Pinwheel (TV series)

Pinwheel
Genre
Created byVivian Horner[2]
Directed by
  • Michael Bernhaut
  • James Colistro
  • Andrea Cvriko
  • Andrew Ferguson
  • Julian G. Lopez
  • Robert Ripp
  • Philip Squyres
Starring
  • Franci Anderson
  • Caroline Cox Loveheart
  • George James
  • Dale Engle
  • Arline Miyazaki
  • Betty Rozek
  • Lindanell Rivera
Voices of
Opening theme"Welcome to Pinwheel House" (1977–1979)
"Pinwheel Theme"
Ending theme"Goodbye from Pinwheel House" (1977–1979)
"Pinwheel Theme"
ComposerGeorge James
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes260
Production
Executive producersVivian Horner
Lois Fortune
ProducerSandy Kavanaugh[3]
Production locationsColumbus, Ohio (1977–79)
New York City (1979–84)
Running time60 minutes
Production companiesWarner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
QUBE (1977–79)
Original release
Network
ReleaseDecember 1, 1977 (1977-12-01) –
1984 (1984)
Related
Eureeka's Castle
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Pinwheel is an American children's television series that was the first show to air on the then-rebranded Nickelodeon, as well as the first to appear on its Nick Jr. block along reruns until 1990. The show was aimed at preschoolers aged 3–5.[1] It was created by Vivian Horner,[2] an educator who spent her earlier career at the Children's Television Workshop, the company behind PBS's Sesame Street.[4] The show was geared to the "short attention span of preschoolers,"[1] with each episode divided into short, self-contained segments including songs, skits, and animations from all over the world.

The series is set in a boarding house called Pinwheel House, which is powered by a pinwheel on the roof. The house's residents are a mix of live-action humans and puppets. Most of the show's songs are set to music in the style of a wind-up music box.

Pinwheel premiered on December 1, 1977, on Channel C-3 of QUBE's local cable system in Columbus, Ohio. In April 1979, Channel C-3 expanded into a national television network, now rebranded Nickelodeon. Pinwheel continued to air on the network until 1990, and exclusively during the then-new Nick Jr. block starting in 1988. It was gradually phased out in favor of another preschool series, Eureeka's Castle.[5] The Los Angeles Times called Eureeka's Castle a successor series to Pinwheel.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d "Two-Way Cable-TV Makes Debut, Introduced by Warner Division" (PDF). Direct Marketing. December 1977. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Marks, Jill (1983). "Warner Communications". Cable Television Business. Vol. 20. Cardiff Publishing Company. Nickelodeon was the brainchild of Dr. Vivian Horner of WACCI, who created 'Pinwheel' for pre-schoolers while at the MSO's Qube system in Columbus, Ohio.
  3. ^ Denisoff 1988, pp. 9–10.
  4. ^ Patrick R. Parsons (5 April 2008). Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television. Temple University Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-59213-706-0.
  5. ^ Granville, Kari (28 August 1989). "Nickelodeon Flexing Muscles". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ^ Heffley, Lynne (September 4, 1989). "TV REVIEW: Nickelodeon's New Lineup for Preschoolers". Los Angeles Times.