Kids Are People Too
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Kids Are People Too.jpg
| caption = Original Kids Are People Too logo
| genre = Variety show
Talk show
| creator = Bob McAllister
| developer =
| writer = Ray Reese
| director = Don Roy King
| creative_director =
| presenter = Bob McAllister (1978)
Michael Young (1978-1982: 1986-87)
Randy Hamilton (1981-1982)
| starring =
| judges =
| voices =
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme = "Kids Are People Too"
| endtheme = "Kids Are People Too"
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons =
| num_episodes =
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer =
| producer =
| editor =
| location =
| cinematography =
| camera =
| runtime = 90 minutes
| company =
| channel = ABC
| first_aired = {{start date|1978|9|10}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1982|9|5}}
| related = Wonderama
}}
Kids Are People Too is an American television series that ran on Sunday mornings from 1978 to 1982 on ABC.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/248/mode/2up|access-date=22 March 2020|page=249}} The series was a variety/news magazine show oriented toward kids, with the intention of recognizing them as people.{{cite news| url=http://tv.nytimes.com/show/157104/Kids-Are-People-Too/overview|title=Kids Are People Too!|work= The New York Times|access-date=August 21, 2009}} During its four-year run, the series was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won the 1978 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series. The series included celebrity interviews, cartoons, music, and other information that appealed to children.{{cite web|url=http://www.film.com/tv/kids-are-people-too/21330056 |title= Kids Are People Too|access-date=2009-08-21}}
History
Bob McAllister had hosted a popular New York City-based children's TV series, Wonderama, for over a decade when the series was taken off the air in 1977. As the host, McAllister sang the closing theme song "Kids Are People Too".{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/22/arts/bob-mcallister-63-tv-host-and-magician.html|title= Bob McAllister, 63, TV Host and Magician|work=Obituaries|publisher=New York Times|date=1998-07-22|access-date=2009-08-26| last= Thomas| first=Robert}} Shortly after that series was taken off the air, ABC offered him another series that tried to capitalize on Wonderama's more than 20 years of children's entertainment by using the song's title as the new series title.{{cite web| url= https://variety.com/1998/scene/people-news/bob-mcallister-1117882423/|title=Bob McAllister|series=Obituaries|work=Variety|date=1998-08-05|access-date=2009-08-25}}
However, the show that he was hired to emcee on ABC was aimed at teens, not the younger children McAllister preferred, and this led to creative disputes with the producers and network executives over the portrayal of violence.{{cite web|url=http://www.mediaoutlet.com/wonderama-bob-mcallister-tv-kids-show-dvd.html|title=New Release 20 June 2009: Wonderama Bob McAllister TV Show 1960s-70s New York City Kids Television 2 DVD Set|date=2009-06-29|access-date=2009-08-25}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In November 1978, McAllister was fired from Kids Are People Too and was replaced by Michael Young and later by actor/singer Randy Hamilton (who, at the same time, was playing Rikki Dekker on the NBC soap opera Texas) as the program's hosts.{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series |date=1985 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1651-2 |pages=262–263}}
The series later returned as a weekly syndicated program during the 1986-87 season, with Michael Young back as host.{{cite book |last1= Erickson|first1=Hal|title= Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987|year= 1989|publisher=McFarland & Co. Inc. |isbn=0-89950-410-8|page= 296}}
Format
File:Kids Are People Too!.JPG, introducing newest member Eric Carr on Kids Are People Too]]
The series was a variety/news magazine show for kids.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19790706&id=-xsVAAAAIBAJ&pg=7213,1603509|title=Talk Show Proves "Kids are People Too"|work= Ocala Star-Banner| last= Boyer| first= Peter|date=1979-07-06|access-date=2009-08-25}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} Every week it would have a celebrity guest who the host would interview, occasionally a psychologist would speak about the challenges of growing up, and there would be comedy or musical routines. Each episode also included a segment called "Dear Alex and Annie" (with William Bingham as Alex and Donna Drake as Annie), answering viewers' questions on a wide range of personal and social topics that were relevant to kids (that segment would later be seen in a stand-alone interstitial segment during ABC's Saturday morning schedule).
The series attracted guests such as Bill Cosby, Debbie Harry, Billy Dee Williams, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith and Brooke Shields. Just like CBS's Kids Say the Darndest Things, the show often produced unexpected results when the host would ask the audience questions. When KISS replaced drummer Peter Criss, they introduced their new drummer, Eric Carr, on a July 1980 episode of Kids Are People Too.Kiss: Kissology Volume II 1978–1991. DVD. 2007. Prior to the band's coming out on stage, the host asked an audience member, "Who's your favorite band member?" The youth responded, "Peter Criss. Er, um, I mean... Ace Frehley." Kids Are People Too was seen the first two seasons as 90 minute versions in most major city markets including Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit, and it also featured locally-produced cutaway segments by the ABC O&O stations in these markets.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0226900|title=Kids Are People Too}}
{{Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Series}}
{{Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1970s}}
{{Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1980s}}
Category:1970s American children's television series
Category:1980s American children's television series
Category:1970s American television news shows
Category:1980s American television news shows
Category:1970s American variety television series
Category:1980s American variety television series
Category:1978 American television series debuts