Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Candy Apple News Company and Star Stuff, WCAU-TV Channel 10, Philadelphia

By request!  Here is a quick word about two locally produced children's series that aired in the 70s and 80s on WCAU-TV, Channel 10 here in Philadelphia.

The first is The Candy Apple News Company, in which a small human cast interacted with puppets in putting out a newspaper.  The main cast member was the late Matt Robinson, who had previously played Gordon on Sesame Street and was the father of actress Holly Robinson Peete.  Each episode was a fun half hour of skits, short educational films, and other produced pieces.

Alas, there's very little information about the show on the Internet, and virtually no footage.  I've tried for years, but have only found this one clip of the show's intro, which was just uploaded to YouTube last month.



This was requested by freelance writer and fellow blogger Chris Illuminati, whose exploits you can read about at the Great Moments in Christory blog, among other fine places, including his new book which you can purchase here.

UPDATE AS OF 4:30PM:  Chris and his wife had a baby boy today!  Congratulations! http://tweetphoto.com/14872370

But wait, there's more!

Around this same time, Channel 10 also produced Star Stuff.  This show revolved around a boy in Philadelphia who could communicate with a girl who lived in a space colony in the future via his amateur audio and video equipment.  He would play various video clips, cartoons, and for some reason, Laurel and Hardy silent films (I'm not making that up).  I liked the show for that reason alone.

Clips of this show are also rare, but here is the opening and closing sequences, along with a brief profile of the show for the Web site io9.





Keep the requests coming, and I'll see what I can do.  And as always, thanks!

16 comments:

Todd Mason said...

Goodness. So these weren't sent anywhere else by CBS, which owned WCAU for most of its run, and now is owned by NBC after a '90s swap in which Westinghouse (and their pioneering KYW channel 3 in Philly) merged with CBS...impressive that they would go far enough into actually producing dramatic series, as opposed to the merely hosted movie and cartoon shows, or ROMPER ROOM, that the stations I watched in the '70s in Boston and other cities would do. Wonder why that "Gordon" would've left SESAME STREET for this gig, as well...

Todd Mason said...

Ah...so, STAR STUFF was an elaborated hosted show, with more original segments than most (and bits from Gustav Holst's THE PLANETS suite as opening and closing themes).

Phillyradiogeek said...

I knew that theme had to be from something more famous, but couldn't think of it.

I don't know if Robinson left SESAME STREET specifically for this show, but interesting if that's the case.

Chris Illuminati said...

You, fine sir, RULE!

Unknown said...

I have spent YEARS trying to find the name of the show about two kids who communicated over TV from the future and present. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Emmett said...

Hey, I made that video for io9. It has apparently settled many, many bar bets on the Philadelphia area. Also, I loved Candy Apple News.

Phillyradiogeek said...

Thanks Emmett! I hope you stick around my blog. There's plenty of stuff here!

Are you still with io9? What else are you involved with?

Emmett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emmett said...

I'm mostly known for my audio work on 'Star Trek,' I've been doing that for about a decade now. I also write music for video games. Since you're in the 215/610 (and a radio geek), you might appreciate this -- I also wrote and produced commercials for Dr. Desert Dry basement waterproofing; My first TV commercial producer-gig was actually a Dr. Desert Dry ad, I was about 19 years old. Here it is, in its horrifying glory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZt4WioV-qs

(sorry for the previous deletion, I had to edit.)

Pete said...

Any idea how someone could acquire a copy of a Candy Apple News Company episode?

Phillyradiogeek said...

Pete, how I wish! I assume the shows are just gathering dust in Channel 10's basement somewhere :(

Anonymous said...

I'm also looking for candy apple news company. Thank you

Pete said...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ApdE8k95jgs

!!!!!!!

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Luccac@hotmail.com said...

My grandfather was one of the producers of the show. I would love to find more info on it. I was in the studio audiences a few times.

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