I got my early Christmas present -- a DVD package from Second Sight in the UK, with 17 fantastic episodes of The Double Deckers. Not only have I been enjoying this blast from my childhood cathode ray past, but my two little girls are digging it just as much (although my youngest thinks Doughnuts and Brains are ridiculously silly).
The Double Deckers originally aired in the UK in 1971, and then enjoyed a syndicated run in the US for several years after. This show was a fantastic mix of comedy and adventure, featuring a group of children who do a bit of detective work, a bunch of singing, and find themselves knee deep in hilarious hi-jinx. Most memorable for me was the fuly loaded double decker London bus clubhouse.
Not visible from the London street, the kids had to enter with a secret password and a combination, which would set of a Rube Goldberg-like series of contraptions that would unlock the secret door in the wooden fence facade. Then, once inside, the bus held a cache of cool rooms and high-tech trinkets. Man, did I ever wanna live in that bus!!
I'm always on the lookout for DVDs like this, because I really enjoy sharing the kind of entertainment I enjoyed as a kid with my kids. Not only out of nostalgia, but really for the wholesome, good humored fun. There's not a whole lot on the TV these days that doesn't depict kids as egomaniacal whiners, and tech-needy twits, or parents as soooo-cool and trendy hipster wannabes, and who can be just as sexy as their kids (oy!). It's either that or the so-wholesome-it-shrinks-my-teeth Barney episodes, or the redundently-challenged (but admittedly cool) monsters of Yo Gabba Gabba.
Besides, the title song is so catchy! My oldest is even teaching it to her kindergarten friends!!
