Popular Nostalgia

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Who remembers when children’s TV wasn’t a gateway drug for the next wannabe tv presenter? Who else, along with me, remembers those halcyon days when characters like Phil Schofield or Andi Peters would sit in The Broomcupboard with little for company other than a stuffed puppet?
The Broomcupboard is yet another children’s television memory which will [...]

I remember Potsworth & Co. with fondness from my childhood, but a look back at the video shows that, compared to today’s cartoons, it was a pretty budget affair, which relied on good storylines.
In the USA, it was called Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone – what a mouthful! Potsworth & Co. is a [...]

Let’s croak some toads!
Captain Bucky O’Hare was the early 90’s cartoon character who graced our screens with an intergalactic battle against space toads. Remember the psychic cat “Jenny” who could read minds through the purple jewel on her head or the mad eye duck who could shoot with four arms at a time.
For those of [...]

Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil battle it out with Angelica in the sandpit. My abiding memory of Rugrats is that everyone used to know how to play the theme tune on the piano. Angelica also got on my nerves. The babies talked in silly toddler speak with lots of missing teeth and spittal – getting [...]

The cartoon series that most of us will remember ran from 1983 until 1990 and was a US production. The popular 80’s cartoon “Alvin and the Chipmunks” – featured the Chipmunks as a band with Alvin as the popular, good-looking one, Simon as the intellectual and Theodore as the cute baby-faced brother. Dave was their [...]

All I can remember about this cartoon is seeing Scrooge McDuck diving into a room full of money and then discussing with my brothers what we would do if we had that much money. As for Hughie, Louis and Dewy, they were just background to the amazing array of what Scrooge had.
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Danger Mouse and Penfold used to solve mysteries and crimes together zooming around in their ace yellow supercar. Danger Mouse made eye-patches cool waaay before Gabrielle. The walrus boss-man, Colonel K, instructs the British, white mouse to save the day from evil fiends and master crooks. The arch nemesis is Baron Silas Greenback (a frog) [...]

The Getalong Gang is a fine exemplar of everything that a cartoon should be: informative, fun and featuring a moose AND a caboose.
2 words you don’t often hear in the same sentence these days, more’s the pity, are ‘moose’ and ‘caboose’. A caboose is of course the single train cart club house that the getalong [...]

Intro Lyrics for “Funnybones”
In a dark, dark town there was a dark, dark street
and in the dark, dark street there was a dark, dark house,
and in the dark, dark house there were some dark, dark stairs
and down the dark, dark stairs there was a dark, dark room
and in the dark dark room….
three skeletons lived!
There was [...]

Sharky and George was originally a French Canadian animation that was then translated into English. The two fishy detectives solved underwater crime, Seacago style. The show is full of marine puns on everyday words -like Silly-Clam Valley (instead of Silicone Valley) and Dr Jake Eel and Mr Crab (instead of Jekyll and Hyde). I particularly [...]

I always wondered why Clarissa was so badly dressed despite having the world’s biggest wardrobe. And why Melissa Joan Hart kept appearing on TV as the same character (she later played Sabrina the Teenage Witch). Clarissa and her Amiga tackled the issues of the day with the help of Sam and a small alligator.

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This is 29, Acacia Road -and this is Eric, a schoolboy who leads and amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman. Ever alert for the call to action…
There is an Acacia Road on the outskirts of Castleford, near Ferrybridge Power Station. Could this mean that Bananaman [...]

Gordon the Gopher could only squeak, yet he managed to upstage Phillip Schofield most weeks by laughing for too long and pretending to be drunk. Run the Risk, Trev and Simon,  agony uncles and celebrity sketches all combined to make a hit with viewers. Notice how Phillip struggles through this interview, though,  when Vic and [...]

Emma Forbes and Andi Peters started off the sequel to “Going Live” -replacing Phillip Schofield and Gordon the Gopher. Later, Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston were to take on the mantle booting out Trev and Simon along the way. L&K had an amazing array of guests from Muse to Take That. Although ostensibly for adults, [...]

Ren & Stimpy was an incredibly rude cartoon from the 1990’s full of violence and innuendo. I was even banned from watching an episode by youtube until I had confirmed my birth date!!! This stuff was going out on Nickleodeon. The video shown here is a compilation of scenes – very bizarre ones at that.
The [...]