| Pinwheel | |
|---|---|
| Format | Educational, Children's |
| Country of origin | United States, Canada |
| No. of episodes | 260 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode (ran in 3-5 hour blocks) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Pinwheel Nickelodeon |
| Picture format | NTSC |
| Original run | December 1, 1977 – July 6, 1990 |
Pinwheel is a children's television show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable network from 1977 to 1990. The show was the original program featured on the Nickelodeon network (the channel itself was known as "Pinwheel" from 1977 until 1979).
Contents |
There were a total of 260 one-hour Pinwheel episodes recorded. 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 #5, behind All That, You Can't Do That on Television, Nick News, and Rugrats, with SpongeBob SquarePants set to surpass it in 2012.
It was notable for featuring a variety of animation from around the world, in addition to live action segments where humans acted along with puppets. Live action characters included Sal and Smitty (an elderly couple who ran a newspaper called The Daily Noodle), Jake (a man who had small boxes which emitted various sound effects), Coco (a female mime played by C.C. Loveheart), and Kim (played by Arline Miyazaki).
Puppet characters included Plus and Minus (similar-looking characters whose favorite game was "Gotcha Last!"), Aurelia (a gypsy who lived in the 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"), Silas the Snail (had an elderly-looking face, and took an entire episode to go from one end of the garden to the other), Ebeneezer 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 (ran a produce stand), Molly the Mole (lived in a tree in the backyard) and the Hobo Bugs, Herbert and Lulu. Bill Cosby also made several appearances as himself,[1] as well as appearances with Mortimer Ichabod Marker on Picture Pages between episodes of Pinwheel.
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.