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CBS Storybreak, on CBS
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This Saturday morning show was originally hosted by Bob Keeshan (of Captain Kangaroo fame), though later the series was hosted by Malcolm-Jamal Warner (of The Cosby Show fame), but it was just the same old cartoons, so I don't know what the point of that was. They may have even got someone else to host it later, too. I'm not sure. Anyway, each episode featured a different book being made into a single half hour cartoon. It's hard to give the show an accurate overall rating, partly because I was young when I watched it, partly because it was so long ago, partly because it was specifically for kids, but mostly because it was an anthology, so every episode should be judged on its own merits. But I remember usually enjoying it, and I feel like there's no reason an adult couldn't like it. Of course, mostly I just think of it fondly, from a nostalgic standpoint. But there were surely episodes I don't remember well, if at all, and probably some I didn't like that much at the time, or that wouldn't hold up if I watched them now. I dunno.

Anyway, my favorite episode was probably "Dragon's Blood," but later I read the book (the first in a trilogy by Jane Yolen) and it's much better than the cartoon, of course. (I think the books were YA, not really children's books, as most of the episodes were based on.) Well, I remember various other cartoons from this show. There was "How to Eat Fried Worms" (later made into a live-action movie), and "Chocolate Fever," and "Yeh-Shen," and "Zucchini," and "Arnold of the Ducks," and "The Pig Plantagenet," and... I dunno, I'd probably remember more if I saw them again.... Which I'd kind of like to, someday, I think....


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