You Are What You Were. Celebrate Retro Pop Culture At Retroland.
Long before the ability to make friends globally via the World Wide Web was possible, there was a simple television show that focused attention on the planet in which we live and the variety of diverse people that call it their home. Big Blue Marble was an innovative and educational kid’s show well before its time, and it’s remembered by many a former kid.
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Back in the 70s, you might recall watching a fun little TV series called Zoom, one of the first children's shows hosted entirely by kids. Created by WGBH, the public station in Boston, the series was aimed at grade-schoolers and featured a rotating cast of seven to ten kids who performed songs, dances, games and skits for their peers at home. It is still fondly remembered by a generation of former kids who faithfully tuned in each week.
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Once little tykes began to outgrow Big Bird and friends on Sesame Street, they could plug into another PBS series that catered to the 7-10 age group. Primarily using sketch comedy to impart educational lessons, The Electric Company quickly became a favorite of kids and is still fondly remembered to this day by many of them.
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For slightly over two decades, millions of children were encouraged to develop a love of literature, thanks to the innovative and critically-acclaimed PBS series, Reading Rainbow. For its efforts, the show garnered over 200 awards during its run and is still fondly remembered by many a former kid who spent hours in front of the television, enthralled by one good book after another.
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From 1968 to 2000, Fred McFeely Rogers invited viewers to spend some quality time in his little yellow television house. Soft-spoken, but with strength of purpose and complete sincerity, Mister Rogers offered a simple but powerful message: “I like you just the way you are.” And, in retrospect, we liked him just the way he was. Today, we look back at this iconic and educational children's show that left many of us with such fond memories.
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"Over the hills and far away, Teletubbies come to play." It was a British Invasion of another sort, when a new fab four arrived on American shores after finding much success in their home country of England. This time around, however, the moptop hairdos were absent, replaced by geometrical antennae, as well as far more [...]
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Scholastic's The Magic School Bus had the ability to traverse the ocean floor and zoom through the intricate chambers of the human body. If only we could all get out of rush hour traffic and go where the Magic School Bus goes, the world would be a happier and better educated place.
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Every morning, he opened the door to his Treasure House and invited kids to share an easygoing hour of laughter and learning. He wore a jacket with giant pockets, and thus came his name, Captain Kangaroo. He had the longest running children’s program in network television history. (Only Public TV’s Sesame Street can beat the record.) Let's take a look back at this beloved show.
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Television and movies have long speculated about faraway galaxies through the eyes of fictional space explorers such as Buck Rogers and Captain Kirk. But TV viewers were eventually given an informative introduction to the real universe we live in, thanks to a visionary scientist named Carl Sagan, host and producer of the fascinating 13-part television series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Airing in 1980 on PBS, Cosmos was a provocative, visually-stunning exploration that left viewers on the edge of their seats as Sagan used his considerable charm to explain all that we know about the mysteries of space.
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After decades of teaching kids about the ways of science, the 90s saw the Bunsen-burner torch passed from Mr. Wizard to a new guy with his own quirky method for making learning fun, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Reminiscent of that high school science teacher that every kid hoped they would get, his off-kilter (and often high-speed) approach kept the attention of every tyke that ever tuned in.
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