VILLA ALEGRE first 7 minutes

PBS kids' show that for some reason is impossible to find now! I haven't seen it since the 70s, but this was recorded in 1983 from WMVS in Milwaukee WI. It seems they were still running it daily then, after Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers which were also on this tape. Huge shame that the recording was cut off but it seems we have to be thankful for whatever we can find of this show! Reception isn't great either but I've of course uploaded it in the proper frame rate with no bugs or watermarks. I left in the station intro since it segues into the first frame of the show and might help someone out there find where the rest of these shows have been kept hidden! Someone in the Milwaukee area may have more on tape!

[@julilla1]

Finally! I keep asking other people my age if they remember this show and they never do. It was on right after Sesame Street. It was such a great idea, and I think they should bring it back in some form.

[@magnificentmuttley154]

Sorry to tell you, but in the early 80's there was a struggle between two of the show's producers. If memory serves, it was a dispute over how much money one of he producers was supposed to be paid everytime PBS Corporate (New York City) paid a production fee. The actual production fee paid to the company producing the show is a collective amount paid by all stations in the network. Easily hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 80's. Anyway, there was a deadlock over what this particular producer should be paid, & this prevented production of a new series of episodes for the 1982 PBS TV season Co-incidentally the storage facility where the master tapes were kept caught fire, & were destroyed. Suddenly the only copies known to exist were whatever was left of any daily compilation masters still having Villa Alegre episodes on them, at each affiliate PBS station. Those tapes were used to maintain a record of the entire video compilation of the present day & the day before at the station. A 48 hour loop. These industrial-quality tapes are expensive, so often the stations didn't keep more than one or two on hand for a complete 18 hour or 24 hour transmission cycle. So the programming recorded onto them would be wiped out every 48 by whatever was transmitted at present. This & what few people had taped the show at home were all that remained. No one at the stations knew about the fire at that time, so very few compilation masters & original reels of the show (those copies of the show for distribution among the stations) survived I could be wrong, but the timing of that fire is uncanny. Could've been an act of revenge so that the executive producer could never make money from the show in syndication, after new episodes were no longer produced. Now I will have to go back & re-research this story all over again to refresh my memory! I can't remember if the partnering producer simply wasn't getting paid what he wanted, or if the executive was cutting him out of the company entirely. Either way I suppose the motive is practically the same. I'll have to refresh my memory, but FYI I believe I got this information from the Chicago TV History Museum; probably from their website I understand where you're coming from. As a 70's child all ETV of the time is important to me, too: Villa Allegre, Big Blue Marble, Vegetable Soup, Animals Animals, Schoolhouse Rock, & those ABC Saturday Mornings shorts (Yuck Mouth, the Munchies, etc). Even New Zoo Revue, Zoom, & the Great Space Coaster, even though I didn't watch them For what its worth heres the one complete episode of Villa Alegre that exists on KZbin: _Villa Alegre:_ Why I Like Me, 1981, PBS kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqKtk4KYfbCmaLM 3-2-1💜

[@julilla1]

@@magnificentmuttley154 oh wow! What a story, though a sad one for anyone who watched the show. Thank you so much for all of this information, it certainly makes sense now why it seems to be forgotten. 😢

[@magnificentmuttley154]

@@julilla1 Well, there's more information in the comments for that singular complete episode from 1981. If you take a few minutes to read these for yourself, you might find it encouraging. It's easy to find. There arent but a few comments to look through. Just look for a chain headed with my ID. It will say "Read replies from little byron & others." The channel owner, little byron, holds out hope that eventually 50 episodes in the possession of american public broadcasting archive will be available someday. He insists these were accessible from the APBA website until 2015, when website computers were replaced, & the public pages/ cosmetics were all redone No doubt I could try writing the APBA a formal letter, asking about those villa alegre episodes. I'll also try getting in touch with little byron. It's already been 3 years!

[@magnificentmuttley154]

Don't forget: We still have episodes of Big Blue Marbje & of Vegetable Soup on youtube! 💜💜

[@tonybrady5358]

Same here

[@benjaminbeebe6555]

It was impossible not to get choked up as I played this clip, especially with the bird segment which is one of my earliest TV memories & I hadn't heard in decades. An unforgettable program that left its mark on me for life.

[@ladyrazorsharp]

Oh my gosh the beginning bit with the birds, that was lodged so deep in my brain!! Wow.

[@sjdrifter72]

I remember that bird segment. Haven't seen it since 1979 or 1980.

[@DogTiredFan]

@@sjdrifter72 Whoever wrote the music for that bird segment must've been inspired by classical music because it sounds like it was written in the style of Bach.

[@MikeWalkerSBC]

The last time I saw Villa Alegre was c. 1980. I sorta envy those who were able to watch it in 1983 and possibly later.

[@linprott9732]

This was shown in the Philippines for a sort period of time and I remember watching it but no one seems to remember it.

[@drfred1203]

That’s the station I grew up watching! :D Thanks for posting this. 🖖🙂

[@michaelbadger3021]

Lots of shows from PBS I can't find anywhere. In the 90s, we had Amigos!. In the 80s and 90s PBS had lots of shows that have disappeared since.

[@TnseWlms]

You see, kids, this was forty years ago, and people used to bring pieces of paper called maps, which are sort of like GPS, only you have to figure out where you are, and how to get to where you want to go.

[@TnseWlms]

Thumbs up if your Spanish teacher used "el mapa" as an example of a exceptional case of a masculine noun ending in a.

[@benjaminbeebe6555]

Yes, & it really was 'un problema' at the time lol

[@DemimondeMesilaThraam]

I woke up in the middle of the night with the theme song to Villa Alegre in my head for no apparent reason. Just as with Sesame Street, it was the animated parts that really got me going! Each show had this theme graphic symbol, like this one was "Communication", and there were several others. Looking at this video, I think the show could have taught me more Spanish with an English subtitle or two used as part of it. I watched it when I was 9 or 10, so that would have been around 1975.

[@VAWineNB]

I loved the show as a kid and learned a bit of Spanish from it. I remember those cartoons with the theme symbols too - one was about water, the other about fruits and vegetable, and there were a few others too.

[@DemimondeMesilaThraam]

@@VAWineNB yes! I know that one of the other category animations had one of those same water birds in it. When I was a kid I called them Forkbirds because the way they're drawn it looks like the tines of a fork.

[@Jbeanz2023]

The universe is doing overtime with this show because I woke up this morning with the theme song I’m my head. I haven’t seen or thought of this show in at least 45 years! I had to go into KZbin to make sure I want going crazy and that there was a show! 😂

[@rj3969]

Villa Alegre!!! Ah the memories!

[@DogTiredFan]

The music in the Communication opening sounds Bach-like with a flute and harpsichord like something Bach would have written.

[@pon2oon]

2:25 Now this guy is perfect! Silent Hill vibes anyone???

[@yvelius]

Something today reminded me of the intro music, so I thought, it might be on YT, and well! After many years, I saw it in a national station in my Country of Origin, in Spanish, I didn't know that the original was in English/Spanish! I don´t actually remember if it was all in English/Spanish, maybe, it was long ago! :)

[@jamestonricardo4364]

PROGRAMA PARA ASUSTAR A LOS NIÑOS DE AQUELLA ÉPOCA

[@magnificentmuttley154]

*@The Media Hoarder* Sorry to tell you, but in the early 80's there was a struggle between two of the show's producers. If memory serves, it was a dispute over how much money one of he producers was supposed to be paid everytime PBS Corporate (New York City) paid a syndication fee. The actual production fee paid to the show's production company is a collective amount paid by all stations in the network. Easily hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 80's. Anyway, there was a deadlock over what this particular producer should be paid, & this prevented production of a new series of episodes for the 1982 TV season Co-incidentally the storage facility where the master tapes were kept caught fire, & were destroyed. Suddenly the only copies known to exist were whatever was left of any daily compilation masters still having _Villa Alegre_ episodes on them, at each affiliate PBS station. Those tapes were used to maintain a record of the entire video compilation of the present day & the day before at the station. A 48 hour loop. These industrial-quality tapes are expensive, so often the stations didn't keep more than one or two on hand for a complete 18 hour or 24 hour transmission cycle. So the programming recorded onto them would be wiped out every 48 by whatever was transmitted at present. This & what few people had taped the show at home were all that remained. No one at the stations knew about the fire at that time, so very few compilation masters & original reels of the show (those copies of the show for distribution among the stations) survived I could be wrong, but the timing of that fire is uncanny. Could've been an act of revenge so that the executive producer could never make money from the show in syndication, after new episodes were no longer produced. Now I will have to go back & re-research this story all over again to refresh my memory! I can't remember if the partnering producer simply wasn't getting paid what he wanted, or if the executive was cutting him out of the company entirely. Either way I suppose the motive is practically the same. I will write again & edit this comment when I have clearer information. FYI I believe I got it from the Chicago TV History Museum; probably from their website. 3-2-1💜

[@DogTiredFan]

I just wish you or someone else could find or upload the animated song on Villa Alegre about working together taking care of this land. I don't know what the actual name of the song is but it has tall skinny trees and a big leafy tree growing in the meadow. I haven't seen it since the late 70s or early 80s.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Any part of this show seems to be very rare, I was lucky just to get this. If only I’d had a VCR when it was on.

[@pon2oon]

Is this show lost media? 😢

[@midsmid8046]

E

[@mikemiller7547]

To The Media Hoarder: Do you by change have any more Villa Alegere episodes that include these classic animated intros?