That's Cat

One year they had a "cutest cat" photo contest. I submitted a photo of one of the kittens our Persian cat had with a local alley cat that was particularly cute. By the time they had selected the winners, the kitten had been rehomed and grown up from the cute kitten in the photo. Anyway, we had to track down the new pet owners to borrow him for the episode as we were supposed to bring said cute cat with us to show off on the episode. I believe there were 4 or 5 winners as i recall back to my 9 year old 1976 self. We did not have a VCR yet so the only thing I have to remember it is a letter we received from KNBC inviting us to the show and instamatic 110 camera photos of the TV screen. I remember meeting the cast and "Me" staying in character the whole time, until after the taping ended we left but I had left my sweater so I came back to see him let out a loud relief yell that it was over.

Just like the others that wrote reviews I too watched this show. I was very young maybe 2-3yrs. I had parts of the theme song and Mr.Mayo always in my mind. Every time I saw Mr.Mayo on anything I would immediately ask everyone around me if they remembered "That's Cat", nobody ever did.

Before the internet there was no way of proving it. I grew up in the Sunland/Tujunga area at the time.I also remember Davey and Goliath and another one that not a lot of people remembered was " Wait til your father gets home"I guess they were Ca. Only shows. I am glad someone else saw this. I knew what was I was talking about all those years. Thanks for mentioning it.

I loved this show even though I was about 20 when it was on the air, Whitman Mayo as 'Grampa' was so sweet and such a surprise even in the 70's to see a African-American just portraying a paternal figure for all kids not just this or that group of children.

The music was also interesting and different for most children's shows in that it wasn't the typical sappy, saccharine type of music that many other shows for children had, This one deserves to take it's place next to other ground-breaking children's shows like 'Sesame Street' and the like. Possibly if 'That's Cat' had been on public television, it would have lasted longer and be better remembered by more people.

I have to admit though, every time I see Mr.Mayo in something, the memories of this little gem of a show just makes me smile and wish something like it was around today or at least release this on DVD. Hope springs eternal.

I remember this show with a lot of fondness, and yes, nobody believed me either this show existed. I remember getting up really early in the morning to see this show with my brother on our rinky dink black and white TV set. We also used to watch Whitney and the Robot. I have not looked it up yet, but this show is almost an impossibility to find anywhere, and there are a lot of off the wall things on the Internet.

At any rate, this show was a lot of fun to watch, and we would see things about like eating your vegetables, being nice to others, and other things that were "cat". One line I will never forget is: "Eat your vegetables!" and here is Me crinkling the chocolate wrapper with his friend saying "No candy!"

Of course, there was the segment of grandpa giving his nuggets of wisdom at the end of every show, and you would his granddaughter say in a "hall" reverb effect in the background, "Oh, grandpa!"

Oh yes, and I clearly remember "Can you find Me in this picture?" and they would show some painting and Me's face would flash on the screen. my brother and I would look and look for it and we would be so proud when we spotted Me's face.

Like an Indian drum or a kiss for your mom or keeping something under your hat...ba dum dum that's cat!!

Hey! Anybody remember Dusty's Treehouse? I loved that little spider in sneakers! He was totally "cat"!