Leaning more into the X side of Xennial, here… But everyone sing along… 3! 2! 1!….

[-]

Exactly! Must been American. But then again if I start talking TéléFrançais, Today's Special or Polka Dot Door I might get confused looks. Not to mention the UK/British Commonwealth shows like " Going Round the Twist" lol

My brain went straight to Carebears countdown! 5 4 3 2 1!

[-]

batastronaut@reddit

I watched a lot of Téléfrançais! Someone in our class had taped it (while in Québec, I guess? no idea) so our French class watched it a lot. I seem to remember a dancing pineapple?

[-]

pineapples_are_evil@reddit

Yep. That talking dancing nightmare is Ananas!

We in Ontario also had Dimoutous et ses Amis, who were scary af felt then Muppet fur puppets who taught primary/Jr French vocabulary with songs, videos and wild crazy stories and adventures to use for writing in our workbooks.

Some songs were super catchy though! Not Charlotte Diamond 4 Hugs a Day or Je Suis un Pizza level though 4k Diamond was released in English and French

[-]

batastronaut@reddit

Omg I didn’t even notice your username 😂😂

[-]

pineapples_are_evil@reddit

Ananas is nightmare fuel... I forgot about him .. then he started popping up onntiktok!

I'm also severely allergic to pineapple... so either reason works, really... lol

[-]

Ordinary_Aioli_7602@reddit (OP)

I do vaguely remember Today’s Special

[-]

pineapples_are_evil@reddit

My fave thing about it? Jeff the mannequin? He had a decently long run in the Toronto cast of Phantom in the late 90's. Apparently was awesome.
My Phantom I saw in 99 was Paul Stanley of KISS. Quite good

[-]

PlagueDrWily@reddit

Yes it aired on PBS; I don’t know how far their reach was in the 80s (we got it in the Toronto area) so it may be a lesser known show in Canada.

[-]

pineapples_are_evil@reddit

We only had like the main 6 or 7 off the aerial tower till 9th grade. Lol The local CBC, CTV, Global plus the Toronto or Kitchener ones, plus TVO, and CityTV(for randomness)

Some Friends had the massive satellite dishes and got the Port Huron area channels, and family around Windsor managed to get the Detroit ones too on the aerial

[-]

Norwester77@reddit

I grew up in both worlds: here in western Washington, we got the Polka Dot Door, the Friendly Giant and Mister Dressup as well as 321 Contact and Square 1 TV.

Took me a few years before I realized that the Sesame Street that was partly in French and talked about provinces and had songs about kilometres and quarters with caribou on them was on a different channel from the Sesame Street that was partly in Spanish and talked about states!

[-]

boulevardofdef@reddit

Today's Special aired here in the States on Nickelodeon!

[-]

TotallyRadDude1981@reddit

I used to live that show! It was definitely part of my childhood whether older Xers want to admit it or not. I don’t care what they say though. I’ve always seen myself as Gen X and for most of my life was even told I was Gen X. Now they want to say 1981 is Millennial. I say bullshit.

[-]

VinceAmonte@reddit

I mostly agree, but I guarantee if you try to hang out with some Gen-Xers from the 60s and early 70s you will suddenly see how much Millenial is in Xennial lol.

[-]

TotallyRadDude1981@reddit

All my friends are actually from the mid 60s or 70s. And while there are certainly an age gap I find myself more relatable to them than to those born in 1982 (what I call “the first Millennial year”) and later. I came of age in the old millennium, grew up with hair bands and grunge, was a latchkey kid, wore flannel in the 90s, and didn’t experience the internet until around 2005. I don’t really have any friends younger than me. Never did.

[-]

BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

I'm older/core X and never got into grunge and was annoyed how it killed off fun 80s radio stations, stayed with 80s style as much as possible in the 90s, used the internet starting in maybe late 1993 and was never latchkey.

[-]

TotallyRadDude1981@reddit

I love music and I enjoy most genres. But grunge is definitely my favorite. Always has been since its inception. The internet wasn’t a lixury my parents could afford, nor could I even when I finally did have access to it in the mid 2000s (thankfully I had access through someone else’s). And my childhood was cut fairly short. I was responsible for taking care of myself pretty much since I was 8 years old or so. Mom and Dad were divorced and too busy to take care of me, so I had to do it myself. But “miraculously” by the time my younger siblings came along Mom and Dad were both remarried and starting new families that they did have time to take care of. That’s a huge generational difference between me and my siblings: they were special; I was irrelevant. So even though I didn’t hit legal adulthood until 1999, essentially I was a grownup by the early 90s.

[-]

BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

nice! used to love that show!

[-]

Ut_Prosim@reddit

A few years ago I looked to see if anyone archived it, even PBS doesn't have it, no youtube, no archive.org.

I was hoping to one day show it to my kids but it seems to be gone.

[-]

djsynrgy@reddit

FWIW, it might be time to revisit that search.

[-]

Ut_Prosim@reddit

Nice find. But there were seven seasons and 225 episodes, so we're still missing the vast majority.

[-]

djsynrgy@reddit

Stay eagle eyed, friend. The "data hoarding" community started picking up major steam once the zeitgeist started realizing content could wholly disappear from physical/tangible existence if the big studios (and/or other copyright owners,) deem it unprofitable.

[-]