Livewire is a kids' talk show on the U.S. television cable network, Nickelodeon which began in September 1980 and ended in 1985. Livewire was a talk show for kids of all ages, and the show's main focus discussed true current events and stories during those times. The show was taped at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York through Reeves Teletape Studios of Sesame Street fame. Livewire was filmed 'live on tape' with a participating audience of about 20-30 teenagers and was hosted initially by Mark Cordray, but Fred Newman eventually replaced Cordray as host. The show was a CableACE Award winner, the first Nickelodeon talk show to achieve that feat. Livewire was the #1 rated show on Nickelodeon in 1982, and never went below #7 in the ratings during the 5 year span of the show.
The show was most famously known for giving relatively unknown bands and singers their first television appearance. Bands and celebrities who got their start on Livewire and those who had made an appearance on Livewire included:
⁕Bow Wow Wow
Bric-A-Brac is a British children's television series devised by Michael Cole and Nick Wilson, and starring well known children's television presenter Brian Cant. It was produced by the BBC and originally ran from 1 October until 5 November 1980, with another series from 18 August to 29 September 1982. It was repeated frequently until 1989.
The programme was set in a fictitious junk shop, with its shopkeeper played by Cant, who would deliver a monologue to camera. Each episode centred around a particular letter of the alphabet, with different items beginning with that letter found and discussed by the shopkeeper. Cant's script made heavy use of alliteration, and made use of tongue-twisters. At the end of each episode, he would wind up and set off a traditional clockwork toy, upon which the camera would focus whilst the credits rolled.
The strange story of Boxi, the cardboard dog, and Cartommy, the cardboard boy, who come to life in the imaginery world of a child, built from household waste. All characters in the series can actually be cut and folded from paper.