Square One TV: Less Than Zero

[telegramsam]

I used to watch this show in elementary school, why don't they make stuff like this for kids these days???

[parlet]

I will never be able to forget this song!

[fibbomarch]

@enchurito Wow I had the same reaction from my teacher

[abqwriter]

I learned about negative numbers, geometry and probablity by watching this show...I wish they'd make a show like this for today's generation.

[theeponym]

So bizarre. I didn't remember this at all until I hit play—then twenty some-odd years vanished and every lyric felt as familiar as the day I first heard it.

[culturaleyes]

this show had extremely high product value. too bad I couldn't understand 99% of the math concepts in this show when I was 4

[hajajy]

oh how i miss good mathducational tv thank you for this flashback!

[gmodfan11]

We know what less than 0 is but what is less than -0?

[Madness832]

If the judge on the far left hadn't been there @ 1:23, Stanley would've had -666!

[TheGlassLemon]

@Madness832 No it wouldn't. It would be -18. READ A BOOK.

[Madness832]

@TheGlassLemon I read books all the time -- but only when I'm sitting on the throne!

[keenius74]

can anyone please post that's infitnity (on and on song), ,along with perfect squares (square brothers) and fraction rap

[NorthwestAdventure]

...I'm 30 years old and I still have the chorus of this song running through my head.

[Campbell7204]

@NorthwestAdventure me too

[LocoYoFla]

I miss Lynne Thigpen! She's one of the most talented, elegant, and respectable women that's been on TV. Such a tragedy she passed away so young.

[themanfromrussia]

He looks more like Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap

[nickjonaslvr9596]

lmao!!! we watched thiss last yr in math! haa this was our fav. out of all the vids! my friends joked at graduation we were going to play this song!

[RayRoark2009]

Is that Bill Nye the Science Guy!

[pfightingpolish]

It's frighteningly catchy, isn't it?

[maziebunny]

score one (or his case -1) for Stanley O'Toole. he was so cute.

[jesusthroughmary]

I haven't heard this song in probably close to 20 years, and I remembered probably half the lyrics. :-)

[krystalericalewis]

oh the memories

[prlad85]

God, where did they shoot these back in the day?

Have a great one! Puerto Rican Love from NYC!

[greymattersblog]

Most of the external scenes for Square One TV were shot in and around the University of Michigan campus (the producer and head writer were both UM alumni). There are many reference to UM in the show - Mathman wears a UM helmet, Dirk Niblick's mother's "speech" is the UM fight song, and more!

[prlad85]

Oh I see. I never knew that. But the Mathnet stuff was shot here in New York City.

Have a great night, a great day tommorrow, a great night tommorrow, a great week, a great month and a great autumn! Puerto Rican Love from New York City!

[TheBaldOneMpls]

I always thought he was saying "Certified, nation-wide slut." This was when I was 6 and didn't swear.

[justin324925]

I was scrolling down to write the same thing... I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

[OneWeirdDude]

Huh. Sounded like "klutz" to me, and I was 5. But then, I wasn't good at everything.

[birdmantd]

Dude...I thought the exact same thing!

[AnyaAngie]

HAHAHAHAHAHA and now what's ironic is they CAN score -3 For bad execution on elements that is!

[mekama129]

I love this song!! In my math class we were listening to this and everyone was singing! It was so funny!!

[MuppetDude]

Anyone notice the cameo at 0:28? It's Chris Cerf!

[jasonulloa]

Certified, nation-wide klutz, lol

[NotEvenScience]

Oh my god, this song made me cry when I was little. Now it's just nostalgic.

[nikima99]

me too! I felt bad for Stanley

[user0307]

hmm...interesting..I didn't know that the Reagan-Bush administration regulated (certified) sluts at the federal level....I wonder which agency was in charge of certefying nationide sluts...was Clinton a certified nationwide slut?.LOL

[user0307]

I got a -6??? what am I the anti-hero??

[mdfilmguy]

Thanks for this. Remembered the tune, but not the song or where it was from.

[FXTEX]

That song was so cool. I always loved it. I had been looking for it for a while

[blacktigerwu]

LOL makes me think back to elementary school

[DoctressJulia]

I thought for a second he said "certified nationwide slut". Hee hee!

[blacktigerwu]

I did to LMAO!!

[scottbaino]

LOL! That would be scandalous for PBS! Especially in 1988!

[DoinaSambaFan]

Isn't that Beverly Leech (Kate Monday from Mathnet) as one of the judges?

[mrblondnyc]

No the judge is a much older lady.

[Wyrmshadow]

Anyone else thinks the anit-hero looks like Scott Bakula?

[pavement66]

that's exactly what i tohught at first, but after the first few seconds, i thought otherwise

[MadWritter]

Groans...the band name and the album

are bad jokes on negavite numbers.

[Enchurito]

I actually knew about negative numbers in the first grade cause of this song. I was told by my teacher that negative numbers weren't supposed to be taught till 4th grade and to shut up. Talk about ruining a kid's faith in education at a young age.

[Wyrmshadow]

Yeah, don't make all the kids around you feel stupid. Everyone wants to be smart, but no one likes a smart ass.. least of all the teacher. I got into a lot of arguements like that when I was young. THANK YOU PBS.

[HirumasDream]

ME TOO! I also learned so much from Square One...mostly from catchy songs like this.

[supersaver87]

Same here! You should've seen the look on my first grade teacher's face! XD

[Rikun1]

@Enchurito Hey, at least they got that out of the way at an early age, instead of letting you grow up believing that the education system will actually pay off in the end.

[TEACHERTIGERSHAH]

@Enchurito I also learned about neg. numbers by this song when I was in 2nd grade.

[chrisbarrick]

Man, brainwashing the kids early about nonsense like "Negative" numbers, only to prime them for the capitalist system.

[zidane2k1]

Man, why does kids TV have to suck so much these days, this was way so much better!

[hamsterama]

Oh boy, did I love this song when I was little! Although I really didn't understand it, because at that time I was far too young to understand the concept of negative numbers.

[Ch33s3r]

yeah i was like 4 or 5 and i remember asking my older brother and parents about negative numbers because i wanted to learn more about them after watching this. Too bad they don't have educational shows like this anymore...Now it's just stupid fake-reality tv :(

[kittyprydex]

Oh man, I had this in my head once and I couldn't remember where on earth it was from.

[sjgarg]

When I was 8, I watched this show every time it came on and I loved it, and still do. It makes me so angry that there aren't any more high quality educational shows for youth like this left; only filler, violence and shows aimed for 4 years or younger. It was so entertaining, catchy and educational.

I'm also saddened that Lynne Thigpen passed away at such a young age (55).

Thanks for posting all these great videos and I hope you'll get more and some of Mathnet.

[rmumusicalrob]

That wasn't Lynne Thigpen. She was on Carmen Sandiego. That was Beverly Mickens, a regualar on SQ1TV.

[Rodimus78]

Well yeah, but still........The Chief was much of a lost gem as of the Square One players.

[DoinaSambaFan]

@rmumusicalrobYou should've checked out Beverly joining the picket line for the Writers' Guild of America in L.A. a few years back... she's quite versatile.

[SaleGuy]

My favorite SQ1TV video ever!

[Ch33s3r]

This show was awesome!

[emilysong2000]

Rest assured, Square One TV will never get less than zero stars. It will keep getting many five-star votes!