1980's Saturday Morning Historical Preservation Society

Kidd Video (1984-1985 NBC) is a show I wish I knew more about - SHOULD know more about because of my "relationship" with Robbie Rist (the actor who played "Whiz")*, and yet here I am with relatively NO INFORMATION on the show :(

I can tell you that there were two seasons that aired on NBC for a total of 26 episodes that were then re-run as a third season before being sold to CBS as a "Filler" cartoon (no official spot on the schedule, used as a filler for whenever Saturday sporting events were delayed because of rain). I can tell you that you'll never see an official DVD release of the original videos because of copyright issues with the 80's music videos they played which they only had broadcast and rerun rights to. I can tell you it was one of the first collaborations between Saban Entertainment and DIC.

I can't tell you why the art and style of the show is so different from Season 1 to Season 2. I can't tell you who came up with the idea. I can't tell you ANY of the usual awesome behind-the-scenes fables and rumors that I usually have for 80's cartoons. When the subject of Kidd Video comes up, it seems that everyone says "Yeah that was a great show" and then they move on to other subjects :/

YMMV

*(In the early days of The Internet, I created a Religion based around the Robbie Rist character of "Cousin Oliver" from The Brady Bunch, and all the "incarnations" of Cousin Oliver which included "Whiz". I made the mistake of trying to qualify for Tax Exemption through the "Church", which lead to the website being mercilessly taken down by the free site it was hosted on).

The Littles, the first cartoon to be produced by the legendary DIC Entertainment for American Network Television, premiered in 1983 at 10:30 on ABC. The story centers around a civilization of little people with mouse-like features who live in our walls and under our homes. They are discovered by a human boy named Henry Bigg, who helps protect them and keep their secret from the Men-In-Black-esque Dr. Hunter and his assistant, Peterson.

This show was/is one of my obsessions. The year I discovered The Littles, I spent all my free time building miniature furniture from toothpicks and popsicle sticks, hiding them around the house and then "finding" them, recording my findings on my portable cassette tape player/recorder (you know the kind, with the one giant speaker). I wanted The Littles to come out and reveal themselves to me SO BAD, I was willing to frame them and then blackmail them in to it!

So here's a mystery that I've never been able to confirm or deny... according to Dick Clark on the 1983 ABC Weekend Preview Special, The Littles made their debut as an episode of the ABC Weekend Special. Check it out:


Evidence that I didn't just imagine it!

Dick is referring to The ABC Weekend Special episode #55 from 1982, "The Joke's on Mr. Little" - WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE LITTLES!!! To quote the IMDB summary,

"Two boys decide they don't like a teacher, Mr. Little (the grossly underused and under-appreciated Richard Sanders), so they set out to play little pranks on him, but Mr. Little always manages to rise above each joke. In the end, the jokes backfire, endangering the boys and Guess Who! - has to come to their rescue."

You will never know or appreciate just how much of my pre-internet life was wasted in pursuit of this mythical "First Episode" that never existed!!!

The Littles *technically* lasted for 3 seasons, though there were only 29 episodes (13 for the first season, 8 each for the remaining 2) as well as a few specials such as the theatrically release "Here Come The Littles (which is an excellent jumping-on point that explains the origins of The Littles relationship with Henry Bigg) and the made-for tv movie "Liberty & The Littles" which was split in to three episodes and packaged together with te rest of the run for syndication.