You know what I really need?

[conuly]

See, my nieces want to watch more TV. This is dubiously okay with me because it's about the only way my grandmother wants to spend time with them, and I think spending time with her is more important than worrying about thirty minutes to an hour of television.

I'm... not a fan of what's on TV for their age group, really, so it's all Backyardigans all the time if I can help it. Or Franklin.

But you know, the real problem with modern TV is that it's just not... well...

Okay, let's fess up. I'm fishing for an excuse to purchase a few DVDs for, um, them. Fraggle Rock, Darkwing Duck, Avonlea... you know, what I watched as a kid.

Is this wrong?

I mean, TV was much cooler when I was young anyway, right? (Excepting Backyardigans. That show is just awesome all over.)

In other questions, when people exhort one to "talk about" TV shows with their children, they, uh, do mean "by addicting them to TVTropes", right? I'm not sure if I'm prouder that Ana, upon a chance viewing of an ad, confidently informed her Nanen that "they're just saying that to get us to buy their things" or that Evangeline, upon reading Elephant and Piggie with me, was able to go "Look, she's winking at us, she's breaking the fourth wall!"

Comments

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I think it's wrong not to expose children to the wonder that Jim Henson shared with us. And Darkwing Duck is just cool.

[conuly]

Thank you.

(Would it be wrong to also buy one or both nieces (more) vintage lunchboxes to celebrate the sharing?)

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Only if you were taking the money from somewhere that it was more necessary.

[redbird]

That all depends—would your grandmother be willing to watch Fraggle Rock and Darkwing Duck?

[conuly]

I don't think she minds one way or another. If she's letting them watch TV in her apartment (the ONLY TV they have access too, my mother's being kinda sucky in the best of times) she's never complained about what they choose.

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I really look forward to when we have kids. Exposing them to all the awesomeness that we had in the 80s and 90s. Disney afternoon stuff, Animaniacs, Batman and Superman (when they're a little older of course) Fraggles/Muppets... So much great entertainment.

MY FIRST CHILD WILL BE A NERDY CHILD

[conuly]

Don't overlook the (few, if you ask me) gems of modern programming. I adore Backyardigans. And Superwhy is pretty cute.

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure I'll learn all about those eventually, but right now I'm really not up on what's out there currently.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

On that note, I just recently discovered Avatar: The Last Airbender, thanks to TV Tropes (of course) and Netflix. I honestly didn't expect something so good from recent-era Nickelodeon.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

We have a whole (rather large) folder devoted to awesome old cartoons on our computer. Nevermind that it's juts my boyfriend and I here!!

Gargoyles was *so* good!

But I agree with you, most kids shows now are pretty awful, we babysit my boyfriend's niece and nephew who are 5 and 2 so we get our share of terrible kid programming.

[conuly]

Gargoyles was head and shoulders above anything else.

[blackhanddpants.livejournal.com]

We have had DirecTV for about a year, around here, and I have just about banned the Cartoon Network ("just about" because my children are actually discriminating enough not to watch that garbage, so a ban has not been necessary). We get stuck watching CN in waiting rooms a lot, though -- also Disney Channel. They're both appalling. The CN shows are gross -- they're visually and aurally disgusting, in a way that I cannot quite articulate. I find them revolting, even when the actual content is fairly inoffensive. The Disney Channel shows I have seen are about phenomenally wealthy preteens and teens dealing with "problems" that would not be problems for anyone of normal intelligence, but they blow them up into these massive overdramatized things that make the kids all look like flakey imbeciles. Again, medical waiting rooms are where I get stuck watching this stuff.

My kids watch some of what's on PBS -- the younger one likes SuperWhy and WonderPets -- and some of what's on Nick Jr. -- they both like Olivia, and the younger one likes Blue's Clues and Ni-Hao Kai-lan. But these are all shows for the youngest kids; most of my 7yo's peers have already given them up (she's slightly developmentally delayed b/c of her disability -- also the reason I spend so much time stuck in waiting rooms -- so they're right at her level still).

So I am all for providing quality children's television from another era. No excuses necessary. I had never seen Fraggle Rock (I grew up with the Muppet Show), but my older daughter has been watching it on streaming Netflix, and it's wonderful. The younger one has been watching one of my favorite childhood shows, Emergency! Not a kids' show per se, but she loves it as much as I did at her age. She loves anything medical, and Emergency! is perfect for a kid who is enamored of medical stuff.

All of this is a rather longish way of saying: Yep, kids' shows now are dreadful, go buy them the good stuff.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

In other questions, when people exhort one to "talk about" TV shows with their children, they, uh, do mean "by addicting them to TVTropes", right? I'm not sure if I'm prouder that Ana, upon a chance viewing of an ad, confidently informed her Nanen that "they're just saying that to get us to buy their things" or that Evangeline, upon reading Elephant and Piggie with me, was able to go "Look, she's winking at us, she's breaking the fourth wall!"

Some people do mean that. Talking about TV shows means teaching kids to watch them critically, not just accepting whatever the TV presents (ads, morals, implicit norms.) There's some of that in TVTropes. More often, it means questions like, "Did you notice how silly and helpless the girls acted when the monsters showed up? I wonder why the cartoonist drew them that way?"

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Maybe you could take them back even farther into the olden days. Some of the things from our generation weren't so bad.

Tom Terrific (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgniqcgdFo)
Captain Kangaroo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tktUfZXHw8)
Honey Halfwitch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye2o_P9G8C0)

and one of our personal favorites

Our Lady's Juggler (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxsOM5II4D0) narrated by Boris Karloff!

Just wish there were more of these... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDohat_VBC4)

Don't know if any of these are appropriate but you could check'em out. If Tom Terrific is okay we have a complete set of 'em.

Nowadays there are just too many ugly cartoons and cynical BS where it's all about insulting each other.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

"Ana, upon a chance viewing of an ad, confidently informed her Nanen that 'they're just saying that to get us to buy their things'"

We got that from MAD Magazine!

What They Say ... And What They Really Mean
"It's New And Improved!" -- "They ruined it!"

"Tired of the same old gunk?" (It's a "Tired Of" Ad!)

How They Do Commercials -- show you a brand new shirt and tell you it was washed in FIB detergent! With prilled enzymes!

[eofs.livejournal.com]

If you're not opposed to stuff from the other side of the pond, Around the World with Willy Fog (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AroundtheWorldwithWillyFog) is absolutely legendary over here.

You would probably want to wait until Evangeline's a bit older, but one the standout cartoon of my childhood was The Animals of Farthing Wood (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAnimalsOfFarthingWood). Ana's probably almost the age I was when it started, but I think Evangeline's probably too young - but obviously that's a judgement you're better placed to make. It's not a fluffy, happy-go-lucky story as you might see from the listed tropes. Characters can and do die, and there are some moments of real horror. It's very much a spiritual successor of Watership Down (which it resembles in plot - a group of animals leave their wood because humans turn it into houses). But once the girls are old enough then it's a gripping drama and even as a child I remember realising how stunningly beautiful it was. And wonderfully scored. Just watching the intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDDLdtbtos) so many years on gave me chills down my spine.

Of course I have no idea how these programmes will hold up to modern scrutiny regarding gender roles etc. But I'd have thought no worse than any from your own childhood.

The other absolute gem was The Demon Headmaster (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDemonHeadmaster) and its sequels, but they're pitched much older.

Oh, but on the subject of current programmes - I'm not ashamed to say that I love I Can Cook (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/icancook/). It's a cooking programme aimed at young children (up to about 6, based on the channel its on). Each episode the kids make a simple meal or snack, and I am very impressed with the variety - I expected it to be all biscuits and cakes, but so far they have actually made more savoury things than sweet. And there are proper meals too, not just snacks. I even made the stuffed peppers recipe recently, and it was very tasty.