Monday, November 26, 2012

Let the kids play: Storybook Squares (1977)

In the late 70's, NBC, presumably after years of viewer requests, decided to bring back the Storybook Squares as a holiday treat on the parent Hollywood Squares. Storybook, as a stand-alone Saturday afternoon series, aired for 8 months in 1969. This time, announcer Kenny Williams is blowing one of the trumpets and acting as town crier instead of the "Guardian of the Gate", as they didn't completely reassemble the original Storybook set, which was pretty cool when you think about it.

The biggest change is that it's not just the kids that are playing this time. Their parents get in on the action. Jared Oswald uploaded this July 1977 offering with guests including Karen Valentine,



Sadly, as the franchise has been revived twice since the original series ended in 1981, no one has bothered to try the Storybook format again. You know MTV ain't gonna, not with Hip Hop Squares.

Rating: A.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

They really need to bring this one back - perhaps bring back the daytime weekday version and do "Storybook" on Saturdays like they used to.

Imagine the fun!

hobbyfan said...

Sony owns the rights, so it's their call. I'd love it if something like this would snap ABC out of its doldrums, especially if they could lure Peter Marshall out of semi-retirement (currently doing radio and that Time-Life infomercial with Debby Boone).