Inside/Out

Inside/Out debuted in the early 1970's on PBS. The series served as an educational tool aimed at children.

The series was unique as the episodes didn't have endings, which was intended to have children talk about how they would react, or resolve, to a particular situation that was the theme of the episode.

The series focused on real life issues that children faced within their lives, such as parental divorce, deaths in the family, peer pressure and many others. The series dealt with these issues very realistically and dramatically. It also influenced future PBS series' that would follow its formula, such as, Trade-offs, On the Level, Give & Take, and Thinkabout, which were aimed at elementtary school children in the same manner as this series was, while two others, Bread & Butterfies and Self Incorporated were aimed at teenagers in both middle and high schools. It also led to an updated version entitled "Looking From the Inside Out".

The series was shown on TV during the daytime school hours, which would have schools in both the USA and Canada turn on their TV's in classes so their students could watch them. At other times, the episodes would be shown on 16mm films in schools.

This series dealt with numerous social issues that children faced within their lives. The series was very realistic in how these issues were portrayed. The best thing is that the series didn't sugar coat anything within their episodes, but was real and educational in its dramatic portrayal of these issues. It showed children that were going through numerous things and unlike most TV series', the series had cliffhanger endings, which was intended for the children to discuss with teachers on how they would deal with, or resolve, the particular issues being portrayed in the series, which made for interesting ideas and suggestions by the children. It also educated children in numerous ways.

The series was produced by National Instructional Television (later Agency for Instructional Television), with support from Exxon Corporation, alongside numerous PBS stations throughout the USA filming episodes. There were also a few episodes produced in Canada as the series was also shown in Canada for Canadian elementary school children.

Again, the series debuted on PBS in the early 1970's, and was continuously repeated throughout the rest of the decade, and into the early 1980's independent of the PBS feed.

I remember watching this series myself even before I started going to school. I used to watch Sesame Street religiously during my childhood and I would lay down on the couch and watch whatever came on after Sesame Street. In its own unique way, this series helped prepare me for school and the world. Many of the episodes really got to me, especially the one about parental divorce (Breaking Up) as my mother and father were divorced as I learned something from it.

This series has been forgotten by the USA educational system. I wonder why. IMHO, this series is still as relevant today as it was back in the time when it was initially shown. Today's children still face the same issues as those within that particular time period did. The USA educational system needs to seek out this series again and show it to today's children. Today's kids need to see this series because even though the times change, the issues discussed on this series are still being faced by today's children. We definitely need this to be revived and shown to the children of today as the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Overall, an excellent series that's both educational and realistic in its educatiing children, which needs to be rediscovered by the current USA educational system and shown to today's children as its still as relevant as it was back in the day when initially shown.