Today's Special: Difference between revisions

A Canadian television show that ran in the 1980s., It'''''Today's Special''''' ran from 1982 to 1987 and was broadcast on TV Ontario. It is best remembered for being one of the earliest staples of [[Nickelodeon]] — and at times, for being ''really'' freakin' weird.

The setting was a department store in an unspecified city (presumably [[Toronto]], where the show was filmed). The show centered around the people (human and otherwise) who worked there during the overnight shift. The employees of the store included Jodie, who set up the displays in the children's department, Sam Crenshaw the security guard (played by a puppet), and Mrs. Pennypacker (another puppet introduced in one of the later seasons). They were joined by the far stranger nocturnal residents of the store: [[Artificial Human|Jeff]] the mannequin, Muffy Mouse (another puppet), who [[Rhymes on a Dime|spoke in rhyme]] and had [[Mouse World|a little penthouse within the store]], and TXL Series 4, Sam's [[Do-Anything Robot|Do-Anything Computer]] and who also plays quizzes and participation games with the viewers in between segments. Another character in the show is the Mime Lady. While she is not an in-store character, she participates in TXL's games.

The aforementioned Jeff is such an unusual character, he deserves his own paragraphs. Every kid's show has an obligatory character meant to be [[Audience Surrogate|the young audience's representative in the show's fictional world]], but Jeff was an especially bizarre example. He is a mannequin, in the shape of an adult man, who was [[Humanity Ensues|brought to life]] by wearing a magical hat created by a magician named Waldo The Magnificent. Thing is, his personality and mannerisms were that of a small child. So in other words, this show's [[Sesame Street|Big Bird]] equivalent was a [[Man Child]] who lived in the store and was taught about everyday things and the world in general (iee.g., in one episode, the other regulars had to explain to Jeff what brooms were for, and in another, how umbrellas work).