Doper Parents: Discuss Children's TV Programs Here

Cafe Society
21

That kid is pretty interesting, and has quite a conversational rapport with the people he talks to for such a young guy. My favorite was when he learned to Break Dance.

BEST
Sesame Street is the hands down favorite in my house. My 16-month old son is still way into Elmo but it’s cute enough not to be too annoying except that everyone buys him annoying Elmo toys.

Wiggles have great music and visuals. Noah loves the dancing and bobs himself up and down to the songs. I don’t get the whole pirate thing, though. Can I just say how cute the little girls in the pony costumes are when they sing the “Pony” song? “Swish swish swish”.

Bear in Big Blue House or Breakfast With Bear are our morning routine shows. While Noah’s drinking a cup of milk and I’m preparing the day care bag or swigging coffee he’s entertained by this guy. Plus they show Charlie and Lola episodes between segments during Breakfast with Bear

He’s not much into cartoons at this age, much more likes the music and dancing shows.

WORST
Doodlebops. We’re all a little freaked out by these people. In every show the girl Doodlebop tells a joke that’s beyond terrible, then laughs like a loon and says “I’m sooooo funny!”

Higglytown Heroes. Just plain creepy.

22

Every time my little one watches this show, I end up with the damned songs stuck in my head all day! They are catchy little songs, though.

23

He does have a good rapport with them. I love how he gets so excited about everything. Unlike some shows where the kids just seem unenthusiastic and bored with being there, he’s just a natural and is honestly enjoying himself.

Which reminds me of the one that really bugs me. Storytime Girl. At least I think that’s what it is called. They show short clips between episodes on the Treehouse channel and I just want to throttle her when I hear her. She sounds so falsely perky with that ‘It’s story time it’s story time! I’m so glad it’s story time!’. She makes up little stories about stuff she finds in a talking box and tells them to a talking clock, doorbell and aforementioned box. Maybe if they had someone else it would be fine, but she just seems forced perky to me.

I would change the channel, but by the time I’ve found the remote she’s usually almost done and the show I wanted to put on about to start. I’m just glad it’s clips a couple minutes long, not a whole 20-25 minutes.

24

I can’t stand any of them myself, but my 3 year old daughter couldn’t live without Dora, Diego, Franklin and Barney.

25

My 3-year-old has phases where he intensly likes a given show, then all of a sudden he can’t watch it even if he was promised a lollipop the size of his baby sister.

It all started with The Wiggles. I second the assertion that their music is actually worth listening to; their rendition of Eagle Rock with King Mondo is actually in my iPod’s “Top 25 Most Played”. We caught them live 2 1/2 times; the last show he tantrummed out before we even got to our seats.

Next came Blue’s Clues. Ah, the debate. Joe or Steve? Lennon or McCartney? Mac or Windows? Bush 40 or 42? Didn’t matter, both put me to sleep. But the show was at least quiet and slow, perfect for the easily overwhelmed toddler.

Then there was a brief Jojo’s Circus fling, which didn’t last because we soon realized he didn’t want to go to daycare and was just stalling for time.

Next came the nadir of my life as a father . . . Dora the Explorer. What a freaking annoying show. CAN ANYone TELL me WHY SHE HAS to SHOUT most of HER LINES??!? Praise be to Og that I was spared from having to attend the live show.

He’s only recently grown out of that, and that was only because of Go Diego Go, a Dora spinoff that is turning out (from my perspective) to be more Lou Grant than Joanie loves Chachi, if only because the kid voicing Diego knows a bare minimum about breath control and pacing.

We’ve also mixed a DVD with two episodes of Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood into his (infrequent) viewing mix. Gotta have the classics. Speaking of which, I’ve also dipped his toe into the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, it’s slowly starting to take hold. There is hope for the future, people.

Oh, and I agree with the general concensus re: Doodlebops. They’re frightening. Everytime I pass by them while channel-surfing, I picture one of the actors looking into his mirror before the day’s shooting. He looks at his own sad countenance staring back at him. He bitterly thinks:

"I was graduated . . . from Juilliard.

I have performed in summer stock up and down the Eastern seaboard to invariably rave reviews.

My raffish yet sensitive portrayal of El Gallo in The Fantasticks received the kind of laudatory notices that most actors only dream about.

At the Alabama Shakespeare festival I was Hamlet!"
His teeth are now clenched as he prepares to submerge his face into a vat of day-glow purple makeup powder. He’s really worked up now.

"I workshopped the part of Johnny Castle in the original production of Dirty Dancing!!

Naples, Florida, had never before witnessed such starpower when I performed the part of Twimble in How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying at the Naples Dinner Theatre!!!

My tragic portrayal of ‘Third Dead CTU Agent’ in Season 3 of ‘24’ illuminated the bathos of human existence for television viewers like never before!!!

And now . . . I’m . . . a . . . Doodlebop."

The last word is spoken with a bitter finality. He leans forward into the glutineous mass of lavender before him.

END SCENE

26

My son’s getting out of his Dora phase now, but I have to say that Tico is the coolest character on the show – whether it’s farming chickens or driving fast speedboats, Tico does it all with a wink and a grin. He’s like The Fonz™ for toddlers. :smiley:

27

Not a series, but a production for Children: They Might Be Giants’ ABCs. The DVD, not the CD.

It’s excellent fun for maybe 2-5 year olds maybe?

Also, by the way, their album No! should be excellent fun for kids as well. (And not to bad for adults BTW.)

-Kris

28

Tico is a menace to society. The damn squirrel can’t see – otherwise, why would Dora and Boots have to tell him “Pare!” everytime there was a boulder about to hit his car or something? Yet in spite of being blind as a bat, Tico careens around in rocket-propelled cars and speedboats.

Bricker Jr likes Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Lazy Town quite a bit. He’s also a big fan of The Save-Ums and Dragon Tales. (I have lots of questions about Max and Emmy’s experiences… I assume time doesn’t pass in our world when they’re in Dragonland – otherwise, their mom would be frantic the first time she came upstairs to check on them and found them vanished. But considering how much time they spend in Dragonland, their physical ages are going to be quite a bit ahead of their chronological ages in a few years’ time.

Also of interest is how they show up at the “right” place in Dragonland every single time – not the SAME place, but wherever Cassie, Ord, Zack, and Wheezy are hanging out. Finally, notice the dragon figures on their wallpaper: as they recite the “I wish, I wish, with all my heart,” line to get them TO Dragonland, the dragons on the wallpaper animate and swirl around them in a maelstrom of color. But when they recite “I wish, I wish, to use this rhyme,” line to return, the dragons remain on the wall the whole time. So when do the dragons return to the wall? And why do they animate in the first place. The dragon scale is the key… presumably they could use it anywhere, wallpaper or not.

29

My 18-month old twin girls love The Wiggles, and have practically every DVD produced. They can pretty much act out “Rock-a-bye-bear” and “Rolling Down/Running Up the Sandhills”. Their favorite characters are Dorothy and Captain Feathersword.

Other shows they watch are Sesame Street and Little Einsteins. They sometimes catch Dragon Tales, but I usually switch it to Little Einsteins. I’m trying to get them to like Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley-Winks on PBS, but they lose interest; I only get to watch it at 8:00am on Sundays. Kinda reminds me of a Pixar short; it also helps that Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks) and Tara Strong provide voices for two of the characters.

No Barney in my household either, thankyouverymuch. Unfortunately, one of the Wiggles’ DVDs has a Barney promo, and if I’m not fast enough, they get to see it.

30

Good discussion going here, though I’m puzzled by all the hatin’ on Max and Ruby. Yes Max only says one word at a time; he’s like a year and a half!

I neglected to mention Arthur. A modern day classic. One of my favorites is the lice episode. Irrelevant aside: in one of our Arthur books, “D.W.'s Guide to Preschool,” the Tibble twins are human.

Welcome to the overrated world of Maurice Sendak. I must admit I have a problem with the idea of humans relating on a peer level with animals. If Emily can be friends with Little Bear then presumably she could one day marry him and this raises all sorts of issues I’m not prepared to talk about right now. * WHY IS THERE A MONKEY LIVING IN THE FOREST?*

Another one high on the disturb-o-meter: Jay Jay the Jet Plane. Please show my child transportation devices with enormous, fleshy, talking human faces on them, and make one of them look just like John Ashcroft. I want him to have nightmares forever.

Mediocre: Dora, DragonTales, Jack’s Big Music Show, Zoboomafu, Franklin.

31

My son (28 months) loves Boobah, and it’s actually not my least favorite. Other favorites of his are *Martin Morning * (is that on in the U.S.? I think it’s Canadian), Sesame Street, and *Play School * (an Australian show that I hate).

I can’t stand **Max and Ruby ** or Poko (another Canadian thing my son likes).

I appreciate the Wiggles, but they don’t do anything for my son. He’s just not interested. We don’t get a lot of the other things you all have mentioned. We do get Jakers!, which my husband and I love, but it’s a little beyond a toddler I think.

32

I just remembered another show that gets my 11 month old’s attention:
Mr. Rogers.

He’s just so darned sweet. And can sing a song about anything. :wink:
She likes the puppets too, although they look waaay creepy to me and always have.

And add on Sagwa for my older daughter. She was also a big ZOOM freak when she was a bit younger. It’s strange, I’ve noticed they have ZOOM showing during school time but it’s geared for older kids. I don’t know if this is just local, but it really seems like a poor scheduling choice.

Also another one nobody here likes is George Shrinks. It’s too bland.

Yep, all we get is PBS. With all this “quality television” who needs cable? :wink:

33

It’s not Max that bothers me. Ruby is bossy and self-centered and obnoxious. And where in the hell are the parents?!? The grandma comes by once in a while to dote on her grandbunnies, but there are no freakin’ parents!

34

Aaron loves Blue’s Clues and Dora. In fact, he knows “grande” and “pequeño” (big and little) and “gracias” and “de nada” (thank you and you’re welcome). Even if he never learns another word of Spanish, I think it’s great that he’s learning that not everyone speaks English.

Interestingly, he does not like Sesame Street. I’m not sure why, but he won’t watch it. :shrug:

Robin

35

mudgirl has never liked Sesame Street, either, although oddly enough she has a couple of Sesame Street books she enjoys. Go figure.

36

I agree, I find it somewhat escapist and dysfunctional.

Caillou the character is unbelievably whiny but the bits in between with the puppets (the cat, the teddy bear and the toy dinosaur) are sometimes pretty good.

I don’t care for Maya and Miguel, it seems almost like a bilingual adolescent version of I Love Lucy with madcap happenings every episode. I guess I expect more from a PBS show, shouldn’t there be some educational value? I am decidedly not in the shows target demographic though.

37

Ah, you bring up Zack and Wheezy. Everytime I watch this show I find myself pondering the disturbing prospect of what are essentially one set of Siamese twins of two different genders.
This raises all sorts of thorny questions about genitalia, etc. I mean, it’s just creepy.

As a parent I really appreciate Arthur, I think it is exceptionally well done. My favorite episode so far was the one where you could only understand what the baby, dog and the neighbor’s cat was saying. They could all speak to each other and everyone else spoke gibberish as far as they could tell. The best part was when the baby was watching a Teletubbies type show on TV and the characters were all reciting Shakespeare!

My son actually isn’t really into Arthur or any other show right now and that is fine with me, I don’t really want to increase his TV watching. He likes the Spongebob DVD we got him but we don’t get Nickelodeon so he is limited in that. I think Spongebob is an absolute laugh riot myself but it isn’t really educational.

When we stay at someone else’s house or a hotel and watch Nickelodeon I am always surprised by the quality of some of the shows. Not that they have any educational value but the stories and scripts are much better than 90% of the dreck that was on when I was a kid. During a recent hotel stay I enjoyed Fairy Odd Parents, Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom. Again, none of them have any redeeming educational value but at least they are well done.
In a way I’m glad we don’t get Nickelodeon or the amount of TV watching in our house would probably go way up, which again I don’t consider a good thing.

38

Little Miss Winterbottom, now five and a half, used to watch Sesame Street, the Book of Pooh, Blues Clues, Dora, Bear in the Big Blue House, Clifford, Arthur, Dragon Tales, the Wiggles.

She did watch Teletubbies, Boobah, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Roly Poly Olie, some hand-me-down Barnie videos from her older cousins, but mercifully not an awful lot.

Tonight we watched a Max and Ruby video. We have a lot of the books and understand Max and Ruby quite well. (Peanuts never had parents around either. That seems not to bother anyone.) What’s interesting in Rosemary Wells’ books more than in the animated series is her use of a “vintage” setting with a sort of '40s-'50s feel. Her MacDuff books, which she does not illustrate herself, are very '40s.

Little Miss Winterbottom still watches most of those shows from time to time, particularly Arthur, Dragon Tales and Sesame Street, although full-day kindergarten has cut down on her TV watching time.

But she’s now REALLY into SpongeBob, Fairly Odd Parents and Jimmy Neutron, which is great for Ma Winterbottom and me because we enjoy them, too. Since we often have to role-play these shows ourselves, I’m getting very good at performing the voices of Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Cosmo and Sheen. My daughter does a really dead-on SpongeBob!

39

Disclaimer- I have no children. I do have a niece. I also tend to watch a lot of children’s programs.

That scares the hell out of me. I first bumped into Boobahs, literally, at a toy store. I could not conceive what sick mind decided that such nightmarish monsters should be on a children’s television show. You just know they recharge their belly lights by eating kids.

The Wiggles- I love them. I fear my niece has outgrown them. I didn’t find them annoying or overly sweet.

Clifford- I like the writing and the voice talent is top notch. Did they stop making new episodes when John Ritter died or did they try to replace him?

Thomas The Tank Engine- I never could get into this show.

Sesame Street- One day, I hope to appear on Elmo’s World as Mister Noodle’s nephew, Other Other Mister Noodle.

Dragon Tales- I don’t like it. There was an episode with a dragon in a wheelchair. I understand that kids need to be taught about disabilities. But, in a land where magic works and there are many easy ways to get your wish granted, why the heck is the dragon handicapped?

Sagwa- I like it although I haven’t seen many episodes. Growing up in a house filled with antiques, I’m fond of ancient Chinese things. I also like bats. I want more Fu Fu.

Arthur-I expected to hate this show. But, it wasn’t the condescending treacle I expected. Characters behave like actual kids.

Spongebob- I love the show. I loved the movie. I’m wearing a Spongebob shirt right now. I think the show is great at teaching kids that movie monsters are just people in make up. Yancy Whatsisname is the pirate captain heard in the opening credits, Mr Krabbs, The Kurgan in Highlander, and a friendly Frankenstein’s monster in The Bride.

Finally,

The Doodlebops- Formulaic, soulless, pap in bright colors. I showed it to a friend who once spent several months following the Grateful Dead. He reacted with terror and confusion “What the hell is that?”
“It’s the Doodlebops.”
“That’s freakin’ weird man.”

Semi-Hijack

I was watching Shaolin Showdown, when I realized how little violence is actually shown. They’ll show the good guys destroying Jack’s evil robots. But, they never show living characters hitting or kicking each other. An onscreen kick or punch is blocked, dodged, or parried without injury to either party. When a kick or punch actually lands, they show the attacker coming straight at the screen. There is a flash and a sound effect, and then a cut to the character who has been knocked over and/or bruised.

40

I get the “adolescent” modifier, but not the “bilingual.” Didn’t Ricky Ricardo speak Spanish sometimes? Granted, Lucy’s barette never lit up while she said “iEso es!” every time she came up with a crazy scheme, but I think you get my point.