Bobby Goldsboro's The Swamp Critters of Lost Lagoon, got its first big break in 1997 with a Forth of July 6 hour marathon, on The Learning Channel. This gave a HUGE opportunity of exposure for them critters, which until then had mainly showed their faces locally in their "homeswamp" of Lost Lagoon and shared their stories with the world on a few PBS stations. PBS only picks up a program one local station at a time! Ain't that a cryin' shame? On a network cable channel such as TLC, a service of Discovery Networks, it reaches over 67 million homes throughout North America. Woooo HOWDY!
After the original signed agreement (between Bobby Goldsboro and The Learning Channel) regarding the three month broadcast trial period of the show, TLC exercised its option to continue to broadcast The Swamp Critters of Lost Lagoon at least through to the end of 1998. Let's cross our fingers and hope it's longer than that!
"I am pleased that TLC is committed to carrying The Swamp Critters," Bobby Goldsboro (creator, writer, singer, musician and producer of the children's television series) had remarked. "I continue to receive fan mail from all over the country. Children love the characters and music, and parents appreciate the strong family values. TLC is a perfect match for our program."
The Swamp Critters of Lost Lagoon is part of The Learning Channel's READY, SET, LEARN lineup, a six-hour commercial-free preschool programming block. It currently airs at 11:00am and 11:30am (EST) daily.
The program began airin' in South Africa in January, 1998. Goldsboro hopes that even more commercial stations will carry his critters into millions of hearts. Well, who could blame him? I mean, we COULD all be watchin' Teletubbies, or somethin'... *shudder*
To start off, Goldsboro created 26 half-hour episodes and wrote another 26, ready to produce and record. Episodes 27 to 40 of The Swamp Critters have been filmed. By the spring of 1998, a total of 52 episodes were completed. As far as I can reckon, TLC still only owns the original 26.
"This is the year of the Swamp Critters" says Bobby Goldsboro (Baby Boomers will remember Goldsboro's hits such as Honey, See The Funny Little Clown, Watching Scotty Grow, and Little Green Apples.), The Swamp Critters show is a musical series featurin' the lives of six larger-than-life "critters", who, through each program's storyline, teach various lessons in values, self-esteem and decision makin' against the environmental backdrop of a swampland. The actual characters are costumed actors whose mouth movements are controlled by sophisticated computer technology called animatronics.
The fall of 1997 Federal Communications Commission regulation in the U.S. requires that, television stations must broadcast at least three hours a week of educational children's programmin'. When New York Times Magazine reviewed four new children's programs they claimed that The Swamp Critters was the only one of the four which was "F.C.C. kid-friendly". Golly! What's this world comin' to?
The television series is targeted at preschool through early school age children but all you critters out there who LOOOVE music can enjoy it no matter what age you are. Ya know what I'm sayin'? Goldsboro not only provided every Swamp Critter its voice, but he composed 120 songs for the series.
The info here was collected from DURKIN HAYES PUBLISHING LTD. Announcements at http://www.howestreet.com and Where are they now? - Bobby Goldsboro.
Learn More about Bobby Goldsboro at The Unofficial Bobby Goldsboro Page
Here's a response from TLC's Viewer Relations that a fellow fan sent me concerning Swamp Critters: