The Wonder is Back: Wonderama Returns to TV

The Wonder is Back: Wonderama Returns to TV
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During a commercial break, we hit the dance floor, ready. Kids like me, and lots of them, waited for the signal, and then the music. Maybe it was Neil Diamond and Sweet Caroline. Or Sugar Sugar, or The Beatles. With the first note, our bodies let loose, twisting to the ground, doing the pony or just jumping like ecstatic and incredulous nine year olds. It was, after all, television. And not just television, it was Wonderama.

Wonderama.

For 22 years, the program defined Sunday mornings for so many American children. Unlike anything else on television between 1955 and 1977, the show was an amalgam of entertainment, learning and fun that engaged kids lucky enough to be on the program as well as the ones watching from home. Clever and friendly, Wonderama and its hosts had a way of making art, science, guest celebrities and games iconic. As a kid, you felt the show was yours, alone. You made sure that you were at the TV, waiting, before it came on. You watched it until the end and it somehow stayed with you until the next Sunday, and even longer, like decades, I came to find out.

When I heard that the show was making a comeback late in 2016, my brain rewound to that dance floor. Each week, a few kids would be plucked from the crowd and asked to climb on top of a few large white cubes. They were the special dancers, the featured dancers. On TV, they’d fill up the whole screen, their bodies tilted in groovy camera angles and lit in colored streaks of light. In 1970, when a friend of mine got tickets to the show and invited me along, I wound up on top of the cube, remarkably. Sure, I had studied ballet and had fine turn-out and graceful arms, but this was Wonderama. This was the Wonderama dancing cube. I was a star, a Wonderama-A-Go-Go star. I was a star in my hippie vest and knickers and waist-length hair. I was never the same again.

Last Sunday night, I turned on the TV to watch the new iteration, driven by one pressing thought--Would it be the same? Could it be the same? I debated whether I should watch, as things and places and people are rarely the same, or even close, when you go back to see them again. Maybe I should just leave it alone, I thought, and let the Wonderama that I knew and adored exist as I knew and adored it, in my head, alone. Why risk ruining the nostalgia, shattering the serenity of childhood? I stood in front of the television at 5:55, finger on the remote. Ultimately, I pressed the button, bracing for disappointment, for the despondency that I’d certainly incur each following Sunday at 6 pm.

The new host appeared on the screen. He was nice, and I liked him immediately, even though he was not my host, Bob McAllister. He was David Osmond, of Osmond Family fame, son of Alan and nephew of Donny and Marie. David was the perfect host. So far, so good. I had a Wonderama check-list in my head: fake snake in a can, relay races in which you sat on balloons and had to pop them, tongue twisters and of course, Wonderama-A-Go-Go. The program proceeded with two high school girls who fenced. One was a champion and quite well-spoken. It was a terrific fencing segment. Next, an artist drew. Basic and fascinating at the same time. Then, a science experiment and yes, tongue twister contests, fake snakes popping from cans and genuinely excited kids having a really fun time. I was relieved. The show was a modern variation, with low-key messages of tolerance and acceptance and self-esteem. Nothing preachy. Nothing glitzy. It made you feel good.

“There are so many approaches you can take when it comes to making TV,” said Executive Producer Chuck Armstrong. “We set out to make Wonderama a show with purpose. One that kids and families can enjoy together. Through Wonderama, our main goal is to entertain, but we also hope to inspire our audience to strive to be the best at whatever they choose. So, when we present a segment on recycling or have a real live astronaut visit, it’s all about unlocking life’s possibilities, so our audience can truly say “Hey, I can do that, too!’

I waited for the dance portion of the show, hoping that it had survived the generation-plus hiatus. Sure enough, it had. It’s now called Dance Emergency, and the big white cubes are gone, but still, happy kids jumped around like incredulous nine year olds on a TV show made just for them. In my living room, I shimmied along, catching the beat.

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