KOMO-TV's Boomerang

1977 KOMO-TV TV Guide ad for Boomerang. Image: Puget Sound Radio

Boomerang was a kids TV program that aired on Seattle's KOMO-TV 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was an exclusive program of KOMO-TV although it has been syndicated to certain cable TV channels.

(The Boomerang Theme Song......Just TRY and get this out of your head...)

B…Boo…Boom
B…Boo…Boom
Bees keep on flying 'round the room.
M..Me…Mer
M..Me…Mer
Mother will help me if I ask her.
R..Ra…Ran
R..Ra…Ran
I will run faster than they can.
Ra..Ran…Rang
Ra..Ran…Rang
Put them together it’s Boomerang
Bing, Bong, Bang
Bing, Bong, Bang
It’s Boomerang!
Bing, Bong, Bang
Bing, Bong, Bang
It’s Boomerang!

(A KOMO produced 45 RPM record of the Boomerang theme song was released in the Seattle area around 1978 or '79.)

The show's host was Marni Nixon, a movie playback singer, Broadway actress and opera singer and mother of the late 1970s pop star Andrew Gold, best known for his hits "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You For Being A Friend", which became the theme song for the 1980s NBC sitcom The Golden Girls.

On the show, she regularly taught lessons to preschoolers using three child puppets, a mischievous, green nosed yellow male puppet named Norbert (who bears a suspicious resemblance to Bert of Sesame Street), a red haired, freckled pink female puppet named Melinda and a short dreadlocked, dark brown female puppet named Libby. A blue male puppet named Rookie was added shortly before the program was canceled.

The show covered 'wide-ranging and serious' topics, such as the death of a gerbil, and 'selling out your principals'.

In one episode, Marni is asked to do a commercial for silver polish, but after trying the polish and finding that it doesn't work, she decides not to do the commercial.

The show's budget was so low, Marni Nixon wasn't able to do rehearsals. It was a challenge, but Marni Nixon was able to handle whatever came her way.

Boomerang won over 2 dozen Emmy Awards during its long run on-air, which included over 150 episodes.

Contrary to the Seattle local urban legend, the original 'Norbert' puppet from KOMO-TV's Boomerang show was NOT sold at a West Seattle yard sale. It (as well as the Melinda, Libby and Rookie puppets) have been donated to the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)

The show ran until 1981 when it was canceled. The early 1980s were the sunset years of the locally produced children's TV show. Mostly due to deregulation that put less emphasis on children's programming. Many TV stations across the nation would drop their locally produced kids shows in favour of expanded news programming, an extra syndicated program. Or replaced them with an informercial. A few perennial favourites in some areas lingered into the '90s, but the vast majority disappeared by 1985.

Boomerang links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boomerang-Childrens-70s-80s-TV-Show
http://www.junkyardclubhouse.com/2007/04/06/bing-bong-bang-its-boomerang/