Called Uber shortly after the episode ended. Considering it was warm, wet, and windy, I didn't expect to get a ride so quickly! To my shock, the driver came in 4 minutes. The luck of the leprechauns held with me going home, too. I got a ride in 8 minutes. It wasn't raining either time, though it did rain during school. There was no traffic, and I got to work right on time.
Good thing, too. We had 25 energetic kids today, 11 alone at my table. They cleaned up pretty well, especially since we had to go first, but I had a harder time with them in the bathroom. It was even more difficult to keep them in line after lunch. We all stayed in the cafeteria this time, no decamping to the library. I'm not sure there would have been room for all those kids anyway. I had to argue with one girl while I gathered colored pencils to sharpen to sit up and not keep putting her drawing paper in her mouth. Another boy complained about the kids grabbing at his doll instead of just putting it away.
It took the head teacher a while to get the projector set up, but when she did, she put on The Luck of the Irish for any kid whose parents had allowed them to watch it. In one of the earliest Disney Channel Original Movies, high schooler Kyle Johnson (Ryan Merriman) is the luckiest boy alive. He barely has to practice to send his team to the basketball championships or to get good grades in school. He's more nervous when his friend Alexis Lopez (Bonnie Lopez) asks him what he's going to do for their school's Heritage Day. Kyle has no idea where he's from, and his parents Kate (Marita Geraghity) and Bob (Paul Kiernan) are reluctant to discuss it. All he knows is as long as he wears a certain lucky coin around his neck, he can get and do whatever he wants.
His luck takes a turn for the worse after he attends an Irish Festival, and step dancer Seamus McTiernan (Timothy Omudson) runs into him. Suddenly, he's lost his homework, gets into an argument with Alexis, and can't make a basket to save his life. Worse yet, his mother is feeding him calorie-heavy Irish food instead of the usual healthy breakfasts and has shrunk down to an inch high...and he's starting to shrink, too. His estranged grandfather Reilly (Henry Gibson) reveals that they're leprechauns, and that lucky charm was their clan's luck. If he can't get that charm back from Seamus, then their luck will be gone for good. With the help of his parents, Alexis, and his best friend Russell (Glenndon Chatman), Kyle finally learns that even a leprechaun can make his own luck, that skill can be just as important, and that no matter what your heritage is or where you're from, we're all Americans in the end.
Yeah, this is definitely one of the stranger Disney Channel movies. On one hand, I appreciate the emphasis on the trouble the Irish had to go through when they first came to America and them addressing several Irish stereotypes. On the other hand, the "you make your own luck" Aesop is hardly subtle, and just the story of a kid turning into a leprechaun who defeats bad guys playing basketball is plain weird. It's still worth checking out for older kids on or around St. Patrick's Day if they have any interest in Irish culture or love unique fantasy tales.
After the movie, the head teacher switched to showing several read-a-longs with people reciting books for younger kids about St. Patrick's Day or catching leprechauns. I spent that time drawing scenes from Legendary Tales of WENN and keeping an eye on the boys drawing. By the time the kids had gotten bored with the read-a-longs and she was putting the projector away, it was almost 5. We were down to 3 younger kids and 7 older ones, and the rain had temporarily stopped. Two left even as I gathered my things to go home.
Watched Match Game Syndicated when I got in and had dinner. The first episodes finished off the week with George Kennedy and Barbara Rhodes. The remaining ones moved to the next week. Edie McClurg moved to the sixth seat she'd occupy for the rest of the series and in 1990, while Bernie Kopell made his third and final appearance on the show. Scoey Mitchelll was more interested in flirting with a pretty contestant.
Finished the night with game shows featuring teenagers and college students in honor of spring break week. Most game shows are generally made for older adults or kids, but that doesn't mean there haven't been attempts at ones for teens and young adults, too. Fun House was such a surprise hit in 1989-1990, the same company created a spin-off called College Mad House. Same idea with sexier stunts, pie-in-the-face questions replacing the "race to get the rings" round, and colleges playing each other instead of kid duos. Southern rivals University of Maryland plays the University of Virginia in the episode I have here. Greg Kinnear had some of his earliest exposure on TV as the host.
Most game shows for teens and college kids were far more cerebral. The original TV version College Bowl ran on NBC and CBS from 1959 to 1982, with shorter revivals in 1987 on The Disney Channel and back on NBC in 2021 and 2022. This is about as simple as you can get. The host (Allen Ludden in this early episode) asks the kids questions worth 10, 20, or 30 points. The more the kids answer right, the more points they get. Winners earn scholarship money. The episode I have is a battle of smaller schools from cold climes - Bates College in Maine and Macalester College in Minnesota.
College Bowl proved to be so popular, local shows adapted the format to let area high schools compete against one another. Scholastic Scrimmage is the version for Allentown and eastern Pennsylvania. This one has been going strong on the Allentown PBS for over 50 years. In fact, the episode I have here is from last year. New Jersey Bowl was on the Camden PBS NJN (now NJTV) for many years. The episode I have is from 1987 and features two schools from small North Jersey suburban towns.
College Bowl wasn't the only game show for college kids and teens on The Disney Channel in the late 80's. My sisters and I loved Teen Win, Lose, or Draw, especially since we owned the game at that point. It was the same deal as the daytime shows with Vicki Lawrence, only with teen contestants and celebrities and a much younger and more energetic Marc Price hosting. Lecy Goranson of Roseanne and Dany Pintaro of Who's the Boss are the eager young celebrities here.
Given the overwhelming popularity of Survivor and similar reality competitions in the early 2000's, it was probably inevitable that versions would be made for kids and teens. Moolah Beach had 12 kids from different parts of the US paring off to see who could last the longest in a series of challenges and earn the 13 "Grand Idols" with the big prize. It's basically a cross between Survivor and Legends of the Hidden Temple. The kids are certainly game enough in the premiere episode I have here. Though the show only ran three months, it would be retooled as the far longer-running Endurance on Discovery Kids from 2002 to 2008.
Take your spring break at the College Mad House, on Moolah Beach, sketching with your buddies, or playing trivia games with some truly wild quiz kids!
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