UNCLE TOBY'S FUN HOUSE

Now a program I used to watch a kid. I'd wake up and run to the television to enjoy the antics at Uncle Toby's Fun House, dressed in my pjs, eating bowl after bowl of Sugar Time Fun cereal.

Originating on cable channel CBT in 1985 and eventually transferring to the LION network Uncle Toby’s Fun House was a wildly popular children’s show.

Set in the brightly coloured home owned by the eccentric Uncle Toby (writer/producer and actor Toby McQueen) real children were invited to come into the studio on Saturday to meet the eccentric guests in Uncle Toby’s house.

These included Rex the talking dog (actor Zack Halbert in costume), the PREDICTO computer which told visiting children their future, the Trouble Twins (puppets created by Alan Gameton) and fend off the unwanted attention of Wanda the hook handed Witch (actress Diana Giacho).

After four seasons darker elements were introduced to show. A subplot was introduced that the Fun House was built on an Indian burial ground, leading to the introduction of the character Chief Running Bones. Uncle Toby explained to the visiting children that Chief Running Bones had been compelling the inhabitants of the house to kill over the centuries.

The end of each show culminated in the children deciding which one of them would go into the basement and appeases Chief Running Bones vengeful spirit. This would often lead to a savage fight, the loser thrown physically down the stairs. The viewer never saw what occurred but could hear the screams.

This obviously led to a downswing in the number of children who wanted to go on the show. Along with numerous other scandals this resulted in the show being cancelled. Despite this fans still enjoy remembering the early, fun filled episodes and trying to forget the terrible events that followed.

SELECTED EPISODES:

THE SMARTEST ONE IN THE HOUSE
The children are asked to judge who is the smartest one in the house. Wanda sabotages the competition by drugging Uncle Toby, making him unable to spell the simplest words or count higher than four. When Rex is crowned winner Uncle Toby flies into a violent rage.

THE FEAST
Everyone is very hungry so the visiting children help cook a grand feast. Things go awry when the Trouble Twins cause a grease fire melting Wanda Witches hook. The fire men who appear at the end of the episode are real, called when the fire mysteriously got out of control.

BATS IN THE BELFREY
Uncle Toby’s Fun House has an infestation of bats. The children offer to help but are captured by the bats new Queen, Wanda the hook handed witch. Rex the dog tries to warn the slumbering Uncle Toby while PREDICTO predicts disaster.

TRIVIA:
Zack Halbert was arrested for animal abuse when it was found that his house contained over thirty four dogs in various states of neglect. The actor claimed that he was researching his role and would spend hours fighting them for food, naked and defecating in his living room.

PREDICTO was a real computer, fed information about the children and their interests it would ‘predict’ the career they would most likely enjoy. In the final twenty episodes of the series PREDICTO instead began to tell children how they would die. To date every prediction has been correct.

A series of arson attacks led to the arrest of Alan Gameton who claimed that the puppets, the Trouble Twins, had told him to commit the crimes. A jury found him guilty despite his claim that as he was wearing the puppets while setting things alight they should be responsible.

Chief Running Bones was actually composed from the skeleton of Margaret Weller, the first victim of Toby McQueen’s serial killer career.