Peppermint Park (TV series)

Last updated

Peppermint Park is a direct-to-video children's show consisting of six volumes, released in 1987 and 1988 on VHS. [1] The show is a mixture of live action, animation, and puppets. Characters included Ernie, who sang a song about the letter M; Snorkee, a reptile who is often oblivious to his surroundings and lacks common sense; Maynard, an elderly man who laments over his wasted youth; and Piggle, a pig with a big appetite whose voice was similar to that of Kermit the Frog (voiced higher pitched in volumes 2-6), among others. Many of the show's elements seem to have been copied from Sesame Street .

Contents

Production and release

The series was directed and produced by John Horton and Mark V International and released by Televidics Productions. Most of the puppets were created by Dann O'Quinn, but volumes four through six also featured puppets created by Dave Chapman. Human characters included "The Story Lady" (played by Melody Knighton, who also assisted in the operations of some of the puppets) and "Magic Megan" (played by Deanna Hawkins). Additionally, animated segments were done by "Those Designers", Inc., and the music was composed by Tuesday Productions and John Horton. Most likely due to very poor sales, budget problems, and/or negative reviews, the series was canceled sometime in 1988 and both Mark V International and Televidics Production went out of business. By this point, the six volumes had already gone out of print. For at least 1990 and 1991, it was distributed to Low-Power TV stations by Enoki Films USA. [2] [3]

Reception and inspiration

Nick Antosca, creator and showrunner of SyFy's series Channel Zero , turned to Peppermint Park and other "really creepy old children's TV shows" as inspiration for the puppet show in season one of his series Candle Cove (2016). [4] [5]

American artist Andrew Norman Wilson remembered as a kid "being terrified of an unexplained dance sequence by a breakaway puppet dressed to look like a scarecrow." But rewatching clips posted online a few years ago he said, "my relationship with the dancing scarecrow has shifted from horror to obsession." He created Reality Models, an extended remake of that scene for a 2016 exhibit. [6]

Screen Rant included the series in a 2017 list of forgotten creepy kid's shows. They suggested it is the "uncanny valley" and "melancholy voice acting" which makes the episodes "unnerving". [7]

In 2019, Cracked.com included the series in a list of nightmarish children's characters. [8] The Found Footage Festival's "VCR Party Live!" channel also mentioned the "uncanny valley" and included a clip from the series with a puppet singing about the letter M. [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Captain Kangaroo</i> American childrens television series

Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series to PBS and independent public stations until 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Jim Henson Company</span> American entertainment company

The Jim Henson Company, formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc., is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of Kermit the Frog and the Muppets characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse TV</span> Canadian childrens TV channel

Treehouse TV is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from sister network YTV's former programming block, "The Treehouse". The channel is owned by YTV Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Having launched on November 1, 1997, it is the first full-day preschool-oriented TV channel in Canada.

The Big Gig was a popular Australian television sketch comedy music/variety series based on the British TV series Saturday Live. It was produced and broadcast on ABC TV in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by Ted Robinson, who started his career as the director of the second series of the acclaimed The Aunty Jack Show in the early 1970s, and Neil Wilson.

<i>Jay Jay the Jet Plane</i> American live action/CGI-animated television series

Jay Jay the Jet Plane is an American live-action/CGI-animated musical children's television series created by David and Deborah Michel and first aired on TLC and later moved to PBS Kids, with reruns on Qubo and TBN's Smile. The series aired for a total of 4 seasons and has 62 episodes.

<i>Oobi</i> (TV series) American childrens television show

Oobi is an American children's television series produced by Little Airplane Productions for the Noggin channel. The show's concept is based on a training method used by puppeteers, in which they use their hands and a pair of glass eyes instead of a full puppet. The main character is a bare hand puppet named Oobi. The first season was a series of two-minute shorts. For its second and third seasons, it became a long-form series, with episodes lasting 13 minutes each. The show originally aired from 2000 to February 11, 2005, with reruns continuing until March 18, 2013.

Enoki Films Co., Ltd. was a Japanese studio based in the Enoki Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

<i>Cousin Skeeter</i> American sitcom

Cousin Skeeter is an American sitcom, that originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2002. It starred Robert Ri'chard as Bobby, a young boy whose life is changed when his strange cousin, Skeeter, comes to stay with his family. With Skeeter's help, Bobby learns life lessons and tackles the ups and downs of growing up. The show also included Meagan Good as Bobby's friend Nina, Rondell Sheridan as Bobby's father Andre, and Angela Means as Bobby's mother Vanessa. Skeeter is portrayed by a hand puppet with Bill Bellamy providing his voice, and Drew Massey performing the puppetry, assisted by Alice Dinnean. Within the show, Skeeter is treated like a regular human and no mention of him being a puppet is made. Although the series was shot in a single-camera format, the show used a laugh track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kris Straub</span> American webcartoonist

Kristofer Straub is an American web cartoonist, performer, and content creator. His key web comic projects include Checkerboard Nightmare, Starslip, Chainsawsuit, Broodhollow, and F Chords. Other notable projects include the creepypasta "Candle Cove" as well as collaborations with Scott Kurtz ("Blamimations"), Paul Verhoeven, and Penny Arcade.

<i>Night Visions</i> (TV series) American horror anthology television series

Night Visions is an American television horror anthology television series, with each episode comprising two half-hour stories dealing with themes of the supernatural or simply the dark side of human nature. It was produced by Warner Bros. Television for the Fox network, originally airing from 2001 to 2002. Musician Henry Rollins was the uncredited host of the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Haynes</span> American actor (1927–2011)

Jerome Martin "Jerry" Haynes was an American actor from Dallas, Texas. He is most well known as Mr. Peppermint, a role he played for 30 years as the host of one of the longest-running local children's shows in television, the Dallas-based Mr. Peppermint (1961–1969), which was retitled Peppermint Place for its second run (1975–1996). He also had a long career in local and regional theater and appeared in more than 50 films. A 1944 graduate of Dallas' Woodrow Wilson High School, he was the father of Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes.

The Captain Fortune Show was a popular Australian children's television show which first broadcast on ATN-7 in 1957. It starred Alan Herbert and featured various segments with puppets, clowns, and other entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Antosca</span> American writer (born 1983)

Nicholas J. Antosca is an American film and television writer, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and showrunner of the horror anthology television series Channel Zero (2016–2018) and the true crime miniseries A Friend of the Family. He also co-created and showran the Hulu true crime miniseries The Act (2019) and the Netflix horror drama miniseries Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021).

Craig William Macneill is an American film director, writer, and editor. His feature film Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, premiered in the U.S Dramatic Competition section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film was acquired by Roadside Attractions and Saban Films and released theatrically in the fall of 2018. Macneill's first feature film, The Boy, premiered in the narrative competition at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and which was also based on a previous short film he co-wrote, directed, and edited titled Henley, which screened in competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won the grand jury prize for "Best Short Film" at the Gen Art Film Festival and Clint Eastwood’s Carmel Film and Arts Film Festival. In 2016.

<i>Channel Zero</i> (TV series) American anthology horror TV series

Channel Zero is an American horror anthology television series created by Nick Antosca, who serves as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. The series was greenlit for two 6-episode, self-contained seasons, which aired in late 2016 and late 2017 on Syfy. The storylines for the series are based on popular creepypastas. On February 9, 2017, Syfy renewed the series for a third and fourth season.

Candle Cove is an online creepypasta horror story written by web cartoonist and author Kris Straub. The story centers on a discussion of the titular fictional children's television series on an Internet forum. Straub has stated that he was inspired to write the creepypasta after reading an article in The Onion entitled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has Occasional Lidsville Nightmare".

Cocomelon is a children's YouTube channel operated by Candle Media-owned Moonbug Entertainment. The channel specializes in 3D animation videos of traditional nursery rhymes and original children's songs. As of May 2024, Cocomelon is the 3rd most-subscribed and 2nd most-viewed channel on YouTube.

<i>Local 58</i> YouTube horror web series by Kris Straub

Local 58 is a horror web series created by cartoonist Kris Straub. The series is a spin-off of Straub's Candle Cove creepypasta. Currently hosted on the YouTube channel LOCAL58TV, each video in the series is presented as footage of a fictional public access television channel located in Mason County, West Virginia named Local 58, with the call sign WCLV-TV, created in the late 1930s, which is continuously hijacked over a period of decades with a series of ominous and surreal broadcasts.

<i>Blippi</i> YouTube channel aimed at toddlers

Blippi is a popular American educational YouTube channel aimed at toddlers and young children. The show features a cheerful, energetic character named Blippi, who takes viewers on adventures to places like factories, play parks, and zoos. As he tours these locations, Blippi relays his experiences directly to his audience, posing questions and explaining unfamiliar concepts. Blippi was acquired by Moonbug Entertainment in 2020, and became a subsidiary of Candle Media on November 1, 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks. U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office. 1988.
  2. ↑ "The FOURTH ANNUAL DIRECTORY Of LPTV Programming Suppliers" (PDF). LPTV Report. 6 (1): 16. January 1990.
  3. ↑ "The FIFTH ANNUAL DIRECTORY Of LPTV Programming Suppliers" (PDF). LPTV Report. 6 (1): 10. January 1991.
  4. ↑ Hardawar, Devindra (14 October 2017). "How 'Channel Zero' turns online 'creepypasta' tales into TV horror". Engadget. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  5. ↑ "Nick Antosca | CHANNEL ZERO: CANDLE COVE". STARBURST Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  6. ↑ "Techne Stuttgart". techne-stuttgart.de. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  7. ↑ Casalena, Em (2017-06-12). "15 Creepy Kids' TV Shows You Forgot Existed". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  8. ↑ MarkosHasiotis (2019-01-26). "5 Beloved Children's Characters Out Of Your Worst Nightmares". Cracked.com. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  9. ↑ "VCR Party Live! Episode 63 – Elegant Napkin Folding". The Found Footage Festival. 2019-06-27. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.