Square One TV

Ah, "Square One TV" - easily one of the most clever children's shows ever made. Parodying pop culture WHILE teaching math to children? People had good ideas back in the eighties.

Mathman and Mathnet were cool as hell. I liked the first "Kate" better, though.

Cross "Sesame Street," math, and "Saturday Night Live" and what do you get? A weird show for pre-teens that teachers math concepts through sketch comedy and parodies. I remember everything from PacMan to Max Headroom being on this show. And who could forget the Mathnet series at the end of each show?

I remember watching this show and its spin off Mathnet. The Mathnet segment was my favorite. I waited through the other parodies just to watch that sketch. I also remember the magician who had the audience pick any number, then through a series of calculations would show that everyone would have the same answer. I hate doing math, but I did those "tricks" every time to see if he was right. My parents are teachers and loved watching the show along with me. It was a great show for parents and kids because if the kids didn't get the parodies, they got the math knowledge and parents watched just for the laughs. they should bring the show back.

And, it was a good show, too. It looked like it had a good-sized budget,anyway. There were no ultra-cheesy sets or grainy 16mm filmed segments(like some other well-known PBS kids shows), from what I remember. Plus, the show seemed truly modern in the realm of PBS educational programs, definitely 1987.

This was such a great show. I don't know a single mathamagician or engineer that didn't watch this show growing up. Along with 3-2-1 Contact! this show was the epoch of PBS educational programming.

Mathman....Mathman....Mathman......

True it would be too hooky and not enough special effect and too much intelligence to make it on TV now, but it was soo good.

I still can hear the theme song playing in my head when ever I do math. Which is a bit to often sometimes.

Please who ever made the show put out a box-set. If not for todays kids who need something more then 5 second sound bytes of learning, but for those of us who grew up watching this spectacular show. Then again if I saw it for the first time now I would probably think it sucks.....