# Either make a show, or don't!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462 "2008-04-15T17:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/21 "2008-04-16T16:04:58Z")
[QUOTE=CoG888] "Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV? Sitting down with your children, and hitting them? [/QUOTE] Hehehehehehe… ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/22 "2008-04-16T16:08:40Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] I don’t understand the problem. You have DVD player, right? Just bypass Nick and [rent](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/) it. 😛 [/QUOTE] I actually clicked on the link, thinking they had made a DVD-only series. :smack: Damn you! LOL For today, we’re watching classic Warner Brothers cartoons, but Bubster will be back to his favorite channel tomorrow, I’m sure of it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/23 "2008-04-16T16:10:00Z")
When I was a kid, Nickelodeon was called Saturday Morning Cartoons. It was the only cartoons we got, and we had to get up wicked early to watch them. But we never complained, we were happy to get that! And tell your kid to get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/24 "2008-04-16T17:09:42Z")
Yeah, and they ended with Soul Train (or wrestling), which was a cruel joke because the beginning of Soul Train was animated, but then it was just black people dancing in gold lame. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/25 "2008-04-16T17:21:08Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Yeah, and they ended with Soul Train (or wrestling), which was a cruel joke because the beginning of Soul Train was animated, but then it was just black people dancing in gold lame. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but that evening, you knew that _Solid Gold_ was going to be on, so you can see MORE people dancing in gold lame _spandex_. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/26 "2008-04-16T17:28:59Z")
Your son might just have to learn about the heartbreak of unpredictable television programming. I think a three-year-old is old enough to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/27 "2008-04-16T17:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=Ponch8] Your son might just have to learn about the heartbreak of unpredictable television programming. I think a three-year-old is old enough to deal with it. [/QUOTE] I hope that’s true, because my 2 year old needs to watch _Jo Jo’s Circus_ and _Dora the Explorer_ at predictable times of the day and Noggin has a habit of changing their programming periodically. That’s why we keep the DVR with an emergency supply of those shows. Sometimes, she’ll randomly shout “Dora! Dora!”, so we have to be prepared. Yes, I do play with my child and read to her, too. ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/28 "2008-04-16T18:24:49Z")
Whenever my little ones demonstrate extreme angst regarding the television, I switch to the Power channel. It’s got to be very popular, since it even has its own button on the remote! This pisses the little whippersnappers off even more. Then I laugh. I’m a cruel parent like that. (In all seriousness, it creeps me out how sucked into the tv my 2 and 4yr olds can get - Noggin is like crack, crack with a Moose.) ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/29 "2008-04-16T23:49:34Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Yeah, and they ended with Soul Train (or wrestling), which was a cruel joke because the beginning of Soul Train was animated, but then it was just black people dancing in gold lame. [/QUOTE] I had this problem with back to back Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/30 "2008-04-17T00:40:14Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Boomerang does this too, they show those two minute polar bear or Quick Draw McGraw in the big city cartoons to fill time [/QUOTE] That Quick Draw McGraw interstitial was originally on the Cartoon Network, back when they had entertaining interstitials. Some of them were, like that one, humorous revamps of old cartoon characters (others in the same series, dubbed “Shorties,” included The Hillbilly Bears on _Jerry Springer_, Pixie and Dixie getting a restraining order against Mr. Jinx, a remix of the Atom Ant theme song, Droopy as a barista hounding a businessman Wolf for a tip, and a few others), and some other amusing interstitials as well (“Solomon Grundy want pants too!”) > [@zweisamkeit](#): > > but my main adoration was The Cat Came Back short they did. Man oh man, I loved that thing more than the actual shows for awhile _The Cat Came Back_ was produced by the National Film Board of Canada, who’s been distributing and funding cartoons by animators for many years. The NFB even has it on their [website](http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=director&director=Barker%2C+Cordell&id=17537). > [@InappropriateHumor](#): > > Did Jimmy Neutron start out as a filler, or am I hopelessly confused? Jimmy Neutron took the reverse route to stardom most cartoon characters do- he first appeared in a film, then a TV series. As for the heart of the matter, some Nick Jr. characters did get introduced in interstitials before they got their own shows: Blue was originally a friend of Face (remember Face?), and Linny the Guinea Pig had a few silent solo adventures on his own before teaming up with the other Wonder Pets. I haven’t watched Nick Jr. in a while though- could you elaborate more on these “birds?” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/31 "2008-04-17T01:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] Johnny and the Sprites, if memory serves (which it usualy doesn’t) seems to have just been regular commercials for the show which came out waaaaaayyyyy in advance. [/QUOTE] No, they were self contained shorts. I believe the credits for the subsequent series even have a credit “Based on a series of shorts created by John Tartaglia & (a bunch of whole other people, each seperated with a WGA-we-wrote-it-together &).” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/32 "2008-04-17T02:02:16Z")
Clutch Cargo - uphill - both ways. Get over yourself. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/33 "2008-04-17T13:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] I haven’t watched Nick Jr. in a while though- could you elaborate more on these “birds?” [/QUOTE] Um, not too much, as by the time I realize it’s on, it’s nearly over. (Commercials and filler = bathroom breaks for Mommy.) It’s three or four cute little yellow birdies, and they talk with cute little voices, and something with a magnifying glass, and…yeah, I’m not much help, I know. But that’s the thing, there’s not a damn thing that makes this crap stand out to me! I think perhaps the appeal to Bubster is “wanting something you can’t have,” because he usually has good taste in entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/34 "2008-04-17T14:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] That Quick Draw McGraw interstitial was originally on the Cartoon Network, back when they had entertaining interstitials. Some of them were, like that one, humorous revamps of old cartoon characters (others in the same series, dubbed “Shorties,” included The Hillbilly Bears on _Jerry Springer_, Pixie and Dixie getting a restraining order against Mr. Jinx, a remix of the Atom Ant theme song, Droopy as a barista hounding a businessman Wolf for a tip, and a few others), and some other amusing interstitials as well (“Solomon Grundy want pants too!”) [/QUOTE] Those others sound pretty good, especially the Droopy and Mr. Jinx ones. Droopy rules! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/35 "2008-04-17T14:17:55Z")
Hmm…could the “something with a magnifying glass” perhaps be Nick Jr.'s mascot, a yellow opposum named Piper O. Possum? I think she sometimes dresses in a Sherlock Holmes hat and magnifying glass. Piper’s reason for being is to announce what show is coming up and, now that Nick Jr. has commercial breaks in the middle of its shows, to announce them, too. If my hypotheisis is correct, then your kid appears to be enamoured by a simple continuity announcement. I’m surprised, too…although my grandma was fond of Fox Kids’s James Bond duck… ---
**Author:** ![Charter\_Member1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Charter\_Member1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charter_Member1)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/36 "2008-04-17T15:13:30Z")
Just give him a novel to read? ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/37 "2008-04-17T15:42:16Z")
Gah, I’m starting to think I’ve hallucinated the whole fucking thing. None of the Nickelodeon websites mention it, nor does Wikipedia or Google. There aren’t any videos that I could find on Youtube or anywhere else. Fucking Nickelodeon. Slipping something in my drink just to make me wig out for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/38 "2008-04-17T16:19:24Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] I think perhaps the appeal to Bubster is “wanting something you can’t have,” because he usually has good taste in entertainment. [/QUOTE] Then maybe instead of pitting Nickelodeon you should be thanking them for helping you teach your kid a lesson. He’s three years old and he’s never faced this kind of disappointment? Alternatively, you could thank them for teaching him the concept of “filler.” ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/39 "2008-04-17T18:38:35Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Then maybe instead of pitting Nickelodeon you should be thanking them for helping you teach your kid a lesson. He’s three years old and he’s never faced this kind of disappointment? Alternatively, you could thank them for teaching him the concept of “filler.” [/QUOTE] Nah, what’d be the fun in that? I was really just venting, because it’s frustrating to ME to hear him ask repeatedly to watch the damn show. I’m not lookin’ for a Great Debate here! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462/40 "2008-04-17T18:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] Um, not too much, as by the time I realize it’s on, it’s nearly over. (Commercials and filler = bathroom breaks for Mommy.) It’s three or four cute little yellow birdies, and they talk with cute little voices, and something with a magnifying glass, and…yeah, I’m not much help, I know. But that’s the thing, there’s not a damn thing that makes this crap stand out to me! I think perhaps the appeal to Bubster is “wanting something you can’t have,” because he usually has good taste in entertainment. [/QUOTE] _Chickie-Poo and Fluff, Barnyard Detectives_ You’re welcome. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-make-a-show-or-dont/445462.md?page=3)