"Hot Dog" was an incredibly funny show as well as educational because of the frequent contributions of Woody Allen, Jonathan Winters and JoAnne Worley (of 'Laugh In' fame). These folks provided hilarious improvisational commentary such as Woody Allen's musings when handed a piece of rubber for making a large school eraser that he described as something his mother would beat him with during the Jewish holidays - or - Jonathan Winters improv skits using a miniature baseball bat as a test tube, telescope, and other zany things. The Youngbloods (w/ Jessie Colin Young) were frequently featured - one instrumental song, in particular ("Prelude", I think from the Rock Festival LP and "It's a Lovely Day" from the same album) was an instrumental which played during 'how to' footage. One of the greatest shows ever - not just for kids. I was 17 and watched it every weekend. It was created by Frank Buxton and lasted one season - a tragedy.
4 Reviews
A standout among Saturday morning kid shows
4ize19 October 2006
"Hot Dog" was unlike all the other kids' fare on Saturday. No animation at all. The cast were asked to explain things like "How do they get toothpaste in the tube?" Woody Allen and Jonathan Winters of course came up with bizarre answers. Then we's see how it's really done - a filmed piece set to music , no narration, would take us through the process start to finish. The show was fun, interesting, original and different. Wish I could see it again. Apparently, it was on for just one season. As usual, anything different gets the ax right away. Does anyone know if it's available on DVD anywhere? I wonder if it would hold up after all this time.
All-perfect, all-pleasing. A TV anomaly.
kcor195331 March 2011
I was all but a grown man when this was on but made a point of watching it, it was unique and very very good.
Like an Erector set, they didn't tell you how a thing was done, they required you to look at it and figure out what you were seeing. The charm of the low-res film/video footage is a treasure as well. No useless, off-putting, distracting gimmery-crackery and senseless sound effects/music like today.
(Niggling: Another review states there was no animation, but I remember a low-tech animated dinosaur eating mustard plants in the episode which contained the manufacture of yellow mustard.)
And the concept of having three presenters be wrong (via speculation or utter bull-crap) first was--brilliant. And, no voice of God naming things/pointing the way--brilliant again. I do recall, fondly, the unobtrusive use of child voice-overs, asking questions.
The casting as well seems an unlikely dream that came true.
I also was pleased that the three series-run presenters' names each had initial "W"s. But that's just me.
Like an Erector set, they didn't tell you how a thing was done, they required you to look at it and figure out what you were seeing. The charm of the low-res film/video footage is a treasure as well. No useless, off-putting, distracting gimmery-crackery and senseless sound effects/music like today.
(Niggling: Another review states there was no animation, but I remember a low-tech animated dinosaur eating mustard plants in the episode which contained the manufacture of yellow mustard.)
And the concept of having three presenters be wrong (via speculation or utter bull-crap) first was--brilliant. And, no voice of God naming things/pointing the way--brilliant again. I do recall, fondly, the unobtrusive use of child voice-overs, asking questions.
The casting as well seems an unlikely dream that came true.
I also was pleased that the three series-run presenters' names each had initial "W"s. But that's just me.
Woody Allen?
lorne-219 October 2006
Oh my god! I remember this show! But just barely. Woody Allen was in it? Who knew? I was 8. I don't really remember him. I remember Joanne Worley because I'd seen her on "Laugh-In", and I remember Jonathan Winters, but Woody? It's hard to really judge the quality from my smattering of memory. It was supposed to be educational, but in a very sloppy way. They'd pose a question like "How do they make cartoons?" and then they would have a bunch of people giving "wrong" answers before showing you how it was actually done. I guess this is the reason I learned early on that pencil leads aren't really lead (not that the knowledge was particularly valuable). I guess it must have been entertaining enough, but I would have to question the educational value of their methodology. In the show on cartoons, one of the "wrong" answers was that cartoons were filmed using "people in costumes". I think this misinformation may actually have been spoken by Allen himself. I remember thinking at the time that this was quite unlikely, but I gave it an undue amount of credence because the source was a seemingly rational adult on TV. So to this day I believe cartoons are films of people running around in costumes. Thanks, Woody.
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