Nostalgia

Right now, I am so into nostalgic TV.

It all started with an innocent conversation with my good buddies Laura and Travis over an extremely suspect Chinese buffet.

(Ginger fried cat, anyone?!)

Heaven only knows how it turned to the television shows of our childhood, but I think I managed to avoid mentioning my long succession of extremely dodgy celebrity crushes, starting with Adam from "You Can't Do That On Television", followed by a brief obsession with Jonathan from New Kids On The Block (remember him? No? No-one does. That's because he was the ugly one whom no one fancied except me because I was a strikingly odd child). There may have been more but the only other one I can remember is PJ Phil from YTV. Remember they used to have those presenters in-between the shows who would make crafts and things? I didn't even watch YTV but I used to tune in with the hope of catching Phil. I think he may have been in a Crunchie commercial too. Can't beat a Canadian-lad-done-good.

But I digress. Back to the Chinese.

We reminisced about Today's Special. What a great show! I had forgotten about the computer that spit out answers and about the mime lady. Hilarious. Can you imagine being a TV producer and sitting around thinking, "You know what would be a GREAT idea? Let's set a show in a department store after-hours, and make it about a security guard, a mouse and a mannequin that comes to life. And, hell, chuck in a mime and a talking computer."

If you are extremely sad like me, or just need a nostalgic boost, go to

http://todays-special.schuminweb.com/main-page.asp and click on the multimedia bit, to watch the opening sequence.

My good buddies then reminded me about Square One. This one is slightly hazy (hatred of math from an early age I guess) but I do remember MATHMAN. Remember this takeoff of PacMan who used to eat numbers or get eaten by a tornado?

Then there was the Canadian Sesame Street with Louis the polar bear and his friend the orange cat (bear?) who used to fly a plane and speak French. There was also a shrieky Grandma and a girl in a wheelchair.

And, judging by this photo, they used to invite Canadian celebrities to join in the fun. Well done, Kurt Browning. If I was a Canadian celebrity (and I use that term loosely) I would have loved to be on Sesame Street!!

A few years after that malarkey came what I would consider the best show of my childhood, Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? I remember as the opening credits started and they would say, "Hit it Rockapella!" And the winner of the game had to earn his prize by standing on a huge map and marking each country that was called out with a big flashing lights. If I remember correctly, it was really unfair, as one week they would have a relatively easy map of say, North America, and then the next week they would have to mark African countries or something.

I can't leave without mentioning KidStreet, filmed in our very own Calgary with the lovely Kevin hosting. Kids used to sit in little go-karts with their siblings and answer such brainteasers as, "How many telephones are in your house?" It was great. Their trademark was a huge cavern filled with toys that the winners used to go play in, and that the kids had to clap with their hands over their heads after every commercial break. I have the great privilege of knowing two girls who were on the show in its prime and they let me know (exclusively!) that this was because if they clapped at chest level, it would have been right into the microphone, and any higher up would have obscured their face, so above their head was the only option. Not having any siblings of an appropriate age to join me, my best friend Allison Cuppen and I used to plot how we could sneak onto the show by pretending to be siblings. I'm sure this would REALLY have fooled the producers, not least because we were about 4 months apart in age.

Thanks for joining me down Memory Lane, guys. Please please submit any other ones you can think of, I am enjoying this!!

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Soundtrack for this blogging session:

Radio 1, with Jo Whiley. She is OK but definitely my least favourite host.