The Weird Al Show was a kids' show hosted by Weird Al Yankovic, a famous musician who is known for his huge list of songs that are parodies of popular songs. Basically made as an attempt to call back the spirit of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, The Weird Al Show had a premise: At the start of each episode, the narrator, voiced by Billy West, would tell kids the moral of the episode, sometimes yelling the words at them, then it proceeds to the actual episode, where Al himself gets into some situation where he learns such a moral.
And yes, it only lasted 13 episodes. At the time this premiered, CBS had rebranded their CBS Kidshow block into Think CBS Kids, which was an all-E/I block made due to the FCC enacting the Children's Television Act, which required networks air three hours of educational programming per week or face a fine. With this came behind-the-scenes drama where Weird Al had to fight with network censors over stuff that was declared "I.B" (a name given to actions that the censors believed kids could imitate). This, and the fact that the show has been given random time slots that were hard to follow, got it cancelled. In fact, the Shout Factory DVD release has the commentary tracks talk about this.
But moving on, the show did do its best at being entertaining. Pee-Wee's Playhouse was known for its cast of characters, and while the Weird Al Show lacked puppets (it did, however, have Harvey The Wonder Hamster), it had its fair share of wacky neighbors like Bobby The Inquisitive Boy, Hooded Avenger, Cousin Corky, and Judy The Psychic. Also, there are many celebrity appearances and even musical groups like Barenaked Ladies, Hansen, and Al-4-One. The Weird Al Show is a rare gem that never took off due to network meddling, and it is worth a watch.
And yes, it only lasted 13 episodes. At the time this premiered, CBS had rebranded their CBS Kidshow block into Think CBS Kids, which was an all-E/I block made due to the FCC enacting the Children's Television Act, which required networks air three hours of educational programming per week or face a fine. With this came behind-the-scenes drama where Weird Al had to fight with network censors over stuff that was declared "I.B" (a name given to actions that the censors believed kids could imitate). This, and the fact that the show has been given random time slots that were hard to follow, got it cancelled. In fact, the Shout Factory DVD release has the commentary tracks talk about this.
But moving on, the show did do its best at being entertaining. Pee-Wee's Playhouse was known for its cast of characters, and while the Weird Al Show lacked puppets (it did, however, have Harvey The Wonder Hamster), it had its fair share of wacky neighbors like Bobby The Inquisitive Boy, Hooded Avenger, Cousin Corky, and Judy The Psychic. Also, there are many celebrity appearances and even musical groups like Barenaked Ladies, Hansen, and Al-4-One. The Weird Al Show is a rare gem that never took off due to network meddling, and it is worth a watch.
