DVD Review: "Hiya, Kids!! A '50s Saturday Morning"

DVD: Hiya, Kids!! A '50s Saturday Morning
Date Released: May 6th, 2008

Saturday mornings these days aren't what they used to be. "Hiya, Kids!!" is a compendium of 22 TV shows from the 1950s, several of them pioneering in their content matter and style. It is easy, however, to see why puppet-show formatted shows like "Kukla, Fran And Ollie", "Howdy Doody", and "The Magic Clown Show" quickly fell out of favor for serials like "Lassie", "Captain Z-RO", and "Sky King" which were much more sophisticated and plot driven. It truly is a privilege to see some of these venerable shows, they do show their age.

That doesn't mean that they aren't entertaining, my 2 kids (3 & 6 years old), really did enjoy "Lassie" and particularly "Annie "Oakley", with its young female lead, was a huge hit with my daughter. It's best to look at this set as a sampler of shows you might have heard of but never saw: "Flash Gordon", ""The Roy Rogers Show", "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle", etc. For true fans and collectors of these shows, this DVD set will not cut it, but it's a great introduction.