Don't Look Now (1983 TV series)

Don't Look Now
Scene from the opening
Genre	Sketch comedy
Created by	Roger Price Geoffrey Darby
Directed by	Geoffrey Darby
Starring	Tina Arthur Ronda Berkman Paul Branco Max Casella Matthew Flynn Bajah Freeman Adam Gulinello Dhonyale Jones Dylan Jones Jon Joseph Jocelyn Leary David Perrigo Lisa Rosman
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	5
Production
Producer(s)	Geoffrey Darby Roger Price
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	WGBH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts
Release
Original network	PBS
Original release	October 2 – October 30, 1983

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:

Comparing Don't Look Now (left) with You Can't Do That on Television (right):

Cast

Characters

Elements

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...").