Hot Dog (TV series)

"Hot Dog" was a Saturday morning documentary series for children, seen on NBC from September 12, 1970 to September 4, 1971. Created by Frank Buxton and co-produced by Buxton and Lee Mendelson, the program was notable for its hosts -- Joanne Worley (of "Laugh-In" fame), comedian Jonathan Winters and writer / actor Woody Allen (who was between "Take the Money and Run" and "Bananas" when he appeared in this series).

Some of the music in this series was performed by The Youngbloods, who were notable for their hit 1969 single, "Get Together".

Based on Buxton's travels as a comedian (and later, as host of the ABC series, "Discovery"), which took him on tours to various factories, "Hot Dog" explained, in a humorous manner, how we do things (such as snore) and how things were made (such as the eponymous hot dogs and their buns, plus condiments like mustard).

70 topics were covered during the course of this series, which lasted thirteen episodes and rerun the rest of the season.

Trivia

* The pilot of this series was televised on NBC March 28, 1970, which starred Worley, Allen and Tom Smothers, who was replaced with Winters when the show became a series.

* Repeats of "Hot Dog" was syndicated during the 1977 - 1978 television season, which by then Allen firmly established himself as a motion picture star, director and writer.

* Portions of "Hot Dog" were also seen on a local KNBC children's program in Los Angeles, "That's Cat", which debuted in 1976.

* Some segments of this series were also distributed to schools on 16mm film.

References

* "The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television", by Wesley Hyatt (Billboard Books, 1997)
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