It's Supposed to Be Good For Ya...

For those of you who are Facebook friends as well as readers of my blog, you probably know I've been sick with a cold for the past few days. Of course, being ill these days doesn't have to mean being curled up in bed with game shows and soaps. Today, one can find themselves sprawled on their living room sofa with their laptop watching YouTube videos all day. Which is sadly, exactly what I have been doing. I'm not sure if it makes me feel any less sick, but it certainly makes me feel nostalgic.One of the things I always feel  the most sentimental for is Saturday morning television. But not only the cartoons and low-budget live-action shows like BIG JOHN, LITTLE JOHN,but also the commercials and mostly  the network interstitial programs. You know, the educational stuff in between the shows. "It's supposed to be good for ya..." CBS, the Tiffany network, had the most sophisticated interstitial, IN THE NEWS - which took important news stories and condensed them into minute-long segments. The spots often dealt with serious issues like war and politics, but they also covered lighter topics like entertainment and sports.NBC, had, in the 1980s ONE TO GROW ON, which were short soapbox-style preachings from the galaxy of NBC stars about issues that kids were dealing with. Like lying, cheating, stealing, doing drugs...stuff that isn't good for ya.ABC, of course, had the best. SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, which featured lessons in history, politics, math, grammar, science and sex ed (only kidding about sex ed, that was left to the ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL).ABC also had an annoying little guy named Timer that gave nutritional advice.Independent TV stations ran something called THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON, which I believe was originally a segment on CBS's CAPTAIN KANGAROO. These life lessons were probably in part what inspired ONE TO GROW ON, since they originally ran a decade before. So, thanks to YouTube and the folks who have posted these amazing clips, I have been able to relive a part of my childhood that I thought was forever lost...and that DOES make me feel better. That and some good over-the-counter drugs.