Beakman's World

This show was so great. Why did they ever stop making it.

Beakman had the COOLEST experiment, the wildest hair, and the craziest assistants. Especially Lester the dim-witted Rat. Jean Stapleton as Beakman's mom was hilarious. Saturday morning TV was never the same when this show went away.

I wish I could find it on video.

I still remember the address... Josie's voice over the cartoon screen, "Beakman's World, P.O. Box 30087 Kansas City, MO 64112" No, I haven't seen an episode in over 14 years.

I remember as a kid my brother and I would make up a million questions to mail in to Beakman... we'd write them on construction paper cut into all sorts of wacky designs like they had on the show. And every time I had a GOOD one... one I just KNEW would actually make the show... there it was the next morning. "Dear Beakman, How do batteries work?" "Dear Beakman, what are Pixels?" (this was 1993) The best part was re-creating his experiments at home: making "movie glass" that you can break with your fist and not get hurt (and it tastes like a lollipop), or seeing if an egg or a tennis ball hits the ground first when you drop it off the top bunk (Mom wasn't too impressed with that one, even though they both hit the ground at the same time).

I wish they would bring this show back in some way, even in re-runs. Re-runs at some other time than five in the morning. I wonder if it's on DVD...

I loved this show for so many reasons. It made science interesting to me for the first time, it was fast, funny and furious and it had one of the cutest ingenues as an assistant. Alanna Ubach made this show for me with her funny one-liners and quips; when she got replaced, it almost killed me, but at least Beakman and Lester, the down-on-his-luck-actor-in-a rat-suit, got me through it. The show had so many good things going for it; I just wish this show had been around in my youth, I could have been a better student than I was.

This show had it all - highly entertaining, educational, and just plain fun all rolled into one. The funny thing is that its target audience was obviously children, but I was 22 when it first aired, had no children of my own, and throughly enjoyed the show.

Most if not all of every show revolved around questions posed by the audience, i.e., children. The hosts (primarily Beakman) would proceed to answer by performing basic, yet interesting scientific experiments or explain the prevailing theory, with a thick dose of humor over all.

From all the great shows, the one I remember most was this question - "why do farts smell bad?" Now naturally, this question was fodder for all sorts of jokes by the sidekick guy in a rat suit. But Beakman, as always, tackled the question with a fantastic blend of serious science and circumstantial humor. I've never heard such a question asked on a children's show before, but it was handled very well, with the anticipated humor not completely detracting from the serious matter of providing the answer.

As a young adult I was amazed by this show, and even got up regularly, on Saturday morning no less, to see what Beakman had in store next. The show was cleverly designed to please both adults and children, and certainly worked its magic on me. Definitely give this one a chance.

This show is nothing less than an absolute landmark in educational TV, and dare I say it, in TV in general. It was like they found the perfect formula: the characters, the timing, the scenery, the lines, the sound effects, and just about everything else. Good old Beakman could talk about *everything* using simple speech, good humour, enthusiasm, always aided by his assistant (originally Josie) and not-exactly-aided by the man in the rat costume, Lester. The three characters completed each other perfectly, and all through the episode, there was not a single second wasted: to every line, there was a perfect reply, and to every question, there was a perfect answer. This is brilliance and talent in their highest forms. Beakman's World can make me laugh harder than any adult comedy show out there can, and I still learn great things with it. It was a shame that Alanna had to leave the series ("Sister Act II", remember that?), and had to be replaced. Liza took herself too seriously, and didn't fit in too well with the other characters. Josie was unbeatable.

And of course, the show was cancelled. I doubt even Beakman could explain us how the execs had the courage to do that.