Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 4, 2009 in Television
June Angela is a grownup these days (it happens to the best of us I’m sorry to say) but back in 1971 she played Julie who was an official member of the the Short Circus — that special cast of kids that powered The Electric Company. From age 11 to 17 she was the longest surviving cast member (of the kids) who lasted to the very end of the show in 1977. Her efforts earned her an Emmy and in this series of clips she recalls that amazing series from the 70s. You’ll notice that she mentions Joe Raposo who was the musical genius behind the show: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 23, 2009 in Television
Sadly Soupy Sales has passed away, born as Milton Supman he earned his nickname Soupy from his childhood. During World War II while serving in the Navy he entertained his shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship’s public address system. After the war he became a disc jockey and used his material from the Navy to eventually launch a long lasting career during the golden age of television. A generation of children grew up with Lunch with Soupy Sales which launched in 1953 and lasted until 1966. Soupy did everything else from game shows to voice acting in cartoons in his life, but his pioneering work from that golden age of television put him into the hearts of baby boomers who thought of him as family.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 5, 2009 in Television
What you’re about to watch is a pitch for a wild experiment: In 1969 television producer Joan Ganz Cooney took a crazy chance and came up with a show that would change history. Forty years later Sesame Street has educated two generations and reached every corner of the globe. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2009 in Videogames
This is a bit of a self plug, but my design firm has just launched a free online game for the WNET/Thirteen kids series Cyberchase which runs on PBS Kids! The name of the game is Stop the Stormerator and I’d have to say that it’s the largest scale game project I’ve worked on since the CD-ROM era. We were lucky in that we got to work with the actual voice actors from the show, and the game features their talents a great deal. The only catch is that you have to register to play the game, but that only takes a few seconds. Here are some screenshots which show off how rich the game is: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 29, 2009 in Japanese TV
From 1974 until 1978 NTV ran a children’s educational show called Karikyuramashin (カリキュラマシーン) which was inspired by Sesame Street in the United States. What I love about this show is that the music is quite catchy: The video above features the songs Twisted Uncle, Kya and the Awry song. Below are other video segments from the show which are now the treasured childhood memories of Gen Xers in Japan: Read more…
