Just A Children's Show?

## Just A Children's Show? by unknown author

I remember one show from my early childhood - only one in fact. This is the only full memory I have of my childhood before I moved. When I was about 4, I lived in a condo. It was average sized and fairly nice. That's about all I know to describe it other than it was two stories. I can't remember what I did there, but I know I was not yet old enough to attend school.

Instead, I spent all day at home trying to amuse myself. It's funny, I never remember leaving my home other than to play in the yard. Even then I never left the front yard. I do remember one thing very well. I remember a TV show I watched. It played on Noggin at like 2 in the morning or something like that. I don't remember ever doing anything else at the condo.

I would watch this show. I cannot remember the name, nor can I remember most character names. I can only remember one character name, "The Boogie Man". He was very strange. He'd wear a nice suit and carry a cane. And on top of his head was a brain, exposed and swollen.

It was green, too. A very bright green, like fresh summer grass. He'd spin around. He'd spin as the only thing my young brain would equate it to, a ballerina. He'd spin around and around while singing in a terribly strange voice, words I cannot 100% recall. I think it was something like "*Here comes the Boogie Man. Here comes the Boogie Man"*.

The other characters looked as if they were high school students. Considering shows from the same time period, they must have been middle school students in the show. There was your stereotypical cast: A black girl and a white girl, a "leader" boy, a cowardly male and a geeky girl. The geeky girl spent all the episodes on a computer, clicking away at keys that monitored their environment: the school.

Yes, this all took place at a school. A red/pink/brown-bricked school. This school had lots of surveillance cameras. The year at this point was 2001. There are no children shows had really adapted to the 9/11 standards of camera everywhere. Hell, even now in shows you almost never see cameras in school like there are in my high school. I found this strange.

At my age, never having been to a school, I remember that I thought schools never had cameras. There were four different areas that were used a lot; a hallway intersection, a classroom for a non-descript class, an outside lunch table, and a dark room. The hallways were always a pink-red color with shiny tiles and the walls an off-white.

These kids would sneak into the school after dark every night to try and catch the Boogie Man. They didn't seem like they wanted to go and find him as the only time they left the room was when they needed something. Otherwise, they'd stay in the classroom, barring the doors with chairs and having the girl at the computer tell them where he was in the school using the cameras. And there was a gum-dispensing-machine by the monitor. It was a replica of the Boogie Man, but it had a purple brain and was really small. The kids all looked like they were out of breath, like they had just finished running.

One episode had the Boogie Man spinning down the intersection singing. The student all sat there, watching him on the monitor. He kept singing,

"*Here comes the Boogie Man.*"

After a few seconds his song continued, going past what must have been the chorus.

*The Boogie Man will always come.*

*The Boogie Man is scared of none.*

*Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.*

*Your rotting bodies will fall to rust.*

To my innocent mind at two in the morning, was perfectly fine. I then thought of something; I never actually saw the kids enter the school. I never saw them with equipment to catch this "Boogie Man". It was never dark, the outside table was well lit by the sun.

They never showed any students ever leave the building. And one last thing. The pinkish tiles were a bit darker than pink. It was a rather shiny maroon shade.

This show isn't on anymore. It seemed a lot like "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" This is more than a scary story, more than just another knock-off of "Candle Cove". This is a true, honest-to-God show I remember as a kid and any information you have on it would be very helpful if anyone remembers the name of this show.