The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
The Puzzle Place logo.
Status: Partially Found
The Puzzle Place was an edutainment puppet show produced by KCET and Lancit Media that initially ran from 1994-1998 on PBS with 75 episodes and 6 out-of-print VHS compilations.
Concept
The show utilized the talents of Jim Henson Company puppeteers such as Noel MacNeal of Bear in the Big Blue House fame, Carmen Osbahr, the puppeteer for Rosita from Sesame Street, and even Matt Vogel and Peter Linz, known best as the originators of Constantine the Frog and Walter in the latest string of Muppet films. Vogel also took over the role of Count Von Count on Sesame Street after Jerry Nelson's passing.
The show tackled all manner of difficult topics such as racism, sexism, handicaps, death, etc. and promoted diversity, open communication, and compassion. The production and writing quality were especially high for a puppeteering show that was never directly connected to the CTW.
Copyrights
Currently, PBS doesn't hold the rights to it, and chances are no one ever will. Lancit Media, which was the proprietor of the show itself and all merchandise pertaining to it, went through many financial restraints in its short-lived run and inevitably went under. In order to ever release these episodes on any format, one would need to renew the rights, which is a money-consuming prospect for a show as inconsequential to the public at large.
Pilot
According to a KCET article written in 2014, there was a pilot aired in 1994 titled The Puzzle Works or Puzzleworks.[1] There are two found videos so far that confirm this fact.[2][3] Before this point, a lot of write-ups were done for the show under the name of The Puzzle Factory, which was apparently changed to avoid copyright issues with a toy company of a similar name. Besides that, nothing else is mentioned about the pilot.[4]
While it's unknown if the pilot had different characters, one write-up calls one of the characters Jamal "Jammin" Waters and has a Hispanic character called Victor Melendez. In another article from, later on, characters have different first and last names (those being Max Olafsen, Leon Devon, Jazzy Silver, Skye Blazing Star).[5]
Availability
All six of the out-of-print VHS compilations (as well as an extra clip created for a special VHS in a series called Kids for Character) were sought out online and ripped by the currently defunct Dailymotion user TheRedBaron1985.
Currently, just around half of the 75 stand-alone episodes have been found through some collective efforts and dumb luck. Apart from that, there are 9 complete episodes in the VHS compilations, and 4 of them (Cute Is As Cute Does, Going By The Book, Rip Van Wrinkle, and Deck the Halls) haven't been found in a stand-alone format, making it about 30 full episodes and 45 episodes yet to be found. The Kids in Character clip shows part of S1E31 Finders Keepers. S2E04 Oldies but Goodies & S2E06 Yellow Belt have had two excerpts found, but in unsubtitled Portuguese, of all things.
VHS Compilations
- Tuned In (S1E10 Spud Buds & S1E14 Cute Is as Cute Does)
- Rock Dreams (S1E18 Mad Music Magic & S1E08 Rock Dreams)
- Rip Van Wrinkle (S1E17 Going by the Book & S1E03 Rip Van Wrinkle)
- Deck the Halls (S2E01 Deck the Halls & Unknown)
- Sing-Along Songs (Unknown)
- Accentuate the Positive (S1E06 Rudy One & S1E04 Accentuate the Positive)
Episode List
Season 1
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tippy Woo | Jan 16th, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 2 | Train Driving Kids | Jan 17th, 1995 | Found |
| 3 | Rip Van Wrinkle | Jan 18th, 1995 | Found |
| 4 | Accentuate the Positive | Jan 19th, 1995 | Found |
| 5 | Gotta Dance | Jan 20th, 1995 | Found |
| 6 | Rudy One | Jan 23rd, 1995 | Found |
| 7 | Butterfingers | Jan 24th, 1995 | Found |
| 8 | Rock Dreams | Jan 25th, 1995 | Found |
| 9 | Roamantics | Jan 26th, 1995 | Found |
| 10 | Spud Buds | Jan 27th, 1995 | Found |
| 11 | Different Drummer | Jan 30th, 1995 | Found |
| 12 | I Love Kiki | Jan 31st, 1995 | Found |
| 13 | True Colors | Feb 1st, 1995 | Found |
| 14 | Cute is as Cute Does | Feb 2nd, 1995 | Found |
| 15 | Leon's Pizza | Feb 3rd, 1995 | Found |
| 16 | Real Heroes | Feb 6th, 1995 | Found |
| 17 | Going by the Book | Feb 7th, 1995 | Found |
| 18 | Mad Music Magic | Feb 8th, 1995 | Found |
| 19 | Party of One | Feb 9th, 1995 | Found |
| 20 | Dancing Dragon | Feb 10th, 1995 | Found |
| 21 | Picture Perfect | Feb 13th, 1995 | Found |
| 22 | Maiden Voyages | Feb 14th, 1995 | Lost |
| 23 | Donuts and Dithering | Feb 15th, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 24 | Bully for Jody | Feb 16th, 1995 | Found |
| 25 | Ben's Bad Hair Day | Feb 17th, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 26 | All Weather Friends | Feb 20th, 1995 | Found (LQ) |
| 27 | Bread and Matzoh | Feb 21st, 1995 | Found |
| 28 | Owning it | Feb 22nd, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 29 | Baffled Ben (1 | 2) | Feb 23rd, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 30 | Practice Makes Perfect | Feb 24th, 1995 | Found |
| 31 | Finders Keepers | Feb 27th, 1995 | Found |
| 32 | You Say Potato | Feb 28th, 1995 | Found |
| 33 | At the End of our Rope | Mar 1st, 1995 | Lost |
| 34 | Just Kidding | Mar 2nd, 1995 | Partially Found (in English, that is--full in Portuguese) |
| 35 | Everything in its Place | Mar 3rd, 1995 | Lost |
| 36 | Big Boys Don't Cry | Mar 6th, 1995 | Found |
| 37 | Here's to the Winners | Mar 7th, 1995 | Found |
| 38 | A World of Difference | Mar 8th, 1995 | Partially Found |
| 39 | Willing and Able | Mar 9th, 1995 | Partially Lost |
| 40 | It's Magic | Mar 10th, 1995 | Partially Lost |
Season 2
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deck the Halls | Jan 15th, 1996 | Found |
| 2 | Dressing up is Hard to do | Jan 16th, 1996 | Found |
| 3 | One Way | Jan 17th, 1996 | Found |
| 4 | Oldies But Goodies | Jan 18th, 1996 | Partially Found |
| 5 | Helping Hands | Jan 19th, 1996 | Found |
| 6 | Yellow Belt | Jan 22nd, 1996 | Partially Found |
| 07 | The Mystery of the Fabulous Hat | Jan 23rd, 1996 | Found |
| 08 | How Much is that Doggie in the Window? | Jan 24th, 1996 | Lost |
| 09 | The New Adventures of Julie Woo | Jan 25th, 1996 | Partially Found |
| 10 | We Three Kings | Jan 26th, 1996 | Found |
| 11 | Hello, Maggie | Jan 29th, 1996 | Found |
| 12 | Off the Track | Jan 30th, 1996 | Lost |
| 13 | Beautiful Doll | Jan 31st, 1996 | Found |
| 14 | Tattle Tales | Feb 1st, 1996 | Lost |
| 15 | Those Ears, Those Eyes | Feb 2nd, 1996 | Lost |
| 16 | That's Weird | Feb 5th, 1996 | Found |
| 17 | The Ballad of Davy Cricket | Feb 6, 1996 | Found |
| 18 | Little Leon, Big Ben | Feb 7th, 1996 | Lost |
| 19 | I Scream, You Scream | Feb 8th, 1996 | Found |
| 20 | Skye's Coat | Feb 9th, 1996 | Lost |
| 21 | It's Mine | Feb 12th, 1996 | Found |
| 22 | One Big, Happy Family | Feb 13th, 1996 | Lost |
| 23 | Leon Grows up | Feb 14th, 1996 | Found |
| 24 | Cowpokes | Feb 15th, 1996 | Partially Found (Danish only) |
| 25 | Hurricane Julie | Feb 16th, 1996 | Lost |
Season 3
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Family Fun | Oct 19th, 1998 | Lost |
| 02 | Anything She can do | Oct 20th, 1998 | Lost |
| 03 | You Don't Match | Oct 21st, 1998 | Lost |
| 04 | To Have and Have Not | Oct 26th, 1998 | Lost |
| 05 | Fiesta Follies | Oct 27th, 1998 | Lost |
| 06 | Between You and Me | Oct 28th, 1998 | Lost |
| 07 | A Star is Burned | Oct 29th, 1998 | Found |
| 08 | Spooky | Oct 30th, 1998 | Found |
| 09 | Up! | Dec 3rd, 1998 | Lost |
| 10 | I'm Talking to You | Dec 4th, 1998 | Found |
Gallery
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 TV channel block; 1999-present)
- PBS Kids Vote-A-Rama (lost bumpers of "Arthur" themed marathon; 2002)
- Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)
PBS
- Adventures with Kanga Roddy (partially lost PBS children's series; 1998-2000)
- Backyard Safari (found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
- Barney & Friends "Season 9" (partially found alternative version of PBS children's series; 2004-2005)
- Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found holiday TV special; 1977)
- Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood "Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict" (found episode arc of PBS children's educational series; 1983)
- Reading Rainbow (found Johnny Kemp opening sequence for PBS children's educational series; 1999)
- Shining Time Station (found season one intro of PBS series; 1989-1990)
- Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
- 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; 1995)
- Zoom (partially lost 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 test pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 1999)
- Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated musical series; 2006-2008)
- 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)
- Jet Propulsion (partially found pitch pilot of "Ready Jet Go!" PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2013)
- Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
- Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
- Molly of Denali (partially found pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated series; 2018)
- Nature Cat (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)
- Peg + Cat (partially lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 2011)
- Preschool Musical... On a Stick (partially lost PBS Kids Sprout "High School Musical" parody; 2008)
- Seven Little Monsters (found episodes of PBS Kids animated series; 2000-2004)
- Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
- Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
- What's The Big Idea? (partially found pitch pilot of "Sid The Science Kid" PBS Kids CGI animated series; 2007)
- WordGirl (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
- WordWorld (found test pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated educational series; 2005)
References
- ↑ A 2014 KCET article on a pilot titled Puzzleworks to be added to the January 1995 lineup. Retrieved 13 Apr '15
- ↑ The first pilot episode of The Puzzle Place (formerly called The Puzzle Works. Retrieved 14 Aug '19
- ↑ The second pilot episode of The Puzzle Place (formerly called The Puzzle Works. Retrieved 14 Aug '19
- ↑ An LA Times article on an early version of The Puzzle Place titled The Puzzle Factory. Retrieved 13 Apr '15
- ↑ A Washington Post article on The Puzzle Place's pilot, which said that the characters had different names than in the final version. Retrieved 13 Apr '15