The Window in the Corner: A Half-Century of Children's Television

From the soothing tones and creaking marionettes of Watch With Mother in the 1950s to the surreal Time Machine-like landscapes of Teletubbyland, this examination looks at the extraordinary world of kids' television in Britain and North America. Discussing how commercial success has vied with the need to educate, this survey also touches on how programs such as Blue Peter tried to instill feelings of compassion as well as entertain and how series such as The Magic Roundabout set about cultivating fantasy in children’s minds. The ground-breaking debut of Sesame Street is also highlighted, revealing how, through careful research into the learning processes of the very young, it set the standard for teaching the "three R's" while remaining entertaining. The guide also includes detailed discussion of developments in animation techniques from the string-operated puppets of the Woodentops, through the somewhat slicker "Supermarionation" of Stingray, to the computerized "cut-out" characters of South Park, and from traditional cartoon animation of shows such as Yogi Bear to the plasticine figures in the Wallace and Gromit films.