Your personal opinion, please-Best children’s television series

Cafe Society
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Companion to this thread Your personal opinion, please-Worst children's television series - #114 by Son_of_a_Rich What do you think the best children’s TV shows are?

I’ll start with easy, consensus picks: Sesame Street, Mister Rogers

I also liked Arthur, and a less well known one called The Puzzle Place. Both showed kids with problems, and the kids working through those problems. What are your faves?

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J.P. Patches, the host of a children’s show in the Seattle area.

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Currently one of the best Children’s shows is Bluey. But if I go back to my childhood, the best show was Sesame Street and also The Electric Company. I genuinely learned to read from them, and they were very funny. In between those eras, I’d put forward Fraggle Rock as a contender.

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Scooby Doo. Of course. Then the Bugs bunny show.

For myself.

When my kids were small I liked most of the Nick Jr. stuff if I really needed them plopped down in front of the TV for awhile. Some of it was cringy but as long as it was kid friendly I didn’t over judge it.

We were soon into Pokemon and SpongeBob. And I watched a little closer and was actively paying attention to what they were seeing.

When they became preteen the only thing I really didn’t let them watch was SouthPark. I’m sure they saw plenty of it elsewhere. I just hated SouthPark. As I’ve aged I’m more tolerant of the off humor and sketchy premises that are so funny to adults. I just don’t think younger than teen should see a lot of that til they can process it better.

Your kid, and YMMV.

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I’ll second Mister Rogers and Scooby Doo. Those were two of my favorites as a kid.

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Thinking about my own childhood, and TV shows, there are three camps:

  • The public broadcasting crown jewels: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Zoom. All of them were not only fun to watch, and educational, but also just exceptionally well-made, so they are my real nominees for this thread.
  • The kids’ shows which were produced by WGN in Chicago, where I lived as a little kid: The Ray Rayner Show, Garfield Goose, and Bozo’s Circus. I have great nostalgia for all three of those shows, and seeing clips of them which WGN plays from time to time is fun, but they weren’t necessarily great, so much as that I still have affection for them, as they were part of the fabric of my childhood.
  • The Saturday morning shows which I grew up on, mostly Hanna-Barbera and Filmation cartoons and Sid & Marty Krofft live-action stuff. At that time, I loved shows like The Banana Splits and Josie and the Pussycats, but I’ve watched some of those old shows as an adult, and discovered, to my chagrin, that they are pretty awful. (An exception is the Warner Bros. cartoons, which were repackaged and syndicated as kids’ TV programming, but were originally produced as theatrical shorts, for a general audience; those mostly hold up still, but weren’t created as kids’ TV shows.)
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I think Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood is going to be about as close to unanimous as anything could be, but I also really liked The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, followed by Thomas the Tank Engine and Theodore Tugboat.

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Here in Canada, the CBC excelled at children’s television. Mr. Dressup, the Friendly Giant, and Chez Helene would all be familiar to Canadians of a certain age.

Heck, any time anybody says, “Look up,” some wag will say, “Wayyy up.” That finished up the spoken word intro to Friendly Giant. (“Here’s an armchair for two or more to curl up in … a rocking chair for those who like to rock … now look up … wayyy up. And I’ll call Rusty.”)

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Years ago, at work, a pair of electricians were doing some work in the hallway, up above the ceiling panels. One was on a ladder, head in the ceiling, looking for some electrical component.

The guy on the ground, holding the ladder, was directing him. I happened to be walking by while this was going on and the ground guy said, “no, look up…”

Without breaking stride, I said “Wayyy up.” This totally cracked up the guy on the ground while others in the vicinity - much younger than ground guy and me - looked very puzzled.

mmm

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The Ray Rayner Show, Garfield Goose, and Bozo’s Circus, as mentioned by kenobi_65, plus one from Lansing MI – The Al E Khatt and Pansy Show (originally Chuck’s Alley).

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J.P. Patches from the Seattle area, truly a great show!

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The Secret Show.

Imgur

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Backyardigans