# Why the BLEEP do toddler shows insist on the illusion of interaction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475 "2012-09-12T06:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/41 "2014-01-17T17:10:35Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Mouse’s music is provided by They Might Be Giants. That’s got to count for something. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/42 "2014-01-17T17:23:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Play with some toys. Read a book. It’s also the case that plenty of toddler toys and books are geared to provide the same sort of interaction as toddler TV. Remember too that Elmo loves YOU! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/43 "2014-01-17T17:29:44Z")
It works as a comedy setup, though. “Hey, kids, you know what time it is? \ That’s right! It’s time for [complete non sequitur]…” ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/44 "2014-01-17T18:41:08Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yeah, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw [The Octonauts and the Humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZcXvKT-gM). > > Anyway, the reason for this bump was just to point and laugh at myself 14 months ago. > > 😛 > > Now shut up, watch Numtums and let mummy and daddy have some peace and quiet. Thanks for this **Colophon**! 😃 My son is almost 2. I feel the same way sometimes. Particularly when we are on our fourth viewing of Cars 2 for the day. “It’s a collision of worlds…” just might be the worst song on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/45 "2014-01-17T19:19:29Z")
> [@llcoolbj77](#): > > Thanks for this **Colophon**! 😃 My son is almost 2. I feel the same way sometimes. Particularly when we are on our fourth viewing of Cars 2 for the day. > “It’s a collision of worlds…” just might be the worst song on the planet. OMG are you me?:eek: We should start a Cars 2 victim support group, I’ve seen that godforsaken movie probably more than a thousand times. The ending song makes no sense even! It wasn’t a story of two friends from different countries! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/46 "2014-01-17T19:52:00Z")
I knew my (now 10 year old) son was no longer a toddler when he started shouting rude, silly answers to questions posed by Mickey Mouse or Dora! \*\*\*Mickey: “Say kids, wanna help me rescue Goofy?” Son: “No, do it yourself, you lazy rat.” Mickey: “Oh boy, that’s swell.”\*\*\* On the plus side, at least there’s no more _ **Winky Dink and You** _. I shudder to think what my son would have done to our big screen TV if there’d been a character in a cartoon telling him, “Now, kids, get out your crayons and draw a bridge across this river, so we can escape from the bad guys.” ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/47 "2014-01-17T20:09:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Anyway, the reason for this bump was just to point and laugh at myself 14 months ago. > > 😛 > > Now shut up, watch Numtums and let mummy and daddy have some peace and quiet. Our kids are around the same age, I’m right there with you. My favorite is when I realize we’ve watched the same episode of Dora or whatever about a million times, and for whatever reason – I was putting toys away or making a snack or drifting off into a fugue state – and keep missing the same plot point so I’m all “how the heck did Boots break a magic wand in the first place?” and I realize, with horror, that I actually want to know. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/48 "2014-01-17T20:17:58Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Our kids are around the same age, I’m right there with you. > > My favorite is when I realize we’ve watched the same episode of Dora or whatever about a million times, and for whatever reason – I was putting toys away or making a snack or drifting off into a fugue state – and keep missing the same plot point so I’m all “how the heck did Boots break a magic wand in the first place?” and I realize, with horror, that I actually want to know. Me and the wife argued about the philosophical implications of the Kung Fu panda verse, where prophecy is always TRUE and Po is the dragon warrior only because he is fat and therefore immune, but also the moral is anyone can be anything?!(In both films prophecy holds true 100%, but even a prophetess argues for the villain to stop while later assuring Po prophecy is true?!? She saw Chen in a prophecy being defeated). WTF happened to Alex/Alekay’s parents between Madagascar 2 and 3?(in real life the voice actor for the dad died). I think it is a mental defense against insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/49 "2014-01-17T21:06:42Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > My daughter (age 2 at the time) always ignored it when Dora the Explorer would ask her questions. So I started answering Dora, figuring it’d help my kid get the idea of what she was supposed to do. Instead she turned to me and said “Daaad, you not on T.V. You off T.V.” My daughter watched Dora once. She didn’t answer the questions. I asked her why and she said, “If you wait she gives you the answer.” She never watched Dora again. She liked Blues Clues for awhile but she wouldn’t answer Steve’s questions either. We didn’t let her watch Baby Einstein because we knew a woman who swore that they were great and her kid was fat and none too bright. We couldn’t take the chance. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475/50 "2014-01-17T21:32:46Z")
My wife used to watch Romper Room when she was a tyke, and sometime every show the host would go through this bit where she could somehow see the kids watching, and say, “I see Mike! Hi, Mike! And I see Joey and Susan and Mary!” My wife always waited for her name to be called, but having an unusual first name, was always disappointed. It says something about little kids’ conception of reality that she really thought the host could see some kids but not her. Now that I think of it, [Count Rugen] I think that’s about the worst thing I’ve ever heard. [/CR] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-bleep-do-toddler-shows-insist-on-the-illusion-of-interaction/634475.md?page=2)