Being that’s it’s Saturday night, I caught up on my reading of last Sunday’s New York Times. I read with great glee the piece, written by Emily Nussbaum in the Arts & Leisure section, on Sid and Marty Krofft’s excellent late 1960s and early 1970s H.R. Pufnstuf. I loved this show above almost all the others when I was four and five and six years of age. I’ve always wondered, because these shows received so little traction and play during the years since, if I just imagined Witchie-Poo and the scary-funny play acting that was my key entertainment for many years. I also thrilled at reading about “Land of the Lost,” which I also thought was lost in my brain’s recesses.
All of this is really to say that the Arts & Leisure section of the times is finally, fairly, formally good. For years, they featured arcane theatrical reviews, puff pieces on average actors, and features on just-past artists. My sincere hope is that Ms. Nussbaum and her editors continue their mission in providing journalistic integrity and fine recollections to the fading memories of Generation Xers.
Hey there. I love the work you’re doing at Manoverboard. I agree with you about much improvement at the Times’ Arts pages, but H.R. Pufnstuff… geez, it was BAD. I think you’re looking at it through the prism of a 5 yeard old, when the world is full of wonder. Nothing wrong with thta, but don’t try to use that prism to evaluate this show… or a LOT of 70’s-era TV. I’ve been watching reruns of ‘Shazam!’ on Nick at Nite. It’s so BAD, it’s compelling. And that’s what happens when the world as we know it has 3 channels. Only a few voices get heard – and they get heard for all the wrong reasons. I can get past my own nostalgia for the world as ‘a simpler place’ and thank God those days are in the rearview mirrror, and much, much further away than they appear.
Jeff
You realize that there were only fifteen episodes (and a movie). Think about that.