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Pinwheel (TV series)

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For the network that aired Pinwheel, see Nickelodeon.
Pinwheel
File:Pinwheellogo1.gif
Created by
  • Vivian Horner
  • Sandy Kavanaugh[1]
Written by
  • Lou Berger
  • Caroline Cox
  • Stephen Fischer
  • Tom Harris
  • Michael Holden
  • Michael Karp
  • Patricia Parmalee
  • Robert Perlman
  • Gregory Peterson
  • Louis Phillips
  • Arlene Sanford
  • Ellen Schecter
Directed by
  • Michael Bernhaut
  • James Colistro
  • Andrea Cvriko
  • Andrew Ferguson
  • Julian G. Lopez
  • Robert Ripp
  • Philip Squyres
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes260
Production
Executive producersVivian Horner
Lois Fortune
ProducerSandy Kavanaugh
Running time60 minutes per episode (ran in 3-5 hour blocks)
Production companyWarner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
Original release
Network
ReleaseDecember 1, 1977 (1977-12-01) –
1984 (1984)[2]

Pinwheel is a children's television show and the first to air on Nickelodeon. It premiered on December 1, 1977, on channel C-3 of QUBE's local cable system in Columbus, Ohio. The C-3 channel made the move to national television in April 1979, when it was rebranded as Nickelodeon. Pinwheel would continue to air on the network until 1990.

Broadcast

Pinwheel was the flagship program of C-3, a children's network in Columbus, Ohio, in the earliest days of cable television broadcasting. C-3 soon changed its name to Pinwheel. In 1979, Warner Cable purchased the Sat-1 communications satellite from Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and rebranded the Pinwheel Channel as Nickelodeon, where it reformatted Pinwheel as hour-long episodes shown in three- to five-hour blocks, a format which eventually became the model for Nick Jr. programming for younger children.[3]

There were a total of 260 Pinwheel episodes recorded from 1977 to 1984.[2] Pinwheel continued to air in reruns until 1990. 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 #7, behind All That, You Can't Do That on Television, Nick News, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly OddParents. The program was also the last original program (upon its debut in 1979) on Nickelodeon to end.

Premise

The show was similar to Sesame Street with live-action skits mixed with acquired shorts (introduced in 1979). Action scenes took place in and around a large Victorian-style boarding house called Pinwheel House with a pinwheel on one of the peaks. Live actors interacted with puppets, discussing various concepts familiar to children's programming like sharing, being considerate, colors, numbers and letters. All of the characters lived and worked in the various areas in and around the house.

Characters

Humans

Kim (Arline Miyazaki) - Aurelia’s niece (confirmed on the Pinwheel Songbook VHS video) who was also the resident artist of Pinwheel House.

Sal (Betty Rozek) and Smitty (Dale Engel) - an elderly couple who ran a local newspaper called The Daily Noodle. One of Smitty's long-running obsessions was to capture a photograph of the elusive Admiral Bird for the front page of the Daily Noodle, though he was constantly missing his chance.

Jake (George James) - a boarder who enjoyed music and whose hobby was collecting unusual sounds in small boxes.

Franci (Franci Anderson) - an artist and storyteller; she was on the show during its earliest years, but her character was eventually phased out.

Coco (C.C. Loveheart from 1977–1979, Lindanell Rivera from 1979–1984) - a Parisian mime.

Puppets

Aurelia - a bohemian-style character who owned Pinwheel House. She had a ginger bob, olive green eyes, fuchsia lips and wore colorful head scarfs and large hoop earrings. She was friendly and bubbly, but firm.

Plus and Minus - twin boys who lived in the attic room and were Aurelia's nephews. The color schemes for the twins were the exact opposite, with Plus having black hair and orange skin and Minus with white hair and purple skin. Minus was very upbeat and enthusiastic, while Plus was more thoughtful and easily discouraged. A recurring sketch was Plus's attempt to board a spaceship to the moon, and Minus distracting him and causing him to miss the take-off. Their favorite game was "Gotcha Last," a combination of Tag and Hide and Seek that went on eternally.

Silas the Snail - an elderly snail who was constantly on his way to an annual snail gathering (although during the series run, he never made it further than the back garden due to snails being so slow), who extolled the virtues of slowing down and enjoying life, telling people that "half the fun is getting there."

Ebenezer T. Squint - a grumpy, green-skinned boarder who lived in a dusty basement storage room where he conspired to be featured in Smitty's newspaper. He pretended to be grouchy and antisocial but secretly enjoyed being included in the house activities.

Luigi O'Brien - a produce vendor who ran a small vegetable stall in the backyard of the boarding house. All of his produce also talked, sang, and had individual personalities, but were only known by their respective fruit and vegetable names (Pear, Tomato, etc.).

Molly McMole - an elderly lived in a tree in the backyard and often introduced cartoon shorts in the form of telling stories.

Herbert and Lulu the Hobo Bugs - a brother-and-sister pair of marionettes who liked to dance and play on the hedges in the backyard and often appeared at Luigi's produce stand to ask for special items, such as an impossible pair of custom sandals that Luigi somehow manages to produce. They also loved to play with Ebenezer, who would typically tell them to leave him alone in a grumpy manner, even though he really enjoyed their company.

Admiral Bird - a bright red bird marionette who would drop from the sky with a strange, echoing call. Admiral Bird rarely appeared, but seemed to enjoy teasing Smitty.

Tika, Gorkle & Woofle - 3 bird-like alien marionettes from the planet Zintar who lived in a garden terrarium.

Sorbin - a green and blue alien creature who also came from the planet Zintar.

List of shorts

Nickelodeon secured the rights to a number of international short segments, including those that were already written in English, such as the Franco-British children's show The Magic Roundabout. Pinwheel became a showcase for these acquisitions and featured a wide variety of both animated and stop-motion animation shorts or cartoons from many different countries. After Pinwheel was cancelled in 1984, Picture Pages shorts with Bill Cosby were shown during commercial breaks in reruns.

References

  1. ^ Denisoff 1988, pp. 9–10.
  2. ^ a b Blog, Classic Nickelodeon Fan (2014-07-23). "The Classic Nickelodeon Fan Blog: Interview with George James". The Classic Nickelodeon Fan Blog. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  3. ^ Hendershot 2004, p. 28.

Works cited

External links

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