8.16.2008

Saturday Morning Cereal: First Bowl

You know, Saturday mornings just aren’t the same when you’re a grownup. Too many responsibilities. Too many chores. Boring stuff on the telly (save for the cooking show block on FoodTV... but that’s something else entirely.)

I’m missing the pace and entertainment of the Saturdays of my youth. Pajamas and cereal and cartoons. No homework. No endless youth sporting events. No pressure, save maybe to help Daddy in the yard. (Man, I HATED that. Even as a kid, I knew outdoor manual labor was not for me. Damn weeds in the sidewalk cracks. Ugh.)

So in what may turn out to be a regular thing for me, I’m going to take a ride in the Wayback Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman to the time...
when all cereal that was worth anything had sugar in its five top ingredients list...

when your pajamas had feet in them...

when you had to actually get up off your bean bag chair to change the channel, unless you had a younger sibling to do it for you...

when cartoons and kid shows ruled the morning airwaves.

Today, let’s take a look at the World of Sid and Marty Krofft...

Y’all. This shit was wild. Seriously. Skippy. Trippy. Hippy.

Live action shows with crazy premises and over-the-top characters (C’mon. Martha Raye and Charles Nelson Reilly both had parts on Krofft Saturday morning programs. Those two totally define over-the-top... just go look in the dictionary and you’ll see their mugging mugs. Promise.)

I’m just gonna let the show opening to a few Krofft classics speak for themselves... the storytelling theme songs; the costumes; the hysterical special effects -- it’s all there, just like you remember it.

Enjoy. And pass the Super Sugar Crisp. I’ve still got milk in my bowl. (But I call dibs on the Archies record on the back of the box. That’s all mine, baby.)


HR Pufnstuf
Fun fact: my elementary school nickname was Janey-poo, after the illustrious Witchy-poo. And yes, that was a term of endearment -- I was a charming young lass. So there.


Bugaloos
Martha Raye as Benita Bizarre. More awesome than I have words to describe. Benita Bizarre is SO my new drag name, replacing Clams Casino.


Land of the Lost
I never watched this one myself -- never got into the whole dinosaur thing -- but I had friends who loved it. Still do. And who can do a pretty fair sleestack imitation.


Sigmund and the Sea Monsters

Johnny Whitaker (Jody from Family Affair!) Mary Wickes (classic character actress!) Burp and Slurp and Sweet Mama Ooze (best character names ever!)


And here’s the oh-so-familiar credit that ran after every episode...


PS: Couldn’t resist including this quote from Marty Krofft, from an interview in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was asked, point blank, about the relationship between drug use and his shows:

We've heard that for 35 years. We did not intentionally do anything related to drugs in the story. People thought we were on drugs. You can't do good television while on drugs. People never believe you when you say that, but you can't. The shows were very bright and spacey looking. They may have lent themselves to that culture at the time, but we didn't ascribe that meaning to them, and I can't speak to what adults were doing when they were watching the shows. We just set out to make a quality children's program.

14 comments:

Marissa said...

Since becoming an adult, I have always stated that Sid and Marty Krofft provided acid trips for kids sans illegal substances.
My brother and I parked ourselves in front of the TV every saturday in spite of our father's urgings to "go get the stink blow off ya."
We were a little older with "Land of the Lost" so much of our viewing was spent being sarcastic and cynical. Still, great times.

I had the Jackson 5 single off the Super Sugar Crisp box. Now that was some excellent cereal box treasure.

Anonymous said...

LOL! Thanks for the morning giggles! I love a good walk down memory lane....

I am now making a note to check Netflix for Land of the Lost DVD's!

TopSurf said...

I loved this especially on a Saturday morning. When we were little we LIVED for Saturday mornings and this was why. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

April said...

Those Sat. mornings are alive and well at our house! I just can't do all that running around on my weekend. Too much laundry to do.

Sherrie said...

I read your blog immediately after folding three loads of laundry, so it really hit home. Such a difference in my Saturday mornings now as compared to in the early 70's! HR Puffinstuff used to freak me out a little, but I LOVED the Bugaloos- the dark skinned Bugaloo with the accent was my preteen crush (along with the Professor from Gilligan's Island, but that's another story.) Thank you for not providing a YouTube link to the terror of my elementary school days, Doctor Shrinker- I'd still be under the kitchen table if I'd seen that this morning!

Anonymous said...

OMG! I have that deep shame feeling of being "soooo busted." We weren't allowed to watch any television growing up - and so not allowed to watch on Saturdays. Saturdays were work days in our house. So I would sneak out to watch. so fun.

I have an HR Puffinstuff DVD - Like to borrow it? Just shoot me an email and I'll send it along. opengrove at gmail.com

Mitchypoo said...

Oh my, I think we are long lost sisters!! I so remember all of that! Stay safe with that hurricane.

Jeff said...

I'm a Sigmund kind of guy, myself.

Would you please pass the Quisp? I hear there's a secret aurprise inside.

Jen said...

My friend's little bro and I used to fight my BFF for the right to watch Land of the Lost. She wasn't into the dinosaur thing, either, but we were. ;-)

And I was SO cuckoo for Cocoapuffs!

XX said...

Great, now I'm craving Super Sugar Crips. I think it's been 20 or more years since I've had a bowl!
I love when it's lost its 'crip' but is not totally soggy. Hope all is well (weather wise).

Miss Janey said...

Miss J loved HRPufnstuf and Land of the Lost. great shows.

Still her very faves to this day are the Looney Tunes: Bugs, Pepe, Porky, Daffy...

Unknown said...

Kids these days just don't know what they are missing, do they? I loved Land of the Lost. I loved watched School House Rock too. I can still sing some of those songs and heck, I would have never known how a bill got to be a bill if I didn't watch "I'm Just a Bill." Thanks School House Rock! Thanks for the Saturday morning memories Jane - you rock too!

Unknown said...

That should have been I loved watching School House Rock...sorry, too many Sugar Crisps today.

Malcolm said...

I always tell people that if one was to describe those Sid and Marty Krofft shows to someone who has never seen them, the person would give them the "you gotta be making this shit up" look. I have quite a few fond memories of watching the Krofft shows back in the 1970s (Lidsville, The Lost Saucer, Wonderbug, Magic Mongo, Dr. Shrinker, etc.). However, I wasn't a Land of the Lost fan either.

If you don't have it, I highly recommend the book "Pufnstuf and Other Stuff: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sid and Marty Krofft". It has details on every Krofft show, photos, and cool behind the scenes info too.