8 Bizarre TV Shows Gen X Forgot They Loved
#rememberwhen You looked forward to Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room hosts saw us through magic mirrors? Welcome to Part 3 of our countdown of the weirdest kids’ shows Gen X forgot they once loved. From the slow-paced surrealism of Captain Kangaroo to the neon-pop madness of Kids Incorporated, these shows were sincere, strange, and somehow… essential.
8 Bizarre TV Shows Gen X Forgot They Loved
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
00:54 – #8: Captain Kangaroo — Bob Keeshan
04:39 – #7: Picture Pages — Bill Cosby
07:26 – #6: The Edison Twins — Andrew Sabiston
10:51 – #5: Romper Room — Nancy Claster
15:56 – #4: Howdy Doody — Buffalo Bob Smith
19:57 – #3: Square One Television — Joe Howard
23:26 – #2: Kidd Video — Robbie Rist
27:19 – #1: Kids Incorporated — Stacy Ferguson (Fergie), Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mario Lopez
Watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/u7XRbgZas0g
Watch Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU08IlvlcFo
#CaptainKangaroo #RomperRoom #KidsIncorporated #80sTVShows #GenX #PBSKids #NostalgiaTV #SquareOneTV #HowdyDoody #SlimGoodbody #KiddVideo #ForgottenTV #ClassicKidsShows #TVHistory #RememberWhen #TVNostalgia
@liberty1193
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
What about Zoobilee Zoo!?! I loved that show
@mofish8925
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I totally forgot about Picture Pages. Watched it at home and in school.
@Looking2Sea
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I feel blessed to have had Keeshan and Rogers as part of my early childhood. They exemplified the value of kindness beautifully.
@davidhoj
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I saw a lady in Thailand get 10 ping pong balls in
@hitman5159
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I'm a Baby Boomer and I remember Howdy Doody well Bob Keeshan was the original Clarabelle. The show's budget was so tight in the early days that they couldn't pay Keeshan for a speaking part so that's why Clarabelle was mute. When CBS was planning a morning show for kids, they approached Al Lewis (not Grandpa Munster) who was Uncle Al in Cincinnati, but the station would release him from his concert. That's when Keeshan was chosen and he became Captain Kangaroo. Another kids show star from the 1950's was Pinky Lee. Paul Reubens patterned PeeWee of PeeWee's Playhouse after Pinky Lee.
@rocketqueen9456
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Fergie, Renee, and one other had that girl grip group, Wild Orchid. I think that was their name.
@benjamindunkle2728
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
What about 321 contact?
@LuvPureCom
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
😯😯😯 I had no idea that Romper Room was different depending on where you lived.
@wendyz4552
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Captain Kangaroo lived in my neighborhood, and I trick or treated at his house
@ShawnWhitehead-r2d
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
There was a TV show back there called winky Dinks and what they would do is they would set up a scene and you would put a piece of cellophane over your TV screen and they would ask the children to draw Bridges so they could get to the other side and continue the scene
@ShawnWhitehead-r2d
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
My uncle owned a barber shop and he had all the local kids believing that he was the dancing bear he even did a little dance for them when they came into his shop
@kylejohnson6867
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
H.R. Puff-n -Stuff. That show blew my mind!
@nhoomiteub
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
i was on romper room in the bay area 1074 or 73 in the bay area
@Nathan-raimmy
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
i didnt forget these
@Pinkthing11
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
i love square one and kids incorporated. To me kids inc was better then glee
@theponch00
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I remember Zoom and 123 Contact on PBS
@DavidBanuelos
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
In case you couldn't tell, that's Dolly Parton @4:10.
@JoeLawrence-i2x
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
There was a show back in 80's called zoobilee zoo I'm not sure if I spelled it right but it in 80's
@DC19462
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
2:52 how would that be awkward now? he was drawing pictures for kids. didnt do anything that seemed to foreshadow his future problems.
@bmommyx2
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
This was great but I'm an OG GenX and don't remember the later ones, however you missed a lot like the Electric Company, Zoom, 3,2,1 Contact. You forgot the Sid and Marty Croft shows although you could do one episode on them. Fat Albert, the Harlem Globtrotters (live and cartoon) and more that I can't think off. Not sure if these were local to LA but Dusty's Treehouse, Hobo Kelley and the Popeye show (don't remember the name) with Tom Hatten drawing Popeye. Pretty much all of the Hanna Barbara cartoons – that could also be it's own show. The reality is everything us kids watched in the 70s and 80s was bizarre. Also New Zoo Review.
@philicia5352
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Am I the only one who remembers the Saturday preteen programme Circle Square?
@jasond3215
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I remember that Kids Incorporated came on right after Transformers. I never actually watched it cuz even as a kid I thought the ridiculous music they played was just ear rape.
@theduck-p7m
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Mathnet was the best!
@catherinebhicks
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
The more I watch the more I realize the people who made the children’s television that I watched growing up we’re on serious acid trips 😂
@ChadMourning
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I'm a Millennial, but still loved Square One. Huge impact on my life.
@thejleechronicles
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I remember Patches and Pockets from the 80s, but I think they were local characters
@Chief_Handler_Owns_Serap
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I heard the Fat Boyz are back…and they'll never be whack.
@EienNiKenJa
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Square 1 and Kidd Video were my favorite shows growing up.
@WilliamBeam-p5k
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Growing up in the 50s Captain Kangaroo , Romper room , and Howdy Doody made me glad i was born when i was ( among other things ) it was just a great time .
@j.r.cilliangreen4083
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Kid Video was awesome. And I often felt like I must have made it up as no one remembered it.
@yanivavizratz984
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Kidd Video were huge in Israel. They did a tour here.
@fool1shmortal
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I don’t know if they were strange, but I was told so liked “Sha-na-na” and I remember “321Contact”, “You Can’t do That on Television” and “The Electric Company”.
I remember I watched “Captain Kangaroo” and “Kids Incorporated”, but don’t recall the details. I don’t remember hearing of the math show or “The Edison Twins”.
Thanks for the memories or what we’re probably memories long ago.
@RajaReign78
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
The weirdest tv show I remember watching as a kid was Pinwheel. I never really got into the PBS or Disney lineup. Man though can I sing that Pinwheel theme song by heart. 🤣🤣🤣
@RajaReign78
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
That Slim dude is the stuff of childhood nightmares. 😦
@sdseals2076
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I still love Kids Incorporated.
@Onyx-Rose150
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I was like, wait, I remember Captain Kangaroo, not well, but still. Then they said he revived it on PBS, and it clicked.
@jwb52z9
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I'm near the end of Gen X, so I never got to watch Captain Kangaroo. I was only just under 6 years old when the local CBS affiliate out of Dallas had basically all but stopped airing it according to what I can find out online or it was shown so early that even a 5-year-old wouldn't have been awake yet. I did get to watch Slim Goodbody, which seems to have aired on its own when I saw it. I never saw Picture Pages. "The Edison Twins" was also shown on PBS, at least my PBS station that aired out of Dallas across northern Texas. PBS aired it in syndication for its educational value at the time. I remember hearing the theme to "Romper Room and Friends", and I didn't even know it was different from the original until this video, somewhere, but as far as I know it wasn't aired at a time when I would have been awake at the right age to watch it. As you can probably guess from the rest of my comment, I watched a lot of PBS as a kid, so I loved "Square One TV". BTW, the song was "Angle Net". I also loved "Kidd Video". For the very brief part of my childhood when my parents had more than a roof antenna for watching TV, I loved Kids Incorporated.
@RollingAlongTheRIver
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I was a huge Captain Kangaroo fan: child in late 60s early 70s. I watched a lot of Romper Room; I even had a pair of Romper Stompers. Howdy Doody I never watched. I haven't ever heard of the others in this video, lol.
@DanaPAH
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I totally forgot about Picture Pages and that I loved it. Until now. It was the theme song that unlocked it. On the other hand, I never forgot Kids Inc and how much I adored it!
@matthewwhite2155
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I loved Kids Incorporated and Square one!
@InquisitorAstelon
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I had a Mortimer Ichabod Marker. I'm pretty sure it's still in a box somewhere in the attic oh my parent's house. It wasn't really a marker. It was a crayon holder that made sounds when you pressed down to write.
@heathervoyer3782
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Today's Special!
@heathervoyer3782
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
321 Contact!
@heathervoyer3782
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Bozo the Clown with Cookie and Wizzo?
@knightrider4545
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
This might be a little bit on the later end but Ghostwriter on PBS was popular, Today's special on PBS, and Newton's Apple on PBS. We watched a lot of PBS growing up if you couldn't tell.
@knightrider4545
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
Okay, you're going to mention Square One but not even mention one of the songs was done by weird Al Yankovic? That's one of the things that I would have definitely mentioned along with James Earl Jones because he's still well known to this day.
@doro626
February 25, 2026 at 4:33 am
I NEVER forgot Kaptain kangaroo, or Cosbys drawing show. neve heard of Edison twins and never heard my name on Romper room and its a common name. Howdy doody was kind of before my time. Not only did I remember Square one, but I remember 3-2-1 contact, and electric company. I remember kid video, Captain N the game master and Mr. T and theT force. Kids Incorporated and menudo.
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