Shows I’ll watch with my five-year-old
Between the Lions
Backyardigans
Sid the Science Kid
Fresh Beat Band (although I’m sad they replaced Marina – had a bit of a crush on her)
Yo Gabba Gabba (but mostly for the guest stars)
Handy Manny (again, mostly to guess the guest voices)
Shows my five-year-old will watch with me
How It’s Made
I absolutely do not know what you’re talking about. nope. not one bit. no sir. (I know, right?)
I heard that their parents were killed in an altercation with Farmer McGregor.Really very sad.
I kinda like Kiki.
My friends and I are all big fans of My Little Pony. We find it not just tolerable but even awesome, probably due to the fact that it’s actually funny, well-written, and well-animated.
Shaun The Sheep is pretty good too.
I felt so sad when I grew out of The Backyardigans. I really miss that show sometimes.
Most kids’ shows with puppets scare the heck out of me though.
One that hasn’t been mentioned here that my kids really liked is “Toot and Puddle”. They’re little pigs that travel the world and the episodes are actually pretty interesting.
Most of our favorite have already been mentioned, but here they are:
Oswald
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Word World
Curious George
Little Bill
Backyardigans
Sesame Street
Not sure if I should admit this publicly or not, but I’m 50 and have several episodes of The Backyardigans on my iPod. My personal fave is Mission to Mars. Boinga boinga boinga…
No need to be embarrassed;you’re not alone,from the way things seem.It actually looks,based on some Internet searching,like that show is almost as well-liked by adults as by children,although most adults wouldn’t admit that they like it.As far as the most “tolerable” preschool shows go,I think that’s pretty high on the list.
My now 8 year old and I used to like Pinky Dinky Doo and loved Charlie and Lola. Backyardigans was always a favourite as was Kipper, I Can Cook (from the BBC’s CBeebies channel), Nina and the Neurons and 3rd and Bird.
In case anyone was wondering, I wasn’t serious when I said that;that’s just a weird rumor that’s been going around.There actually is no Farmer McGregor,in fact.
My daughter loves Shirley Temple.
At the age the OP is requesting, we recommend Backyardigans and, er, well… Doctor Who. Sophie has been a huge fan for 5 years now, has met her share of cast members, and absolutely adores the show.
Oh, and to answer somebody’s question, the reason Dora waits 15 seconds to answer questions is because she’s waiting for the kids to yell the answer at the TV.
Backyardigans is awesome, full of catchy tunes. I liked the Egypt episode best, but again, it’s been years - I don’t even know how many seasons for which they made episodes.
Well,I tried to find that out for you,and it says on the Wikipedia page that there were 4 seasons and 77 episodes.That really isn’t much for a popular TV show;it seems like most good shows have around 200 episodes at least,so I don’t know why they cancelled that one so early.
My 2 year old god-daughter, who I babysit, quite often is was and is a big fan of “Jacks Big Music show” on Nick JR, along with “The Fresh Beat Band”. She is really into music, not so much the plots. She will just do her thing until music starts and then gets totally engrossed, and the when the music stops she couldn’t care less. I like “Jack” because the music is quite catchy, and as her Guncle (gay-uncle) she knows I really like the character Twist on “Fresh Beat”(yes he is an adult, and I have a total crush on him)
There are lots of good older kids shows but few for the Kindergarten and younger set that are watchable by adults. Max and Ruby is really bad as noted. The best one I can think of as a good example is The Rugrats. I know it is a dated example but they have episodes on Netflix and I find it quite watchable.
It’s geared more towards probably pre-teens but I enjoy Big Time Rush and see quite a few younger kids at their shows. There’s nothing really objectionable in it that I can think of.
But then the couple times I saw that Fred show I laughed like an idiot, so what do I know.
Most of my friends who hated on Yo Gabba Gabba have done a 180 because the music is awesome. A quick wikipedia check shows Mark Mothersbaugh, Biz Markie, The Killers, Enon, The Clientele, Datarock, Devo, Joy Zipper, Of Montreal, Chromeo, My Chemical Romance, Weezer, Hot Hot Heat, The Faint, Mates of State, MGMT, Jack Black, the Roots, Weird Al, the Flaming Lips, Mos Def, The Ting Tings and more. Other nonmusical types drop by and do funny stuff too, like Anthony Bourdain, Rachael Dratch, Amy Sedaris, Andy Samberg, etc. I like it.
This part I didn’t know, and is pretty cool:
Bear in the Big Blue House is pretty damned cool- good voice actors (at least until Luna died- loved her in The Warriors!), catchy tunes, a few lessons.
And all kidding about The Wiggles aside, if you want a 30 minute workout to shed those post-partum pounds, try dancing along with those guys- it’s nuts.
Bob the Builder is cool too- watch for that frustrated subtext between Bob & Wendy- I mean, just how long is that girl gonna wait? 
But my kids first love was Discovery & Science channel shows. My 10 year old has a favorite theoretical physicist. 
Peppa Pig! Ever since Peppa called Suzie and asked if she could whistle (Suzie said no, Peppa explained it, Suzie asked "Like this? whistle, and Peppa hung up on her), I’ve been hooked.
Could also watch Nina do stretches all day long.