Watch Mr. Wizard
| Watch Mr. Wizard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Educational |
| Starring | Don Herbert |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 547 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | March 3, 1951 – June 27, 1965 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Mr. Wizard's World | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Educational |
| Starring | Don Herbert |
| Composer(s) |
Paul Zaza (1983-1985) New York Sound (1985-1990) |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 78 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Fern Field |
| Location(s) | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nickelodeon (1983-1990) |
| Original release | October 3, 1983 – 1990 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Watch Mr. Wizard |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Watch Mr. Wizard is an American television program (1951–1965) for children that demonstrated the science behind ordinary things. The show's creator and on-air host was Don Herbert. Marcel LaFollette says of the program, "It enjoyed consistent praise, awards, and high ratings throughout its history. At its peak, Watch Mr. Wizard drew audiences in the millions, but its impact was far wider. By 1956, it had prompted the establishment of more than five thousand Mr. Wizard science clubs, with an estimated membership greater than one hundred thousand."
It was briefly revived in 1971, and then in the 1980s was a program on the Nickelodeon children's television network as Mr. Wizard's World.
Watch Mr. Wizard first aired on NBC on March 3, 1951 with Don Herbert as the title character. In the weekly half hour live television show Herbert played a science hobbyist, and every Saturday morning a neighbor boy or girl would come to visit. The children were played by child actors; one of them (Rita McLaughlin) enjoyed a long subsequent acting career. Mr. Wizard always had some kind of laboratory experiment going that taught something about science. The experiments, many of which seemed impossible at first glance, were usually simple enough to be re-created by viewers.
The show was very successful; by 1954 it was broadcast live by 14 stations, and by kinescope (a film made from the television monitor of the original live broadcast) by an additional 77. Mr. Wizard Science Clubs were started throughout North America, numbering 5,000 by 1955 and 50,000 by 1965. The show moved from Chicago to New York on September 5, 1955, and had produced 547 live broadcasts by the time the show was canceled in 1965, with the last telecast on June 27. The show was cited by the National Science Foundation and American Chemical Society for increasing interest in science, and won a 1953 Peabody Award.
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Wikipedia