Saturday, December 19, 2009
11:17 AM
New Zoo Review
With the exception of cartoons, there really wasn't much in the way of children's programming on television when I was a kid. Cartoons only came on for 30 minutes in the morning on weekdays, 30 minutes after school on weekdays, and then for 5-6 hours every Saturday morning. (Jackpot!) There were a few other incidental cartoons that aired here and there. There were two cartoons that aired on Sunday morning if you were willing to get up at 6:00 a.m. or so to watch them but neither of them were very good at all so most of the time I opted to sleep in until time to get ready for church.
Romper Room and the New Zoo Review were two non-cartoon shows that were geared 100% toward small children. I loved both of them so they were a real treat. Romper Room aired every year of my childhood. The New Zoo Review didn't begin until I was about midway through elementary school and if I remember correctly, it only lasted a couple of years. The ridonculous thing about The New Zoo Review was the time slot during which it aired. TNZR began at 9:00 a.m. on Channel 8. School in our state began at 8:30 a.m. Granted, that time slot worked beautifully for the 1-4 age group but for those of us who were in kindergarten or above, the 9:00 a.m. time slot didn't work at all. Remember, this was at a time when most families had access to only one television channel that aired very little children's programming so being blocked out of one whole show by a poorly-planned time slot was a major deal to me and to my school friends.
The time slot was never changed and I suspect that to be the reason why the show didn't last very long in our viewing market. I watched it and Romper Room anytime I had to stay home from school due to illness or school break and I watched them religiously during the summers.
My summer schedule went as follows:
8:00 a.m. - Cartoons/breakfast
8:30 a.m. - Romper Room
9:00 a.m. - The New Zoo Review
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Swimming Pool
12:00 p.m. - Lunch (mom usually made burgers and fries)
1:00 p.m. - 8:00 pm. - Swimming Pool (sometimes I went home by 5ish if I had softball practice or if my friends and I had something else planned, and I also sometimes chose to go home for dinner)
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. One of the following: hide and seek in the dark, bike riding with flashlights, chasing lightning bugs, swings, monkey bars at the park, etc.
10:00 p.m. Late dinner IF I hadn't left the pool early enough to eat at the regular time
After dinner until bedtime - Play wahoo with my mom, watch television, read my library books, play with my toys
I had a ball back then just hanging out and being a carefree kid. My mom let me make my own schedule and let me do pretty much whatever I wanted as long as I stayed out of trouble. Getting into trouble was not my thing so I spent my summers free to follow my every whim. How I wish that my own children could grow up in a world that is so safe and simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE1ctCtjzoA
