This month has seemed like a fog 🌫️ that’s been hard to navigate. It came in very nice with summer like temperatures and a beautiful night in downtown Greensburg. The conference came and went and Benny came home from Children’s on Gram’s birthday. Despite all the good happening in my life, I’ve been feeling down and questioning things again. Tornadoes rocked the area on multiple occasions, including one that damaged a church in Washington and another that downed a few trees at the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Granted, this May has been better than the last two but I’ve still been in a funk. At least we opened the pool and I got the opportunity to swim. I know that June will be better.
Today, I am going to tell you what my six favorite PBS shows were when I was younger. I saw a list of shows on social media. Not on that list is the Teletubbies. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street are already two shows that I loved as a kid and they’ve been the greatest for a long time, based on legacy and longevity. Fred’s legacy has continued with shows like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. I don’t think Joy of Painting counts as a children’s show but Bob Ross is a legend in his own right, just like Fred Rogers and Steve Irwin.
My six pack for the greatest PBS shows of all time leans educational. If you asked my sister or my niece their favorites, their list would obviously be different. I grew up in the 90s (the greatest decade of all time but I digress). That’s what drove my list I’m giving you today.
Without further ado, here’s my list of the greatest PBS kids’ shows.
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ran for 33 years on PBS and Sesame Street is still on TV, albeit on HBO. When I think of GOAT material, I look at two of the longest running shows on PBS. Arthur ended its run on PBS in 2022 after 26 years. Believe it or not, Mr. Rogers made a cameo appearance on the cartoon early in the show’s run. Marc Brown, who created the character, is from Ellwood City and thus the town the show is set in bears that name. The series finale was memorable but I won’t spoil it for you.
Reading Rainbow ran for 23 years on PBS and was a favorite for those of us who loved to read. It’s funny that I remember LeVar Burton on this show better than than I did Star Trek. On a list of Mount Rushmore children’s show hosts, LeVar is up there.
Other shows that make up my six pack include: Square One Television; Bill Nye The Science Guy, and we watched a lot of his shows in science class; Wishbone, and I have a funny story about that. We used to log into AOL through a Wishbone CD ROM; and, how can I forget about Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? That show was my jam and I even got to see Rockapella live when I was at Slippery Rock.
Sunday, on my way to Aunt Sue’s I got back into podcasts by listening to the latest Pod Meets World episode. If I haven’t already told you, it’s a rewatch podcast for the classic ’90s TGIF show Boy Meets World. After the first listen, I’d become hooked. I discovered it in the summer of 2022 and listened to a couple of podcasts and didn’t give it a second thought. I found it after listening to Brian Baumgartner’s interview with Danielle Fishel on his Off the Beat podcast. I thought about getting back into these podcasts, but wasn’t sure. Now that I’m back to listening to PMW, I never knew what I was missing.
I’m interested in some other future podcasts down the road as well. Two are rewatch podcasts related to other classic 90s shows. I want to look for a food podcast as well as one that is enriching.
In closing, the thought of doing a podcast sounds fun and it might be up my alley. Stay tuned to this blog as I think about planning this.
Stylish 🍒 