Razzmatazz

Here's a show that gets virtually no notice among retro-TV fans, but filled a hole in commercial TV children's programming when most offerings were the typical inane cartoons of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Razzmatazz offered young teens a hodgepodge of stories about kids and the stuff kids are interested in. Sort of a cross between "Big Blue Marble" and "Real People." Brian Tochi's amiable hosting is the main thing I recall about the series, connecting with the target audience better than Barry Bostwick (to be fair, Toshi was closer in age to the viewers than Bostwick).

The show had a respectable five-year run, however, by the early 1980s networks could more freely define what constituted "childrens programming" and the trend in Saturday morning offerings became Smurfs, GI Joe, Thundercats, He-Man, et al, resulting in shows like Razzmatazz and The Big Blue Marble quickly becoming relics.