bill and ben, andy pandy, ragtag and bobtail

television. well in the course of my lifetime i've gone from three black and white channels (england) to twelve black and white channels (canada 1967) to twelve colour channels to sixty colour channels. the result has been improved picture quality, wider variety, and generally much lower quality of programing. much lower! there is very very little that extends beyond mere entertainment and as i mentioned in an earlier blog, the commercials are often more creative, more thought provoking, and more memorable than the television program they accompany.

on that note, i'd like to share some children's programming from my childhood. all from england (but don't take that for the potentially jingoistic inference that might suggest because there was sterling stuff in canada back then as well), these are programs that reflected the creator's imaginations as well as stimulating those of the viewers. they are also quintessentially english and so they will almost certainly appear odd to you.

the first is titled "bill and ben the flowerpot men". bill and ben the flowerpot men was a show of dubious design and even more dubious intent. i watched it as an impressionable child and even now as i watch these clips i feel myself getting drawn into the nefarious machinations of the two little claypot people who undoubtedly have designs on my not-to-be-normal-ever-again mind. i wonder how many other children ended up damaged by these strange little people?

bill and ben’s dance



bill and ben



andy pandy. yep that’s right andy pandy. wanna make something of it?



and while you’re here . . . rag tag and bobtail go out dousing for water. seriously, dousing for water - this is what makes english kids and grownups so much more interesting than their north american counterparts. can you imagine a canadian or american children's program that would even broach the subject?