Several generations of Calgarians grew up with The Buckshot Show before it left the screen in the late 1990s.

From 1967 to 1997 The Buckshot Show was a mainstay of CTV Calgary. When it left the air it was Canada's longest running children's program.

"I've got grandparents who say I watched you and my grandson watched you," commented Ron Barge, the man who played Buckshot.

As part of CTV Calgary's 50th anniversary, we recorded an episode of The Buckshot Show Saturday afternoon.

"It's just great to be back in the studio," said Buckshot's sidekick Benny T. Bear. "They've rebuilt a set for us and boy it just takes me back."

Even some of the audience is the same, albeit, a little older.

"Buckshot went on the air before I was born so I grew up with Buckshot," said audience member Heidi Sparks.

When she grew up, Sparks worked on The Buckshot Show and now she's back with her children Stephen and Sarah Sparks who are seeing the show for the first time.

"I liked it when he played the guitar and the musical instruments and I liked it when the beaver came out," said Stephen.

"I liked it when the magician guy did the magic trick with the coins," added Sarah.

That magician is Paul Alberstat who was 12-years-old the first time he did a trick on The Buckshot Show. After that, he became a regular appearing almost every week

"It's what you grew up with and to be part of that, just even doing little bits as I did as I was growing up, and then to become a regular on the show, for me, I couldn't have asked for anything better and I don't think many children growing up could," said Alberstat.

Some of the crew on Saturday's show started their careers decades ago working on The Buckshot Show. Jack Burmeister now lives on the west coast but came back to run a camera for the special episodes.

"We used to work on this show with no script and all we did was just freewheeled and had a lot of fun," said Burmeister.

Now there's a script, even a production meeting and rehearsal, but Burmeister says that didn't take away from the fun.

"It was a long time ago and to walk on to the set today and see everybody, it's just a crush of memories. It's really quite special," added Burmeister.

Saturday's show is the first of two tapings of The Buckshot Show, which will air in late December.

Saturday's audience was mostly people who used to work with Buckshot here at CTV Calgary.

On Sunday, they're taping another show and the audience will be people who won their tickets through a 50th anniversary contest

The shows will air December 24, 25, and 31 on CTV Calgary.