RIP Nerene Virgin (1946-2024)

"...today's special is guns?" I love that

I was obsessed with Today's Special as a young'un. My relatives still tease me about it.

@Lurker1979

3 жыл бұрын

Ditto.

Awwww poor Muffy in that Butterfly episode. I just want to hug her and make her feel better.

@schizoidboy

21 күн бұрын

I remember that one too.

For the longest time, a time before full blown nostalgia channels became prevalent on KZread, Today's Special resided in the recess of my mind as just one episode. That episode in question is one where Muffy the Mouse imagines the rest of Today's Special gang as cats who are trying to catch her. Much gratitude goes to these channels sparking the memories of my childhood and keeping those good times alive. Anyway, Today's Special was just one of the many great shows I was fortunate to grow up with.

@AlexReynard

2 жыл бұрын

o.O What specific episode was that? Because that's tingling my nostalgia-center as well.

@jennyvlogs7160

2 жыл бұрын

I have very vague memories of Today's special. I remembered an episode where Jeff was afraid his nose would fall off. It was cool to see it again

This was the first show to come on after 4-5 hours of pinwheel each day.

*guy gets drunk in the store* sam: get outta here *cop blasts pistol* sam: nice

@FdupTV

4 жыл бұрын

Sam was a rent-a-cop. No doubt he wished he could've had a gun.

@RainbowMilk1996

4 жыл бұрын

To be fair, they were at a shooting range

This was my favorite live action kids show from my childhood. It captured my imagination like few others.

Today's Special was a great show in the 80's. I used to watch it almost all the time.

@hezekiahramirez6965

Жыл бұрын

I have an odd question for you. Since you frequently watched this show, do you remember Waldo (or someone else) ever using a different hocus pocus line? Specifically do you remember "hocus pocus jiminyocus?" I swear I remember that line. I'm pretty sure Waldo or whoever it is was onstage. Do you remember anything like that?

Even if the "Very special" episodes weren't perfect, you have to admire how honest they tried to be.

The fire episode will always be my favorite. Sam was my favorite character in this series and he was shown putting out the fire and everything. Loved his character!

I remember playing as Jeff with my friend when we were 5. He'd pull the hat off my head and I'd have to hold still until he put it back on and said Hocus Pocus Alamagocus!

The fact that if Jeff's hat fell off he'd turn back into a mannequin always filled me with existential dread.

@thebunnyfoofoo

2 жыл бұрын

Especially since he was always dancing around!

I always thought it was so weird that the security guard was a puppet. The mouse made sense, but real humans and puppet humans co-existing...whoa.

@nothenryporter81

2 жыл бұрын

I suppose that's why Statler and Waldorf were so bitter. Old men beaten down by decades of anti-puppet bigotry.

@bradjames891

2 жыл бұрын

True. Even on Under The Umbrella Tree (another Noreen Young contribution), Holly was a human but her roommates were puppet animals. I guess Mrs. McMertree was the Sam Crenshaw equivalent, a human puppet neighbor.

Great video ! So much nostalgia.. the video quality of the 80s, how the store looked brings back so much memories !!

This is the first show in the series that I really have any strong memories of, and I've been looking forward to getting here.

This shoe was a gem. I absolutely loved it as a kid. Thanks for the insights!

That season 6 alcoholic - perhaps the oldest memory I have of being with my sister. When we usually got along and often laughed together. Thanks dogg.

I never heard of a pre-school show that dealt with alcoholism and toxicity in relationships; Unless, Sesame Street or some other show handled this concept, this is a show that was ahead of its time!

@segamike8250

4 жыл бұрын

Someone should do a autotune remix with every clip of Muffy rhyming

@vestonbruno2795

3 жыл бұрын

Well, Today's Special already pulled that off. Sesame Street couldn't bother to beat it.

@mightyfilm

3 жыл бұрын

Sesame Street did a parody of the Miller Time commercials. I know it's not the same, but I wouldn't have expected it.

@nothenryporter81

2 жыл бұрын

I wish there was a Mr. Rogers field trip segment at an AA meeting with creepy old 1970s Pittsburgh alcoholics.

Hazel's death got me. I literally barely knew ye, Hazel.

@vestonbruno2795

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, Hazel, I pine for you!

Great content as always! I just found this channel a week or so ago and binged every episode of Nick Knacks, save your full Paul Saltzman interview. Keep it up! P.S. As a Canadian, hearing Polka Dot Door mentioned in passing as well as TVO as a whole made me light up!

@ChristopherSobieniak

5 жыл бұрын

I'm sure it has! Thinking back to Today's Special, one of those weird childhood thoughts I had was thinking what would it had been had Jeff came to life one night, alone and without his clothes on. I don't know why I thought that, but it was something that ran through my head thinking of how silly and weird such an occurrence would be.

I grew up in Michigan and didn't have cable until I was a teenager, so the Canadian airwaves provided a lot of my childhood television. I was very familiar with TVO and this show, and it was really neat to get a deep dive into its history! Excellent work as usual!

@hezekiahramirez6965

Жыл бұрын

Sorry for replying to such an old comment but I was wondering if you could help me out with something. Since you're familiar with this show, do you ever remember anybody (probably Waldo) using the line "hocus pocus jiminyocus?" It's a bit different from the usual alamagocus but I swear I remember it. Does that ring a bell at all?

Oh how I LOVED this show growing up!!! Poparea thanks for doing all these "Nick Knacks" Episodes. I grew up on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite from my youth till in my early 30's. This was my shit! My first episode I happened to come across was the Nick at Nite one. It was late one night (even though I had to be to work the next day) I stayed up and watch it. I mean, I could have just waited till after work to watch it but ever since getting into tape trading, I can't get enough of my nostalgia for my late 80's early 90's Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite that I remember watching. I still remember some of my friends and cousins giving me a hard time on why I enjoyed watching these older black and white shows from the 50's and 60's. I just did. My sister told me I used to ask her to come and watch "Car 54 Where Are You? when I was really little. Most kids at that age were more into watching new cartoons (which don't get me wrong I still watch the newer cartoons) but I also enjoyed older cartoons and older TV sitcoms of those times. Sorry to have rambled on but you seem like a really swell guy and if you ever want to do any tape trading. Just look me up! Keep up the great work! Oh by the way. Here are the three shows I'm looking forward to see you review. 1. Rocky and Bullwinkle (I would call this my Soap Opera of what I enjoyed) 2. Count Duckula (I never was into Danger Mouse that much but I really was into this show) 3. Eureeka's Castle (Oh BOY! Now this was another one of my guilty pleasures of Nick Jr. during my time. I even remember wanting a plush toy of these characters but NEVER did they EVER make any. Batley and Magellan were my two favorites of the main characters)

@only257

4 жыл бұрын

VHS Collector Kyle I remember this show it was the first Nickelodeon show I saw I was 6 in 1990 a neighbor when I was 7 in 1991 had the first 2 seasons on vhs tapes at the time he let me bring home it was in a big box 😎

@Grover1234

4 жыл бұрын

@@only257 really neat story. Were they the ones recorded off of Nick Jr. Or were they store bought ones?

This was my favorite show growing up.

I don't remember which episodes I'd seen, but I do remember this show being on the air. My sister would be too young to know it, though. Anyway, this was such a staple of my childhood. Thanks for the video!

Jodie commenced her time at the store in an orange jumpsuit. That's still stunning to me. I always remember her wearing pink.

I still think about how delighted Sam was to treat himself to a hotel stay, in his own city!

@ryanlemay6296

2 жыл бұрын

Sam invented the stay-cation lol

@huntercoleherr

Жыл бұрын

Yeah... The 80's were pretty awful. Anything new was welcome, no matter how mundane.

Thank you for finally getting here! This and "You Can't do that on Television" are a few things I have been able to remember that you have presented so far. Well that and some of the holiday specials. I hope we get further into more I can recognize soon. Mind, that now I would also like to catch, and have, some of the stuff you reported on before. I wish Nickleodeon would air some of these old programs again. If they did the advertising dollars could off set the costs for producing DVDs and Blu-Rays. Plus since it is already produced programming it could fill in gaps between the new stuff. Nickeldeon would just need to first remaster all of the footage but they have money and big studio teams that could do that.

@razorblade4395

5 жыл бұрын

Nickelodeon has a lot of money

I loved this show as a kid! I seemed to watch The Froozles, Pinwheel, and Today’s special often as a kid! These obscure shows were fun to watch!

@germsincognito8329

5 жыл бұрын

Just Yes did you mean Noozles? Or was there actually a show called Froozles?

Bob Dermer was also the voice of Grumpy Bear for 2 Care Bears TV shows and 3 feature films and the cloud keeper and Frostbite in The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine.

Great research coupled with a willingness to follow threads into deep and sometimes surprising directions. Fun presentation too, with really thoughtful use of supporting imagery and clips. I think Nick Knacks is a work of genius in some ways, and this episode is up to your usual high standard. Subscribed on Patreon a few minutes ago. Thank you for making this series!

This show was wayyyy before my time, but I discovered it on a whim when I was going into high school, and I’ve always been intensely curious about it as a production. Your overview is so thorough, and it feels really satisfying to get to learn so much about this gem of a show so many years later!! Thank you for the remarkable work you’ve done on both this video and Nick Knacks as a whole. The care you’ve put into each production is so apparent and shines through in every installment.

@ShadowWingTronix

5 жыл бұрын

I think I was in late middle school when we finally got Nickelodeon so I was too old for it too, but it was interesting seeing how they handled topics and performances. Plus the concept was neat.

Oh sweet, I wasn't expecting TVO to come up in this series. Nice to get some history for a channel I grew up watching.

This show started as I was on the tail end of its demo so it was more important to my younger sibs than it was to me. Nonetheless, it's one of those shows that I remember vividly in part because it lasted so long and that I never got jaded enough to start hating. It's weird that I remembered the opening note for note but never realized Jeff was a stand-in for the preschool audience until you pointed it out. Now, almost 40 years later, the most fantastical element seems to be that someone Sam's age is the only person in the cast who can run the computer.

Just from the name of the show alone, I feel like I'm about to enter a repeat of the "Special Delivery" episode. And looking at the time stamp, it's going to be full of just as many digressions. Man, just how much tape did Nick have lying around back then?! Two minute later... Oh, completely different, huh? Okay, at least the Great Canadian Invasion continues providing some cracking content.

Two things I remember fondly about Today's Special are the Monkey Maze song and the Goldie Locks opera.

Wait a minute, I swore I saw this on PBS too.. I remember I loved it but also became freaked out often because of the scenes where Jeff loses his hat and he just dies for all intents and purposes..

Thank you for doing this Greg. I loved this show as a kid, but had no idea about it's origins.

This is another show I remember watching as a kid. Back when Australia's ABC picked up a fair bit of this type of content for weekday mornings

@only257

4 жыл бұрын

IanGorton ☺️

I remember seeing one episode of this show, where Muffy hurt her leg and sang the "Poor Little Me" song about being stuck in bed recovering.

Amazing it took an American to do a documentary on this good job

Talk about the early concept for "The Get Along Gang" AKA "Cucumber"... Wow!

I'm pretty sure it won't be mentioned here, but "Today's Special" was also carried by KBYU-TV 11 to Utah (broadcast available statewide) and southern Idaho audiences on cable television. KBYU was kinda, sorta a PBS affiliate but also widely did their own thing to meet standards of their owner, Brigham Young University (today the channel is exclusively BYU-TV).

This show scared the crap out of me as a kid.

Wow that death scene though. That was so sudden but props to it.

You did an amazing job with this one! I don't remember any episodes specifically, but I know I used to LOVE this show when I was a kid.

I definitely remember watching this show as a kid

I loved this show as a kid, and this video reminds me why.

The cop shooting a gun would NEVER happen today on a kids TV show. I was so glad to watch this show as a kid, I’m American and watched it on Nickelodeon and LOVED it. I think I was meant to be Canadian, my Dad’s side of my family lives in Canada and I grew up with Canadian TV like You Can’t Do That On Television, Degrassi High, Today’s Special and some other ones and today I watch Trailer Park Boys and Kenny vs Spenny. So love from America to Canada, thank you for the great TV!

Omg we are this much closer to 1985! AKA the start of the main era!

That moment when you see Greg discussing a channel you grew up with, but before you were born so you have zero idea what this show is or was..... but TVO was a childhood staple for me even though we also got PBS. It was where I watched Arthur, George Shrinks, Zoboomafoo, Timothy Goes To School, Art Attack, Polka Dot Door, Bananas In Pyjamas...... I could go on, but seriously..... it feels so weird to see Greg talk about TVO and it makes me wonder what other TVO shows ended up finding their US home on Nick from before my time as I know quite a good chunk of stuff I did watch did end up on Nick or CN, and in some cases flipped rights. Mind you, I watched a random mix of stuff mostly cause my Mom babysitted when I was a young kid so I've seen a lot of preschool stuff and heck, even go back to watch some of those old shows from time to time as oddly enough, they hold up very well cause they don't talk down to their audience, like most of today's stuff does.

@ChristopherSobieniak

5 жыл бұрын

Some PBS stations even aired TVO content like their science shows! I used to see these... kzread.info/dash/bejne/o4mc2s-Ritq2nco.html But what I really remember is "Write On"! kzread.info/dash/bejne/n6iKpdGDgZnanMo.html These sorts of shows used to be played during what was called "Instructional Programming" in TVGuides, as PBS did not have the familiar "PBS Kids" thingy until the late 90's, so during school hours, they would play these programs for many decades as a service to schools.

@ShadowWingTronix

5 жыл бұрын

My favorite was Read All About It. Always enjoyed serials and stuff about reading. I never did get to see the whole thing because PBS aired it while I was a school and I think they only did the first season. I didn't even know there was a second one until I saw it posted on KZread.

Wow, to see that this show became so prolific and beloved out of what seems like kind of a bizarre premise is fascinating! And, as always, your intensive research and presentation ended up giving us a layered and entertaining video here! Excited to see where you go over the next 37 years of children's TV history

Wow, this video has brought back all sorts of crazy memories. I didn't have cable, but I remember this show from the few occasions I would have access to it, possible when it was in daycare in the early 80's! BTW. this series is to the mannequin transformation community as Animorphs is to the animal transformation community. IE got into a lot of kids heads ;-)

One of my two all-time favorite children’s shows. I need to track every episode down!

I must say, as someone of similar age, who grew up on Nickelodeon, I have been LOVING working my way through this series. I find it incredible that you made a point in this video to talk about of the few episodes I have always vividly remembered for almost 40 years, the photographer with his flask. I always think of that episode when I think of this show and the fact that you discussed that specific episode blows my mind!

I'm so damn old I remember this show. I never remembered the name of the show until I actively started looking for it.

Thank you so much for you work and passion for all us that grew up with these shows not oother popular shows . Not everyone needs ABC's and 123s crammed down our throats. Nicklodeon was so special then and I am so thankful for it

Just 2nd to Pinwheel this was always my favorite show on Nick back in the 80's. Use to be on an old newgroup for fans of this show in the early early days of the internet as well.

JJ McCullough mentioned this show in one of his videos and said the mannequin made him realise he was gay

This was one of my favorite shows as a child

I was like only a baby and about 1 or 2 when I saw Today Special, Today Special and Pinwheel were my favorite shows a 1 or 2 year old. I remember my mother recorded the shows on VHS and I had them until 2019 when the last of the Pinwheel show was cast away. BTW THE VHS was getting old and almost dying.

I loved "Today's Special" when I was little. I didn't have cable as a kid, but the show aired on my local PBS affiliate. It was "Sesame Street", "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", and this show that defined my preschool years.

Yesssssss, thank you so much for this!! I love this show & I love your channel!

I loved this show. I remember rushing home from the bus stop after school to watch it.

Such a good show. It was one of my favorites.

It stopped airing here in Canada around 1993

Today's Special has always been a grownup show for kids. It doesn't sugarcoat inappropriate behavior.

My strongest memory of the show was that time where the sprinklers went off in the computer room. And the alarms went off, flashing red lights. That was scary for little-kid me.

I haven't watched an episode of this show since it stopped airing in '91. And yet, as soon as the theme song started, I remembered it perfectly.

This was the earliest show I remember seeing on Nickelodeon in 1990 I was 6 at the time only remember the hats episode 😊

I loved this show when I was a kid

Jeff was one of my first crushes as a kid.

This channel deserves FAR more subs/exposure. I'm doing my part in spreading the word!

I remember the drinking episode as a kid and thought it was well executed.

That finish was perfect!

I grew up watching this! Haven't even thought about it in years!

Yes. We watched TV Ontario educational programming in elementary school all the time: Art's Place. Look Up. Eureka! This is a great documentary. I've always wondered about TVO's history.

I used to love this show, could never find it as an adult but that’s prolly because I always thought it was called “Special Delivery”

This was one of my favorite shows along with Pinwheel, You Can't Do That on television, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, and Electric Company. It's a wonder I ever got outside at all, but my mother made me, telling me that I had to get sun and air; we couldn't afford a VCR.

I genuinely spent roughly 30 years of my life thinking that Sam Crenshaw was a fever dream I once had.

Well, what do you know...I'll have to keep an eye out for Jeff Hyslop next time I watch Jesus Christ Superstar.

@ZidaneWarner

5 жыл бұрын

There's video of him in the Phantom of the Opera on KZread.

This show has a living mannequin AND a mime and neither is even the creepiest character.

And that's pretty dang swell. I looooooved this show growing up. I still remember Hocus, Pocus, Alamagocus

i have labor concerns with them animating the mannequin to make him do shit for them

Today's Special is one of the shows of 80's Nickelodeon that I used to watch a lot as a kid. To the point where I used to pretend to by like Jeff, though I couldn't do any of his dance moves.

WAIT. THIS IS FROM 1981? I WAS WATCHING THIS ON YTV DURING THE DAY IN LIKE 1991-4? hard core. It's hard to believe tv Ontario... Was Ontario only

Man, I have really vague memories of Cucumber. I watched it a couple of times, I remember now, but I probably haven't thought about it in decades!

That’s cool that the creator did all that research. Even conferring with Mr Rogers people? That’s cool! It showed he cared about creating something meaningful

But I did I learned it was also aired in the USA. But not unusual I know lots of Canadian and American shows played on both. Infact lots were co-produced by american and Canadian productions

I think I remember catching the tag end of this show a few times way back when I was but a little Rodimus. All these characters and sets seem very familiar. Though my mind keeps conjuring an image of the main set empty but lit somewhat dark and red. Maybe from the ending titles? Very neat seeing this unlock some long forgotten memories.

Ooo interesting coverage! This is the first episode that feels in my territory. I don't know anything about this show but I grew up on TVO and Polka Dot Door and on PBS. Oh... And I'm pretty sure I know the Sharon Lois and Bram show too from my childhood. :) Sadly Today's Special wasn't around in Canada during my childhood (near 1999) like Polka Dot Door was. And as far as this stuff today, it's all a relic of the past. Polkaroo, originally from Polka Dot Door, was sort of TVOs mascot. Spin offs with him and his friends continued even well into the 2000s and even appeared in skits and stuff outside of the show. But to what I'm aware of even he's completely gone now. Personally I'd say Polka Dot Door and Mr Dressup may have been more important shows in Canadian history but this is definitely not too far behind.

@ChristopherSobieniak

5 жыл бұрын

Don't forget The Friendly Giant as well.

OMG TODAYS SPECIAL! I rember one time the maniquin guy was trapped ... Somewhere.. And he had been shrunken... And he was eating faint multi coloured marshmellows.. There was this.. And read along.. Size small, sesame street, Mr Rodgers, Mr. Dress up, ... There are a few others I rember the premise for but not the name... Bookmice? Under the umbrella tree?

Terrific show

For years I thought Jeff was played by Brett Spiner because he looked and sounded like he did on Night Court. I didn't know it wasn't him till I looked up today's speacial on Wikipedia

Wow Doc Drinking, That's Something Fraggle Rock Didn't have him do, and That was On HBO.

I remember this show when I was little.

I think this was right after pinwheel as the earliest nick show I actually remember... had no idea jeff was a legit dancer but that would certainly explain a lot! .... completely forgot that they did tackle some seriously heavy themes on occasion, sounds like my wife remembered the alcohol episode (but kinda hit a little close to home so... but I get it what they were going for.)

Omg I’ve been looking for this!!!

For some reason the one I remember was at a laundry mat and they shrunk the clothes.

I loved this show as a kid. I have 5 or so vhs tapes full of episodes my granny would tape for me off Nickelodeon since she had cable and we didnt. All the tapes are labeled "Sam and Jody" since thats what I called it lol. Wish they would release a full series collection. All I can find is a low quality bootleg set of all the episodes