Don't Look Now is an American national children's sketch comedy show produced for PBS by WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, and created by Geoffrey Darby and Roger Price. It is a clone of their program for CTV and Nickelodeon, You Can't Do That on Television. The first episode aired on October 2, 1983, and showed its final episode on October 30, 1983. It was originally slated to be called Don't Tell Your Mother, but was later changed to its current title, Don't Look Now, due to the PBS executives concern that the title may encourage children to keep secrets from their parents. It was created out of uncertainty that their top show You Can't Do That on Television would continue, and was cancelled possibly due to the complaints of parents for its content, and also Nickelodeon's concern that if had it not been cancelled it may have spelled the end of You Can't Do That on Television.
The format of Don't Look Now is along the same lines as the first season of YCDTOTV, when it was a local program produced at originating station CJOH-TV in Ottawa, Ontario, in which it also included contests for viewers, as well as music videos. Some of the sketches presented on Don't Look Now were recycled from that season of YCDTOTV. The show shared many similarities with YCDTOTV, however there are some differences that set the two shows apart:
Unlike YCDTOTV each episode of Don't Look Now did not have a particular topic, and there were no opposite skits, or pie scenes.
Water was not dumped from above after saying "water", though two characters had buckets of water dumped on them.
"Green slime" was replaced by "yellow yuck" (which is actually yellow slime, but never referred to as "slime"). The trigger phrase, "I don't know!", became "Don't blame me!"
The kids told jokes to each other, but rather than the setting of a locker room, they sat in a row of chairs. At the end of the jokes, a kid was always called to the principal's office.
Unlike YCDTOTV whose number of kids who would star in each episode often varied, Don't Look Now only had a number of five kids starring in each episode.
Unlike the kid cast members of YCDTOTV who were sometimes related, as some cast were sometimes brothers and sisters of each other, none of the kid cast from Don't Look Now were related.
All the kids of the cast of Don't Look Now seemed to be very young, preteens perhaps, unlike some of the cast of YCDTOTV, some of which were teenagers, and sometimes even adults, and the adult male character David Perrigo from Don't Look Now seemed to be a lot younger than the elderly Les Lye, who was the adult male character on YCDTOTV.
The dad from Don't Look Now who would often have a pipe in his mouth which he would sometimes smoke was very clean cut and thin, and wore a navy blue dress suit, which a white shirt and tie, unlike the dad on YCDTOTV who was very slovenly, overweight, and wore a white shirt with stains.
Miss Pell the classroom teacher from Don't Look Now was very much like Mr. Mr. Shidtler the classroom teacher from YCDTOTV, as she was very strict, and often said nasty things, and was mean to her students, but unlike Mr. Shidtler she never said the phrase "Where does the school board find them, and why do they keep sending them to me?!"
Just like YCDTOTV during one of the house scenes on Don't Look Now, The phrase "Please let me be adopted!" was said once by Max Casella, but the phrase "Don't encourage your mother!" was never said by the dad, also another key phrase that was often used on YCDTOTV that was never used on Don't Look Now was "Sometimes it's so easy I'm ashamed of myself!"
Jocelyn Leary from Don't Look Now also claimed to be a rich kid just like Naida Gosselin from the 1986 104th episode of YCDTOTV poverty and unemployment, but was unlike Naida as she was somewhat friendly, helpful, and not dictative.
Don't Look Now's "Walk the plank" sketches were the equivalent of "the firing squad" on YCDTOTV. Unlike YCDTOTV, the exasperated question asked of the executioner, "What is it this time?", was said only once on Don't Look Now by the pirate, while it was asked in almost every scene by El Capitano on YCDTOTV.
Just like YCDTOTV that had a mean producer that was mean to the kid cast and often made them do things they did not want to do who that would sometimes appear on the show, Don't Look Now also claimed to have a mean producer who made people do things they did not want to do, like make Bajah drink papaya juice which she hated, but unlike YCDTOTV the producer of Don't Look Now never appeared on the show.
There was also a link set on Don't Look Now, but it was much different from the link set on YCDTOTV, and unlike YCDTOTV that had a male character playing a technical director named Ross Ewich, that often appeared on the link set, Don't Look Now had a makeup lady who was unnamed, often appearing on their link set.
Don't Look Now also includes educational segments, in which the cast would visit places like dairy farms, stores, factories, banks, boats, childcare, aquariums, orchestras, sewage treatment plants, and laboratories. This was due to PBS's mandate that the show included some educational content, unlike YCDTOTV, which strived to be as uneducational as possible.
Comparing Don't Look Now (left) with You Can't Do That on Television (right):
Cast
Dylan Jones = Doug Ptolemy
Lisa Rosman = Libby Livingston
Tina Arthur = Angie Coddett
Jon Joseph = Alasdair Gillis
Jocelyn Leary = Jennifer Brackenbury
David Perrigo = Les Lye
Ronda Berkman = Abby Hagyard
Characters
Violet = Barth
Miss Pell = Mr. Shidtler
The pirate = El Capitano
The makeup lady = Ross Ewich
Anthony the house dad = Lance Prevert
Louise the house mom = Valerie Prevert
Prentice Howard Devonshive III = L. Nickelson Dime III
Elements
Yellow yuck = Green slime
"Don't blame me!" = "I don't know!"
Walk the plank = The firing squad
Camp Pitup = Barth's Burgers
"Shut up and eat!" = "Duh IIIIIIII heard that!"
"Avast me hearties and you walk the plank!" = "Ready... Aim..."
Ronda Berkman played the makeup lady, the house mom, Miss Pell a very strict school teacher, and Violet the nasty camp instructor; when the kids would complain about how nasty the food was, Violet would tell the kids to "Shut up and eat!" (an analogue to Barth's "Duh IIIIIIII heard that!" on YCDTOTV). David Perrigo played a pirate, a cameraman, Mr. Richards, and the house dad. He was also the narrator for the educational sequences. The pirate would tell the kids, before they walked the plank, "Avast me hearties and you walk the plank!" (similar to El Capitano's "Ready... Aim...").
Every episode had three music videos. Videos featured on Don't Look Now included:
UB40 - "I've Got Mine" - episode one
The Police - "Every Breath You Take" - episode one
Split Enz - "Never Ceases to Amaze Me" - episode one
Billy Joel - "Tell Her About It" - episode two
Men at Work - "Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive" - episode two
Elvis Costello - "Everyday I Write the Book" - episode two
The Manhattans - "Crazy" - episode three
Toto - "Waiting for Your Love" - episode three
Loverboy - "Queen of the Broken Hearts" - episode three
Oxo - "Whirly Girl" - episode four
Donna Summer - "Unconditional Love - episode four
Lionel Richie - "All Night Long (All Night)" - episode four
Bananarama - "Shy Boy" - episode five
Rick Springfield - "Human Touch" - episode five
Stevie Wonder - "Do I Do" - episode five
Controversy, cancellation, and ratings
The voice of David Perrigo would announce the disclaimer at the start of each program: "The following show is not intended for pre-school aged children. Viewer discretion is advised."
It was very highly rated (the second highest rated kids show that PBS had ever broadcast even beating out Sesame Street in viewership) and was shown on for six Sundays including all of October. It also made Nickelodeon very angry, so PBS decided not to pick up additional episodes.
The Don't Look Now series was believed to be lost forever until all five episodes surfaced in early 2013, and have been posted on YouTube as well, but with the music videos edited out. To the best of public knowledge, there aren't any plans for a DVD release.
Major funding for Don't Look Now was provided by the Mable Louise Riley Foundation, a Boston based foundation with interest in children and youth. Additional funding was provided by public television stations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
