Pinwheel (TV series)

For the television channel, see Nickelodeon.

Pinwheel
Format	Educational, Children's
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	260
Production
Running time	60 minutes per episode (ran in 3-5 hour blocks)
Production company(s)	Warner-Amex Television (1977-1984) MTV Networks (1984-1989)
Distributor	Lorimar Television Warner Bros. Television (A Warner Communications Company)
Broadcast
Original channel	Pinwheel (1977-1979) Nickelodeon (1979-1988) Nick Jr. (1988-1989)
Picture format	NTSC
Audio format	Mono (1977-1981) Stereo (1981-1989)
Original run	December 1, 1977 (1977-12-01) – 1989 (1989)
Chronology
Followed by	Nick Jr. (block)

Pinwheel is a children's television show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable network from 1977 to 1989. The show was the original program featured on the Nickelodeon network (the channel itself was known as "Pinwheel" from 1977 until 1979).

Premise

The show was very similar to Sesame Street, except the action all took place in and around a large Victorian-style house with a pinwheel on one of the peaks. Live actors would interact with puppets, discussing various concepts familiar to children's programming like sharing and being considerate, basic learning skills like colors, numbers and letters. All of the characters lived and worked in the various areas in and around the house.

Characters

Humans

Human characters included: Sal (played by Betty Rozek) and Smitty (played by Dale Engel), an elderly couple who ran a newspaper called The Daily Noodle. One of Smitty’s favorite pastimes was searching for the Admiral Bird who always seemed to elude him. Jake (played by George James), a man who collected small boxes, which emitted various sound effects. Coco, a female mime (played by C.C. Loveheart from 1977-1981, then by Lindanell Rivera from 1982-1989). Kim (played by Arline Miyazaki) was not only the resident artist, but also Aurelia’s niece, which was confirmed on the Pinwheel Songbook VHS video during the “Hobo Bug Giggle Dance” number.

Puppets

Plus and Minus were the equivalent to Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie. Minus always wore a shirt with a "-", was upbeat and optimistic, while Plus always wore a shirt with a "+", and was typically pessimistic and discouraged. A recurring sketch was Plus's attempt to board a spaceship, and Plus distracting him somehow and missing the take-off. Their favorite game was "Gotcha Last!".

Other characters included Aurelia (a gypsy who ran Pinwheel House and used a special phone [actually a desk phone base with a crystal ball on it and no receiver] to dial the "Opposite City Operator" and was also Kim’s aunt), Silas the Snail (had an elderly-looking face, and took an entire episode to go from one end of the garden to the other), Ebenezer T. Squint (green-faced equivalent to Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch; his sole goal in life was to be on the front page of The Daily Noodle), Luigi O'Brien (who ran a mobile produce stand where all of the fruits and vegetables talked), Molly the Mole who lived in a tree in the backyard, Herbert and Lulu the Hobo Bugs, and the Admiral Bird which always seems to outwit Smitty.

Two of the main puppeteers were Craig Marin and Olga Felgemacher, who herself was a Sesame Street puppeteer for two years, from 1978 to 1980. The hand puppets were designed by Brad Williams.

Longevity

There were a total of 260 one-hour Pinwheel episodes recorded from 1977 to 1982. However, Pinwheel was typically broadcast in 3 to 5 hour long blocks with multiple one-hour episodes shown back-to-back. It remains the longest-running Nickelodeon show in episodes and hours on air, and was the longest-running in years until You Can't Do That on Television broke the record. It is now #6, behind All That, You Can't Do That on Television, Nick News, SpongeBob SquarePants and Rugrats.

List of Animated Shorts

One of the most memorable things about Pinwheel was that it featured a wide variety of both regularly animated and stop-motion animation short films or cartoons from many different countries, most of which were only about five minutes long.

The Adventures of the Mole (Krtkova Dobrodružství)

• Alfie Atkins
• Bagpuss
• Bod
• Bunny in the Suitcase (A Kockásfülű nyúl)
• Chapi Chapo
• Charlie's Climbing Tree (Kalles klätterträd)
• Crystal Tipps and Alister
• Curious George
• Emily
• Flower Stories
• Gumby
• Hattytown Tales
• Jim & Jam (Bolek and Lolek)
• King Rollo
• Lilliputput
• Madeline
• Magic Coco
• The Magic Roundabout
• Mixometric
• Mouse On Mars (Maus Auf Dem Mars)
• Musti
• Paddington Bear
• Picture Pages
• The Pilis
• Professor Balthazar
• Peelie and Poolie
• Schnoodle
• Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
• Tip and Tap
• Teeny Little Super Guy

External links

• Pinwheel at the Internet Movie Database
• Pinwheel at TV.com