Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
Storytime also known as Kino's Storytime is a PBS series that premiered on October 11th, 1992, and ran until April 3rd, 1998 with three seasons and 81 episodes in total, including a special episode with flashbacks and new stories told by Charles S. Dutton and Jamie Lee Curtis.[1] It was made by the KCET in Los Angeles, California, the same station who made The Puzzle Place two years later.[2]
Production
The show was originally produced as Storytime on KCET and was later picked up by PBS for national airing in 1994 under the name Kino's Storytime, to avoid possible confusion with other storytime-named shows. Other than that, the national airing was identical as KCET airing.
Content
The show was similar to the 1983 to 2006 PBS series Reading Rainbow as it centred on reading children's books. The show featured a puppet character named Kino (performed by the late Mark Ritts) and two human characters Kino interacts with: Lucy (played by Anne Betancourt) and Mara (played by Marabina Jaimes) It also featured several celebrity guests (owing to KCET's connection to Hollywood) such as Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Wilford Brimley, and many others.
Along with the celebrity or regular narrators telling the stories the stories themselves show illustrations from the books with edits and panning all around so the words of the books couldn't be seen, as well as cutting back to the Story Place at certain points with the narrator, children and characters, specially added music and sound effects were made for the stories told as well depending on the stories.
Availability
The show was released on VHS, but only 3 volumes are known to exist.[3] Each tape had two episodes so only 6 episodes have been officially released on VHS.
Many of the episodes were either lost or partially found but then on May 1st, 2021, the episodes began to resurface on a YouTube channel called BETAMAX - VHS - SUPER 8, including the Tim Allen episode which to skullzproductions was considered a Holy Grail find for him and he began uploading episodes each day starting on May 23rd, 2021 and finishing on June 9th, 2021 with all the episodes of the show available on YouTube.
The Second Season of the show has fully been found as of June 6th, 2021
The Third Season has fully been found as of June 7th, 2021
The First Season has fully been found on June 9th, 2021 as such the Complete Series has fully been found
Episode Status
Episode/Celebrities | Status | Books Read | Released on Home Media |
---|---|---|---|
John Goodman | Found | Anna and the Little Green Dragon, Little Polar Bear and Rose Meets Mr. Wintergarten | Yes |
Mr. G and Amanda Plummer | Found | Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicken Sunday and Any Kind of Dog | |
Tom Selleck and Valerie Bertinelli | Found | The Relatives Came, Five Bad Boys, Billy Que and the Dustdobbin and Mama, Do You Love Me? | Yes |
John Ritter and Kim Karnsrithong | Found | The Old Ladies Who Liked Cats, Alistair's Elephant and Ira Sleeps Over | Yes |
Mark Ritts, Tatiana Ali, Shari Belafonte and Zachary Ty Bryan | Found | My Little Red Car, Three Wishes, The Magic House and Monster Mama | Yes |
Dave Coulier and Mariel Hemingway | Found | The Gingerbread Man, The Very Quiet Cricket and Whistle for Willie | |
Hector Elizondo | Found | Mouse's Birthday, Jonathan and his Mommy, The Story of Ferdinand and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge | |
Elena Epps, Kellie Williams and Patricia Richardson | Found | Owl Babies, Two of Everything and A Mother for Choco | Yes |
Madge Sinclair | Found | Timothy Goes to School, Amazing Grace, Rumplestiltskin and My Mom is Excellent | |
Telma Hopkins and Rene Auberjonois | Found | The Happy Day, Maggie and the Pirate and Cuddly Dudley | |
Alfre Woodard and Gordon Jump | Found | That's Good! That's Bad! and Horton Hatches the Egg | |
Christopher Hewett and Carl Weintraub and Family | Found | If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Lady Bugatti and Little Peep | |
A. Martinez | Found | The Fish Who Could Wish, Green Wilma, Magic Spring and Stina | |
Jeff Altman and Wes Studi | Found | The Boy with Square Eyes, Franklin in the Dark and The Rough Face Girl | |
Kathy Najimy and Arte Johnson | Found | Two Badd Babies, Go Away, Big Green Monster! and The Amazing Bone | |
Mario Lopez and Cindy Williams | Found | Froggy Gets Dressed, Ghost's Hour, Spook's Hour and Daley B | |
Belita Moreno, Ronn Lucas and Scorch and Maria Conchita Alonso | Found | The Trouble with Mom, The Dragon of an Ordinary Family and Borreguita and the Coyote | |
Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Paul Rodriguez and Cloris Leachman | Found | Possum Come A-Knockin', Elmer, Abuela and The Hungry Thing | |
Ellen DeGeneres and Meshach Taylor | Found | Winnie the Witch, The Last Time I Saw Harris, Eddie and Teddy and One of Three | Yes |
Patricia Polacco and Reggie Vel Johnson | Found | More, More, More Said the Baby, Babushka's Doll and Grandpa's Face | |
Bill Martin, Jr. and Edward James Olmos | Found | Jamberry, The Ghost-Eye Tree and Baby Rattlesnake | |
Alley Mills and Vicki Juditz | Found | Night Tree, Maebelle's Suitcase and Ruby the Copy Cat | |
Tamlyn Tomita | Found | The Wolf's Chicken Stew, The Emperor's New Clothes and Duckat | |
Rosana DeSoto and Bob Harrison | Found | The Treasure, Julius, The Baby of the World and The Happy Hedgehog Band | |
Holly Russell and Bill Cobbs | Found | Greetings from Sandy Beach, Socrates and The Rooster Who Went to his Uncle's Wedding | |
Barbara Bain and Markus Redmond | Found | Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One, A Porcupine Named Fluffy and Morris's Missing Bag | |
Raven-Symon and Jamie Farr | Found | Farmer Duck, I Hear a Noise and The Fortune-Tellers | |
James Eckhouse and Carl Weintraub | Found | Noisy Nora, The Seven Chinese Brothers and Effie | |
Diane Wolkstein and Rae'Ven Kelly | Found | The Folks in the Valley, The Banza and Rosie's Baby Tooth | |
Michael Dorn and Tom Paxton | Found | Company's Coming, The Little Red Hen and Engelbert the Elephant | |
Sunny Walton and Paul Winfield | Found | The Itsy Bitsy Spider, All Pigs are Beautiful, and Do Not Open | |
Liz Torres and Wilford Brimley | Found | The Woman Who Outshone the Sun, The Art Lesson and Gorilla | |
Felton Perry and Katherine Thomerson | Found | The Adventures of Taxi Dog, Clean Your Room, Harvey Moon, The Baby Blue Cat Who Said No and Dear Mr. Blueberry | |
Gedde Watanabe and Lois Williams | Found | Maxi, the Hero, Broderick and The Doorbell Rang | |
Steve Guttenberg, Fred Savage and Leah Komaiko | Found | The Erie Canal from Sea to Shining Sea, Slither McCreep and his Brother Joe, The Mitten, Earl's Too Cool for Me and Annie Bananie | |
Kim Karnsrithong and Paula Poundstone | Found | My Little Brother, Dinner at the Panda Palace and Chrysanthemum | |
Ellaraino and Mayim Bialik | Found | First Pink Light, The Cat Who Lost his Purr and Goldilocks and the Three Bears | |
Vicki Juditz and Alaina Reed Hall | Found | A Big Fat Enormous Lie, Super Dooper Jezebel and Not So Fast Songololo | |
Ping Wo and Glynn Turman | Found | Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, The Boy and the Ghost and Life is Fun | |
Rosalind Chao and Jim Corgan | Found | Princess Smartypants, "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Gonna Sneeze!" and A Special Trade | |
SPECIAL: Charles S. Dutton, John Ritter and Jamie Lee Curtis | Found | Mucky Moose, Alistair's Elephant and When I Was Little | |
Tim Allen | Found | The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs | |
Robert Guillaume and Annie Potts | Found | Regina's Big Mistake, The Empty Pot and Wind Says Good Night | |
Little Richard | Found | Knock, Knock, Teremok!, Little Lumpty and The Grasshopper and the Ants | |
Jamie Walters | Found | Going Home, The Tickleoctopus and The Grumpalump | |
Marion Ross and Don and Audrey Wood | Found | Subway Sparrow, Ollie Knows Everything and King Bidgood's in the Bathtub | |
Kirk Douglas | Found | A Hat for Minerva Louise, The Story of a Boy named Will, Who Went Sledding Down the Hill, Dogteam and Prize in the Snow | |
Teri Garr and Kirsten Dunst | Found | Time Train, Pip's Magic and Cabbage Rose | |
Joanna Cassidy | Found | Stop That Pickle! and Swamp Angel | |
Amy Hill | Found | The Whales' Song, The Paper Princess and The Big, Big Sea | |
Theresa Saldana | Found | Sheila Rae, The Brave, The Rat and the Tiger and A House is a House for Me | |
Christmas Special: Ruben Blades | Found | Too Many Tamales, La Gallinita Roja and ¿Donde Esta Mi Osito? | |
Brett Butler | Found | Flower Garden, When the Fly Flew in..., and Nathaniel Willy, Scared Silly | |
Kathleen Quinlan | Found | Would You Rather..., Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! and Boodil My Dog | |
Angela Bassett | Found | Frog Went A'Courtin', Uncle Jed's Barbershop and Stories to Tell from Meet Danitra Brown | |
Marc Simont and Barry Corbin | Found | Playing Right Field, Pug, Slug and Doug the Thug and Hunting the White Cow | |
Melissa Joan Hart and Martin Mull | Found | Donna O'Neeshuck Was Chased by Some Cows, Don't Fidget a Feather and Nothing at All | |
David Keith | Found | Fairy Went A-Marketing, The Man Who Kept his Heart in a Bucket and Mole's Hill | |
James McDaniel | Found | Bear, The Hunter and It's the Bear! | |
Laura Dern | Found | Hi!, The Shepard Boy and Amber On the Mountain | |
Litefoot | Found | Owl Eyes and Tops & Bottoms | |
Mara Wilson and Joey Lawrence | Found | Miss Spider's Tea Party, Elvira, Wilson Sat Alone and We Could be Friends | |
Halloween Special: John Astin and Elijah Wood | Found | The House that Drac Built, Big Pumpkin, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything and Halloween Howls: Riddles That are a Scream | |
Jane Seymour | Found | Is Your Mama a Llama?, Storm Boy and The Monkey and the Crocodile | |
Victoria Rowell | Found | My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, Mirette on the High Wire and Twist With a Burger, Jitter With a Bug | |
Tia & Tamera Mowry and Freddy Fender | Found | Suddenly!, Courtney and The Gullywasher | |
Dennis Haskins | Found | Contrary Mary, The Perfect Orange and This and That | |
Patricia Polacco, James Avery and Peter Catalanotto | Found | Babushka Baba Yaga, The Old Dog and The Painter | |
Janeane Garofalo | Found | Jessica, I'm Coming to Get You! and Listen Buddy | |
Joseph Marcel | Found | Buz, A Flea in the Ear, If..., "Hey Bug" from Sunflakes: Poems for Children and "Song of the Bugs" from Nibble, Nibble: Poems for Children | |
Michael Horse | Found | The Little Mouse, The Red, Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear, The Leopard's Drum and Honeypaw and Lightfoot | |
Thanksgiving Special: Patrick Swayze, Hector Elizondo and Joanie Bartels | Found | 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, How Many Days to America? and Over the River and Through the Wood | |
Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Denise Nicholas | Found | The Old, Old Man and the Very Little Boy, More Than Anything Else and Knoxville, Tennessee | |
Geena Davis | Found | Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Once There Was a Bull...(Frog) | |
Kim Delaney and Janet Hubert | Found | What is the Sun?, Sally and the Limpet, Secret Place and What a Wonderful World | |
Jason Alexander (Part 1) | Found | Turnip Soup, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Night in the Barn | |
Michael Jeter and David Hyde Pierce (Part 2) | Found | Truck Song, The Ghost of Nicholas Greebe and The Wide-Mouthed Frog | |
Ming-Na Wen and Peri Gilpin | Found | This is Our House, Tacky the Penguin, The Most Beautiful Kid in the World and Yo! Yes? | |
Salma Hayek and Edward Asner | Found | In the Rain with Baby Duck, Two Mrs. Gibbons and The Butterfly Seeds | |
Julia Duffy and Gabriel Byrne | Found | When I Was Five, The Paperboy and The Fiddler of the Northern Lights | |
David Howard and Paul Dooley | Found | Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin!, The Lion and the Little Red Bird and Outrageous Bodacious Boliver Boggs | |
Sharon Lawrence and Tina Majorino | Found | Grandma's Cat, The Old Woman who Named Things and Lost |
See Also
Bumpers
- Bookworm Bunch (partially found interstitials from PBS Kids channel block; 2000-2001)
- PBS Kids (partially lost schedule bumpers and interstitial material of children's channel block; 1999-present)
- Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)
PBS
- Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found holiday TV special; 1977)
- Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992)
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood "Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict" (found episode arc of PBS children's educational series; 1983)
- The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
- Reading Rainbow (found Johnny Kemp opening sequence for PBS children's television series; 1999)
- Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? "Auld Lang Gone" (non-existent episode of PBS children's game show; 1992)
- Zoom (found pilot of revival of 1972 PBS children's series; 1997)
- Zoom (partially found revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)
PBS Kids
- The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (partially lost PBS Kids "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" spin-off series; 1998-1999)
- Curious George (lost test pilot of PBS Kids animated series based on books; existence unconfirmed; 2004/2005)
- Cyberchase: The Poddleville Case (found pilot of PBS Kids animated educational series; 1999)
- Dragon Tales "One Small Step for Cassie" and "Circle of Friends" (lost pilots of PBS Kids animated series; 1999)
- The Good Night Show with Melanie/Leo (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2005-2006)
- The Good Night Show with Nina & Star (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2006-2017)
- Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
- Molly of Denali (partially found unaired pilot of PBS Kids animated series; 2018)
- Nature Cat (lost pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)
- Preschool Musical... On a Stick (partially lost PBS Kids Sprout "High School Musical" parody; 2008)
- Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
- What's The Big Idea? (lost original pilot of "Sid The Science Kid" PBS Kids CGI animated series; 2007)
- WordWorld (lost 2D/live-action test pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated educational series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
References
- ↑ Wayback Machine of the Website's episode guide with all 81 episodes. Retrieved 16 Mar '21
- ↑ October 1992 - 'Storytime,' KCET's First Major Children's Series, Debuts - KCET Retrieved 16 Mar '21
- ↑ WorldCat Search Results for Kino's Storytime. Retrieved 16 Mar '21