Whiz Kids

I probably haven't seen this show since 1983, but I still remember it. I don't recall when I started watching. I think possibly some summer friends whose father owned a small electronics equipment chain recommended it. I seem to recall also that Matthew Laborteaux was on the cover of an early children's computer magazine called K-Power I initially learned about, I think, from scholastic book fairs at my elementary school. I recall the magazine had a BASIC program you could type into your computer to have it simulate the exchange between Richie and his talking computer during the opening of the show. K-Power later got absorbed into Family Computer just as a small section, and then Family Computing changed its name to something else and dropped the K-Power section at which I stopped subscribing.

Incredibly, I can still replay the instrumental theme song to this show in my head. But apart from these bits of trivia, I don't remember the show itself too well!

Search for "Whiz Kids" on YouTube.com and you'll find 8 full episodes (broken into 5 parts each). Don't know if they've entered the public domain or if the powers that be haven't found them yet.

Seeing this show brought back some great memories. This show also cemented my computer interest and headed me towards to a Computer Science degree for me as well.

Yeah it's cheesy but very little of what was being described in the show was possible in the early to mid 80's. Today it's pretty common place and the security is nearly as bad.

I'd love to see this come out on DVD. I'd like to have a decent quality copy.

I loved this show when it came out. I also got all the computer mags back then. Wired, 99'er (I had the TI-99 4/A computer), Compute, Family Computing, etc... I had over 800 computer mags from back then that I lost recently in a flood. :( This show is available if you just look. Youtube has some eps, but you can find the entire series (only one season) on torrent sites if you look hard enough.

I agree with the comment, that the show started to NOT be as good once they were 'employed.' Yes, just like the hardy boys shows...

This series is worth seeing again. It is a fun show. REALLY brings back memories.. Directly because of this show, my best friend and I started our own computer company writing software for the TI and then the Amiga computers... We won the 3rd party game of the year in 84 for the TI. We were between junior and senior year of high school.. There is a REM line in the game that makes a reference to Whiz Kids...

Go find the show, and enjoy!!!!

Another reviewer mentions having trouble following the show because it kept being preempted and moved around.

Considering the flack this got for having teenage hackers doing whatever they wanted, I suspect the network either intentionally sank it or at least didn't seem to mind doing things that would harm any new show.

It's basically Wargames for TV. It leans more into fantasy at times, but much of the hacking shown was reasonably accurate.

The problem wasn't with O'Herlihy (it never is), it was his character. Prior to his coming on, the show was an entertaining adventure about a quartet of junior crimefighting computer experts that was every bit as much fun as Philip DeGuere's other then-current show "Simon & Simon" (Jeffrey and company even joined forces with A.J. Simon in one episode) - it was closer in tone to "WarGames" than "Scooby-Doo," which was fine with me even then; it also had some good writing to boot, such as one episode ending with their teacher informing the class that even though the FBI had commended them for their work that week, she was still going to punish the boys (the token female had done the homework) for not doing an assignment!

Unfortunately, when they were recruited to work for O'Herlihy's organisation (in secret of course), the thrill of their being freelancers was gone. It was the same mistake made when the Hardy Boys (Stevenson and Cassidy version) were taken on by the Justice Department - they went from playing outside the system to being part of it, and the show was never the same. But it was fun while it lasted...