Oh wow did I make a fabulous discovery yesterday! So many years of searching, searching... and now I have my long-awaited answer. Ahhhh, the beauty of the internet....
But first, to how I made my wonderful discovery. Another day at work, another day bored, wanting something interesting to do. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but things are slow at the moment, and I find myself constantly looking for things to occupy me which are non work-related.
So I went into my "Fun" folder. Now, EVERYONE who has a desk job absolutely has to have a "Fun" folder, it's where you put those funny emails for future retrieval and laughs, those wacky websites, it's just a folder for all your random crap that you wanna keep. It is definitely NOT work related, it is very random, and very necessary.
I clicked onto an email that contained a link to a TV Themes website, thinking I would just browse through and listen to random TV themes: hey, this site is huge, it has EVERYTHING, I don't think there's something it doesn't have.
So here I am, browsing....browsing.... and then a thought strikes me. Not a new thought, it's something I've often wondered over the past 10 or so years, when something old-school has reminded me of it. Looking at this TV theme shows, scrolling down over shows from the 70s, 80s, 90s..... I asked myself
"what is the name of the show I used to love to watch as a kid?"
This question has posed a problem to me many times. I don't know what this show is called, but I know it was a US show, where a group of kids/teens acted out various skits in a parody style program, and the show would end with a 15 minute crime show, whereby by the end of the week after 5 episodes, the crime would be solved.
I've asked my friends, posted on facebook, asking about this show, whether anyone at all would remember it, but to no avail. My friends remember T-Bag (wasn't that just the best?!) but although I watched that show at around the same age, and the same time in the morning (I think they even followed each other) my friends would have no idea what I'm talking about. They look at me like... "okkkaaaaayyyyyy...."
Damn it, it's real! I didn't dream it.
So I decided to go on a proper hunt. Hey, bored at work, nothing to do? It seemed like a fabulous idea, one I could dedicate myself to for at least half an hour before I started feeling guilty about my lack of work productivity.
I googled 'kids 80s tv shows' or something along those lines, and came up with a few good sites, one listing the old school Saturday morning schedules, others listing in general shows from various decades. That's all well and good, but this show was on during the week.
I came across a site that seemed to be a blog, where the blogger had listed their fave shows as a kid growing up in the 80s, and then a multitude of people had responded by adding in their faves. This was hilarious to read.
Clearly there are a lot of people out there like me, who are keen to get to the bottom of what show they loved as a kid but can't remember. And they were all there on this blog, commenting on their faves but more often begging others for any info on their fave shows as a kid by trying to describe what it was all about.
HILARIOUS. Really. You get this group of people together in a room and get them to swap stories, and you'll start to think that they were all on acid trips as a kid.
Fantastic lines EVERYWHERE, from people asking for info on robotic sheriffs on robotic horses, hippo chick and frog people in costumes dancing around, bears with flying horses, kids in a bus with an old man looking for salamanders, a green-faced curly-haired witch named Grotbag, boys sucked into Nintendo games, a Cecil character with a tubular nose that lived in a forest, fighting colours, mini-me doll land..... oh my gosh I could go on FOREVER!
Honestly do yourself a favour and read it: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jjameson/entry/cool_80s_cartoons/
After amusing myself there, I saw a link that one of these bloggers posted about checking out the site "Retrojunk," as so many people were desperate to find their fave shows.
So I jumped on there. And started to scroll.
I didn't even know what I was looking for. I had a feeling that if I saw the title, I might recognise it. I needed a title that represented my search: a group of kid teens acting out in various funny sketches, things like game shows, canteen scenarios at school, etc, ending with a 15 minute crime show.
Now I sound like the one on the acid trip. Hey, at least there were no flying bears on horses.
So, scrolling, scrolling, occassionally clicking on a random show to see if it was the one.
Then, I came across IT.
SQUARE ONE TV.
I froze. Because I realised this was it. And when I clicked on the accompanying link, saw the program photo, and read a few lines, I knew I was right. Described as a series "dedicated to making math fun, " it included "pop-culture parodies, great music, excellent skits and so much more."
That's right!
I'm so glad I found it! My on-again, off-again, intermittent 10 year or so search has come to an end.
Now that I have a name to the memory, people can't raise their eyebrows at me anymore.
It is pretty quiet today at work...... I think I'll do a youtube search...... :)
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