SLIS

Top 25 Weirdest Kid Shows Of The 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Part 1

Take a journey back into time for the 25 Weirdest Kid Television Shows of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s….

This is Part One in A Three Part Series, click here to read Part 2.

Kids today will probably grow up and recall Yo Gabba Gabba as the weirdest and coolest kid show of their generation (weird fact, I used to hang out with DJ Lance in my college years). And 90’s kids recall the Teletubbies. But most current children’s television is dismal.

I dare any adult to watch the Disney Channel for more than 5 minutes without feeling bleak about the future. It’s all bargain basement sit-coms and musical poop. Pass the cyanide capsules, please.

I was born in 1971, and between 60′s reruns, 70’s grooviness and 80’s dreck, Generation X had the
weirdest, best/worst children’s TV shows of all time.


SHOUT FACTORY STORE

Why? You had several factors working with/against each other.

  • Hallucinatory Hollywood fallout from the hippie movement.
  • Religious groups were also making kid shows, and their attempt to mold young minds was just as surreal and unnerving.

Add in a lack of political correctness and you had a molotov cocktail of WTF.

Here are the 25 weirdest kids television shows from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Covering the charmingly odd, delightfully weird and nightmarishly upsetting. If anybody wants to relieve this wackiness, I have Amazon links where available under each title.

25. Space Angel (1962-1964)

Remember when Conan O’Brien used to do skits with a real mouth superimposed over a celebrity’s headshot? They stole it here, which used the same technology for its animation. Even as a 5-year-old, this juxtaposition made me ill at ease.

But it wouldn’t have been so obvious if the animation actually MOVED! Nothing except those creepy, hypnotically askew gaping maws.

 

24. Robonic Stooges (1977-1978)

The Three Stooges were huge in reruns in the 70’s, and Hanna Barbera thought kids would love a show where they were in cyborg form. But given all the original actors had died, the poor voice impersonators and crap animation made this nothing but a pale, albeit bizarre imitation.

23. Ultraman (Original run 1966-1967)

Imagine a weekly TV show with Godzilla production values. That was Ultraman, a Japanese import. A Giant Robot who fought all sorts of oversize critters, it was charming despite its sub-par special effects (his costume is awesome though).  Check out this clip, and be especially mindful of the weird chicken monkey at the 1:39 mark.

Check out the Ultraseven collection from Shout Factory at the bottom of the post.

22. Slim Goodbody (1975-?)

Slim Goodbody’s message was commendable. The guy just wanted to keep kids healthy and active. But wearing a skin-tight unitard with his guts showing made him quite unappealing. He rocked a killer afro though. He looked like a streaker running off  mid-surgery (He also looked like a clone of Ron Palillo, aka Arnold Horschach from Welcome Back Kotter). Thankfully his genitals weren’t illustrated.

A story best left untold.
A story best left untold.

 

Perhaps if he didn’t look like a flayed pervert we might have better heeded his lesson and not be an obese nation overly dependant on technology. He was a prophet as you’ll see below:

 

21. Zoom (1972-1978)

Imagine a bunch of obnoxious kids wearing rugby shirts, yelling a vile theme song and making tie-die. That’s Zoom in a nutshell. Check out the unhinged opening titles:

Zoom was a PBS show written for kids, by kids and this was a huge part of its appeal. It had an inmates running the asylum vibe that kids ate up, but probably drove adults crazy. All that being said, teaching kids creativity and acceptance of other’s differences was laudable. But all people really remember is that damn song!

Speaking of Terrible Kid Theme shows, check out this evil ear worm.

20. Gigglesnort Hotel (1975-1978)

This hotel was assorted with a bunch of odd puppets. But by far, the weirdest was Blob, a lump of clay molded into different shapes, with varying facial expressions. Just imagine a melted Mr Potato Head. His voice was the real show stopper, a bunch of garbled guffaws, wheezes, and vomitous eruptions.

<img src=Blob-gigglesnort-hotel-weirdest-70's-kids-show" alt="Blob-gigglesnort hotel weirdest 70's kids show" />
Blechhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

You gotta hear how he sounds. Seriously, WATCH IT NOW:

I could only imagine staying in a hotel and hearing Blob’s repulsive laugh-barfing through the walls. Not exactly a restful stay.

19. Bozo The Clown (1960’s-1980’s)

A kid show, hosted by a loud-mouth clown, with a cheap, garish set. It inspired The Simpson’s character Krusty the Clown along with plenty of nightmares. I wonder why I ever watched this. It’s an obnoxious host and show lacking joy, organization, and humor. Kind of like the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Sure it’s for a good cause, but the presentation is atrocious!

.

18. Star Blazers (1979-1984)

Star Blazers aka Spaceship Yamato, was an early anime import along with Speed Racer and Battle Of The Planets.

It debuted in the U.S. during 1979,  perfect timing given post-Star Wars mania.

Earth was a nuked out wasteland and a ship is sent to a distant world which has a cure to reverse the ecological damage.

It’s amazing the show aired here at all. American cartoons never showed killing, but Star Blazers was some bleak shit. People got killed en masse each episode! And not just red shirts, major characters! You actually got emotional over losing these wide-eyed, rapid speaking folks.

The money shot each episode was the Wave-Motion Gun, a giant laser cannon that fired from inside the heroes ship the Argo. It seems like that weapon would just make whole ship blow up, but boy did it look cool:

It also had a catchy theme song:

 

17.The Sid And Marty Krofft Supershow 1976-1978

Sid And Marty Krofft were TV producers responsible for many nutty kid shows (Indeed, they’ll be mentioned a LOT in Part Two). Their programs had crazy psychedelic imagery, but they deny any substances contributing to the weirdness.

The Supershow had live-action segments interspersed with numbers by the ‘glam-rock band’ Kaptain Kool And The Kongs. Their songs were actually written by the squeaky-clean Osmonds, but the lyrics seemed pretty trippy:

Don’t get left behind
Take a trip with us today
We will lead you to (through) a land of dreams
Krofft’s got some super shows
They will blow your mind away

Check out the song here:

The segments were a smorgasbord of weird assery. Between Dr Shrinker, Electra Women and Dyna Girl, Wonder Bug, Bigfoot and Wildboy and Mongo World you didn’t know what hit you. Take Wonder Bug; kids attach a magic horn to a junked up dune buggy. This makes it fly and fight crime. What?!?

So that wraps up Top 25 Weirdest Kid Shows Of The 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Part 1. Click here to see Part Two.

And be sure to read my lists of OddBall Toys Of The 70’s and 80’s, Best Worst Movies and Worst Holiday Movies and TV Specials.

And here’s some related collectibles:

Ultraman Max Action FigureStar Blazers Yamato Vinyl Vehicle Replica

39 comments

  7. Wow this list takes me back and makes me realize how twisted TV was back then!

    I also recall a show called “Kidd Video” which capitalized on 80’s music video popularity. Very strange….

    Reply

    • I do remember that! If I’d done a longer list I would’ve included that, and the Rubik’s cube cartoon. And what was the one where the ugly dog had a giant doghouse over his head? I just thought of that one after the fact….

      Reply

  15. I remember a black woman that had a green hand puppet named seymore I think. Was he a bookworm maybe? I believe it may have been a story telling show. Can’t find it anywhere! I was born in 1970 and I remember channel surfing through the limited channels in the early AM. Please tell me this was not my imagination. I think he was a sock puppet with pipe cleaner eyeglasses. Around the same time as Shari Lewis and Lamb chop.

    Reply

  17. I don’t remember most of these, but I loved Zoom, Bozo & the Krofft Supershow. I do remember slim goodbody too.

    Reply

  18. bozo the clown ended in the 90’s and not the 80’S because i remember watching him as a kid and i was born in 85 also Krusty the clow was inspired a clown named Rusty the clow a local Tv clown that Matt use to watch as a kid

    Reply

  19. I was trying to remember the name of a show I used to watch along the lines of Bill Nye the Science Guy. It was a young woman with a pleasant voice who instructed children on on the human body. I don’t know whether it was the 1960s or 1970s and I believe it was on during daytime hours. Anyone familiar? I was in New York State at the time–in case it was a local program.

    Reply

    • I remember the show and the woman but I also cannot remember the name of it. Someone out there must know!

      Reply

      • All about you? It was a program from about 1975. I used to think she was a nurse or doctor who happened to have the chance to do a children s educational short but she talked about a lot of things not just the human body.

        If it’s something else that was exclusively on another local PBS station only then I’m stumped. I loved Wordsmith.

        Reply

  20. I remember watching a show on sat morning and the end of the show when the actors were on stage this big fat mascot puppet walked up and was always hungry and would end up eating one of the actors. Does anyone remember this ?

    Reply

    • I found this article much later than you did, but I just wanted to let you know that you aren’t the only person to remember this, I do to! I just wish I had the name of the show to give you as well, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. So maybe a year from now someone else will find this article and comments section and will be able to fill in this blank for us.

      Reply

  21. Starblazers was a fantastic sci-fi adventure. It is still my favorite cartoon of all time, and you got some of your facts wrong. There are about a dozen episodes of the first 52 episodes in which nobody died. And the wave motion gun was used in only about 11 different episodes. Plus, all the music was original.

    Reply

  23. Saturday morning. Show that had 3 hippy type brothers that were dressed. In white overalls who showed up in a step van then would unload it a and I think painted something and then some time they would. Be offered. A chocolate covered negate and they respond by snapping. There fingures clapping there hands and saying no thanks were trying to cut down

    Reply

  25. Trying to remember the name of a cartoon show based on cave dwellers, there was a park near
    Mt Rushmore that had copies of the houses and cars etc that was a part of the TV show. I took my kids to see it in the summer of 1966

    Reply

  26. Who remembers a kids show that had two astronauts. At the start he says, “It’s time fir lunch”. The other guy thinks he says launch and starts the rocket?

    Reply

    • Judy, that would be Far Out Space Nuts–which featured Bob Denver from Gilligan’s Island. Yet another amazingly weird Sid and Marty Krofft concoction!

      Reply

  29. What hero would do arm motion and say “the end” then the monster would basically blow up? I thought it was Ultraman but he doesn’t do it from what I can tell.

    Reply

  30. Does anyone remember a late 80’s early 90’s science show on Saturday morning that featured an Asian scientist guy doing experiments on a live stage , it wasn’t around long i’m pretty sure it only aired on Saturday

    Reply

  31. Was there ever a show called “Messenger” or something similar? It was a giant robots show, most were controlled by some man or doctor trying to take over the world or harm it in some way, but there was one good robot guided or driven by the good guy. Any one? I believe it was from the 1960s-1970s.

    Reply

  32. After months of effort, try as I might I cannot remember the name of a program which featured a villain named Glitterock and aired in the mid to late 70s. Any help would be appreciated.

    Reply

  33. I remember watching a children’s show in the early 70s, which featured muppet aliens who had octopus-like arms, that I believe only came out at night. They talked real funny and were basically stupid. Any ideas?

    Reply

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