[KarlInOhio]

I remember one on Saturday mornings back in the 70s called Ark II. The premise seemed to be that if we don't stop polluting, civilization will collapse and everything will become as dry and dusty as the Hollywood back lots are. I was a little kid back then and even I though it was heavy handed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_II

[buccaneer81]

All the live action CBS Saturday morning lineup was like that. Ark II, Shazam!, Isis, and Space Academy.

Dreadful.

[TomGuy]

There was also a short-lived series called Earth II.

IIRC, it closed its season with a cliffhanger and then got cancelled. So, the characters are still hanging on that cliff.

[kaylar]

I watched that show too, and here's what struck me at the time : The oh-so-witty send up of religion in general (and Christianity in general?) with the "Park Rules" book. Seems the post apocalyptic survivors wind up in what in our era was a national park. They've found a booklet of Park rules and regulations, and their "priest" (don't remember his actual title, but he wore clerical type robes) would read a rule from the Rule Book , and then interpret it as some kind of moral warning or allegory-just like our priests and ministers read the Bible! Wow, far out , dudes! I was just a single digiter then, and I "got it"-and it made my jaw drop. And this was for children?!?!?!

[Yossarian]

Yeah, but Arc II had the good sense to cast Jean-Marie Hon in the female lead:

This chick and a chimpanzee? That's can't miss TV, right there!

[nickcarraway]

Obviously, it was true. If we had only stopped polluting, Obama wouldn’t be our president today.

[Mr. Silverback]

I never saw that, but at about that time there were lots of heavy handed short stories in the kids magazines. I remember one in particular where kids had to wear gas masks on the school playground because of air pollution.