Anyone Remember These Christian Kid's Shows?

[Suzy]

I would not say I grew up with it, but here in my country they had Superbook on TV. But I think I was too old for it already when it came in, so while I watched a couple of episodes, but I do not remember it as highly influential to me, or something I grew up with. I have more fond memories of some secular cartoons.

 

As for comics, does anyone else remember this?

 

 

"Alberto Rivera was a Jesuit priest. When his mother died while he was still very young, he made up his mind that by becoming a priest he would learn the truth about God, and be able to bring that to others. If you are a Catholic, or have Catholic friends or loved ones, this story is for you."

 

http://www.chick.com...lbertoindex.asp

 

This is an evangelical comic bashing Catholicism. It is truly horrible. I remember it starts with Alberto's mother on her death bed, having all kind of nightmare-ish hallucinations. The suggestion is that despite of the fact (or because of it?) that she spent all her life as a believing Christian, because it was the wrong denomination (Catholicism) she went to Hell...

 

This is how the story starts, you can imagine the rest. It's horrible. It really scared me at the time.

 

ETA: Here is the comic: http://www.chick.com/reading/comics/0112/0112_allinone.asp

[Lilith666]

You forgot Prayer Bear. I used to love that.

 

Veggie Tales and Adventures in Odyssey are the two I remember most, since I used to watch those in SS and AIO was on FOTF a lot. I still sing the theme song occasionally. What's weird is I have a Satanist friend who loves VT.

 

I saw a clip of Bibleman once (thought it was cheesy) and a little bit of Davey and Goliath.

[Lilith666]

The flannelgraphs. Oh god. I can hear that CD that was always playing before Sunday School started with little kids singing "It's me, it's me, it's me oh lord, standing in the need of prayer...." It makes me feel hideously Xian.

 

Sorry about the double post.

[JoeCoastie]

 

Christian puppets are pure nightmare fuel.

[Lilith666]

 

Christian puppets are pure nightmare fuel.

 

LOL....it sort of looks like the Twilight Zone dummy from "The Dummy" and "Caesar and Me".

[Stamps1962]

I grew up in the 50's. Also we did not have a TV set- many families in fundy churches didn't then  I remember old radio shows on Saturday mornings- "Aunt Bertha and her Happy Family." was one. They always had hokey dramas with horrible acting usually about situations involving ethics in school, etc. I also remember the Danny Orliss dramas.

 

This was not a kid's show but how many have heard 'Unshackled" - a drama series for radio put on by Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. They are even today considered good enough to be heard on some old time radio outlets on the internet. 

[LifeCycle]

I loved Fire by Night. I believe Blaine Bartel was the name of the main guy in that show. Eastman Curtis replaced him for a bit then went on to pastor a church in which he stepped down from after committing adultery with someone at the church. Anyway... We would watch FbN on Wednesdays and I was always so excited to seed the TV in front of the rpm add I knew we were gonna watch FbN! They would have Christian singers on and I especially remember the episode when Al Denson was on there as I was a big fan. The skits on FbNb were horrendous though. Haha

 

Lots of spell check errors. Deal with it. :-)

[kolaida]

I remember flannel graphs!! They were really popular in the younger kids' Sunday school. Definitely Veggie Tales. My parents cleaned the church, so we'd sit in the nursery and watch Veggie Tales.  I don't remember the others, but I gotta ask~ any video gamers ever play Bible Adventures on the NES?  I remember playing that game SO MUCH and I don't think I ever beat Goliath in it.  But it was funny as heck to throw baby Moses around when you were trying to get him to the river.  And I remember the Noah's Ark one, too, grabbing all the animals and sticking them in the boat.  Hahaha, I remember as kid thinking how ridiculous some of these stories seemed on the game but it was "just a game." LOL!!! Bwhahaha, but that game was fun and I never got in trouble for playing it.  

[SilentLoner]

I don't remember the others, but I gotta ask~ any video gamers ever play Bible Adventures on the NES?  I remember playing that game SO MUCH and I don't think I ever beat Goliath in it.  But it was funny as heck to throw baby Moses around when you were trying to get him to the river.  And I remember the Noah's Ark one, too, grabbing all the animals and sticking them in the boat.  Hahaha, I remember as kid thinking how ridiculous some of these stories seemed on the game but it was "just a game." LOL!!! Bwhahaha, but that game was fun and I never got in trouble for playing it.  

 

 

 

[kruszer]

You know, I still kind of like Veggietales. And Jungle Jam too actually.

 

They don't have to be horrible, and this isn't just for the purposes of making fun of them (although if they get posted, they probably will get made fun of. I know I'll be making fun of mine, except maybe Jungle Jam, AiO and Veggietales). This is more for evaluation and remembering. How did these shows shape your little child's brain? Do you ever feel nostalgic for them? Was it all bad or can you salvage some pleasant memories?

 

I would totally still let my kids (when I have em) /nieces and nephews watch or listen to Veggie Tales and Jungle Jam.  They are clever and the kind of pun-filled humor that adults can appreciate with a story that kids still enjoy.   I don't think that everything that teaches kids about God and Jesus is necessarily bad for them, no more than letting them watch movies about Santa Claus, or Saturday morning cartoons with imaginary talking bunnies.  

 

Many Christian kids programs do an excellent job of weaving values into stories and those values (love your neighbours, don't tell lies) are still handy lessons for kids to learn.   Some of the songs are kick-ass fun and funny!  No worse than Disney - which has its share of fictional characters.  

 

I think as atheist parent/aunt, the fact that I believe these things are ALL imaginary would be obvious in so many other ways, that I don't need to remove all fiction and fantasy from my kids' lives.    Furthermore, there is something to be said for having a cultural awareness of the Bible stories.    I was talking to a second-geneartion atheist friend of mine the other day and when I referenced the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, she looked at me in confusion and said "who?".    I don't want my kids to believe the Bible stories as fact, but I don't want them to be sheltered from them either. 

 

[kruszer]

Also you forgot: 

- The Aventures of Nanny Bird
- Bullfrogs and Butterflies
- Agapeland / Music Machine    (Come on - I want to know who else sung along with "whir whir chicka chicka bomp bomp PSSSSSS!"  

[kruszer]

 That's why you should always save the better stuff with www.keepvid.com or a similar video saving tool.  Copyright holders love yanking good stuff off the internet, but the more people who save copies, the less likely they can hunt them all down all the time. 

Well this sucks. I was going to post youtube poop of Davey and Goliath for you, where Goliath is racist, but it looks like the Lutherans got offended and got it pulled off of youtube. SUCK.

[mymistake]

Isn't God good when he asks us just to be so kind.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, fruit of the spirit and all that.  I use to listen to that album over and over when I was in 6th grade.

[kruszer]

Isn't God good when he asks us just to be so kind.

 

 

 

Yeah, fruit of the spirit and all that.  I use to listen to that album over and over when I was in 6th grade.

Yay!     I wasn't alone! 

 

My all-time favourite was this one. I still sing it when kids are acting impatient and annoying: 

 

[mymistake]

 

Isn't God good when he asks us just to be so kind.

 

 

 

Yeah, fruit of the spirit and all that.  I use to listen to that album over and over when I was in 6th grade.

Yay!     I wasn't alone! 

 

My all-time favourite was this one. I still sing it when kids are acting impatient and annoying: 

 

 

 

Oh wait . . . I'm dusting off an old memory.  The next to last song on side B there is a boy who eats candy and drinks soda until he gets cavities.  That is why the Holy Spirit gave us self control - so that we won't eat candy until we get bad teeth.

[kruszer]

 

 

 

Oh wait . . . I'm dusting off an old memory.  The next to last song on side B there is a boy who eats candy and drinks soda until he gets cavities.  That is why the Holy Spirit gave us self control - so that we won't eat candy until we get bad teeth.

 

Yup.   

 

 

Once I had a knot in my shoe

 

And it would not come loose

 

I tried and tried and pried and pried

 

But it would not come loose

 

I got so mad I kicked the door

 

and stubbed my little toe, ohhh

 

If only I had learned a little bit of self-control

 

 

 

Self-control is just controlling myself

 

It's listening to my heart

 

And doing what is smart

 

Self-control is the very best way to go

 

So I think that I'll control myself

 

 

 

I never like to brush my teeth

 

I wish that I could stop

 

I'd have more time for candy bars

 

And drinking soda pop

 

 

 

But soon my teeth would hurt so bad

 

From all the cavities, oh me!

 

I'd better learn some self-control

 

So this won't happen to me

 

 

 

Self-control is just controlling myself

 

It's listening to my heart

 

And doing what is smart

 

Self-control is the very best way to go

 

So I think that I'll control myself 

 

 

Unfortunately, no one pointed out that you have soft teeth and brush your teeth and still get a shit load of cavities on account of God's shitty design of your body.   Oh well. 

[kruszer]

 

Oh wait . . . I'm dusting off an old memory.  The next to last song on side B there is a boy who eats candy and drinks soda until he gets cavities.  That is why the Holy Spirit gave us self control - so that we won't eat candy until we get bad teeth.

  The recording is shitty, but it's the only one I could find on youtube.   I have it on my CD's somewhere if you really want it  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQzB-uSU78

[kolaida]

 

I don't remember the others, but I gotta ask~ any video gamers ever play Bible Adventures on the NES?  I remember playing that game SO MUCH and I don't think I ever beat Goliath in it.  But it was funny as heck to throw baby Moses around when you were trying to get him to the river.  And I remember the Noah's Ark one, too, grabbing all the animals and sticking them in the boat.  Hahaha, I remember as kid thinking how ridiculous some of these stories seemed on the game but it was "just a game." LOL!!! Bwhahaha, but that game was fun and I never got in trouble for playing it.  

 

 

 

 

THAT was awesome!! Haha, I remember completing that level soooo many times without "baby Moses." And throwing him just for fun and seeing how much she could carry on her head, LOL!! I tried to get those snakes, too.  And, no ONE in my family could figure out how to get up to Goliath, hahaha, and me and my brother got so excited when we got to that point but then we couldn't even fight him. Good times.  Wow, that was a LONG time ago.  I laughed so much at those videos! Thanks for that!! I needed a good laugh! I'll get some good sleep tonight! 

[Guest MadameX]

Oh yes Davey and Goliath was something we would turn on on Sunday mornings if there was NOTHING else to do. Hated its goody-goody boring predictable stories but kept expecting the cool animation to do something ... interesting.

 

I think I learned young about how adults lie to and manipulate kids. This was yet one more example of it.

 

Felt the same way when I read Chronicles of Narnia* or even A Wrinkle in Time (which I now have come to appreciate despite its obvious Christian undertone).

 

* still strongly dislike CS Lewis

[megasamurai]

Any of you watch everythingisterrible.com?

[RenaissanceWoman]

 

We had flannelgraphs at church...

Flannelgraphs! I'd all but forgotten about those! Old Wanita, the Sunday School teacher, would stick those things up and move them around on the board. What an action-packed adventure!

 

 

Same here, except it was Old Lavina the Sunday School teacher. (She was also the typical Lutheran strong soprano who belted out with way too much vibrato.) Ahh, the memories.

[RenaissanceWoman]

Hey flannel graph kids...thought I'd post this. Always thought it was a creative idea for a christian music video:

 

OMG, that video should have come with a warning!

 

Starts out with a winsome trumpet solo, nice. (I play a silver trumpet too, so that intro sung to me.) Then the horns get to jam it out. Awesome! I loved doing that myself back in my jazz band days! Then the vocalist comes in with a super sexy voice. Sweet! And then the lady with the flannel graph... hilarious. But then! (This is where I needed the warning.) The guys start dancing around on the green background with fake instruments. I laughed my coffee right out through my nose, and tears flowed out of my eyes. Holy shit, that was funny.

 

When the center guy flopped down on the inflatable snake, I had to clap with glee. Funny stuff.

 

Thank you thank you thank you for posting that. It really struck a chord with me!  

[RenaissanceWoman]

This week my daughter (she's 7 3/4, of course) is attending a Christian summer day camp. She went last year and loved the swimming, crafts, fishing, games, and her friends are there. Last week, I reminded her that they will probably have a daily Bible verse; she said it's OK because it's important literature. (Did I talk like that when I was 7?) I mentioned that they might sing a few Jesus songs; she said "I'm fine with that." I told her it might be best not to reveal our disbelief, and she compared it to keeping the secret from her friends that Santa isn't real either. Anyway...

 

Last night we were out to dinner and she described an episode of Veggie Tales that they watched yesterday during snack time, an episode none of us had seen. To make sure Daddy and I understood, she compared the story to SpongeBob. Using large hand motions, this part was like Plankton and the Chum Bucket, and this other guy was like Mr. Krabs and the Krusty Krab. I listened with a bemused smile on my face, and then asked what she thought the moral of the story was. She said, "The story was kind of mixed up and confusing, and actually... SpongeBob makes more sense."

 

Out of the mouth of babes.