Mathnet | The Problem of the Passing Parade

[@colleen4ever]

R.I.P. James Earl Jones. :( Oddly enough this show is what introduced me to him. Can't believe he's gone.

[@stevena.7022]

Same. Today I had to watch Mathnet for Mr.Jones.

[@sarahnitsch8727]

Came here for this too! Loved mathnet! Love James Earl Jones!

[@rexx9496]

This is crazy, it's 2023, I'm 46 years old and that melody of "please do what these people say" has stuck in my head all these years but had no idea where it came from. I put that in the search bar and here is the video. Technology is insane.

[@DizzyedUpGirl]

Yes! Yes! I randomly remember it from time to time. Oddly enough, I remember it sometimes when I see 11235 because fibonacci always reminds me of Mathnet and Mathnet reminds me of "Please do what these people sayyyyy"

[@rexmonproductions2146]

in 4th or 5th grade my teacher showed the class this show on vhs on fridays close to the end of the year. i graduated in 2014 and had a dream about this show 2 nights ago and here i am.

[@rgn87654]

I loved this show when I was a kid. My brother and I watched it constantly. I remember not being able to wait what would happen in the next episode.

[@14DaveHunter]

Same here.

[@davidheras5263]

A thousand likes. This show was so silly! It delighted me back in the day. Thumbs up if you saw it on PBS when it first came out.

[@monicaesparza5634]

This show helped me with math classes. I appreciate PBS for their great shows.

[@morbius109]

My second grade teacher had a TV set in her classroom. It was one of only six sets on tall rolling carts shared by twenty-four classrooms...they were still a luxury in schools when I was young. We never had to share ours because our room was a portable at one side of the building with a flight of stairs that went up into the school proper, so it never was loaned to another classroom. We always watched Mathnet. I watched it at home, too. Loved it then, love it to this day. Wonderful memories.

[@LIBERALGUNSMOKER]

This and ghostwriter. damn I feel old AF

[@tyrese3745]

Today, we are all saddened by the timely passing of legendary James Earl Jones. He was 93 years old. He had a sensational career on stage, screen and television that spanned nearly 70 years. From "Othello" to "The Great White Hope", from the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars Trilogy to the voice of Mufasa in "The Lion King", Jones was a true staple of some of the finest acting he has ever done. Jones's recent wife, actress Cecilia Hart, passed on some eight years ago. They are survived by their only son, Flynn. I say this because of this role as Chief Thad Green in a few of the Square One TV's "Mathnet" segments. RIP James Earl Jones (1931-2024)

[@colleen4ever]

This show is what introduced me to him. Can't believe he's gone. :(

[@tyrese3745]

@@colleen4ever Believe it, buddy. Believe it.

[@DizzyedUpGirl]

"Please do what these people say" always scared the living shit out of me.

[@GunterJPN]

I still remember it all these years later.

[@chrismetafora6565]

You should watch mystery weekend ep. Scary.

[@originalkingalpha5116]

Kelly is Kool.🏆💕

[@DizzyedUpGirl]

Now I'm cracking up.

[@814ErieGurl]

How do I remember this!? I am starting to realize that I watched *a lot* of television growing up!

[@TheClips]

Me and my bros STILL, to this day, sing, "Pleeeease dooo whaaat theeeese peeeople say," to each other! 😂😂 It was always so scary-sounding too, like a poor soul who was being kept prisoner by some ghouls who were turning him into a ghost or something. Or like a dude who was force-fed liquor and beaten up badly and then told to sing his captors' demands. It always gave me the same creepy feeling that I remember having after we watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, where two dudes had kidnapped a banker and eventually dumped him over a bridge tied to a chair.

[@AJStarhiker]

I remember watching this episode on PBS as a kid. I was young enough to think the bit with the tonic and the street incline one of the cooler bits of the show.

[@DreamDancer82]

We used to watch these in my math class every Friday when I was in seventh grade. My teacher even mentioned James Earl Jones was the voice of Mufasa and "The Lion King" (I guess because she thought that most of us would be familiar with that as opposed to some other things he had done).

[@14DaveHunter]

The CTW and PBS scored a great coup, getting James Earl Jones playing The Chief. A great and respected actor.

[@KororaPenguin]

The Galaxy Far, Far Away's greatest tinkerer.

[@NickCMedia]

For those who think the kidnapping should have been a federal case, you are dead wrong. It only counts as a federal case if the victim was taken out of state. The victim in this case was never taken outside of California.

[@ManicMechanic82]

I haven't seen this show for at least thirty two or thirty three years!!! Total time warp to a much easier and simple time. I miss the 80s. This was always one of my favorite episodes and I still think about it.

[@tnawcwvictoria]

James Earl Jones is a TRUE Legend He starred in TV's Gabriel's Fire and such films like Coming to America, The Meteor Man and The Ambulance, but he'll always be known as Darth Vader in Star Wars and its Sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

[@nintendonerdsvideos4727]

also is the voice of this is cnn

[@NDW85]

Don't forget that he was also the voice of Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated film, the Lion king.

[@Cooldude-sb2cx]

He was also in the sandlot

[@BenJabituya]

And Admiral James Greer in Tom Clancy’s“ Patriot Games” and “Clear And Present Danger”.

[@forestgeorge8855]

And Thad Greene.

[@NickCMedia]

And John Philips Lousa is a parody of composer John Philip Sousa.

[@NickCMedia]

Season 1 had sinister cases: The Trial of George Frankly The Mystery of the Maltese Pigeon The Problem of the Trojan Hamburger

[@ElRook]

RIP Chief

[@bmaze35640]

Love that kid's shirt. May the floss be with you

[@sirlouie]

The best I came up with is: "Please do what these people say I kneel with fallen arches Please do what these people say Can't stand hearing marches" I've listened to it a lot, and that second line just barely makes sense, but that's the best I came up with. If you can come up with anything better, please post it! Good luck. Here's what I worked with: [I / A] [kneel / knew / new / knee / near] [with / wit / it / would / wood / we'd] [fall / farm / form / from] [-en / -ing / an] [arches]

[@mluczak66]

I appreciate this! (11 years later, haha...)

[@BenJabituya]

RIP James Earl Jones. The actor who played Chief Thad Greene on "Mathnet".

[@idanoreilly]

I always got a kick out of point 22:00 "SEVENTY-FIVE TROMBONES"

[@N2Russ]

God, MATHNET never changes. lol

[@mysticgirl916]

Sam and Steve, the two main police officers, were real-life members of the LAPD at the time

[@bvanhise]

For years I had a memory of Bruce Springsteen appearing on an 80s kids detective show and recall an "eerie" voice recording. I recently thought it was The Bloodhound Gang from 3-2-1 Contact. Pleasantly surprised today to finally find out! (And rediscover Mathnet!)

[@Daffyfan2006]

Yeah. I know what you mean. It's quite surprising that they put stuff like that in a kids' show. The earlier episodes were sort of less 'dramatic.'

[@NickCMedia]

Voice-wise and name-wise.

[@maxwestcomics]

Given all those joke refs George Frankly makes in the beginning, I'd say yes.

[@heatherbooth3112]

Martha's gonna be real ticked off if she knew they were making fun of her...

[@pauljordan4452]

Martha was never seen on the program.

[@tanyagarcia3721]

Yeah. What's with that? She's always, ALWAYS mentioned only never seen

[@tanyagarcia3721]

I forgot about pay phones and needing change for them. It's been a minute since I've needed one. I forgot the numbers on the phones had a tone to them like that. Makes sense

[@MegaNFer81]

watched these with sister- only part of Square One that was "cool" 5 or 6- over my head. Love them now...

[@birdmantd]

I have not yet viewed this video but already it's bringing back memories. I remember one line where George talks about how "I love a parade".

[@VahanNisanian]

And another thing: Having seen the first four episodes of this show in their entirety, I found out that the first time we heard George's signature laugh is, in fact, in "The Trial of George Frankly".

[@clarky417]

WOW!!!! Darth Vader himself on this show!!!

[@antonspivack3928]

Is that an actual map of Burbank? I've never been to beautiful downtown Burbank.

[@VahanNisanian]

Well in that case, it was a pretty good parody. BTW, I like how on Mathnet, they make so many references to Michigan State, given that head writers, David D. Connell and Jim Thurman, graduated from there.

[@michaelglickman1300]

Actually, it was the University of Michigan, not Michigan State.

[@antonspivack3928]

What is Steve's song at the end?

[@tanyagarcia3721]

That guy seems like he's way suspicious with as corney as he's acting

[@Busandrailfan]

18:42 a calculator used as a gun

[@VahanNisanian]

Is Steve Stringbean a parody of Bruce Springsteen?

[@danieldrattell8418]

Bruce. Cause if you paid attention George references him being called “The Floss” 😎😇🤓😁

[@BenJabituya]

Bruce Springsteen

[@benferguson6131]

My thought process: "Ok, who was a major male rock star solo artist at this time but didn't have a radically different image? That might be Springsteen". Then I hear "shorn in the USA" and think "Oh, that definitely could be him". Then "The Floss" and i think "yep, that's him". Only after that do I I kick myself for not noticing the Stringbean name similarity.

[@NickCMedia]

Yep.

[@rebeccahowe8927]

So Martha is Mel from Flight of the Conchords, basically.

[@NDW85]

You just hit the answer right on the head.

[@scooobydoo69]

DARTH VADER

[@colleen4ever]

18:33- Hey, Stupid! You took out the wrong thing!!