The folks at the Children’s Television workshop had an illustrious track record of children’s educational programming, with iconic shows such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company giving kids of the 70s the opportunity to learn while having fun. The following decade, they were ready to add to their legacy with Big Bag, a commercial-free show geared towards preschool kids that mixed live action, muppets, cartoons, and even some innovative interactive adventure.

Molly was the human proprietor of a rural general store that she ran alongside muppets Cheli and Bag. Lyle and Argyle helped keep the store shelves stocked and Doc Furball, the town veterinarian, and Sofie, the next door neighbor rounded out the live-action fun. They would interact with their young viewers, encouraging them to put together their own big bags at home, filled with household objects like spoons and socks, and join in with the onscreen fun. Other recurring segments included “I Did Something Nice Today” in which young viewers sent in videos chronicling their various good deeds.

On the animated side of things, Big Bag delivered plenty of goods, or cartoonies. There was a regular rotation of internationally animated shorts that included: Samuel and Nina, Slim Pig, Koki, Troubles the Cat, William’s Wish Wellingtons and Tobias Totz and his Lion. And for the music lovers, there were the occasional music videos each week.

Big Bag was another success for the Children’s Television Workshop and enjoyed an extensive run on the Cartoon Network, where it had broken new ground as the first educational programming presented on the channel. But that was simply par for the course from these prolific innovators in children’s programming.