It's the Plumber! I've Come to Fix the Sink!

Me at 12 and Celeste at 3 in Bloomington, Indiana

I’m scads older than my smart, beautiful, awesome sister Celeste who was born in 1967, one week after my ninth birthday. She was supposed to have arrived on my big day but she was a bit delayed. Possibly, battling the forces of evil and she just couldn’t break away. That’d be SO like Celeste.

In any case, when she was just a wee thing, I’d watch television with her. She had the best shows — Sesame Street and then The Electric Company.

Both debuted well after I was in the appropriate, targeted age range BUT I could still enjoy them with my little sister.

Another fav of mine was Zoom. Celeste was a shade too young for it and I was def too old BUT again, I loved it.

Zoom encouraged children to "turn off the TV and do it!" On the show, a cast of (usually) seven kids (known as Zoomers) present or perform various activities such as games, plays, poems, recipes, jokes, songs, movies, science experiments, and informal chats on such subjects such as hospitals, prejudice, etc., all suggested by viewer contributions.

The mail-in request became a pop culture reference for its music exhortation to "Write Zoom, Z-Double-O-M, Box 3-5-0, Boston, Mass 0-2-1-3-4: send it to Zoom!". The exhortation was spoken but the ZIP code was sung.

 That's actually how I always remembered my zip code when I lived in the Allston section of town — I'd sing the Zoom song. Just in my head, of course. Hippy/Punk/Goth artist types would NEVAH have watched such an upbeat rah-rah kind of a show...right?

All three shows were produced by WGBH, public broadcasting, here in Boston.
So, what’s on now?

Design Squad

Design Squad is a PBS reality television series geared towards middle and high-school children, where contestants design whimsical machines in order to win an Intel college scholarship worth $10,000. The show is produced by WGBH.

WOW — looks FAB!

Plum Landing is a a website not a TV show. Looks mega interesting.

Take your kids on fantastic adventures to explore our world with PLUM LANDING, an exciting environmental science project from WGBH Boston that helps kids develop a love for, and connection to, this amazing and beautiful planet we call home. PLUM LANDING offers children ages six to nine and their families a collection of fun and engaging games, apps, videos and hands-on activities, to do online as well as outdoors.

China Through My Eyes

Take a trip with Ava, age seven, and Sofie, age eight—two girls growing up in Cape Cod, Mass.—as they experience fascinating events and interactions during their visit to China's Pearl River Delta.

and WordGirl!

WordGirl is a new animated series that follows the every day life and superhero adventures of “WordGirl” as she fights crime and enriches vocabulary usage, all in a day’s work. Disguised as mild-mannered 5th grader, Becky Botsford, WordGirl arrived on planet Earth when she and her monkey sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, crashed their spaceship. In classic superhero form, WordGirl possesses superhero strength with the added benefit of a colossal vocabulary. WordGirl has a family and friends who have no idea of her secret identity. As WordGirl, she battles and prevails over evil (albeit ridiculous and comical) villains.

Wow. I think I’ve just GOT to watch WordGirl for starters. I think I need to borrow some of the Grands so I can, ya know, have a good cover, a beard as it were, for my indulgences.

Why does this memory of Celeste’s tremendous, enviable kidTV pop into my brainpan now?

The Amazing Bob had to get the plumber in yesterday. OF COURSE, this bit came to mind:
                                                                                    It’s the plumber! I've come to fix the sink!