Themed – then a walk down memory lane.

If I came with a warning label, what would it say? (this weeks theme)

I think I should come with a warning label. It would read:
“Warning: prolonged exposure to William the Bloody will result in a warping of sense of humour, exposure to bad jokes, prolonged bouts of reading self-depreciating literature, frustration at lack of quote answering abilites, and sudden urge to listen to songs starting ‘Where is Mona, She’s long gone’.”

Anyway, yesterday Channel 4 showed a programme giving a run down of the top 100 kids TV shows, as voted by the public (The Simpsons won). The amount of memories it brought back. Pob! Button Moon! (Rumored to be shot on a budget of 24p.) Dangermouse! The Magic Roundabout! Mike Myers on Saturday Morning TV!

And the best bit was that during the second ad break, they showed kids adverts from yesteryear (moral: Frosites ads were mich better when I was a kid).

But I did spot a bit of previously unnoticed irony. One of the programmes on the run down was Why Don’t You. For readers outside the UK (and those from the UK who don’t remember it) Why Don’t You was a programme which was on weekday mornings during the holidays. Every week it came from a different town or city (oddly, they never came up to where I’m from). The thing about this programme is that it was presented by children. And all of the items (games, recipies, trips, etc) were suggested by viewers. Unlike other programmes, it would have things like ‘Joe Bloggs from Aberystwith(sp?) has sent in a recipies for home made pizza’s. We think they are brilliant and will tell you how to do it’.

So where is the irony? In the theme tune, it says ‘Why don’t you get of your TV set and do something less boring instead?’ They were giving us into trouble for watching the show, and we watched anyway! No programme has ever done anything like this. No mention of turning off AFTER the programme.

Thank you for indulging my waltz dodn the road of memories. And now:
‘I’m off to button moon, to follow Mr Spoon…’

Will

P.S. hotcaffine was the first person to find me in my old school photo. She wins a years supply of Cheesy Chunks, the granite chunks which taste of cheese!