Say It Ain't So, Bozo

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/22/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

The local Chicago TV version of "Bozo the Clown," which has been a homegrown hit for 40 years, is hanging up its red nose for good on April 26, the show's creators announced on Friday. Debuting on Chicago's WGN-TV in 1960, the show went national for a time, showing Bozo's circuses across the country, but this local version was the one big remaining televised big top. Its station, which is owned by the Chicago Tribune, says that over the years viewing habits have changed (children rarely go home for lunch anymore) and that there was stiff competition from Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. But don't despair, Bozo fans -- there may be good news on the horizon. An updated "Bozo," aimed at the national market and featuring the latest video gimmicks, will likely begin production soon, a spokesman for Larry Harmon Pictures Corp., which owns the rights to Bozo, informed Reuters.