Reliving My Childhood
The past few days I have been going metaphorically back to the past. When I picked up my sister from school (which is my old high school) I spent some time talking with old teachers. Friday, I met up with some old friends at a local bar. Also, about two weeks ago, I ordered the first season of The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD.
I had forgotten what a cute, well-written show it was. It was funny without being gross and educational without being pedantic. The show does a superb job of entertaining kids as well as their parents. Even now, twelve years later, I can still say that it is better than most children's television today. For some reason, I enjoy this show. Maybe because of the place in my heart for stories about angst (see entry from 4 Jan), or maybe that I'm just a hopeless sap. I think the real reason is that the show embodies many of the elements of my childhood--my personal superhero, the steel plate in my mother's head, my brother with the same first name as me. Ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly my childhood, but I did have a friend who was a girl but wasn't my girlfriend.
Nowadays, children's programming is either inane, disgusting, or written for kids on Ritalin. Here are some examples of that I think demonstrate what is wrong with children's television:
-Dora the Explorer: Perhaps an attempt to appeal to our nation's growing bilingual population, this show comes off as being made for ADD kids.
-Anything on Cartoon Network between the hours of 3pm and 7pm EST: More shows for ADD kids.
-The Disney Channel: The more I see from the Disney Channel, the more I am convinced that they do not hire writers, but just keep a giant room with a thousand monkeys and at a thousand typewriters. Kim Possible may be an exception; that's a cute show.
-Nickelodeon: The same as above. Plus, all the old I Love Lucy and Dragnet reruns have been replaced with Roseanne and Full House.
-Science Programming, or the lack thereof: What happened to Mr. Wizard, Beakman's World, and Bill Nye, the Science Guy? Maybe this is why today's kids are so scared of science in school. (This topic will be discussed at some future date.)
I had forgotten what a cute, well-written show it was. It was funny without being gross and educational without being pedantic. The show does a superb job of entertaining kids as well as their parents. Even now, twelve years later, I can still say that it is better than most children's television today. For some reason, I enjoy this show. Maybe because of the place in my heart for stories about angst (see entry from 4 Jan), or maybe that I'm just a hopeless sap. I think the real reason is that the show embodies many of the elements of my childhood--my personal superhero, the steel plate in my mother's head, my brother with the same first name as me. Ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly my childhood, but I did have a friend who was a girl but wasn't my girlfriend.
Nowadays, children's programming is either inane, disgusting, or written for kids on Ritalin. Here are some examples of that I think demonstrate what is wrong with children's television:
-Dora the Explorer: Perhaps an attempt to appeal to our nation's growing bilingual population, this show comes off as being made for ADD kids.
-Anything on Cartoon Network between the hours of 3pm and 7pm EST: More shows for ADD kids.
-The Disney Channel: The more I see from the Disney Channel, the more I am convinced that they do not hire writers, but just keep a giant room with a thousand monkeys and at a thousand typewriters. Kim Possible may be an exception; that's a cute show.
-Nickelodeon: The same as above. Plus, all the old I Love Lucy and Dragnet reruns have been replaced with Roseanne and Full House.
-Science Programming, or the lack thereof: What happened to Mr. Wizard, Beakman's World, and Bill Nye, the Science Guy? Maybe this is why today's kids are so scared of science in school. (This topic will be discussed at some future date.)