If you aren’t following Defunctland, I highly recommend you do. The YouTube channel, run by Kevin Perjurer, covers the history of defunct theme park attractions. It also features a series called “DefunctTV”, which discusses long-cancelled television shows. Recently, it released its latest episode on an old PBS kids show that seems more relevant today than ever before.
The Puzzle Place was a PBS children’s series that aired between 1995 and 1998, with re-runs airing until 2000. The show starred six children puppet characters, each of a different ethnicity, who hung out in the eponymous location. They often experienced misadventures related to common childhood problems like bullying, name calling, and watching too much television.
The show also touched upon relevant social issues related to prejudice and discrimination. In one episode, Julie, a Chinese girl, fretted over her teddy bear being given her last name, Woo, fearing the toy animal would face the same ridicule that she received for her last name. In another episode, Kiki, a Hispanic girl, disguises herself as an alien and desires to leave earth on a spaceship because she keeps getting picked on by her classmates for her heavy accent.
The show started airing in 1995. I was seven-years-old back then. I fondly remember coming home after school and finishing my homework so I could watch the newest episode. Even to this day, I still vividly remember many of the show’s songs and episodes, even though nearly half of them have become lost media. Even before DefunctTV’s latest video, I had re-familiarized myself with the show through the Channel KRT podcast (which I also highly recommend!)
Watching Defunctland’s video, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not The Puzzle Place could be aired today. No doubt a children’s show about diversity and multiculturalism would be accused of trying to “indoctrinate” children with “critical race theory” or a “woke agenda.” Even when the show first aired, it was dismissed as being too “politically correct”—to which the show’s creator rebutted by stating, “anyone who says multicultural education is creating conflict for children has their head in the sand.”
And then I realize that not only would The Puzzle Place be aired today, but that it SHOULD be aired today. The show was created to address the social inequalities and divisions of its time, with most of its funding provided by an organization created specifically to heal the racial divide spurred by police brutality against black Americans. Nearly three decades later, many of the issues the show was created to address not only still exist, but have undoubtedly worsened, especially in recent years.
In a time when immigrants are being rounded up into detention camps and separated from their families after being slandered as “criminals” and “rapists”, when black Americans are being assaulted with tear gas and rubber bullets for protesting police brutality against their community, when Asian Americans are suffering a spike of hate crimes against them because political pundits insist on calling COVID-19 the “China virus”, we need a show like The Puzzle Place more than ever.
Kevin Perjurer summarized the show best in his video:
The Puzzle Place was a groundbreaking show for children’s entertainment. The show came about during and directly because of a tipping point in the United States caused by a failure to address generations of racial prejudice and discrimination.
The Puzzle Place stepped up to the challenge by teaching a generation how to address the topic and many others. The show taught children to recognize their similarities and celebrate their uniqueness, not just in broad strokes, but with ultra-specific and ultra-authentic conflict.
The show admitted that navigating race, ethnicity, religion, culture and gender could be a complex puzzle, but one that could be solved with kindness, understanding and love. And for many children growing up with the show, they found hope and comfort that no matter their background, there would always be a place where they could be accepted and celebrated.
Watch the DefunctTV video here:
J.C. Alexandre 