO, CBC, or YTV. The show had people in costumes dressed up as really colourful animals. I remember a pink/blue/yellow lion with white spots very well. The costumes and set were very similar to those from Polka-dot Shorts. Any help would be appreciated!
(Not sure about this one)
Jan 24/09 from Sarah:
thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. I see
the show titles and can hear the music..it's great.
Wondering if you have any recollection of a stop-animation short with one red
(girl) and one blue (boy) character who lived in some sort of land made of blocks
on a white background. They didn't speak any words...just beeps and stuff (à
la charlie brown teacher). Was only 1-2 minutes long and ran in between shows.
(No idea on this one)
Jan 25/09 from Ruth:
What an absolutely fabulous archive of my TVO childhood viewing!
My brain has been recently aching trying to remember
the name of an animated series that I believe was aired in the evenings on TVO.
It
walked you through the different stages of evolution. If my memory serves me
at all, it was the later 70's and/or into the earlier 80's?
It was aired around the same time span as The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Magic Shadows,
Phoenix & the Carpet, Ballet Slippers, The Prince &
the Pauper - fairly sure it was a BBC production like these (minus Magic Shadows
with Elwy Yost of course) but may have been PBS?
I'm so very grateful to our dear Mum for insisting on TVO almost exclusively, growing up in the 70's!
Kudos again for the brilliant site & thanks in advance for any relief you may be able to provide.
(It could be Once Upon A Time...Man - A series from France)
Jan 28/09 from Loryn:
We are doing research and trying to find any information you may have on the shows that went along with Bread and Butterflies. Any information that you may have would be greatly appreciated.
(I am afraid I don't have too much on this show)
February 1/09 from Jeremy:
i'm another of the cadre of fans that grew up watching 'read all about it' on tv in the early '80s. what a boon youtube has been, i've enjoyed watching a few tv series on there, and after a bit of searching since it didn't come up in search results very well, i found the postings of 'read all about it'.
your website and youtube uploads are amazing, a real treasure-trove of nostalgia...some of the shows i clearly remember, such as fables of the green forest and bobbapappas. others i had forgotten and the memories came as a jolt when i saw the name and pictures again, such as dr. snuggles and simon in the land of chalk drawings (i loved the theme song to that one, and remember in the 90's when i was a teenager watching 'saturday night live' they had a parody of it, with mike myers in a bathtub...)
the show 'jeremy' started airing when i was very young, and it made my mother furious, she complained that she had chosen that name for me "first" and hated the idea that my name was given to a singing bear. i enjoyed the show, she detested it.
i can't think of any other TVO shows that you don't already have posted, and unfortunately can't supply any info regarding them. with regards to non-TVO shows, might i suggest YTV's 'you can't do that on television'; that of course became infamous for having a young alanis morrisette as on the of the stars. i think that is the only canadian show not on your site; there were other shows i watched when i was young but they were on PBS from buffalo (which i'm sure has a cult following of its own).
thanks again for the effort you put into gathering this information, and for the good of creating a website to share it with everyone.
(Appreciate hearing your memories)
February 5/09 from Cheryl:
I, and a few of my friends, are looking for the title of a kids show back in the 80’s. All I can remember is the robot. It had the traditional dryer duct for the arms and legs. It was silver. It went on the adventures too. Can you help?
(Sounds kind of weird, I do not know it)
February 11/09 from Timeye:
While trying to remember a kid's show I watched, I discovered
another surfer looking for the same show. The additional information from your
site allowed me to finally uncover the name. Please forward to "July 16/07
from Kelly" the name of the show was "The Write Channel"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Write_Channel
(Thanks - always great to have questions on here answered!)
February 19/09 frm Sverrir:
Hi, i have been looking everywhere for the theme for "the fables of the green forest",, the lyrics is "We're all friends in the forest, we love everyone, we love the forest there's room for everyone" Do you where i can find the song?
(Sounds like the theme song is slightly different from where you are from)
February 20/09 from Emily:
Hi I was searching for info about a show on TVO in the
90's and I stumbled across your site, where I found other people with the same
questions. It was about a brother and a sister and a spider. After extensive
googling, I'm pretty sure it's called My Little Planet. It's
available on youtube, but it's in poorly dubbed Japanese. Just thought I'd share.
(Thank you!)
February 23/09 from Katherine:
I love your site-- thank you! I had forgotten about a lot of these! I have a question for you, and maybe an answer for one of your readers.
To Randy, who writes:
"It is an animated series of a boy and a train traveling
to many bizarre places. The animation design is reminiscent of the Beatles
"Yellow Submarine" cartoon. I believe it was a bbc production."
I think he's talking about the "Secret Railroad"
which had a great theme song "when you're feeling blue, when you're feeling
down, just
do what Simon does, go underground" or something like that. There was a
little boy, a magic train and a conducter, an elusive little girl
with yellow hair shaped like a star and a puffy black cat, and they travelled
around weird places.
I am looking to remember the name of a kid's show from
about the same period, featuring an older male host and lots of puppets. Very
similar
to Kaptain Kangaroo, but it was definitely not, and it wasn't Mr. Rogers, Mr.
Dressup or the Friendly Giant. I remember something about
a large closet, and three little elastic clown puppets that swung down from
up above on strings, and they made a loud whistling sound as they
swooshed into view "WHOOOP, WHOOOOP WHOOOO!" I think they might have
been at the end of the show, and perhaps he might have been announcing
birthdays of his fans after that?
I remember him being slightly swaggery and florid, maybe
with a British accent. And his name was similar to Kaptain Kangaroo...but
not. Oh, the old memory ain't what it used to be (I'm 35) hahaha.
Thanks again, and keep up he good work!
(I believe this has been confirmed to be The Uncle Bobby show)
February 23/09 from Darren:
I've been checking out your website for a few years,
and finally decided to contact you through email. I'm a former Ontarian that
grew up watching the TVOntario block, specifically between 8:30am to 9:30am
- we would watch these shows in grade one at my school. I've been dying to get
my hands on any footage of "Read Along" and "All About You"
for years, as the last time I was ever able to check any of them out was when
I was in high school in 1994, and when I caught it, it instantly brought back
many fond memories.
(Thanks for posting!)
February 24/09 from Martin:
Just wanted to thank you for a great website detailing some of the shows I remember as a kid, especially the ones from TVO, in particular I could never remember the name of the show: "The Adventures of Timothy Pilgrim" until I saw it on your website.
(Timothy Pilgrim is classic!)
March 1/09 from Rachel:
I am looking for a clip of clyde frog show. if you can help it would be greatly appreciated.
(I do not know this show - but does anyone else?)
March 2/09 from Barbara:
Hi! I just love your tribute page to the kids shows on
TVO. I grew up watching these shows enjoy visiting your website to reminisce.
I remember an episode of Guess What? with Jan Rubes very vividly. The show was
about Ukrainian easter eggs, and he showed us how to use wax crayons on eggs
to make the designs. He wrote "Happy Easter" on one egg in light coloured
wax, and then dyed the egg in a dark colour. It was kind of magical when "Happy
Easter" appeared on the egg and I remember his great, bass voice reading
the words, "Easter...Happy......Happy Easter!"
I was wondering if you have any recollection of this show that I will describe
here. I cannot find any information about it on the internet, but I loved this
show very much when I was little (1975-1985). It was called "Get It Together",
and it was a craft show with a host named Anne. She had long straight hair,
and at the beginning of each episode, after the theme song was over, she would
say, "Hi, I'm Anne," and then describe the project for the episode.
She made kites, papier-maché things, a pinata, etc. Her accent was North
American (so, not a British/BBC show). The theme song went something like this,
with a man singing, and a lot of 70s synth at the end:
"You can find sticks, ?? macaroni,
Everything, steel and glue,
??, twine, ?? ??
??, ?? and you!" (I know that's kind of vague, but he's naming off thing
you can use for crafts :)
"We can get it together! (clap clap!)
Get it together toge-e-e-ether!"
Thanks for your consideration. If you remember anything about it and have any
information on it, please let me know!
(Thanks for the info on Guess What? I am not very familiar with "Get it Together")
March 6/09 from Andi:
Hi! This is a fantastic site! I have been racking my brain over this show I watched in grade school—this was in Kansas City, MO—we also watched “All About You” so I was wondering if this show is from TVO or not. Okay here goes nothing:
All I remember is the host was curly haired and kind of wacky—she may have worn glasses with colored frames. There was also a talking clock: A man with a painted white face, red lips and the clock hands on his nose; he stuck his head through a hole in a set piece that resembled a grandfather clock. Anyways, I remember an episode about weather and the water cycle. The premise of the series could have been science or it could have been weather. Sorry, that’s all I have—I think I watched it around the same time as “All About You”.
Thanks for creating this site!
(I hope someone knows what show you describe, it sounds quite interesting)
March 8/09 from Greg:
Here's my question (a little vague but hopefully not too vague):
I remember seeing a show where a woman(?) possibly a librarian(?) is describing a place where "many people want to travel there/live there but they can never return home" or something to that effect. Then (for some reason) the boy runs into the portal/jump gate/transporter which appears as an orange/red/yellow room and as he is transported, a square surrounds him and takes him forward into the screen. A girl appears and is astonished to see him leave and follows him. I was pretty sure this is the show; I've read the summaries and I'm trying to rewatch the series only its a little difficult at the small resolution but thank goodness for it anyway! I do sort of remember computer screens with words but this was a long time ago and I believe I only saw a short clip.
I'd really appreciate your efforts in trying to shed some light on this :D
Thank you so much for all your wonderful work!
(Anyone know this one?)
March 9/09 from Patrick:
I stumbled across your site looking for the TV show that
Jenn from July 26/07 was describing. It's called the Odyssey. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103504/
I hope this helps.
(Always great to have questions answered - thank you!)
March 21/09 from Ron:
I really enjoy your site although sometimes I wonder if it's good to roll around in all that nostalgia. I usually wind up thinking that if looking back connects us with a part of ourselves which was (mostly) innocent and untainted it may well be worthwhile.
Anyway, I do have 2 questions maybe you'd know or could direct me to other resources.
1. There was a particular children's show in the late
70's on TVO which had a little girl with a "star" like hairdo, sort
of a Lisa Simpson forerunner. I believe there was a magic train as well and
maybe some old man character (I may be sketchy on that). I barely remember anything
about it except that even in high school, if I was sick, home from school I
enjoyed watching it because it had these "trippy" segments in it which
went down well in a semi-delirious state.
Any clue what that show might have been?
2. On another network, probably CTV, there was a show which had fables re-enacted by actors (one may have even had Alan Alda). The most striking thing was the theme which was a caravan of hippie gypsy folk rolling along to the theme song which was Rolling Stones "Sing this all together" . It could have only been on for a short time as I can find nothing about it on the internet save for a couple people asking about the same show.
(One of them is Secret Railroad http://flightsim.andyjohnston.net/secretrailroad.html)
April 29/09 from Tony:
If you can relay this small bit of info back to "Thetis" and his question about the animated show. I remember watching that show, too. The opening piece was by Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor (all he needs to do is listen to the theme and chills will run down his spine as the wave of memories come flooding back). Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the show, but he is describing it accurately. Perhaps, if he figures it out, he can relay the title to me, through you?
(I think it is Once Upon a Time....Man)
April 29/09 from Junaita:
It's driving me crazy!!!!
What was the show with the kids and the magic ring and the robot named Matilda?
"Magic ring, round and round, take us flying off the ground...."?
(Wish I could help)
May 7/09 from Darcy:
Hi, I used to watch a television show for children in the late 70s or possibly early 80s that had a short segment with an animated caveman. I was wondering if you might know the name of this show.
(Once Upon a Time...Man - I am guessing)
May 18/09 from Venessa:
hi :) So i found your website when i was searching for an old tv show and i was hoping you could maybe help me and my friend. We are trying to remember the name of a TV show. The only thing we remember was that it was in the early 1990s and It was a lady that lived in an Apt that had puppets. One of the puppets was a blue jay. And that's all we can think of lol i know its not a lot to go on. I was looking through your site but didn't see anything...i might have missed it. i hope you can help! Have a great day!
(Anyone know?)
May 31/09 from Fredrick:
Hi ! I saw visited your website. It's really cool. I noticed that you had 2 episodes of big blue marble. By any chance does anyone of those episodes contain the " Witches Sister" short stories on them ? I've been looking for them for the longest time.
June 3/09 from Leanne:
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.
(anyone?)
June 21/09 from Samantha:
Hello! I've been racking my brains to remember the name of this one show that aired at some point during the mid-90s on YTV. I'm pretty sure it was just 5 minute filler in between programs, but it had this guy with a beard and he'd be in a different costume every time. I think it was pretty much just him on stage talking or telling a story. The only costumes I recall him wearing were a bumble bee suit and some sort of cowboy type thing where he'd sit in a rocking chair and whittle wood. Any recollection of this?
(I do not know, sorry)
July 12/09 from Heather:
I was going nuts remembering a TV show we used to watch
in grade school when we had indoor recess... turns out it was John Robbins (not
sure
which incarnation of his shows we were watching, but it was a relief to know
I wasn't imagining it!).
I remember some of the others, too, including Dragons, Wagons and Wax. In case you're interested in where Linda ended up, I found her here:
http://mastersed.uc.edu/profiles/lindawulff.html
Not sure what happened to Tom!
Anyway, thanks for a wonderful site.
(Thank you)
July 27/09 from Iris:
Hi there!
I stumbled across your website during a google search for a tv show.
I am trying to figure out the names of 3 shows I watched on tvo in the mid 1990s. I am hoping that you can help me out, since it appears your knowledge of tvo is better than googles.
1. a christmas special, possibly in french, animated and about a group of faries/angels lighting candles and sneaking into a suburban home in the darkness of christmas eve to light up a giant fir tree inside the home.
2. a british live action show, a brother's quest to save his sister who was kidnapped. There was something about magical glowing spiders, a pirate ship, ghosts and one episode about a quilt made from stolen curtains.
3. and one that was about 2 british bats who flew into the clouds - animated, maybe part of the funnybones show?
(0 for 3 on these, hope someone else knows)
August 1/09 from Bill:
I'm the artist who designed and painted (on wood) the
titles for the Timothy Pilgrim show, around 1974. I painted the credit boards
in my
landlord's basement. And by coincidence the prop lady lived just down the street
(Woodlawn Ave) and I painted the 'magic' trunk at her house.
I also designed and painted the 'medicine' wagon. I went out to Kleinburg Film
Studios to do that.
I also designed a label for the 'magic elixer' bottles, and the show's logo.
I have photos of those items around somewhere... if I can find them I'll scan them and send them to you.
(Always great to hear from people who worked on these fine shows)
October 9/09 from Peter:
I have spent the last few years trying to remember one on my favorite shows from my childhood but was never able to remember anything other then it was a cartoon on the evolution and history of man. Finally I found your site and sure enough you had already helped someone else remember this very show, Once upon a Time...Man. A little trip to youtube and I was walking down memory lane.
Thank you so much for taking the time to create such a fantastic site!
(Glad to help!)
October 11/09 from Ken and Julie:
Interesting to discover someone who is trying to preserve
some of the work we did in the seventies and eighties.
More power to you.
I wrote a lot of those kid shows (among many other things)
including all of Readalong. You make a few errors in
your description -- there were actually three series, released in 75, 77, and
79, ninety shows in all. Maybe some day, if I have time,
I'll describe the trouble I had trying to convince them to let a boot act as
program host.
By the way, Readalong is still in circulation in Ontario
along with others I wrote all of are Telefrancais, Rigole/ecole,The Magic
Library, and a bunch of others whose names escape me at the moment. I also wrote
God know how many bits and pieces of shows.
If you have questions I might be able to answer, send me an email.
The show with a bluejay puppet is "Under the Umbrella
Tree". A young woman named Holly lived with the
puppets in an apartment. Noreen Young did the puppets and produced the show.
Ken Sobol wrote
most of the early shows; other writers included Bob Stutt and John Sobol. The
show, which aired on CBC,
ran seven or eight years, was shown widely. DVDs are available through Noreen
Young Productions online.
(Thanks for the great talk and emails you've sent me!)
November 13/09 from Melanie:
I emailed you about this a few years ago, and I still cannot believe that nobody remembers “The Music Place!” It was a Canadian children’s show with two ladies who sang songs and talked about rhythm and beats, and how to count musical notes and musical rests. I lived in Washington State from birth to age 7, and one of the public television stations we got was from Canada. I watched “The Music Place” all the time! I am a 39-year-old American, and I cannot be the only person out there besides my mother who remembers that show!
(It's strange what some people do and don't remember - hopefully one of these days, you get your answer)
November 17/09 from dr4c4n:
Hello, I browsed your website, and I keep recalling this one clip from my childhood. which was two cat bookends singing a song with the lyrics "look in a book.. in a book, it's in a book" I was wondering if you or any of the links you've browsed to have a copy of this animation, for I'd love to see it again.
(Anyone?)
November 23/09 from Heather:
In response to Andi on march 6/09: I have been looking for someone that remembers the show with the grandfather clock that talks. I thought I was was something I made up. I also remember that the episode was about water so I wondering if it was just that one episode but I feel like there were more with the grandfather clock. Wonder what it was called.
(Hmmmmm....)
November 25/09 from Robert:
Does TVO archive this stuff??? I sent a note to them yrs ago looking for the TV spot of the Train heading down the track and playing On-tari-ari-o, would you have it?
(TVO archived very very little)
December 1/09 from Robin:
I think this is great!!! I have been looking to find
out what exactly these shows were called for a long time. I am 27 years old
now and
growing up all I watched was tvo. I miss these shows so much. Until I found
this website I only had a vague memory of some of the shows. To
see pictures was awesome. This brought back a lot of memories. I just wanted
to let you know good job!!
(Thank you)
December 13/09 from JD:
Awesome site! Thanks for keeping the old shows alive.
I remember watching "Read all about it" in class in the late 70s.
I've found two ISO files of the first 8 episodes and also watched them on Youtube
which was a blast from the past.
I'm dying to get my hands on the Timothy Pilgrim episodes but can't seem to
find them anywhere. I found a dead torrent link but no one seems to be seeding
anymore.
If nothing happens at least accept my thanks for bringing back memories of my
misspent youth from the 70s.
(We'll talk when you come back from Finland)
December 15/09 from Michelle:
I am looking to find some footage of the episode I was in - I remember very little from the shoot, it was fun though. I recall I was wearing a gold t-shirt and blue jeans, my hair was in a french braid - I must have been about 7ish. I had a line - I said "Instruments" with a very funny speech impediment. If I am successful in finding it, I'll let you know.
(Keep me posted!)
December 31/09 from Mary:
Loved this show. I am trying to find out if (I think it might have been on Episode 4), there was a cartoon character demonstrating how internal memory works. As I recall, the computer was dressed as a postman delivering mail to specific locations, etc. I've been going nuts trying to remember where I saw this. Any info would help.
(I checked and no luck - maybe it was another episode or similar program)
Shows on this site: TVOntario TVO TV Ontario PBS AIT All About You Barbapapa The Body Works Bits and Bytes Cucumber Eureka Fables of the Green Forest Guess What? (With Jan Rubes) Harriet's Magic Hats Jeremy Kidsworld Let's All Sing(with Tony Saletan) Mathmakers Math Patrol Parlez-Moi Read All About It Readalong Report (with Heather Conkie) The Adventures of Timothy PilgrimTwo Plus You! Vision On(with Tony Hart) What If...(starring Billy Van)World of B.J. Vibes Write On AIT Programming PBS Programming (In Other Words, Math Wise, It Figures, Thinkabout, Inside/Out, High Feather, Dragons, Wagons & Wax) Edison Twins, Just Like Mom, Camp Cariboo, YTV's Rec Room)