By Jessica Able, Record Staff Writer
Children throughout Kentucky may soon have a new television program to watch featuring people and places throughout the Commonwealth.
Buck O’Connor, a parishioner at St. Raphael the Archangel Church, aims to be this generation’s Mister Rogers with his show, called “A Day with Uncle FunBuck.”
“Ever since Mister Rogers died, no one has stepped in to fill that role,” O’Connor said in a recent interview. “I think parents are looking for someone to trust right now.”
O’Connor has one question to ask when he explains his plans for “A Day with Uncle FunBuck” — a show targeted to children ages 4 to 10.
“Can you name one positive male role model on television today that is alive?” he asked during an interview at The Record offices last week.
Sometimes that question stumps some people, he said.
O’Connor notes that television characters such as Jim Anderson (“Father Knows Best”), Andy Taylor (“The Andy Griffith Show,”) Ward Cleaver (“Leave it to Beaver”) and Captain Kangaroo have long been off the airwaves. Even the iconic “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which originally aired from 1968 to 2001, and the popular “Reading Rainbow” featuring LeVar Burton, are in re-runs.
O’Connor said he originally came up with the idea of a children’s show more than a decade ago but didn’t have time to pursue his dream. Over the course of the last several years he has found time to devote to creating, writing and filming his TV show. He’s driven, he said, because “there are very few role models on TV today for children, male or female.”
O’Connor is in talks with programmers from Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and hopes to have his show picked up by that network later this year.
O’Connor said he began to notice the lack of real, live role models on television when he began to search for appropriate TV shows for his daughter, who is a fifth-grader at St. Raphael.
He noted that on a typical day of programming on KET most shows — with the exception of “Sesame Street,” “Biz Kid$” and a few others — are animated.
“My vision is to create a program that shows real settings in the real world,” O’Connor said. “I want kids to connect with real people.”
People such as a fire captain, farmer, pizza maker and biplane pilot, he explained.
Each episode features an adult role model who teaches children about their profession or hobby.
“In every show I find a wonderful role model where I take a child on an adventure to meet them,” he said.
O’Connor has created a series of episodes on planting corn, featuring two farmers who will teach children the full agricultural cycle of corn, from planting to harvest. Other episodes detail magic tricks, model trains and flying a biplane. There’s one that shows how to park the Goodyear blimp.
Viewers also will meet several reoccurring characters, he said, such as Tank, a 1978 camper bus; Sunny, also a camper bus and Tank’s girlfriend; and Grump, Tank’s driver and O’Connor’s real life dad.
O’Connor said it’s important to him that the show feature people and places around Kentucky.
“There is no other show like this is Kentucky. The people are one of the best assets of this state,” he said. “I want to broadcast the wonderful people in Kentucky and teach wonderful viewers about Kentucky.”
To watch episode teasers, visit O’Connor’s YouTube channel by searching “FunBuck” on YouTube. For more information, email unclefunbuck@aol.com.
Great to hear it came together! I wish u the best if luck