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Histeria!


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For two or three years around the turn of the 21st century, there was a show on the Kids’ WB called Histeria. Something about the wacky humor, somewhat bizarre cultural references (including to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Justice League, Monty Python, and others) mixed with a genuine approach to teaching history to kids stuck watching TV got me hooked on it.

Some of my favorite bits that I can remember off of the top of my head include:

  • Episode 24: Pee Wee Herman-like character as General Sherman — complete with full intro song “Sherman’s Campsite” set to the tune of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.”
  • Episode 2: An entire song-and-dance number about Philo Farnsworth, the under appreciated inventor of television.
  • Episode 41: The Yalta conference represented as Stalin, Churchill, and FDR fighting over a bunch of food.

The good news is that, even though the show has been off the air for several years now, we can still enjoy it through the magic of the internet. AOL Time Warner put Histeria, as well as several other shows up on the AOL Video website. Check it out at http://video.aol.com/video-category/histeria/1576.

 

This entry was posted on September 7, 2007, 1:11 pm and is filed under history, humor, life, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by Mike on September 10, 2007 - 11:45 am

    Totally weak… I opened the link to the videos earlier this morning, with the intention of checking a couple out later today. I just tried clicking on one now, though, and got a 404. I went back to the initial link, and instead of the list of episodes it previously had, it now says “There are currently no videos available in this category.” I guess Histeria! will have to remain unknown to me.

  2. #2 by benoc on September 10, 2007 - 3:39 pm

    Hey, it works for me. Maybe I have some sort of cookie, and instead of going to that link, just go to “video.aol.com” and browse through the left side under “shows” and then “D-I”.
    Also, I’m not sure why comments are showing up twice now in the blog — that’s odd.

  3. #3 by Mike on September 10, 2007 - 3:52 pm

    I think I might’ve just chosen a bad time to try it. The episodes show up again now, both at the direct link you provided and by navigating to it using the box on the left of the main page. Perhaps there will be some Histeria! in my future afterall.

  4. #4 by seconteen on May 26, 2008 - 5:29 pm

    this show is epic.

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