Talking Back to the TV

When I started cleaning out my draft posts folder I was surprised to find no less than 3 posts all titled "Talking Back to the TV."  The oldest one dated back to around the time Derrick was born.  Apparently I've been wanting to publicly mock children's educational programming for quite a while.  

I have one little confession before I finish writing this post - we haven't watched "real TV" since the end of April.  The batteries to our digital converter box died and it took me over a month to get around to changing them, and by then we were out of the habit of watching TV shows (movies are a whole different story/post). 

In order to refresh my memory of these shows I let the kids watch their usual favorite shows on www.pbskids.org this afternoon.  I can't believe how fast some of these shows got on my nerves again.  

I don't know about you, but I hardly ever can do the whole stereotypical, "park the kids in front of the TV and get the house clean" deal.  I usually have at least one kid who wants me to hold them while they watch TV.  And I like any excuse to sit down.  So I've spent quite a bit of time watching children's television.  While I watch I like to quietly mock most of the shows.  Today I want to share my normally silent comments.  I picked the shows that the girls watch most often.  They aren't in any particular order.

Sesame Street -  I hated Sesame Street as a kid - and now it's one of my favorite shows.  That just shows you how much the quality of children's programming has slipped in the past few years.

The change in my attitude actually has to do with a change in the format of the show.  Remember how they would have a story with a plot that was split up into three parts that aired throughout the hour?  I couldn't stand that!  I just wanted to watch the whole story and skip all the filler.  When I started watching TV with the girls I reluctantly turned on Sesame Street.  Much to my surprise I was able to watch a whole 15 minute segment that took place on the Sesame Street set.  That won me over enough to keep Sesame Street in our line up of TV shows.

I also enjoyed when the show threw in stuff for adults.  This sketch spoofing Glee is one of the highlights of PBS TV.


There are, however, some things that still bug me about Sesame Street.  The "Abby's Flying Fairy School" segment drives me crazy.  First the theme song is so catchy it gets stuck in my head for days.  (I once sung it word for word to Brandon and he looked at me like I was crazy.) And then each episode usually features some disaster that the kids have to try to fix.

The girls love Elmo.  And I like the "Elmo's World Segment."  Elmo picks a topic and does various things to explore that topic over the next 15 minutes.  He always ends his "show" by singing about each topic.  The song is always a word repeated over and over to the tune of Jingle Bells.  I love it's simplicity and cuteness.

But now there is a new Elmo segment called  "Elmo the Musical." Elmo sings songs with actual lyrics while acting out different scenarios.  It's fast paced, full of computer created effects, and incredibly zany.  I hate it.

My biggest complaint with Sesame Street is that the episodes repeat every 3 weeks or so.  I can't understand how that is possible.  This show has over 40 seasons.  If any show could live forever in syndication it's this one.

Arthur - This show is the very best portrayal of what childhood is really like.  The characters all seem like real people in real situations.  Each episode doesn't hit you over the head with teaching anything either.  I'm not sure if the kids understand what is going on in the show all the time, but they still like watching it.

SuperWhy - The first time I watched this show I thought it was cute. Little kids have a problem, morph into superheros, go into a story to find the answer to the problem, learn about words along the way, and then "save the day."

But then I watched the second episode and the exact same thing happened.  It's like an extremely educational episode of Power Rangers.  There is probably about 10 minutes of original animation in every 20 minute episode.

I can forgive the redundant format (I was a huge Power Rangers fan after all).  What really gets me is the way the kids say that everything is a "Super Big Problem!"  I really worry about what these kids will do when they become adults.
And the kids do that creepy thing where they ask questions and then stare at the screen while they wait for you to answer.  Here's a word of advise, don't pay attention to their blinking.  Once you notice it, it's ALL you can see.

Word World - I love this show.  Back when we were still in the habit of watching TV I would always be the one telling the girls, "It's time for Word World! Do you want to watch Word World?"

I like the creativity of the computer animation.  This is one of the few children's shows that has to be computer animated. Everything in the show is made of letters - even the animals that populate the show.  The animals put letters together to "build a word" and make whatever they need.  (Which always makes me wonder about the economy of a place where anything can be made from letters - not to mention the physics.)

The animals each have distinct, but not obnoxious, personalities.  For a children's show they actually are pretty complex.

Curious George - The girls are huge fans of the Curious George books.  So I like to turn on Curious George on the computer for them.  I haven't spent a lot of time watching it, but so far it doesn't bug me.

The website "How to be a Dad" published a great post about what parents can learn from the show.  The post is titled "Curious George: Instructions for Parents."  Its a better review of the show than I could ever write- go read it.

Dinosaur Train - This show has to have one of the weirdest premises of any TV show.  A family of pteranodons travels on a special train that can travel though "time tunnels" between different periods of the dinosaur eras.  I'm always waiting for the dino-kids to cause some sort of irreparable damage to the space-time continuum.

But aside from the whole time-traveling dinosaurs concept this is actually a pretty real feeling show.  The 4 dinosaur kids all seem like real kids.  And their parents are pretty normal too. (The first episode I saw had a little sub-plot with the dad secretly getting annoyed at a neighbor for stealing his leaves.)  Oh and one of the kids is a T-Rex.  He is adopted, and sometimes they do episodes about how he feels different, but most of the time nobody even bats and eye that he doesn't look like the rest of the family.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - I hate this show on principle.  In my opinion the original Mr Rodger's Neighborhood is timeless - there is no need to re-image it.

This show takes the neighborhood of make believe and updates it for modern kids.  All the puppets from the original show have grown up, had children, and become animated.  The main cast of children has "O" the Owl (nephew to X), Katerina Kitty Cat (Daughter to Henrietta), Miss Elena (daughter of Lady Elaine - I think), Prince Wednesday (brother to Prince Tuesday), and Daniel Tiger.  I assume this is Daniel Tiger the second, because the gregarious host of the show bears no resemblance to the lovable, shy tiger from the original show.

The adults in this show makes me wonder what's really going on in King Friday's kingdom.  I think there must be some sort of brainwashing program.  All the adults are ALWAYS positive and cheerful.  And they all sing the same little songs to teach the kids lessons.  It's just a little too creepy for me.

The kids all "suffer from a deplorable excess of personality." (That's a line from Jurassic Park.)  They are even more cheerful and positive than the adults.

By the end of each episode I miss Mr Rodgers calm way of talking to the camera.  Good thing he's still available online at http://pbskids.org/rogers/videos/index.html  (Mom, you can find the Bubbleland episode by scrolling through the list of full episodes - you're welcome)

Sid the Science Kid - On the surface this is a good show to teach kids about the world around them - and I'm okay with that aspect.  But the characters on the show all bug me.  This is another show where the kids all have overbearing personalities and the adults are always happy.

Sid himself is really, really inquisitive.  And his parents always have time to talk to him about his questions.  Just once I'd like to see them tell him to go calm down and leave them alone.  However their patience is nothing compared to his pre-school teacher's abilities.  "Teacher Suzie" must be clairvoyant or something.  No matter what Sid's question of the day is, she is always prepared with a hands on lesson to help answer his question.  I feel bad for the other 3 kids in her class.  They never even get a chance to ask questions.  It's all about Sid.

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Those are all of our regular shows.  What about you?  What TV shows do you like to watch with your kids.  Which ones make you want to stab your eyes out?