I’m an investigative journalist and no I will not be giving out my name. For anyone curious as to why I’m writing this the reason is rather simple, despite several warnings about personal safety from several peers of mine I have decided to launch a solo investigation into former (and long since canceled) children’s television show Mr chuckles that ran from 1979 till 1980 and I’m hoping to use this platform as a way to find more answers. Because the other ways in which I’ve looked for information have no longer become of use.
I guess a little bit more background information about this show might bring better context to my searchings and curiosity. Mr chuckles centered around a kids party clown who each week tackled a variety of different subjects varying from divorce, knowing when to say no to drugs and alcohol and things of that nature. The network that ran the show was a local Canadian television station called sunshine studios that produced a variety of low quality kids programs that had regularly scheduled episode’s of the different shows they were producing playing all across Canada every weekday and night.
But towards the end of the 60s intrest in the network and the shows on it started to dwindle. So in a desperate attempt to capitalize on the popularity of shows like Mr rogers sunshine studios president jack O’Leary sought out to create his own Mr rogers in an attempt to bring viewership numbers back up.
So In the summer of 1978 Mr chuckles began the beginning stages of development.
That’s where the creation (and reason for creation) stops. The reason why I’m writing this isn’t to tell you the in depth history it’s only to give each of you like I said, context. Context that surrounds this case like a spider in its web. Now I can almost guarantee not a single person reading this has ever heard of this show and for good reason. Because everything about it has been wiped from internet and I do mean everything. Hell the only reason how I know about its existence is from a screenshot from one of the episodes taken from an old looking tv that was sent to me in an anonymous email a few weeks ago. Before then I was as clueless as the rest of you.
something in the screenshot caught my attention upon looking at it , in the background a child extra appeared to have been crying. And not fake acting tear’s I mean this kid looked really shook up about something. What made it even weirder is that the scene he was in the background of was one of Mr chuckles and his friends smiling and laughing all in character. My guess is that kid wasn’t meant to be seen but the camera man accidentally got him in the shot.
after seeing this my mind started racing, I had to find answers as to who this kid was. So right then and there I decided to start digging. And let’s just say the stuff I uncovered about this show , the studio ,and the people in front of the camera was a lot darker than I expected.
More details to come soon. Signing off.