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My sense is that he was known to frequent PBS viewers (I remember him from before 2010) — but the whole Chia-fro thing and "happy clouds" or whatever meme-like
by JKCalhoun 1y ago
My sense is that he was known to frequent PBS viewers (I remember him from before 2010) — but the whole Chia-fro thing and "happy clouds" or whatever meme-like thing that comes to mind definitely took him to the mainstream crowd with the internet.
- SoftTalker 1y agoAgree. Few people watch PBS. The readership here is not representative.
- Brybry 1y agoI think a lot of people who were or had kids pre-internet streaming probably watched PBS, at least sometimes. Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Joy of Painting, Arthur, Bill Nye, Barney, Teletubbies, etc. It's not like there were a lot of TV choices for kids if their parents couldn't afford cable (and some stations like Cartoon Network didn't even exist until 1992+, I think even Disney Channel was a premium channel like HBO).
- nothrabannosir 1y agoLike Sesame Street, Bob Ross was more famous than PBS. I didn’t even know what America was and I knew Bob Ross.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoThat's wild.
- xnyan 1y agoIn the mid 90s when Bob Ross died, 95% of American preschoolers had seen Sesame Street, at the time a show not available anywhere besides PBS.
- tomstockmail 1y agoI present the evidence of Family Guy episode _Fifteen Minutes of Shame_ airdate April 25, 2000 which had a Bob Ross bit. Bob Ross was part of the cultural zeitgeist long before the 2010s Internet memes. That has brought a new generation to him, but that's just bringing GenZ in line with the others.