Ah yes,this was the joy and subtleness from a lost childhood. This show ran in syndication for three seasons(1972-1975),and it install good morals and values to us kids growing up in the funky decade of mile-high collars,plaids,out of control bell-bottoms,hot pants and go-go boots,yes this was the 70's in total control!!!
Who could forget characters like Freddie The Frog,Charlie The Owl,and
Henrietta Hippo teaching the 70's youngsters values and wholesome standards along with their human counterparts Doug and Emmy Jo! I got the chance to see one of the lost episodes from this series one early Sunday morning in the wee hours,let's say around 5:30 in the morning on some low-power station out of the Wilson,North Carolina area which was basically a shopping channel network that usually showed old TV shows lost forever in time. However,some of the episodes were very campy indeed especially in the musical numbers where the female hostess was so off-key,she had to lip synch her song,and most of the time the male counterparts was on some acid trip as well,the girl especially singing and dancing off-key,high as a kite,all in hot pants and go-go boots!
If you look at some of the episodes(which are now out on DVD)and look very closely there are some sublimited textural messages in each of them,especially one episode with the frog was acting very "queer" in front of the male actor,and if you noticed there were "homo" tendencies beyond that too. That was the episode that I saw that morning after a long night out at the club. Other small pleasures came from this show as well including one stint where Richard Dawson made a guest appearance and the one was with game show host Chuck Woolery!---you mean the game show host Chuck Woolery? yes,Chuck Woolery who join the show as well as Mister Dingle.
Did kids back then actually watch this program? Yes. The kids of today wouldn't understand it. I was one of those kids who grew up in the 1970's and watch a lot of The New Zoo Revue. A documentary of 70's conservative fashions,quality television production and an array of misunderstood children's programming that hone in on a lot of drug allusions throughout the course of its run----three seasons in syndication.