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Pinwheel (TV series)
| Pinwheel | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Vivian Horner[2] |
| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Voices of |
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| Opening theme | "Welcome to Pinwheel House" (1977–1979) "Pinwheel Theme" |
| Ending theme | "Goodbye from Pinwheel House" (1977–1979) "Pinwheel Theme" |
| Composer | George James |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 260 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Vivian Horner Lois Fortune |
| Producer | Sandy Kavanaugh[3] |
| Production locations | Columbus, Ohio (1977–79) New York City (1979–84) |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment QUBE (1977–79) |
| Original release | |
| Network |
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| Release | December 1, 1977 – 1984 |
| Related | |
| Eureeka's Castle | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Pinwheel was an American children's television series that was the first show to air on the then-rebranded Nickelodeon, as well as the first to appear on its Nick Jr. block along reruns until 1990. The show was aimed at preschoolers aged 3–5.[1] It was created by Vivian Horner,[2] an educator who spent her earlier career at the Children's Television Workshop, the company behind PBS's Sesame Street.[4] The show was geared to the "short attention span of preschoolers,"[1] with each episode divided into short, self-contained segments including songs, skits, and animations from all over the world.
The series is set in a boarding house called Pinwheel House, which is powered by a pinwheel on the roof. The house's residents are a mix of live-action humans and puppets. Most of the show's songs are set to music in the style of a wind-up music box.
Pinwheel premiered on December 1, 1977, on Channel C-3 of QUBE's local cable system in Columbus, Ohio. In April 1979, Channel C-3 expanded into a national television network, now rebranded Nickelodeon. Pinwheel continued to air on the network until 1990, and exclusively during the then-new Nick Jr. block starting in 1988. It was gradually phased out in favor of another preschool series, Eureeka's Castle.[5] The Los Angeles Times called Eureeka's Castle a successor series to Pinwheel.[6]
- ^ a b c d "Two-Way Cable-TV Makes Debut, Introduced by Warner Division" (PDF). Direct Marketing. December 1977. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2020.
- ^ a b Marks, Jill (1983). "Warner Communications". Cable Television Business. Vol. 20. Cardiff Publishing Company.
Nickelodeon was the brainchild of Dr. Vivian Horner of WACCI, who created 'Pinwheel' for pre-schoolers while at the MSO's Qube system in Columbus, Ohio.
- ^ Denisoff 1988, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Patrick R. Parsons (5 April 2008). Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television. Temple University Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-59213-706-0.
- ^ Granville, Kari (28 August 1989). "Nickelodeon Flexing Muscles". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Heffley, Lynne (September 4, 1989). "TV REVIEW: Nickelodeon's New Lineup for Preschoolers". Los Angeles Times.
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