No more Puppets? part 1/3

Remember when a lot show had puppets?
On
January 05, 2012
Back before 3D animation took over eveything, if there was a weird creature in a tv show it was going to be a puppet. Now don't get me wrong, I do not mind 3D animation at all. I just wish that puppets would still be used today. So here's my list of shows I grew up with that were about puppets or included them into the show somehow.

Pappyland

The show that taught me how to draw, and is one of the reasons why I came to love drawing. All the characters (besides Pappy and the pianoest) were puppets and at the end of each episode they would show pictures from actually kids that sent in their drawings.

The Big Garage

The whole basis of this show was in fact about talking cars (way before PIXAR Cars). It was about cars at a garage/car wash and them learning valuable lessons. I think my favorite characters were the gas pump, the stop light and the villian which was a mixture of scrap metals.

H.R. Pufnstuff

Now although I wasn't around when this show first came on the air, I was around when TV Land started showing reruns of this show and later on I got the complete series on DVD for Christmas. The show (for those who don't know) was about a boy who took a ride on a boat one day, the boat got cursed by Witchiepoo and he crashlanded on an island inhabited by giant puppets where the mayor H.R. Pufnstuf saved him. They all had wacky adventures of trying to get either uncaptured by Witchiepoo or trying to find a way back home for the boy. For those who have never seen this show or are fans of Sid and Marty Kroffts other works I highly suggest you check out this show. They even released the whole series on DVD a few months ago and can be found at your local Walmart.

Gullah Gullah Island

Technically this isn't really a puppet show, but one of the main characters is a giant yellow frog puppet named Binyah Binyah so I'm including it in this list. The show takes pace on a small island off the coast of North Carolina and is mostly about a family doing day to day things that includes a giant, yellow frog as a daily visitor (and later a pelican also but he annoyed the hell out of me so I'm not counting him)

The Puzzle Place

This show was my absolute favorite growing up, because not only was I really into puzzles at the time one of the Characters looked like me and had my name also. It's about a bunch of kids who all hang out (I guess after school) at their club they call the puzzle place and learn how to cooperate and other things most kids are taught at a young age. I think my favorite characters were the Piece Police.
Allegra's Window

This show was my sister favorite show growing up. I liked it too, but it was more aimed for girls so I didn't get into it as much as she did. However I did like the talking instruments that would appear every once in a while and the baby birds which had one whole episode I still love about when the smallest of the 3 falls out of the nest and Allegra takes it upon herself to take care of it.

The Noddy Shop

Basically the show was about a toy store and that the toys in it would come to life, but instead of only being alive when the humans where gone these toys would interact with the humans. Sadly I couldn't find any pictures that have the full puppet cast but I do believe there are some clips of this show on YouTube, so I'd suggest go checking those out if you want to see the rest of the puppet crew.

The Mr. Potato Head Show

Ok so I didn't even know this show existed until a few years ago where I was bored one day and was looking up Potato Head items on Amazon when a VHS (seen in the pic above) popped up. I automatically got my dad to buy it for me and have never regretted it. This show was like Mr. Meaty (we'll get to that show later) but with Mr. Potato Head. This show only lasted for a season but the only VHS available only has the final episode on it. The show is of course about Mr. Potato Head and his rag-tag team of other food related friends and their weird adventures as they try to put on the Mr. Potato Head show (yes they know that they are actually on a tv show). The finale includes aliens getting the Mr.P show cancelled which means that all the characters go their seperate ways which depresses Mr.P as he has many flash backs to "the good ol' day". It's really fun so I would suggest checking it out sometime

Tot TV

For the longest time I thought I had dreamt up this show but come to find out it was a real show. The show is about three weird human puppets and their daily things they do. They have a magic backpack that can hold anything no matter the size. The puppets looked cool to me when I was little, but now they give me nightmares.

Cousin Skeeter

Now most of you should remember this show. For those who don't, the show was about a regular family except for the young boys cousin Skeeter who was a puppet (Skeeter also had a girlfriend who was also a puppet). This show weirded me out a bit when I was little because I never understood why the whole family was real but Skeeter was a puppet.

Well that brings us to the end of part one. In part 2 we will look at more puppet shows that I remember graowing up with and then later look at some shows that have come on in recent years that still include puppets in them.
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