Square One TV

This was such a great show. I don't know a single mathamagician or engineer that didn't watch this show growing up. Along with 3-2-1 Contact! this show was the epoch of PBS educational programming.

Mathman....Mathman....Mathman......

True it would be too hooky and not enough special effect and too much intelligence to make it on TV now, but it was soo good.

I still can hear the theme song playing in my head when ever I do math. Which is a bit to often sometimes.

Please who ever made the show put out a box-set. If not for todays kids who need something more then 5 second sound bytes of learning, but for those of us who grew up watching this spectacular show. Then again if I saw it for the first time now I would probably think it sucks.....

The show presented an enjoyable solution to a serious problem: teaching kids how to do math and to think logically. It filled each half hour with sketches, game shows, music videos, comedy routines, and sporting events which parodied everything from "Let's Make a Deal" to "Who's On First" to "The Honeymooners." I've even used Tony and the Togas' "The Mathematics of Love" in a talent show! Each episode of Square One TV would conclude with arguably the most popular segment of the series, a police satire entitled "Mathnet." Using "...logical, step by step problem solving," Kate and George would always get their man, woman, or gorilla over the course of the week. Square One TV was a fantastic show that was so much fun to watch, you almost forgot you were learning math. As for the people who wanted tapes of the shows, sorry but I erased mine years ago.

And, it was a good show, too. It looked like it had a good-sized budget,anyway. There were no ultra-cheesy sets or grainy 16mm filmed segments(like some other well-known PBS kids shows), from what I remember. Plus, the show seemed truly modern in the realm of PBS educational programs, definitely 1987.

Square one simply rocked :) It was held together by a lot of silliness but that's ok. Mathman (pacman-like cartoon) ruled and was my favorite part of the show :) I was less fond of many of the game shows, especially "piece of the pie". Production was best during the first season, though later seasons had gems like "Nobody's Inn", a parody of John Cleese in "Faulty Towers" and nearly as well done :)

Ah, "Square One TV" - easily one of the most clever children's shows ever made. Parodying pop culture WHILE teaching math to children? People had good ideas back in the eighties.

Mathman and Mathnet were cool as hell. I liked the first "Kate" better, though.