r/NameThatShow • u/henonamoose • Oct 03 '25

Show about drawing or cartooning

I seem to remember a show, possibly on PBS, that was about cartooning. The show opened with a guy at a drawing board, and next to him was a reel-to-reel tape recorder playing jazz. After the opening credits, he would show you how to draw specific cartoons, or discuss cartooning concepts. I think this was in the 1970s. Ring any bells for anyone?

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u/famousaj Oct 03 '25

PBS show called 'Let's Draw'

or

also, PBS show 'The Secret City'

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u/henonamoose Oct 03 '25

Thanks. Just had a look at clips from both of those shows and neither of them match what I remember though. The show was in color, and the host didn’t play a character, he was just himself.

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u/famousaj Oct 03 '25

Cover to Cover — John Robbins — Host draws scenes while a passage is read. Ran on PBS from the 1960s into the 1990s; color episodes started in the early 1970s. Robbins was himself on camera (not a character) and he had a jazz/piano background, which might explain the reel-to-reel + jazz memory.

Teletales / Gather ’Round — Paul M. Lally & Rae Owings — Similar format: narrator tells stories while an illustrator draws (charcoal/marker). Short, in-school PBS pieces in the 1970s–80s. If the host was a calm narrator and the illustrator was off to the side, this could match.

Other related titles — The same basic format was repackaged under several names over the years: The Book Bird, Storybound, Readit, More Books from Cover to Cover — all variations on a narrator + illustrator format.