Still Awesome

Continuing the trend of Things That Are Awesome, I came across some news the involves our government, more specifically, the FCC, actually doing something right. Hard to even imagine. At the risk of looking like a complete geek, I'll admit that I found this news pretty exciting.

Some time ago, Congress passed the Children's Television Act which basically said there ain't enough learnin' shows on the picture-radio, and they mandated more edumucational programming. Problem was, all the content providers could come up with was Pokémon, or maybe that Teenage Meathead Negro Turtle League or whatever it was. Flash forward 16 years, and a couple of months ago the FCC (moving with lightning speed, huh?) steps in and says, "Nope. Not even close." So, with nothing much to choose from, old shows are re-syndicated, and this is the good news. To sum it up in one word: Beakman.



One of the best shows ever to hit the TV waves. Science + Comedy x Lots of sound effects = Wicked pissah. And music by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, too. The show was so good, even PBS ripped it off. Of course, their version was nerdy.

I found an old VHS tape of some episodes a few years ago and showed it to my daughter, who has since been able to silently kill time in restaurants using two forks, a salt shaker, and two toothpicks. Thank you, Beakman. The payoff for her is when the waitress comes by and goes, "How did you think of that?" and stares for a second.

So, thanks to the FCC and Congress (WTF?), Beakman is back in syndication. Check your local listings and buy some toothpicks.