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ITEM 5 · MIXED — THE VALLEY'S LINE DUG WHOLE AS BOUNDARY; NO SHOW OF THIS TOWN'S; THE PARTICIPANT RESIDUE NAMED
The broadcast-comedy test asks whether any sketch show or children's-television clown line is this town's own invention, and the answer is no — but the valley's answer is one of the best stories in American local television, and it prints here at boundary size, whole, because Osceola's sets received it for nineteen years. Beyond Our Control was a sketch-comedy series produced almost entirely by high-school students as a Junior Achievement company (WJA-TV) and aired on WNDU-TV, South Bend's NBC affiliate, then owned by the University of Notre Dame. Created by WNDU promotions director Dave Williams, it ran thirteen episodes a season from 1968 to 1986 — 247 episodes across nineteen seasons, over 350 student company members chosen by audition from Michiana high schools — a "TV show about TV" of parodies of news, commercials, dramas and game shows; in February 1974 the National Association of Television Program Executives named it the nation's best locally produced variety show. Its alumni include the writer-producer Larry Karaszewski and the writer Daniel Waters. The children's-clown line of the pattern ran on the same stations' local programming in the same decades — the valley's broadcast childhood, and South Bend's build's whole, in both cases.
For Osceola the finding is precise: no sketch show, clown, host or program originated in the town, no Osceola company or school produced one, and no record reached names an Osceola participant in the valley's line. That last clause is a residue, not a verdict of fact about teenagers: Beyond Our Control drew its companies by audition from the region's high schools, and Penn High School — where this township's older children were and are schooled — stood inside its catchment for the show's whole run. An Osceola teenager on a 1970s company roster would surprise no one, and none is documented.
GAP-OS88-2 — The participant residue. Settlers: the Beyond Our Control alumni and company rosters (the alumni association's record; the Notre Dame research project's materials); Penn-Harris-Madison school records. The broadcast article stands at its printed strength: the invention was the valley's, the audience included this town, and the participation question is open at roster strength.
Sources: The Beyond Our Control record — the Notre Dame research project (Christine Becker, University of Notre Dame) and the standard series record (WNDU-TV; WJA-TV; 1968–1986; 247 episodes; the 1974 NATPE award; the alumni named), read November 2026 — boundary. Schools section of this build (Penn High School as the township's high school). Register row #590.