Took my laundry downstairs, then listened to music while doing paperwork for the Acme's health insurance and online work. The Beach Boys' Party! is unique in their history, and frankly in rock history. The songs, though recorded as a normal album, are presented as a real party, with goofing off and chatting in the background. All of the songs were written by other groups, including four originally recorded by the Beatles. Their vibrant "Barbara Ann" was the big hit here. They also mess around with "Hully Gully," "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow," "I Should Have Known Better," "Alley Oop," and even a bit of their own "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe."
The 1984 Olympics album, the second half of which I listened to while bringing my laundry upstairs and putting it away, was a little disappointing. The vocal selections are good, not great. "Street Thunder" by Foreigner and "A Chance for Heaven" by Christopher Cross are the best of a so-so lot. The instrumental numbers are generally better. John Williams' "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" sound more like they come from Indiana Jones than the Olympic opening ceremony. "Bugler's Dream" and Bill Conti's "Power" are a little less bombastic. In general, this is more for really rabid fans of these Olympics collections like me or huge fans of the musicians involved.
By the time I was finished, it was past quarter of 2. I didn't have the time to buy lunch out like I had hoped, so I stopped at Speedy Mart for a banana, a cinnamon muffin, and a treat. I ate the muffin on my way to the school...and even with eating on my bike and rushing, I was still five minutes late. (I ate the banana with the kids at snack time.)
Not a good thing. For one thing, there were 26 kids today, 9 at my table. For another, we're once again short-handed. Two teachers called out. The younger woman and a slightly grumpy man a little bit younger than me ended up with the younger kids while the head teacher dealt with the older ones. The kids were just wound up - in the halls outside of the bathroom, in the cafeteria. I kept having to argue with one young lady who was running around all day and not listening, though she did give me a big hug later and held onto me me as we went inside.
Things went a little better when we got the kids outside and let them run around. Though it was gale-force windy and much chillier, in the mid-50's, it was also frankly a lot easier to deal with than the 80-90 degree temperatures we had last week. One of the littlest boys ran to me upset because the new boy wanted to play monster trucks with another boy and not him. Fortunately, he cheered up with the head teacher found the chalk and brought it to the playground. (In fact, that little boy ended up covered in a lot of chalk dust!) They all chased each other in tune to "I Like To Move It," the themes from Spongebob Squarepants, Bluey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street, Paw Patrol, and Hannah Montana, "Try Everything" from Zootopia, and songs from Moana 2, KPop Demon Hunters, and Trolls.
We took them inside around 4:40, but they weren't inside for more than 20 minutes before most of them decided they'd rather go out on the blacktop and play ball games. I joined them, since I was leaving soon anyway. Went inside to use the bathroom, then headed back down the White Horse Pike. Stopped quickly at Crown Chicken and Gyro to get a tilapia sandwich and fries for dinner.
Ate dinner while watching Match Game '90. Most of tonight's episodes were devoted to the week with Charles, Vicki Lawrence, Dana Fleming, and Brad Garrett showing off his uncanny imitation of Herman Munster. Bill Kirkenbauer and Sally Struthers returned for the last episode, joined by Meredith MacRae (then a morning show hostess) and Rebecca Arthur (Mary Anne on Perfect Strangers) and her cute little white poodle Emmy.
Finished the night at YouTube reliving more of my childhood with game shows I loved as a kid. Contraption was The Disney Channel's first - and for many years, only - game show. Two teams of kindergarten-age kids answer Disney trivia based on scenes from movies seen at different "stations" - Books, Animals, Heroes and Villains, and in the bonus round, Magic. The more questions the kids answers correctly, the more "Contrap-tiles" they win for their group. In between rounds, they each do a short race on a "contraption" vehicle, a hand-powered "magic carpet," a hamster wheel of "fire," or a "boat" bike, to win even more tiles. Team with most tiles at the end wins the big prize package. This is a lot more fun than it sounds, especially if you're a Disney fan like me and my sisters. Considering this ran for 5 years, I'm surprised Disney has never tried reviving it with updated movie scenes or doing anything like it again.
Double Dare went even further with the "contraptions" starting in 1986. We loved watching the kids toss gunk around in those "physical challenges" and try to get through the grueling bonus round obstacle course! I actually preferred the imitation Fun House from 1989. Basically the same idea without the "dares" on questions and the obstacle course replaced with a run through the slightly less-messy Fun House. I still prefer the Fun House run to the Double Dare obstacle course. With the Fun House run, all but the slowest kids come out with a lot of money or a really big prize, as they do here.
Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego, which ran on PBS in the early-mid 90's, proved that kids' game shows could be entertaining and educational. At a time when world geography and history was changing daily, three kids attempted to help "The Chief" (Broadway actress Lynn Thigpen), host Greg Lee, and the members of rock group Rockapella track down one of Sandiego's bizarre hench-people and the even stranger objects they stole. In the episode here, Wonder Rat has made off with the Walk of Fame, stars in Hollywood with the names of people who have distinguished themselves in TV, radio, or movies.
Of course, I watched the occasional adult-oriented game show as a kid, too. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of seeing The $25,000 Pyramid on CBS. I thought all those grown ups trying to describe different subjects were absolutely hilarious. It helped that I recognized many of them, too, like Jo Ann Worley (who did cartoon voices in the 80's and 90's) and Michael J. Fox at the height of his original success with Family Ties.
Like every kid from the 70's onwards, I looked forward to seeing The Price Is Right when I was at home sick or on a rainy summer's day when the weather was too messy for the beach. This episode from 1990 is pretty emblematic of what I remember about Price Is Right in my childhood as a whole - Bob Barker has white hair, Rod Roddy is announcing in a flashy suit, and there's at least one funny Showcase (in this case, different kinds of "rocks," from a jukebox playing rock music to a car to get you over rocks).
It was even more fun when Family Feud debuted and ran back-to-back with Price. Despite Mom saying I used to watch the Richard Dawson version with her in the early 80's, I don't remember much about it. I did love seeing Ray Combs field crazy answers from all those families as an older kid, though!
One of the few things my family did together as a family was watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! on ABC after dinner and World News Tonight. Went with a Wheel of Fortune episode from 1987 that was, once again, pretty typical of what I remember the show being like during my childhood. They even use their winnings to go shopping for prizes between rounds, though there is an artwork prize on the Wheel at one point, too.
If you were a kid in the 80's and early 90's too, I hope you equally enjoy this fond trip down memory lane with some of my favorite childhood game shows!
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