In grade school, first or second grade, I think, we occasionally watched a tv show called Read All About It that features kids trying to solve mysteries. The only thing I remember clearly, probably because I was so scared, was that they had an enemy who was a floating head.
Why am I thinking about this, you ask? Well, because I watched the Sesame Street special where they go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and get locked in overnight because they're looking for Big Bird, who is trying to meet up with Snufflupagus, and at one point Big Bird and Snuffy meet up with a little prince who lives inside the Egyptian tomb at the Met,
and they help him solve a riddle that is posed to him at midnight by a demon. And that demon is a floating severed head wearing a weird scarfy hat thing and has green makeup on, and it reminded me of this other scary floating head. Also, Cookie Monster sings a song about not being allowed to eat the art at the museum, which is how I found out about this show, because my conservation professor in Toronto brought in the video and showed us the clip. Who am I to argue with both Sesame Street and the Met, but I can't help but wonder if this just planted ideas in kids' heads. And at the end of the show, Bob tells Cookie Monster that because he was so good all night and didn't eat any of the art, he can have anything he wants from the hot dog vendor on the street outside, and he does his Cookie Monster thing and eats the cart, sending hot dogs and popcorn flying.
What's with the floating severed heads on kids' shows? That can't be good.
Anyway, finally I have come to my senses and looked it up online. And of course I've already found two sites good pictures (see the big scary head right at the top!) and good review.
You know the freakiest part of all? It's Canadian!!! From Ontario, even! I bet it was filmed in Toronto! Destiny. I can't believe this never came up in all the Massey dinners we spent talking about childhood tv. And that no one proudly claimed this as a genius Canadian contribution to the world. While I don't remember it well, surely it was better than Mr. Dressup.
Yeah, that's right, I said it. I don't like Mr. Dressup. To be fair, I only saw it as an adult. But it was lame. But you can still hold your head high, Canada, because you gave children everywhere You Can't Do That on Television, the best kids' show ever.
