Shark Bytes

Only thing I remember about this show is "Roy G. Biv."

Early on they had an episode where the Bloodhound Gang tried to figure out why all the fish had died in a local pond... early environmentalism! I still remember all those dead fish, all these years later...

This show was nothing short of genius. It is too bad it went off the air and it NEVER jumped.

The show jumped when the original three hosts left. That changed the entire format of the show. It was never interesting after that. That was when the Bloodhound Gang featurette changed a little and then disappeared altogether. Without those hosts, it was never the same again.

I loved this show as a kid. Even though the discussions were so horribly scripted, somehow that added to the charm.

The original trio were by far the best.

Later cast changes seemed naff... and the shows less informative.

The Bloodhound Gang (not the gangsta crap but the vignette episode at the end of most 3-2-1 eps) was rather good too.

These days people would look back on it and just spit on it. Pity. I think most television has devolved since then...

The first season of 321 Contact was excellent -- in fact, I'd say it was right up there with Sesame Street and Electric Company. Once the second season began, however, the show's producers/writers were replaced, and it lost some of that classic CTW style, though it was still pretty good. But sometime in the mid 80's, the show switched once again to a pure documentary format, and they ditched The Bloodhound Gang (the actor who played Ricardo died of cancer in 1986.) Then it wasn't really worth watching anymore.

This show never jumped.. and I dont know where you get the idea that the Bloodhound Gang had only three episodes.. I remember one where someone was trying to sell a meteorite that was supposedly really heavy.. (a hidden electromagnet made it impossible to lift).. or the episode where they were kidnapped and used a hole in the side of the truck to make a pinhole camera so they could see where they were.. or there was one with a radio controlled plane?? Maybe one with a homing pigeon?? But the king of all episodes was the "Case of the cackling ghost" this episode scared the beejeevies outta me as a kid!! Remember? There was a rich old woman who had alot of money.. and a lazy nephew.. and she kept seeing ghosts when she was out on the balcony.. and when she came back in.. her safe was empty. It ends up that the nephew is the one who did it.. he made it appear that he was pacing in his bedroom while playing with his trains..by putting a cardboard cutout of his profile on his train set which would cast his "shadow" on the shade of the window.. He used a fishing rod and a sheet soaked in pherimones to attract lightning bugs to light up his "ghost".. and .. is it just me.. or was the lazy nephew played by someone famous.. like the bad guy from the Annie movie or something?? Im sure I could come up with several other episodes with just a couple minutes..

3-2-1 contact jumped the shark when they featured a behind the stage look at the "World's Greatest Band...KISS" That episode will ring forever in my ears!

Jumped after initial season with Lisa, Marc, and Trini. I do think you all are forgetting other Bloodhound Gang episodes: the cackling ghost (pheremones / moths), the clock down in the well (buoyancy), the alleged piece from a neutron star (electromagnetism), the fake money making machine, and one episode had an RC airplane and man dressed up like an old lady - don't remember more than that

Never jumped. David Quinn was my English teacher too and we used to torture him because 321 was on late at night on Noggin. We'd stay up until 1 in the morning and then come to class and be all, "So, how was paper making in Japan?" or "You ate moths??!?" and he would just laugh and then tell us the story behind the episode. My favorite teacher of all time -- he said he went into education after working on the show...so, for that reason, it never jumped!

Every afternoon on our local PBS stateion, the lineup was as follows: Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, The Electric Company, and then this gem, 3-2-1 Contact. And "Contact" was brilliant in it's first incarnation - the kids had this great greenhouse in which the hung out and discussed science. Had this show not moved into the basement (they had to incorporate computers and apparently this couldn't be done in the greenhouse) and, in doing so, lost all of the original cast, perhaps my attention might never have waned, and I would have pursued a lucrative life in science instead of the interesting, but far less profitable, world of liberal arts. Anyone else remember the episode with the racquetball and the liquid nitrogen? I'm still amazed to this day...

Ya, I'm with a lot of other posters on this one, I really liked the Bloodhound Gang episodes. Just like the old movies, they were a good serial where you picked up a piece of the puzzle every day/week. When they dropped the BHG, I dropped off as a viewer.

No joke...not many different episodes of the Bloodhound Gang. Why bother to develop the concept of TBG, without actually writing enough scripts for it. So...let's just say, the shark was jumped at the point at which the writers became too lazy to write BG stories. Hey...what was the name of the entire show on PBS (with equally few episodes) that was entirely dedicated to a group of kids in NYC fighting crime and acting like detectives? Perhaps this could be a stumper?

To the poster a bit above me, the CTW show with the Dragnet knockoff was Square One TV, the sister IMO of this show to get kids interested in math. I loved 3-2-1 contact, from the theme song to all the "real" trios of kids applying science to their everyday lives (even though I liked the first cast better). The Bloodhound Gang should never have been removed, they were such an integral part of the show and the reason that a lot of kids started watching the show to begin with. A bunch of teens taking on real adult problems and using their extensive knowledge to combat evil in many forms. These guys were totally awesome 80's superheroes, that for me join the ranks of MacGyver and Beakman/Bill NYE who used their brains to solve problems! We need more shows like this today! Thank God for the Noggin Network, that shows all those wonderful classic CTW shows! Now sing the theme song with me..."3-2-1 contact, is the secret, is the moment, when everything happens, contact, is the answer, is the reason, that everything happens, contact...Let's make CONTACT! (music)....3-2-1...CONTACT!"