The other day I was reminiscing about my childhood and I thought, "Hey, I wonder if the intro to The Puzzle Place is on YouTube?" For those of you who don't know, The Puzzle Place is a children's show I used to watch on PBS, featuring a gang of ethnically-diverse children who had adventures inside a building called, well, the Puzzle Place. The show was designed to teach children how to respect different cultures. Ironically, the workers that built the Puzzle Place were comprised entirely of poorly paid Mexicans.

So I bop onto YouTube and, sure enough, someone uploaded the intro. As soon as I hit the play button, the warmth of nostalgia flowed through me, triggering memories of days gone past. Of course, now this meant I had to keep it going. That's nostalgia for you-it's an addictive form of escapism. It's like playing World of Warcraft, except you don't get charged every month for doing nothing of actual value.

So when I found a full-length episode online, I jumped onto AOL Instant Messenger to boast my victory to others.

Me: Don't mind me, just watching some MOTHERF***ING PUZZLE PLACE

I'm not surprised that I was so excited. I've watched PBS children's shows my whole life. Hell, even in high school I was tuning in. Why? What was so amazing about their programming? And why do I want to give them 200 dollars in exchange for a book I've never even heard about? That's a good question. Unfortunately, it will not be answered. Because this is a nightmare, you see, and I am currently writing this nude.

Many kids begin their TV addiction with the PBS classics. I was no different. Personally, I wasn't really much of a Barney kid, leaning more towards Sesame Street and a few other shows like Shining Time Station. Shining Time Station was kinda weird. It's basically a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine shorts framed by a show about the inhabitants of a train station, but it was mostly known for starring George Carlin as a little magical man named Mr. Conductor. Mr. Conductor also had an evil twin that popped up every so often to cause trouble. He was always speaking in rhyme, too, saying things like:

I'm the sinister conductor and things will get messy
God is a bunch of crap, you should worship Joe Pesci!

But the 90s is when PBS really hit it off for me. That's when they offered some of their best shows. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is still one of the best game shows ever created, making an incredibly dull subject like geography seem fun and exciting. Then again, I don't remember a lick of geography from that show. I always figured they were just playing Jeopardy with the same category every week.

That was one of the big strengths of PBS, though. Their shows were always trying to get kids to learn stuff, but at least they had the common courtesy to be entertaining as well. I don't know who the hell decided that learning should stop being fun when kids get older, but the trend needs to stop. Education needs to take advantage of the technology that kids are using today. Using viral Internet videos to teach middle schoolers about sex will make it funnier to them than it already is.

But Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? failed to make an impression, and this is unexcusable. Look, if you're setting out to teach children with your programming, you need actual results. A good effort isn't going to cut it by itself. I'm not going to hire a bad construction company and go, "This is a pretty interesting building you made here. I mean, I have to crawl through the septic drain to get inside, and the only way I can get to my office is by flushing myself down the toilet, but still, you know, at least you tried.

"What's this called, the Puzzle Place? Strange name."

As I became a teenager, I still found myself tuning in to PBS. It's not as uncommon as you think-several PBS children's shows are enjoyable to adults as well. Take Arthur, for example. I've known a few parents who admit to enjoying Arthur with their children due to all the pop-culture references they find scattered throughout the show. You think that's cool? Animaniacs was doing that way before Arthur did. Then again, you'll never see a squirrel on Arthur drop dynamite down Saddam Hussein's pants.

And who doesn't still love Reading Rainbow? That show's awesome. It's just LeVar Burton talking about children's books, and yet it was so popular that it won TWENTY-SIX Emmy Awards. Why? What was so amazing about this show's format? I mean, kids have short attention spans, right? If there isn't a bunch of bright colors and silly puppets, they'll probably get bored and go do something like read or play outside.

...wait a minute.

Then again, I don't think Reading Rainbow's simple execution was by accident. There's one other famous PBS kids show that basically worked the same way. And really, what article about PBS would be complete without mentioning this show? I could avoid mentioning it, but then I'd get a bunch of angry letters. "How dare you not mention this show!" they'd cry. "Please mail yourself to me so I can punch you." And I'd have to do it, because how else am I going to spend my weekend?

But seriously, what can you say about Mister Rogers' Neighborhood that hasn't already been said? Like Reading Rainbow, it was just one guy talking directly to kids. Yet we can't deny the show's impact and Fred Rogers's dedication towards children. He never talked down to you, and he always considered your feelings and ideas to be just as important as everyone else's. The show deserved every bit of success it got. I'm just glad it didn't spawn any noticeable imitators. Well, there was that one local access show I used to watch. But I don't think anyone else has heard of Uncle Joe Fills Up Time Before Church.

Eventually PBS and I parted ways. I finally got a hold of a consistent Internet connection, and these days I watch more YouTube than actual television. But I still respect PBS for all the excellent programming it offered. When I become a father, if PBS is still around, I'm going to introduce it to my children. Hopefully they're still running Reading Rainbow by that time. I'll be much too busy doing 20 to life to show my kids books.

And so, I raise my glass to PBS. Thanks for all the memories.

Except you, Zoboomafoo. Alcohol will make your memory die.