Back in the day, WCBS in New York was home to a locally produced program that aired ahead of CBS' Saturday morning block. Problem was, The Patchwork Family actually had just 1 season of first-run episodes (1972-3), and would remain in eternal rerun until 1989.
Former WPIX hostess Carol Corbett served as hostess here, partnered with a puppet named Rags (Cary Antebi, The Magic Garden). Now, I'm at a loss to figure out how WCBS could've given up on this show so quickly. The series reportedly was in national syndication as well, with those reruns continuing for a whopping 16 years.
Seeing as how I live in upstate NY, and no local station picked up the show, I can't fairly rate it. So, as a public service, we offer this sample clip.
6 comments:
It is weird how stuff like that happens at all (I guess WCBS wasn't in a hurry to find something new to fill in a half-hour for a long time).
Reminded the CBS station on the West Coast, KNXT Los Angeles (later KCBS), produced a kid's show called "Dusty's Treehouse". Apparently that show lasted 12 years on the air locally but was also syndicated as well (even going on then new cable network Nickelodeon). That one apparently didn't suffer the one-season bit but repeated endlessly as Patchwork Family was.
As a kid myself, there was an NBC affiliate in Detroit who put together a science program of sorts called "Kidbits" that stayed on the air for probably 15 years itself, and while it stayed mostly local to the Southeast Michigan/Northwest Ohio/Southern Ontario area memory-wise, it may have also found it's way to the cable homes of places like Winnipeg and other Canadian communities given how the Detroit stations were often included as the US channels for their cable packages.
I'll take a look and see if I can find Kidbits and Dusty's Treehouse, the latter I have heard of because it did play in New York for a while back in the day.
The scant recordings of Kidbits on YouTube are mine BTW (or else people ripping off my vids and sticking them elsewhere. I managed to save one or two airings back in the 90's.
if I happen to pull one of yours, you'll get full credit.
I was actually on that show! (you sure it was only on for one season? I thought it was two.) The (executive?) producer, Nathan Shoehalter, was the father of a friend, and perennial segment host, Elaine Lefkowitz (also the host of her own show, "It's In the Bag!" in 1971) was my third grade teacher (although I was in fourth grade when I appeared). Two classmates and I were on a segment (aired in two parts, on Saturday and the following Sunday) about weather hosted by (I think) Gary Essex. Unfortunately, you could only see our backs on the broadcast -- so much for my shot at fame.
Hey, I can relate. A local news station covered a local pastor smashing televisions circa 1978 to protest what amounted to prime time porn (i.e. jiggle TV shows like Charlie's Angels and Three's Company). I sat and listened to his sermon, and a cameraman took my picture to my left, which made the 6:00 news.
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