Quote:
Originally posted by rcwilco
Anyone remember Tom Terrific and Mr. Wizard or Crusador Rabbit or Howdy Doody or..... The wizard I was talking about was on Tom Terrific, there was a kid who was never happy with who he was and so the wizard would turn him into another person or animal and the kid would always end up begging to be changed back. The wizard would chant some cute phrase and then always end it with "time to change this one back". Ring any bells?
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Yeah, there was a wizard on Tom Terrific as you describe. However
Mr. Wizard was a live show that was about teaching kids science. Don Herbert would be in his house and a neighbor kid (usually someone named Bobby or Susie) would come to visit (I'm not sure that would work in today's atmosphere) and ask some question about science. Mr. Wizard would then have them help him conduct some simple experiment using household items, such as milk bottles, balloons and a particle accelerator (just kidding).
Don't discount the importance of Winky Dink - the first interactive television show. You could buy a static clinging piece of plastic to cover your TV screen. It came with crayons. Winky, who was animated, would get into a predicament and then you would have to draw on the plastic to help him. For instance, he would fall down a manhole and you would have to draw a ladder for him. They would have a dotted line in the cartoon to show you where to draw. I always would do something like draw a cover on the manhole instead, just to trap him. One day, he fell out of an airplane and you were supposed to draw a parachute. I drew an anvil to make him crash quicker. My sister started crying because she thought I was trying to kill Winky Dink.
They had to stop because too many kids were drawing directly on their TVs. The show had a live host, Jack Barry, who went on to host Tic Tac Dough and Twenty-One (not
two-one 
) Barry was later fired in the quiz show scandals. See the movie "Quiz Show" for his story.
Geez, this takes me back. I have a friend named Ed Winkler and we call him Winky. He is too young to have seen the show and has no idea who Winky Dink was. He has looked up some stuff on the net, but it's not the same as a real memory.