“The Magic Garden” was these two hippy ladies that told stories and sang songs and was probably one of my favorite shows when I was very small, kindergarten age or so. There were stories written on leaves and silly puppets, very standard kiddy fare. I liked it far more than Sesame Street or Mr Rogers.
I recall very vividly that it inspired my play, where I would pluck a leaf off a tree and then pretend it had a story written on it that would be something we would act out. It made far more of an impression on me than reruns of the Flintstones or Gilligan’s Island.
Speaking of which, I will give a shout-out to “Far Out Space Nuts” where in the intro, Junior (Bob Denver, i.e. Gilligan) and his co-worker Barney are loading meals into a NASA rocket. Barney tells him to hit “lunch” and he accidentally hits “launch,” starting their wacky adventures. To this day I will play that scene in my head when it’s time for lunch. I guess they call it “television programming” for a reason.