The Metric System (PBS TV Series 1978)
What do the aci film shorts and this series have in common? They were both: (1) Insanely produced and; (2) aired on PBS' GRETA (Gulf Regional Education Television Affiliates) time during the school years (mainly used by home schoolers at time, or what your parents made you watch instead of 'Gilligan's Island' when you were sick).
Anyway onto this series.. as the RiffTrax Crew knows from their plethora of aci shorts, producers had a bizarre way of 'education' the youth of the 70s. If it wasn't about making crafts out of refuse, it was counting turkeys in a pen, or creating unholy abominations and calling them 'puppets.' but I digress...
About the time of the mid to late-Seventies/Eighties, the world was going 'Metric Crazy' and was being 'converted' faster than the ghouls in 'Night of the Living Dead.' Naturally our country held out and fought the system, but during this battle, the US did attempt to force us to learn about this new form of measurement in the most insane way possible.
Before Square One TV, you had 'The Metric System.' Yes, that was the name of the show.. which basically was about a fictional television network that would show programs which were based on a metric/measuring theme. Some were direct parodies of other PBS shows, such as 'Centimeter Street,' with Big Bug (a giant version of the classic Cootie Bug Game character), whereas others were original send offs.
One memorable moment was 'Metric Man,' where they would use a weird, live head action with puppetry, before Marc Weiner popularized it with his stand up and Weinerville show. The hilarious thing was MM's archnemesis was (get this) an inchworm. Yes, you heard me right, an inchworm, who mainly got pissed off at Metric Man for using him to compare the difference between inches and centimeters in one episode.
Regrettably, I've attempted to locate something of this series for you so you can grasp the concept. To give you a frame of reference, imagine if the show was still running today: they would probably make a spoof on MST3K, probably calling it 'Metric Science Theater 10 K (because, you know, of the metric thing)' and have a Joel/Mike and the 'bots send off, watching cheesy metric-based films and making measurement comments, with the intermissions being based on metric-themed stuff, while the mads would probably get mad by using 'outdated' measuring methods. Though the show itself did educate in some way, it was hilarious for the fact this came off more like something along the lines of 'The Carol Burnett Show,' than an educational program. If you're wanting to accept this challenge of locating this classic, here's why I believe at least one of the episodes should be riffed:
(1) The pretense of being a network: Overlooking the corny title, the show does begin and end as if you had come across an actual network program. The sketches are devised as television shows. Centimeter Street happens to be one of the more hilarious parodies for the fact Henson and CTW did allow the producers to use the muppets of Ernie and Bert (but here are called, Bernie and Ert).
(2) Metric Man: Essentially the fact when you see how this is executed you can probably hear Mike go, "Oh, what new fresh Hell is this?" And Kevin go, "Wow, an inchworm for a villain? Who'd ever think of something like that?" Whereas Bill would comment on how the problems of the MM citizen deal more with measuring than real disasters.
(3) Just for the fact the whole concept was more disturbing than anything 'Fun in Balloonland,' or aci films could devise.
Sorry I couldn't locate anything on this classic for you, but if anyone out there can, I'd appreciate it if you submit it here and help see if this could get Riffed... even if it's just for one episode...
Fangarius
shared this idea
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Wayne Tubbs
commented
I wish they bring The Metric System on You Tube so I can watch it again.
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samtheq
commented
I too have been searching for this show for decades, ever since the tape-trading newsgroup days. And I, too, thought it had all been a hallucination....Well, I found out today, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting has three episodes you can watch HERE:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-gt5fb4xq93
It's great...and amazing seeing the show again after more than 40 years! Just wanted to share my good fortune.
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Anonymous
commented
I would so love to see this series again. I remember learning about the metric system from this program.
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Luke Bieniek
commented
Okay Fangarius. I am sorry for my knee jerk reaction to your commentary on The Metric System. 😬🤭 I definitely jumped the gun. Please accept my apology. Thanks for leading me to this site.
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Luke Bieniek
commented
I don’t appreciate your opinionated comments regarding this film series. My classmates and I enjoyed every episode of this show, “The Metric System”, I’ll have you know. Further, we learned a far more rational system of measure. 🥺 🧐This comment is directed at the knucklehead on the previous site that lead me here. I am delighted to have found what I was looking for, here, & then some. Thank you all, fans of “The Metric System” 🤨🤓😎🦕🐛
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Jonnie Bunk
commented
The end song has haunted me for decades, especially because I couldn't remember all the lyrics
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Kaisa
commented
Harvey and the Professor skits usually had Harvey - who wore a beanie cap with propeller on it. I remember the Professor looked like a scary Albert Einstein, wore dark glasses if I remember correctly. They would be measuring out fluids in beakers and stuff of the sort talking about Metrics.
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Mark Scerpella commented
I was in grade school at the time....we watched it in class....I remember both "Centimeter Street" and "Metric Man"!
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Anonymous
commented
I'd like to hear about the skits with Harvey and the Professor.
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curiositykilledthebattery
commented
METRIC SYSTEM FANS REJOICE! I have found a copy of the catchy theme song hidden away inside a video dedicating a new PBS station in Louisiana from 1974, and have uploaded it to YouTube for everyone to see. You're not crazy, it was real. As far as I know, this is the first footage of this show has ever surfaced, and unfortunately this is all I have or have been able to find. So enjoy!
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Kaisa
commented
Man, I keep trying to find a clip of any of the shows within the Metric System show. Out of all the segments listed by Nicholas, I remember Metric Man, Harvey and the Professor and Centimeter Street the best.
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Bill Sforza commented
That song has been stuck in my head for 45 years!!
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Metric O. Man
commented
We watched "The Metric System" at school throughout the 1974-75 season. and I remember its theme song vividly. I, too, have looked high and low for copies of the show, to no avail.
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Ryan Schweitzer
commented
I'm glad everyone here still remembers this! I totally remember seeing this program when it aired in the early-mid 80s on the statewide PBS network here in ND (Prairie Public TV), during their mid-morning educational block of programs (that the network aired as "Prairie School Television").
I remember the skits they had, especially "Centimeter Street" (and their "Bernie and Ert" sendup-seeing that as a kid (and a fan of Sesame Street) left me confused but amused). :) And I totally remember the theme: "The Metric Systemmmm, the Metric Sytemmmm, themetricsystem!"
I too would love to see this again, It'd bring back quite a few childhood memories :)
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Paul Strater, Chief Engineer
commented
I remember the closing theme:
Cut the mikes
Start the theme
Dim the lights to a very low beam
That’s all for Studio M today
Cap the cameras and fade a—waaaaayyy! -
Anonymous
commented
I remember this show well. I can't find any clips on the internet anywhere. Probably wiped out by the Reagan administration.
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Nicholas Anderson commented
I can tell you where you might could get it. The series title is simply "The Metric System," made in 1974 by Mississippi Educational Television (now MPB - Mississippi Public Broadcasting). Back in 2005, I bought a copy on VHS, so try contacting them. http://www.mpbonline.org/more/about/contact/
Each episode represents a broadcasting day for the Metric Broadcasting System
News with Howard Newday, Metric System News,
Metric Minit Movies (silent films with puppets)
Harvey and the Professor (scientific sitcom)
Measure for Tomorrow (soap opera of the Crayola family, whose patriarch resists the Metric System)
Music Videos
Metric Surveys
Centimeter Street (mentioned above, only 2 episodes though)
and of course Metric Man -
Anonymous
commented
The lyics went somethjng like this:
It's the metric system... The metric system...You can tell how far, from your car to a star ..with the metric system...
You can tell how tall( you 've grown), how far you've flown...
.....with the metric system....
It's just common sense..
It's a system based on ten...
....It's the metric system..
So many reasons...can't list them ...That shows the wisdom of the metric system....
It's the metric system... The metric system..
The metric system! -
Ron
commented
It is I, Mmmmmmmmetric Man. Maybe 1975-6. Elementary school. I also remember the cheesy theme song, which went something like this: "the metric system. The metric system. The metric system."
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Anonymous
commented
Yes I remember mainly the Metric man and how he looked kind of scary. Still can't find any videos.