Lidsville was Sid and Marty Krofft's third television show following H.R. Pufnstuf (1969) and The Bugaloos (1970). As did its predecessors, the series combined two types of characters: conventional actors in makeup filmed alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in post-production. Seventeen episodes aired on Saturday mornings for two seasons, 1971–1973.
Like predecessors H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, Lidsville ran for only one season (1971–1972), with reruns airing the following year (1972–1973). Like most children's television shows of the era, Lidsville contained a laugh track. Music was also a part of the show, with songs being performed by the characters in several episodes.
The show involved a teenage boy named Mark (Butch Patrick, of Eddie Munster fame) who fell into the hat of Merlo the Magician (Charles Nelson Reilly) and arrived in Lidsville, a land of living hats. The hats on the show are depicted as having the same characteristics as the humans who would normally wear them. For example, a cowboy hat would act and speak like a cowboy. The characters' houses were also hat-shaped.
Many of the episodes were about Mark trying to get back home, but the evil HooDoo prevented him from leaving. In the show's final episode, scenes from some of the past episodes were featured, as HooDoo's mother paid a visit to find out what had been going on in Lidsville. Unfortunately for Mark, he did not return home at the end. But, maybe by then he had decided that he liked it there more than home after all.
