Japan's Prince Planet premiered in 1965 under the title, Prince Boy Papi, and lasted just 1 season. The series was first imported to the US a year later, as you'll see, with American International Pictures holding the US rights. In those days, there was plenty of advertising here for the Peace Corps, and so, as it was translated, Prince Planet was an agent of the Universal Peace Corps.
The video we're presenting is actually a 2-for-1 offering, as Prince Planet returned to the airwaves in Chicago in 1974, with puppeteer Steve Hart hosting the program. By this time, kids show hosts had largely disappeared across the country, save for larger markets such as Chicago and Los Angeles. I know this to be true here at home because the local stations didn't use hosts for cartoons on mornings or afternoons until WXXA brought in Ranger Danger in 1992 in an attempt to revive the genre.
Right now, here's the premiere of Prince Planet, as it was presented in black & white.
I am only going to guess here, but it appears Hart was one of a number of competitors trying to unseat Bozo's Circus as the #1 kids show in the Chicago market back then. He puts on a decent show, and I wonder if, with the use of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" as a character on the show, if Hart educated his audience about the great fire in Chicago many years earlier.
Rating for Prince Planet: B.
4 comments:
My town still had local children show hosts going into the 1980's and 90's, but it was certainly dying out then.
There was a long break in my market until Ranger Danger came along in 1992, and he only lasted a few years.
I think the very last one my town ever had was one an up 'n coming station tried in the early 90's called "Abracadabra", involving a magician and his dummy figure and a few other characters. I was actually on the show at one point for a segment helping on a magic trick, but that was about it. Someone uploaded a clip of their appearance on the show, showing off his parrots, just to give you some idea of what this show was like, but it was pretty basic, no cartoons or anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQXxk2wNuXY
I'll look it up.
Post a Comment