Don't Look Now is an American national children's sketch comedy show[1] produced for PBS[2] by WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, and created by Geoffrey Darby and Roger Price.[3] It is a clone of their program for CTV and Nickelodeon, You Can't Do That on Television. The first episode[4] aired on October 2, 1983, and showed its final episode[5] on October 30, 1983. It was originally slated to be called Don't Tell Your Mother, but was later changed to its final title, Don't Look Now, due to PBS executive's concern that the title would encourage children to keep secrets from their parents. It was created out of uncertainty that their top show You Can't Do That on Television would continue,[6] and was cancelled possibly due to the complaints of parents for its content, and also Nickelodeon's concern that if had it not been cancelled it may have spelled the end of You Can't Do That on Television.
Don't Look Now | |
---|---|
Genre | Sketch comedy |
Created by | Roger Price Geoffrey Darby |
Directed by | Geoffrey Darby |
Starring | Tina Arthur Ronda Berkman Paul Branco Max Casella Matthew Flynn Bajah Freeman Adam Gulinello Dhonyale Jones Dylan Jones Jon Joseph Jocelyn Leary David Perrigo Lisa Rosman |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 5 |
Production | |
Producers | Geoffrey Darby Roger Price |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | WGBH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | October 2 October 30, 1983 | –
Season One: 1983 | Airdate | |
---|---|---|
"Episode One" | October 2, 1983 | |
Dylan must learn how to make donuts, but does a terrible job at it. Violet makes bad food at the Camp Pitup. Lisa plays on a men's football team and scores a touchdown. Dylan asks Lisa to a Police concert, though Lisa is unaware that it is the wrong police who Dylan is talking about. Dylan gets lost at a sewage treatment plant and ends up underground, causing him to miss his date with Lisa. | ||
"Episode Two" | October 9, 1983 | |
Jon wears a dress for two scenes that Jocelyn really likes and wants to buy from him, but then ruins the dress when she gets yellow yucked. Bajah is made to drink papaya juice, which she hates, and Jon learns about tugboats. | ||
"Episode Three" | October 16, 1983 | |
Max and Paul trick the Pirate into falling off his plank. Lisa calls the fire department hoping to raise money, but gets their voice mail instead. The dad eats his kid's game pieces, so the kids have to find something else to play with - their food! | ||
"Episode Four" | October 23, 1983 | |
The gang decides to sell Jon's old bicycle to raise money to buy t-shirts, and instead end up selling Jocelyn's new bike. Jocelyn gets a reluctant Dylan to appear in their ad by promising him a date with Lisa. They owe $750 for making the ad but only raise $75 for selling the bike to Lisa, and Jocelyn is horrified that her bike only sold for $75. | ||
"Episode Five" | October 30, 1983 | |
This is mentioned as the last episode. Lisa and Max help The Police make radio cassettes due to a shortage. The network computer mentions the show is boring and needs more violence, leading the girls to buy guns from the camera men. Adam learns how to babysit. At the end of the show, the makeup lady finally slips up, utters the magic words and gets yellow yucked (slimed), to the delight of the kids. |
The format of Don't Look Now is along the same lines as the first season of YCDTOTV, when it was a local program produced at originating station CJOH-TV in Ottawa, Ontario, in which it also included contests for viewers, as well as music videos. Some of the sketches presented on Don't Look Now were recycled from that season of YCDTOTV. The show shared many similarities with YCDTOTV, however there are some differences that set the two shows apart:
Many of the characters/locations/elements in the Don't Look Now 1983 TV series share similarities to the pre-existing and co-existing You Can't Do That On Television characters. Comparing Don't Look Now (left) with You Can't Do That on Television (right):
Characters
Elements
Ronda Berkman played the makeup lady, the house mom, strict schoolteacher Miss Pell, and Violet the nasty camp instructor; when the kids would complain about how nasty the food was, Violet would tell the kids to "Shut up and eat!" (an analogue to Barth's "Duh IIIIIIII heard that!" on YCDTOTV). David Perrigo played a pirate, a cameraman, Mr. Richards, and the house dad. He was also the narrator for the educational sequences. The pirate would tell the kids, before they walked the plank, "Avast me hearties, and you walk the plank!" (similar to El Capitano's "Ready... Aim...").
Every episode had three music videos. Videos featured on Don't Look Now included:
Name | First Appearance | Last Appearance | Slimed | Watered | Chilied | Syruped | Milked |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tina Arthur | October 2, 1983 | October 23, 1983 | Episodes One | ||||
Ronda Berkman | October 2, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | Episode Five | ||||
Paul Branco | October 2, 1983 | October 16, 1983 | Episode One | ||||
Adam Gulinello | October 2, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | Episode One, Five | Episode One | |||
Dylan Jones | October 2, 1983 | October 23, 1983 | Episode Four | ||||
David Perrigo | October 2, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | Episode Five | ||||
Lisa Rosman | October 2, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | Episode One | ||||
Max Casella (Max Deitch) | October 9, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | Episode Two | ||||
Bajah Freeman | October 9, 1983 | October 30, 1983 | |||||
Jon Joseph | October 9, 1983 | October 9, 1983 | |||||
Jocelyn Leary | October 9, 1983 | October 23, 1983 | Episode Two, Four | ||||
Dhonyale Jones | October 16, 1983 | October 30, 1983 |
The voice of David Perrigo would announce the disclaimer at the start of each program: "The following show is not intended for pre-school aged children. Viewer discretion is advised".
It was very highly rated (the second highest rated kids show that PBS had ever broadcast, even beating out Sesame Street in viewership) and was shown for six Sundays, including all of October. However, due to complaints from both parents and Nickelodeon executives, PBS decided not to pick up additional episodes.[9][10][11]
The Don't Look Now series was believed to be lost forever until all five episodes surfaced in early 2013, and have been posted on YouTube as well,[12] but with the music videos edited out. No networks are currently airing Don't Look Now and there are no plans have been announced for a DVD release.
Major funding for Don't Look Now was provided by the Mable Louise Riley Foundation, a Boston-based foundation with interest in children and youth. Additional funding was provided by public television stations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.[13]