Time for Timer was the overall title for a series of PSAs that ran on ABC in-between Saturday morning kids cartoons in the mid-70s. Timer was a yellow blob with a wristwatch, a top hat and a walking stick. Timer’s schtick was that he was telling kids about what time it was: Time for nutrition, time to brush your teeth, time for a recipe for making homemade juice popsicles, how to prevent lightheadedness by eating breakfast and the merits of cheese:

When my get-up-and-go has got up and went,
I hanker for a hunk o’ cheese!
When I’m dancin’ a hoedown and my boots kinda slow down,
Or anytime I’m weak in the knees,
I hanker for a hunk of,
A slab or slice or chunk of,
A snack a day’s a winner
And yet won’t spoil my dinner!
I hanker for a hunk o’ cheese!

If you are aged 35 and older, you probably remember these PSAs quite well. I confess to still remembering the words for several of Timer’s catchy little ditties and my memory is shit! The Time for Timer spots never really had the same cultural longevity or nostalgic appeal as the Schoolhouse Rock spots did. Certainly there has been no Time for Timer tribute CD with various indie rock bands singing his songs, but Timer and his advice to kids lives on, like everything else, on YouTube.

A bit o’ Timer trivia: The character made his debut on the 1973 ABC After-School Special episode called The Incredible, Indelible Magical, Physical Mystery Trip which starred Paris Hilton’s auntie and future “real housewife of Beverly Hills” mess, Kim Richards. Timer made a cameo appearance in an episode of Family Guy, playing himself as a crack smoker, hankering for a hunk of rock…