conuly

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.