Bananas in Pyjamas,B1 and B2, are mischievous twins who cannot resist playing tricks on their Teddy Bear friendsAmy,LuluandMorgan. Just down the street isRat in a Hat, whose shop is visited regularly by the Bananas and Teddies. The series has a mixture of narration and dialogue, complimented by specially composed music and songs. Each delightful story features fun, adventures and good humour aimed at the pre-schooler.
ZOOM encouraged children to "turn off the TV and do it!" On the show, a cast of (usually) seven kids (known as ZOOMers) presented or performed various activities such as games, plays, poems, recipes, jokes, songs, movies, science experiments, and informal chats on such subjects as hospitals, prejudice, etc., all suggested by viewer contributions. These activities were introduced by such titles as ZOOMovie, ZOOM Play of the Week, ZOOMrap (later ZOOMchat), ZOOMgame, ZOOMdo, ZOOMgoody, ZOOMphenomenon, etc.
The mail-in request became a pop culture reference for its music exhortation to "Write ZOOM, Z-Double-O-M, Box 3-5-0, Boston, Mass 0-2-1-3-4: send it to ZOOM!".
The program also had various language games, including Ubbi-Dubbi, where the syllable "ub" was added before each vowel sound in each syllable of each word ("H-ub-i, fr-ub-iends," etc.). Another language game, "Fannee Doolee," centered around a character who liked any person, place, thing or concept with double letters in it but hated its non-double-lettered equivalent, e.g., "Fannee Doolee likes sweets but hates candy."
Each show had a "ZOOMguest" sequence, a short filmed documentary about a child with a special talent for singing, piano-playing, tap-dancing, instrument-making, performing in the Ice Capades, etc. The premiere episode featured a boy building a boat by making a ring of brush and covering it with a tarp.
In the show's first two seasons, Tracy hosted a "Tracy Asks..." sequence in which she would ask a question, e.g., "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" or "What is the world's longest word?", and local children would be interviewed to give their answers to the question in a "man on the street" vein. The first season also had "quickie" comedy routines modeled on those on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
The performers in the original series were known for wearing striped rugby shirts and jeans and for performing barefoot, although the cast members started performing in shoes from the third season (1973) on.
ZOOM was a new kind of series when it premiered on January 3, 1972. Unlike other children's fare at the time, it was, for the most part, unscripted. Far from seeking to capitalize by making stars of the child actors, the contracts prohibited them from making any television appearances or doing commercials for three years after they left the show.
ZOOM was intended to inspire children to be active investigators, creators, and problem-solvers as well as introduce them to the principles of ethnic diversity. The show's ZOOMScisegment, for example, featured on the later incarnation, encouraged viewers to try the activities shown on ZOOM and to send in their results.
The first ZOOM series lasted six seasons (1972–1978) and featured 49 ZOOMers.
The Magic School Bus is a series of children's books about science. They feature the antics of Ms. Frizzle, an elementary school teacher, and her class of eight children (in the original books, the class population was at a larger and more standard amount), who board a magical school bus which takes them on field trips into the solar system, under the Bed, into theAmerican Flag, or to other such impossible locations. The books are written in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed student in "the Friz's" class. The class pet, Liz, a lizard, accompanied the class on their field trips.
Since the Magic School Bus books present scientific facts in the form of stories in which fantastic things happen (for example, a bus turns into a spaceship, or children shrink to the size of blood cells), each book has a page at the end detailing in a humorous manner which parts of the book represented scientific fact and which were fanciful storytelling. In the books' television adaptation, the series breaks the fourth wall at the end of each episode, in which the "producers", guest stars, or characters of the show receives phone calls from kids complaining about how some things that happened on the show couldn't happen in real life. The producer that is seen most of the time is voiced by Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
Reading Rainbow was hosted by actor and executive producer LeVar Burton, who is also known for his roles in Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was originally co-created and produced by Lancit Media Entertainment from 1982 until 2000, and was produced by On-Screen Entertainment from 2000 through 2006.
A regular feature was a children's book narrated by a noted celebrity. Some of the celebrities who have read on the show include Philip Bosco (Barbara Bash's Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus), Michael Ansara (Paul Goble's The Gift of the Sacred Dog, Sheila MacGill Callahan's And Still the Turtle Watched), Flavor Flav (Leyla Torres' Saturday Sancocho),Bill Cosby (Francine Jacobs' Sam the Sea Cow, Marc Brown's Arthur's Eyes), and Hulk Hogan (David Wiesner's June 29, 1999). Another segment of the show featured Burton in different places talking to different people about their work and other contributions, focusing on the theme of each episode. The final segment of each show, called Book Reviews, began with Burton's introductory phrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," and features children giving capsule reviews of books they recommend. Burton ended every show with, "I'll see you next time."
The series' pilot, which aired as the show's eighth episode in 1983, featured the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, and was narrated by Doug Parvin. It was created and produced in 1981. Burton was the host. Lancit Media produced the majority of the series' episodes until the past few years.
Its theme song was written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir; Horelick also served as the series' music director and composer. The theme was sung by Tina Fabrique. The original opening, which depicted a cartoon butterfly transforming the surroundings of young children reading books into cartoon fantasylands, was used until 1999. Later episodes used a new opening with the same theme song performed by R&B legend Chaka Khan.
The daughter of producer Larry Lancit, Shaune Lancit, was often featured in the series, most notably as the child thanking the sponsors at the end of the show.
In the episodes, the children go to Dragon Land using their magical dragon's scale found in a hidden location within their playroom and reciting the verse "I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons, in a land apart." The children transport back to their world in their playroom by using the same refrain and the phrase "I wish, I wish to use this rhyme to go back home until next time."
In Dragon Land, the children meet up with their Dragon friends, Cassie, Ord, Zak, and Wheezie (the latter two being two halves of a two-headed dragon), and their bilingual teacher, Quetzal, as they learn valuable life lessons, aided by the fact that the children are inexperienced with the magical flora and fauna of Dragon Land.
The series mixes in Spanish language elements to promote a bilingual experience for the audience. By incorporating parts of another language, the show appeals to a wider audience, as well as providing a new learning experience for children.
Each show is divided into three segments: the first story, a song known as a "DragonTune", and the second story. Each story is approximately 10–12 minutes long.
Lamb Chop's Play-Along was a children's television show created by Shari Lewis, which was shown on PBS in the United States and Canada starting in 1992. Lamb Chop was the main character of the show; like most of the other characters, she was a sock puppet. Appropriately, Lamb Chop was a sheep; other characters were puppets of other farm animals, including Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy. Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) jointly distributed it with Lyrick Entertainment to PBS stations across the country. The opening theme song was simply "Lamb Chop's Play-Along", written by veteran Hollywood composer Bob Golden. The ending theme was more memorable, as the children and puppets sang "The Song That Never Ends", while Lewis frantically and comically attempted to stop them.
Upon their arrival at Animal Junction, the Kratt brothers lean out the window and summon Zoboomafoo, who is shown in a live-action segment as an actual lemur leaping across a field to reach them. When the lemur reaches Animal Junction, the Kratt brothers offer him a snack, generally some lemur-appropriate food like garbanzo beans or mango slices, whereupon the "real" lemur spins around on a turntable and becomes a talking lemur puppet. This change enables Zoboomafoo to lead into the main segment of the episode, which he begins by describing a "Mangatsika!" (a Malagasy word meaning "amazing") animal that he saw as he traveled to Animal Junction.
As he describes the animal, a song is played wondering "Who Could It Be?", while a cartoon shows the characteristics of the "mystery animal". At the end of the song, Chris and Martin attempt to guess the animal Zoboomafoo has described, and the mystery is solved when the animal or animals arrive at Animal Junction. Each episode has a theme, for example, baby animals, frightening animals, or the importance of play, and the arrival of the "mystery animal" leads the Kratts and Zoboo into a conversation about various aspects of that particular animal.
Zoboomafoo makes frequent forays into the zobooland world, where Zoboo and his friends tell stories. Chris and Martin also leave Animal Junction during each episode to better demonstrate the theme of the day, traveling to exotic places like India or Africa to visit the creatures there.
