The US children’s TV show Pinwheel began life in Columbus, Ohio, in 1979 on the Pinwheel Channel, which featured the show five hours a day(!)
A year later, the Pinwheel Channel became known as Nickelodeon (which would go on to become the children’s juggernaut it is today) and kept Pinwheel on its schedule until 1989.
Pinwheel featured human hosts Jake and Kim and a whole world full of puppet pals, such as Silas the snail – who was forever heading to the snails’ convention but never made it on time, Molly the elderly, blind mole, Plus and Minus (locked in a never-ending game of tag), Ebeneezer T. Squint – a foul-tempered green thing of indeterminate biological origin, fortune teller Orelia, Luigi O’Brien (who could talk to vegetables) Hobo Bugs Herbert, and Lulu.
Jake and Kim also had special abilities. Jake stored sounds in boxes and would let them out when the mood struck him, and Kim was always creating very cool works of art.
Other human co-stars were Smitty and Sal, two newshounds from the local newspaper whose main mission in life was tracking down the (not so) elusive Admiral Bird.
Jake
George James Kim
Arline Miyazaki Smitty
Dale Engel Sal
Betty Rozek
Silas the snail
Molly the mole
Plus
Minus
Ebeneezer T Squint
Orelia
Luigi O’Brien
Hobo Bugs Herbert
Lulu
