HBC will list TV series alphabetically here to make them easier to find. TV shows, except for American TV shows, are generally not well know in countries other than in the countries in which they were made. They are also much more current than movies. Almost all TV shows date from the 1950s at the earliest. Costume dramas have the same problems as in the movies, but a great deal of useful information is avialible from TV shows set in contemporary periods. As non-American TV shows are not as widely distributed as movies, often little information is available on these shows outside each country. Movies are often widely distributed in foreign countries. TV shows, with the exceptiion of American programs, are generally not. As an American, we have, for example, never seen German, French, and Italian TV shows. Thus the TV pages provide a much-needed source of information on foreign programing.
A wealthy attorney raises his widowed niece. Her boy friend, Jimmy Boyd (Howard Meechim) was a regular. I don't recall any particularly interesting episodes.
TV-type show distributed by video. Sort of a Seasme Street/Pee-wee Playhouse show. Apparently rather insipid. One boy wears short pants.
A comedy featuring 11-year old Bailey (Michael Galeota) who has a wild imagination and alters the video diary of his daily life.
A widower ran a charter boat business. His son Jim was played by Les Brown, Jr. There was also an obnoxious boy named Stanley (Clint Howard).
Sit com based on the successful movie. It had a large cast of kids, some from the movie. Occasionally one of the boys would wear short pants, but it wasn't very common.
The program Barmy Aunt Boomerang shows the hero getting one over on his school teachers and the school bully with the help of his Aunt. This children's sitcom starred Toyah Willcox, Richard Madden, and Lawrie McNicol. There were 30, 15 minute episoses. The main character is Scottish schoolboy Sebastian Simpkins. His placid world is disrupted when his Aussie aunt arrives--Aunt Boomerang. Sebastian's family was not even aware that she existed. Even so they welcome her with open arms. Aunty as Sebadstian soon learns is not your run-of-the-mill aunt. Sebastian learns about her supernatural powers. She can walk through walls, travel from one spot to another, as well as cast spells. Sebastian learns that Aunt Boomerang is the ghost of an former actress. She loves to recite 'the greatest soap star in Australia'. She tries to convey her supernatural abilities on Sebastian. The young hero faces his arch-rival Ashley Belcher and his neferious associates Nozza and Rozza. Then there is the forbidable teacher Mr Diplock. Aunty's assistance, unffortunately, usually have unanticipated complications. The program was made by BBC Scotland. Toyah Willcox makes a great sopernatural aunt with a glorious Australian accent. A Scottish reader writes, "It was shown in Scotland in the early evenings.It was made by BBC Scotland.I don't know if was shown in England. The one episode I saw had "Aunt Boomerang" (played by Toyah Willcox,who is a British pop singer) helping the school choir to win a
competition.It is set in a Scottish school with the usual uniform - I'll try to blow up the picture of the main characters.It's another TV show with a Scotland/Australian link - we like that up here as both countries are anti-English ( only joking )".
Show with Buddy Epsom who was Barnaby Jones. Boys in contemporary clothes occasionally appeared on the show.
TV shoe for toddlers featuring a friendly purple dinosaur. The cast included one boy about 10 or so who usually wore shorts. He continued on the show as a younger teenager.
Reportedly had the highest cost ever for a regular series, because of the special affects. There was a boy on the show who played Boxey (Noah Hathaway). He rarely had any significant parts. The cast was changed in 1980 and the show was retitled "Galactica 1980" and included a 14-year old boy genius, Dr. Zee (Robert Risk/Patrick Stuart). The costuming was not very imaginative for a space drama.
A show set on beach life includes a boy playing the part of Hobie, Brandon Call. One reviewer described him as a believable kid, the best actor on the show. I don't know anything about the series, however, as I never watched it. It apparently has proven popular in syndication because of all the attractive women in beach attire.
Set in the governor's mansion. His daughter is the main character, but Billy Jacoby sometimes appeared.
Bernie Mac has typical early 2000s clothes with a mixture of shorts and long pants and the ever-popular T-shirts and button up shirts. What is interesting is that practically no kids in this and several other early 2000s sitcoms wear ballcaps despite the fact that many boys today practically live in them.
One television show that portrayed kids clothes realistically was
Bettleborg, a Fox TV show in the late 90's. The kids wore the clothes typical of the time. Wesley Barker was the main character and he ALWAYS wore shorts, mostly to the knee with pushed down white socks. The young actresses who played his sister ALWAYS wore short shorts and their fried, played by Herbie Baez ALWAYS wore jeans. A silly show, but good for a few laughs. The kids could morph into superheroes to fight cartoon-like villains.
A manicurist inherits a clients fortune and three kids, two of them boys, Nicky (Richard Miles) and Roy (Dennis Joel). They have trouble adjusting to their unsophisticated and unconventional guardian. A HBC reader writes, "Since I'm new to the Internet I've been watching a lot of stuff on Utube. The 19 50s and 60s are an era that I love, I guess bcause that was whn I was growing up. I have been viewing old TV shows and commercials. There was a show called 'The Betty Hutton Show' which aired in 1959. I don't ever remember watching it at the time. I've watched five episodes of it on Utube. It is briefly mentioned in the HBC TV section. Anyway there is a child actor of about 12 in the show. He has to be the most well-dressed sitcom kid ever. In every episode he is shown wearing a long pants suit which was standard for the time. In one episode he joins the Boy Scouts and wears the short pants uniform. This wasoften done in TV sitcoms, although Scouts unless at camp, usually wore the long pants uniform. In another episode he appears briefly in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit with white stockings. The episode was called 'The Seaton Story' and went back in time. Gold diggers were after the family fortune. The 12 year old and his older siblings as part of the convulutedd plot wore period clothing. The show apparently only lasted for 1 season."
The Beverly Hillbillies were an instant success when they first appeared in 1962 and for two years were the most popular program in America. This American sitcom had a rather long life. The show was preposterous, but it had some great characters. My favorite was Mr. Drysdale. While children rarely appeared on the program, there were a few episodes when they did. I do not know the names of most of these episodes. The one I rember best was when Mr. Drysdale's nehphew visits and he is even more of a money loving whealse than his Uncle. True to American television, as he is a brat he wears a blazer with short pants and kneesocks.
Cable sitcom with a boy about 10 or so. Jake apparently has two little brothers.
There was an engaging boy on this show, but unfortunately the show was very short lived. May have been based on the movie "Shamus."
See "Crosby Christmas Specials" on the TV "C" page.
Early children's show, built around a birthday party for a visiting child, including performances by talented youngsters. I don't remember it as a boy, it ran before we got our first TV set. It is likely that some of the boys were dressed up in short pants suits for their appearances. It was still common to dress up for parties in the 1940s, but this was beginning to change.
Attempts to bring the comic strip to television. Dagwood's son Alexander was played by Stuffy Singer in the 1957 version and Peter Robbins in the 1968-69 version. George "Foghorn" Winslow appeared in guest spots.
Story set around a widower raising three kids. The oldest boy is grown up, but the other two are in high school. The girl is the title character, a smart, aware young lady. Her brother (Joey Lawerce from "Gimme A Break") is a total idiot, mildly endearing. They wore contemporary clothes. I never saw any story lines concerning clothing, but never really watched it regularly.
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One of the BBC's best known childrens' programme is "Blue Peter". I'm not sure when the series began, but it is still produced. It produces programs on a wide range of subjects. A HBC reader in England reports that a program was produced, "Mad King Ludwig II" about the Bavarian monarch who loved to build fairytale castles. King Ludwig was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty. I have few details about the program, but some attention appears to have been given to Ludwig's boyhood. Ludwig is German for Louis. In the program, the young Ludwig is pictured in a black velvet suit with knee breeches and white collar. Blue Peter began in 1958 and is clearly one of British television’s longest running shows for children. Original presenters were Christopher Trace and Leila Williams. The programme was originally seen twice a week Monday/Thursday but is now seen three times a week Monday/Wednesday/Friday. In 1968, the Independent Television network (ITV) televised a rival programme to Blue Peter under the name of "Magpie". Transmission days were Tuesday/Thursdays then Tuesdays/Fridays until "Magpie"’s demise in 1980.
Unsuccessful sitcom about the relations of two couples. One of the couples had a son named Sean (Brad Savage).
A fashion photographer has many adventures with his models. His step son Chuck (Dwayne Hickman) keeps trying to break into the action.
The only interesting presentation that I remember was "The Seven Little Foys" in which the Osmond family played some of the boys.
A British childrens TV program from the 1950s or early 60s I think was called "Bobby in France". The program featured an English 14-year old boy on holiday in France. He wore short trousers as did his French friend.
An opera singer loses his wife and has to care for eight children. The boys were: Edward (Conrad Janis), Jerry (Chet Allen/Donald Harris), Carlo (Oliver Andes), Francesco (Gaye Huston), and Andrew (Van Dyke Parks).
A reader tells us about 'Bootleg', a BBC Australian/English joint production with an interesting premice. It was a serial made for children's TV as a three-part mini series in 2002. I think it was shot in Australia. The BBC mini serial was based on a novel of the same name by Alex Shearer (1949- ). It was about banning chocolate, I'm not sure just why. Kind of an early appearance of the modern food police. It was set in the future and England was a totalitarian state. Chocolate was an excellent device to get children's attention and illustrating what totalitarian state could mean. The Head Mistress of a secondary school was a staunch supporter of the ban. Meanwhile impotrant officials of the state were secretly eating chocolate. The Japanese made a 13- part cartoon series based on the book/TV program called 'Chocolate Underground' (2009).
Set in the 1950s, Born and Bred is a comedy drama set in a rural village in Lancashire, England. Arthur Gilder is a doctor who lives with his doctor son Tom. Tom is married with three children, two daughters and a son Michael. He is a mischievous 11-year-old and is typically dressed for the period. The boy in the role is Ross Little and he plays his part brilliantly, he is often seen wearing knee-length reddish-brown corduroy shorts and when dressed-up he wears a brown Tweed short trouser suit. Other boys are occasionally seen in episodes wearing short trousers and knee-length socks.
HBC is sometimes uncertain as to whether we should put some British broadcasts in the TV or movie section. (We do put made TV movies in the movie section for organiaztional simplicity.) We are putting Box of Delights in the TV section because it was a six-part serial. The program has become a minor Christmas classic in the U.K. It concerns an English schoolboy perhaps set in the 1950s returning home on a train for the Christnas holidays. He wears a traditional school uniform complere with the school cap. An old Punch and Judy man slips him the "box of delights" and he has an exciting adventure. In the end it was a dream as he wakes up when the train comes into his station.
"Boy Detective Group" was a children's TV series. It seems rather a spin-off on English books like the "Famous Five" and "Secret Seven", versions of which have neen done in Japan. In fact children detectives for sime reason seem a prevalent concept in Japanese series. (The concept is virtually absent on American TV.) We know virtually nothing about "Boy Detective Group", except that it was also referred to as "BD7".
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An effective little sitcom staring Ben Savage (Fred's little brother) who I think was about 11 when the program began. I saw only a few episodes which I thought generally disappointing. The program proved quite popular. Ben plays Cory Matthews, a beleaguered 11-year old. Not only does he face the typical boyhood problems, but his fearsome 6th grade teacher, Mr. Feeny, lives right next door. The boys all wear longs. In one episode I saw, Cory rebels over the plot and costumes in a Shakespeare production. He particularly disliked the idea of wearing tights. As Cory crew up the show began addressing teenage themes. It was a good show case for contemporary American fashions.
Sitcom where a couples grown up boys come back to live with them. Two of the grandkids are boys. One is the younger brother (Ryan O'Donohue) from "Byrds of Paradice" (1993), only he is now wearing longs.
The young hero wears shorts.
Perhaps the most recogziable TV show showcasing American kids during the 1970s was the Brady Bunch. It was about two previously married parents with three kids each. One of the last of those old style, fun around the house shows, with well scrubbed, polite children. The three boys are very . Greg (Barry Willians) was a bit old except that first year, but the younger two were just right: Bobby (Mike Lookinland) and Peter (Christopher Knight). Very little of special interest, because they never wore shorts--even to play in. The girls, however, often wore extremely short skirts. There were only a few really interesting episodes.
Crush: I liked one episode where Peter is forced to go to a girl's birthday party. One of the girls there has a crush on Peter and takes him by the arm as soon as he arrives. In some of the early scenes the girls looked very attractive in short party dresses and Mary Janes--it was the minny skirt era.
Cindy's class: About the only boy I ever saw in shorts was a boy in Cindy's class during one of the earlier episodes. The boy was involved in a play with her. At a rehearsal he was wearing grey dress shorts. He was quite young, I'd say 7 or 8.
Fauntleroy: There is one scene with Fauntleroy suits, one of the girls fantasize about a perfect marriage and child. In her dreams Bobby appears in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.
Lady doctor: Another scene was when the mother hears Peter screaming upstairs. She had called her doctor to treat him and he was aghast to find a lady doctor was about to examine him. When she went upstairs, Peter had a look of horror on his face and was clutching the covers over him.
Pie fight:
Snow white: The only The Brady Bunch episode I saw where all the kids are in short pants is when they are wearing cistumes for a backyard production of "Snow White". The shorts have halters to make them look like lederhosen.
Sunflower girls: In another episode, Peter appears in a Sunflower Girls uniform (Girl Scout type organization). I think he was demonstrating why Marcia shouldn't be a Scout.
Large family with a boy about 12.
Show about an American Indian tribe and their chief. Included his foster son, Keena (Keena Nomkeena).
Set in Hawaii, previously titled "The Little People."
TV sitcom conceived as a autobiographical nostalgic retrospective. Produced with "Wonder Years" style narration, but set in the late 40s, early 50s. Two brothers are pictured, one is about 12 and the other about 9, both are competent little actors. One is played by Matthew Louis Siegel. They always wear longs in the episodes I saw. Well done, but I do not recall any story lines dealing with clothing.
Joey Lawrence, the little guy from "Gimme a Break" is all grown up and appearing with his brothers, Mat and Andy. Matt is an older teenager and Andy is about 6 or 7. Andy still wears bangs. I do not recall any episodes dealing with clothing. In one episode Joey teases his little brother about his fairy costume in a school production.
PBS Masterpiece Theater showing was quite an elaborately staged production, well worth seeing--but little of real interest. This noted novel was set in gilded era of the late 19th century. There were a few brief glimpses of boys in Fauntleroy suits at some of the parties. The only episode I saw had quite small little chaps.
Jody O'Connell (Tommy Nolan) was a 10-year old boy living in his mother's boardinghouse in the frontier town of Buckskin, Montana.
A widower with three children moves to Hawaii from Connecticut to be the headmaster of a private school. I thought at first the youngest was a little girl because of the long hair, but he was actually a boy, Zeke (Ryan O'Donohue) who is about 10. Rather unusual as you rarely ssw long hair by the mid-1990s, especially with boys that age. He appears occasionally in shorts, albeit long baggy ones. In the first episode the boys at his new school strip him down to his under pants when he refuses to fight. (He had promised his father not to fight any more.) Funny he clearly objects to it when he speaks to his father, but doesn't seem overly bothered as I would have been at that age.
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