3-2-1 Contact

I remember that show when I was in Kindergarten. I tried so hard to search it on the web! I wasn't sure the whole name. I am so glad I finally found it! Too they don't play reruns of kids shows like they do with grown up shows. Maybe they think kids now days would not watch them. They don't make many kids shows like this anymore. Unfortunately, there its possible that kids now days, (with media like video games and fast paste shows) don't have the attention spans they do today. Maybe shows like this would help. I remember the song, "Contact, its when everything happens!" I remember learning how they milk cows, other than squeezing the utters! It was such a fun and educational show. Many shows to day, just lack intelligence and are not educational at all. Well unfortunately all good shows have to end at some points but I wonder why they show reruns of grown up shows and not kids shows! It is fortunate that at least good kids shows like "Barney and Friends," "Seasame Street," and "Blues Clues" exist. I wonder if I could get 321 contact on tape somehow. Not that I would watch it as an adult but when I have kids I would probably buy it, or buy it for a gift.

I saw probably the entire first season and I agree the show gradually became a little stale in following years.

Of course there was the bouncy theme song with a disco vibe, that included lines like "Contact/ it's the reason/ it's the moment/ when everything happens./ Contact.../ Let's make contact." Sounds vaguely like a proposition. Making science sexy, maybe. Someone should record a club remix.

Part of the footage that played along with this (aside from a Saturn V lift-off, an arc lamp, and I think an earth-mover) was of a frog wiping spittle off its eye in slow motion. This made me gag, especially since it came right before a slobbering infant. Of all the stock footage available, they chose two cuts with saliva to illustrate the wonders of the natural world.

All in all, it was a pretty good show. I didn't care for the fictional segment ("The Bloodhound Gang"), and I was embarrassed by its theme song.

It is probably difficult to make a show like this, since the children with an interest in science probably know a lot of the basics already, yet the ones with only a passing interest are the real target audience, since the makers wanted more to instill curiosity than to inform. There is no way this show could be considered to teach with any degree of rigor. It was essentially a succession of appealing or curious images that could be easily explained, with a sort of Encyclopedia Brown show tacked on.

Back in 1980, when I was in 3rd grade, I remember a brand new show premiering on PBS called 3-2-1 Contact. At that time, I had just started getting interested in science. Since I didn't have cable, and Mr. Wizard I had never heard of at the time, I found this show to be very interesting. It became an after school routine for me to watch, looking forward to what they had planned to teach that week. For those of you who've never watched it, they would to devote an entire week on a particular subject, which really kept you watching if it was something that interested you (or kept you changing the channel if you were bored by it, something that never happened to me on this show).

3-2-1 Contact really inspired me to maintain an interest in science ever since then. It was 3-2-1 Contact that got my interest in computers back then, which turned out to be a lucrative career for me. I also used to subscribe to the magazine they had by the same name (also published by Children's Television Workshop who created Sesame Street and The Electric Company).

All in all, I'd have to say that this was a very wonderful series to learn from, and now that it's on Noggin a new generation of kids can learn from it. My young son and I watch it together now, and he's learning a lot from it.

I remember watching this show hundreds of times as a kid! Mind you, I loved the 1980 season with Trini, Mark, and that other gal (can't remember her name). A friend of a friend who's an actor in LA actually met Mark, and he's doin' okay. I didn't care for the other seasons, but I'd do anything to see the old 1980 episodes again.

Like the rest of the users, I watched the entire first season (probably while killing time, waiting for "Battlestar Galactica '80" to start) and then more or less lost interest. Even at 7 I remember thinking it was cool that Marc had this cool apartment/clubhouse that he got to share with two chicks. The fact that they mostly just hung out, doing strange science experiments, didn't phase me a bit. I guess that's just what a guy does with two chicks in their clubhouse. Unlike some of the other users, I really liked the Bloodhound Gang. I remember one episode in particular where they investigate a ghost at some old lady's house. Turns out her creepy son was doing it in order to get her to sell the place so he could pay off his gambling debts - not bad for a kids show. Plus, the ghost itself was really friggin' scary - it cackled and wiggled and, to be honest, scared the crap out of me. Turns out the son created the ghost by - and here comes the sciency aspect of the mystery - catching moths using pheromones and then illuminating the wriggling moths with a spotlight, creating the illusion of this amoeba-like squirming ghost. He also played creepy cackling music on his tape player for added effect. All in all the whole process seemed a little laborious, but then I guess it wouldn't have fit the show if they didn't get a chance to discuss moth pheramones. I also remember another bloodhound episode where this guy claimed someone had stolen his priceless grandfather clock. In reality, he wrapped it in plastic and dumped it in his well with the intention of using bags of salt to float it to the top so he could retrieve it after he collected the insurance money. Like one person said, very Encyclopedia Brown. Anyhow, great show and don't kid, that theme song rocked. Although the frog and baby were, admittedly, a bit gross.