Square One Television
Square One Television was a children's television program produced by the Children's Television Workshop which ran five seasons from 1987-01-26 to 1992-11-06, and filmed 230 episodes. It used a half-hour time slot comprised of a series of short sketches throughout each show, most of which were math-related parodies including Mathnet (a parody of Dragnet), Mathman (a parody of Pac-Man), and Mathcourt (a parody of The People's Court). The sketches also included cartoons like Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade and various music videos about math. Some of the sketches from Square One Television were also included in other Children's Television Workshop products like the magazine for 3-2-1 Contact.
Contents
Personal
My mother has been a big supporter of PBS all through my life, so PBS was frequently on TV in our house and I grew to like it. This show came on after I got home from school, and I would frequently watch it. My favorite segments were Mathnet and Mathman. I still remember a few sketches from the show and the math lessons I learned from it.
Cast
The primary cast was a group of adults who played various characters in each sketch.
- Reg E. Cathey, Larry Cedar, Cynthia Darlow, Cris Franco, Arthur Howard, Luisa Leschin, Beverly Mickins
Mathnet
- Joe Howard - George Frankly
- Beverly Leech - Kate Monday
- Toni Di Buono - Pat Tuesday
- Mary Watson - Debbie Williams
- James Earl Jones - Thad Green
- David D. Connell - Dick
Others
- Jim Thurman - Mathman Announcer, Mr. Glitch
- Gary Owens - Lt. Dirk Niblick
The show also featured a large assortment of cameos from various celebrities.
Media
Promotional Images
On the cover of TV Weekly.
1991 advertisement.
Videos
Representation
| Strong female character? | Pass | |
|---|---|---|
| Bechdel test? | Unknown | |
| Strong person of color character? | Pass | |
| Queer character? | Fail |
Links
- vox.com/2015/1/21/7862165/mathnet-monday-frankly - Vox - 9 facts only Mathnet fans will care about.
