@zebratron2084 ... Gnartle?

(I've heard of this show, but grew up in the New York City metro market, so we were more of a New Zoo Revue area. ... Though we did get in the Hot Fudge Show, from Detroit, for a while.)

@zebratron2084 Among my many weird childhood fascinations was with their 'Name That Emotion' game show. I don't think 'Name That Emotion' is solely responsible for my status of "nerd who still thinks feelings worth respecting" but that's got to have been an indicator or an influence.

@Austin_Dern There was something just kinda magical about 1970s liberal kids' TV, yanno? I keep hoping part of the anti-T***p backlash will be a resurgence of that ABC Saturday morning PSA kind of "love yourself, be responsible, take care of other people, because all our feelings matter" kind of culture...

I can dream. But, I mean, I'm a big talking cat from the future-- so I already know the Terrans pretty much muff it completely. -__~

@zebratron2084 I would legitimately love to see a new era of that kind of Free-To-Be-You-And-Me writing. The comic strip Wee Pals may have been unintentionally cringy in its well-meaning, in its last years, but I still loved it for keeping that flame going.

Also I'd like more of that 70s-kids-TV ethos of 'supervisors aren't watching and we have a big content hole and some b-roll footage of cows so let's do a haunting and mournful song about milk'.

@Austin_Dern @zebratron2084

I have to wonder if my parents weren't hippy-leaning at some point. We had the book Free To Be You And Me (and I still have it), watched the movie version, and had the Family version too, on vinyl record.
They were the most subversive things in the house, and I still wonder how it flew under my mom's "new age is satanic" radar.
But I'm happy to have had them, because it definitely helped shape my young mind in better directions than heavy religion.

@emanate @zebratron2084 I think there was this period that every living space was just assigned a copy of Free To Be You And Me. The same phenomenon left every house with a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. And, for those with very fortunate houses in which hardcore nerds would be raised, at least one edition of The People's Almanac.

Follow

@Austin_Dern You have no idea how much almost everything else in the house was conservative Christian stuff. Ours was not a typical household, so I'm even more surprised we had that book. :-P

@emanate Yeah, don't know what to say. Maybe they were also Marlo Thomas fans?

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!