Actor Dave Boreanaz announced in 2017 that he was working on a script for a movie about a weekday morning tv kids show.

The star of TVs Bones didn’t have to go far to find his inspiration for the project since his father,  Dave Sr was the star of a weekday morning tv show called Rocketship 7.

I have a great minor story line that Boreanaz can use for his movie that focuses on a kid  getting his first big break in television.  

Rocketship 7 aired weekday mornings at 8:00 a.m. on WKBW-TV channel 7 in Buffalo, New York from 1962 to 1978.

Host Dave Thomas, as he was known, spoke to guests and his sidekick Promo the Robot about topics kids were interested in. In between the conversations the show featured cartoons like Gumby, Davey and Goliath, and the Warner Brothers classics including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

Dave was my friend on TV and I would watch as long as I could on our family’s 13 channel black and white television in Guelph, Ontario before heading to school by the time the bell rang at 9:00 a.m.

Billy the Pig

One of the show segments featured art work that kids mailed in. Dave and Promo the Robot would announce these artistic creations as they were featured on TV.

I wanted to be a part of this.

Either in grade 4, 5, or 6 I mailed in a drawing of the face and shoulders of a cartoon like pig wearing a jacket and tie on a blank 6 x 9 sheet of note paper.

Well, actually, I traced a picture of a cartoon pig with a pencil that I had found in the back of a magazine at home. It took less than 5 minutes. At the top of the page I wrote the pig’s name, Billy the Pig and at the bottom I signed my name, Joey.

“That’s my picture”

Some weeks later while watching Rocketship 7 my pencil sketched/traced cartoon pig appeared on our black and white 13 channel television.

Promo the Robot had the honour of announcing my drawing.

“Billy the Pig from Joey,” said Promo.

I recognized my pig in full spectrum black and white instantly, spotting my signature and the name I wrote at the top of the page.  All of this happened in less than 10 seconds as the camera panned from left to right onto my artwork before moving onto some other kids masterpiece.

“THAT’S MY PICTURE,” I screamed.  I ran to tell my sisters who were clearly not impressed with my new found fame.

“Oh,” said one. “That’s nice,” said the other as she brushed her hair.

When I went to school I let my friends know that my penciled sketched/traced piece of pig art was shown on Rocketship 7 and announced by Promo the Robot. They seemed impressed.

Years later I did wonder if maybe there was some other kid named Joey who named his sketched/traced penciled pig Billy and sent it to the show.

But, since there’s really no proof I’m sticking with my story and hope Dave Jr accepts this story pitch for his movie. No charge Dave!

Good-bye

The other memorable scene from that show also turned out to be one of the saddest days in my TV history watching. It was the day Dave Thomas announced he was leaving the show and moving to Philadelphia.

Dave explained he was going to be working at a tv station in that city.

My friend, the nice guy on tv who talked to me every morning and gave me my break in show-biz was leaving.

I cried!

Technically I was too old to cry about a tv show because I had just become a teenager, had been noticing girls and started wearing deodorant.

Perhaps I was crying as it was also good-bye to my childhood. So long to Promo the Robot, Gumby, and Davey and Goliath.

Thanks for keeping me company every weekday morning Dave!

I wiped my tears and went to school.