Voting Station

Captain Kangaroo

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TV Series

The Resume

    (October 3, 1955-December 8, 1984)
    CBS, PBS (1986 to 1992)
    Bob Keeshan (seated) as The Captain; Mr Pennywhistle, Mr Doodle, and the mute Town Clown
    Cosmo Allegretti (lower right) as Mr. Bunny Rabbit (mute), Mr. Moose, Dennis the Apprentice (handyman), Dancing Bear, and the voice of Grandfather Clock
    Hugh ‘Lumpy’ Brannum (left) as Mr. Greenjeans (animal specialist) and Uncle Backwards
    Debbie Weems (upper right) as Debbie (1973 to 1978)
    Theme songs ‘Puffin Billy’ and ‘Good Morning Captain’
    Live action segments included Willy and Wally, Slim Goodbody, and Picture Pages
    Cartoons included Ludwig, The Toothbrush Family, The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo, and Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (narrated by Keeshan)
    A quiet Moe-haired guy and his human and animal pals exploring the world at large through song, sketch, storytelling, animation, and news-inspired segments

Why Captain Kangaroo might be annoying:

    ‘Flowers on the Wall’ references the show in its chorus.
    While many other series had entered into color broadcast by the mid-60s, it didn’t get there until 1967.
    Three weeks after her 28th birthday – and five years into her run – Weems committed suicide (which was attributed to her being typecast as ‘that cute girl on Captain Kangaroo’).
    It was pushed to an earlier time slot in 1981 – not the only ‘alteration’– to make room for a morning news show (which wanted to compete with Today and Good Morning America). Keeshan was pissed.
    A 1997 remake with a bearded dude in a blue jacket (John McDonough) vanished into the void.
    The character rights would be left with the estate of a professional clown who portrayed him in a blog (and died five years after acquisition of the trademark).

Why Captain Kangaroo might not be annoying:

    Keeshan named the character for the huge pockets in his signature red jacket.
    Just as with Batman’s ‘guest villain’ gallery, being a guest star here was something of a status symbol.
    Its most significant change was in 1974: scenes of live and animated characters saying, ‘Good morning, Captain’ (with Keeshan returning the favor in the final shot).
    It survived a 1974 contract dispute against the network, which wanted Hanna-Barbera to prepare a replacement.
    Among its multitude of celebrity guests, Tony Hawk appeared in a 1981 skateboarding segment.
    Keeshan did achieve some poetic justice after his contract expired in 1984: the CBS weekday morning show constantly runs a distant third behind its ABC and NBC counterparts.
    Even for such a gentle morning show, you can’t expect there to not be any behind-the-scenes hanky-panky.

Credit: Cool It All Right?


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 88 Votes: 44.32% Annoying