2008 Woodie Awards
'C' Is For Cookie, That's Good Enough For Me
George Maynard
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Commentary
Today children, Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter "P" - for pantophobia. Pantophobia - the fear of everything - is transforming children's television from an educational experience into a bland mess of political correctness and whitewashing.
As a kid, I can remember watching shows like "Fraggle Rock," "Sesame Street," "Power Rangers" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Some of the shows - i.e. Sesame Street - were overtly educational and taught kids about the alphabet, how things work and friendships. Other shows - "TMNT" - were not particularly educational in and of themselves, but at least all the action figures they spawned got kids to use their imaginations and be creative.
Unfortunately, kids' programming now is some of the most mindless garbage ever to soil the airwaves. Atrocious shows such as "Ed, Edd n Eddy" and "The Fairly Oddparents" are making kids everywhere more crude, more obnoxious and less intelligent, one quick half-hour at a time. The bigger problem here is that these shows have absolutely no redeeming value. "The Fairly Oddparents" bills itself as a show about "Off the wall parents … boring video games … and totally messed-up Fairy Godparents." Lovely. The messages of this show are that it's OK to be disrespectful to your parents and take a kid's cushy electronic lifestyle for granted. All this is brought to the viewers in drawings so angular and poor that any fourth-grader could doodle better. These shows make "Spongebob Squarepants" look wholesome and educational.
Meanwhile, Sesame Street had to undergo a makeover because it was not quite up to the standards of modern children's shows. In fact, a recent release of old episodes - appropriately titled "Sesame Street: Old School" - even comes with a warning that says "this video may not be appropriate for the needs of today's preschoolers." While such a warning may be shocking to you and in order to get the full picture of what a terrible influence "Sesame Street" was, we're going to have to look back to when the show first started in the 1960s.
As a kid, I can remember watching shows like "Fraggle Rock," "Sesame Street," "Power Rangers" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Some of the shows - i.e. Sesame Street - were overtly educational and taught kids about the alphabet, how things work and friendships. Other shows - "TMNT" - were not particularly educational in and of themselves, but at least all the action figures they spawned got kids to use their imaginations and be creative.
Unfortunately, kids' programming now is some of the most mindless garbage ever to soil the airwaves. Atrocious shows such as "Ed, Edd n Eddy" and "The Fairly Oddparents" are making kids everywhere more crude, more obnoxious and less intelligent, one quick half-hour at a time. The bigger problem here is that these shows have absolutely no redeeming value. "The Fairly Oddparents" bills itself as a show about "Off the wall parents … boring video games … and totally messed-up Fairy Godparents." Lovely. The messages of this show are that it's OK to be disrespectful to your parents and take a kid's cushy electronic lifestyle for granted. All this is brought to the viewers in drawings so angular and poor that any fourth-grader could doodle better. These shows make "Spongebob Squarepants" look wholesome and educational.
Meanwhile, Sesame Street had to undergo a makeover because it was not quite up to the standards of modern children's shows. In fact, a recent release of old episodes - appropriately titled "Sesame Street: Old School" - even comes with a warning that says "this video may not be appropriate for the needs of today's preschoolers." While such a warning may be shocking to you and in order to get the full picture of what a terrible influence "Sesame Street" was, we're going to have to look back to when the show first started in the 1960s.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Jaina Means
posted 4/17/08 @ 11:46 AM EST
You are right on about The Fairly Oddparents. It started out as kind of enjoyable, but quickly turned into an ugly mean mess, full of cruel humor, much of it dumping on girls in particular. (Continued…)
Stinking Kevin
posted 4/17/08 @ 11:54 AM EST
From the list of show you mention watching as a child, I am guessing you are at least 15 years my junior. So how is it that you turned into a grumpy old man before I did?
I understand and sympathize with you comments about Sesame Street. (Continued…)
Jeremy
posted 5/01/08 @ 3:30 PM EST
If you ask me, kis's television today is asking children to be less inteligent. Barney and friends has given the greatest contribution to this. Shows like Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego Go! feed the illusion that everyone is uninteligent. (Continued…)
Post a Comment