Kids TV shows

[Alexander]

Zora likes Miffy, which is nice because it is rather low-key. It seems like many of the popular kids shows are just plain annoying. Dora and Diego especially. All the do IS YELL AT YOU! ALL THE TIME!

She likes Wonderpets, too. I agree that Sesame Street has really gone downhill and she doesn't even like watching it anymore. She likes Caillou (sp?) but he's kind of annoying too (very whiny).

Sammie is really too old for it, but she LOVES Wonderpets. She thinks it's the cutest thing ever. She loves the duckling...

[ejp626]

I actually pulled the plug on my son watching Foster's Home, since he was adopting some of the annoying characteristics of Blue, despite my warnings. He's almost a year older, so I might try again. He's not nearly as interested in Backyardigans as he used to be, which is too bad, as I think it is one of the best of the current kids' shows.

However, he has started getting into Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel. I'm really digging this one, since it is so absurd (the two young kids -- apparently half-brothers -- build something crazy in the backyard, but it always disappears by the time their mom gets home to the annoyance of their sister who wants to "bust" them). Also, their pet platypus is actually a secret agent. It's interesting to see that the writers have decided to stretch a bit in season 2 (or perhaps 3) and vary the formula a bit. This is one where the writers are clearly adding in lines meant for adults, kind of like the classic cartoons. The arch villain has dialogue like "It's a conundrum, isn't it?" Or a friend's mother stops the pair from firing up a blow torch and getting her ring out of the drain, saying "I'll call my regular plumber; he's bonded."

I know we aren't supposed to ever say things are better now than when we were kids (and this is largely true), the contemporary cartoons are certainly better than the cartoons when I was growing up (He-Man, Thundercats, etc.) Neither are as good as Looney Tunes, of course, but those are from the era before, so I can't really claim them. They've become almost timeless.

Edited January 15, 2010 by ejp626

[Serioza]

How could I forget SpongeBob and crew? I get a kick out of this show!

my little nieces are fond of Spongebob and catdog

[AllenLowe]

well, I grew up on:

DIng Dong School

Bozo the Clown

Let's Have Fun (Sonny Fox)

The Chuck McCann Show

The Three Stooges (hosted by Office Joe Bolton)

Popeye (hosted by Captain Jack McCarthy)

Leave it to Beaver

Father Knows Best

Stag Films

and I turned out.....well, maybe not so good.

[Nate Dorward]

Arthur's ok, one of the things my kid liked when she was younger that I actually really liked watching with her too. It's far better & cleverer than the original book series.

She's also fond of Animaniacs, though I think if you're looking for shows that model good behaviour for children it's not one to go to. In fact that's much of the charm, that it makes fun of anything vaguely edifying (most shows end with the Warners spinning "The Wheel of Morality" to generate an irrelevant lesson for the day). We usually skip over a few of the less amusing segments (never got with the pigeons) but we always savour the sublime Pinky & the Brain and Slappy Squirrel bits.

Now she's to the age where she's consuming Buffy the Vampire Slayer...... sigh..... time flies. Definitely NOT kid's stuff.

[AndrewHill]

Spongebob! Patrick Star is great. And you gotta love Squidward playing free jazz on his clarinet!

Yeah! Remember that episode where Spongebob wanted to become a man and not "grandma's little boy", and Patrick suggests that they should wear these fake sideburns, puff out their chests, and listen to free-form jazz? Then Patrick later on becomes grandma's little boy and he says that he doesn't get jazz anyways?

Well as it turns out, me, my wife and two daughters are all Spongebob nuts! We even stayed at the Nick Hotel in Orlando, Fl ,so we could enjoy the water theme park and meet the characters (I of course had to get a pic of me with Patrick) at breakfast. My wife and older daughter even won a spot on their mock gameshow, which they ended up winning.

My favorite episode is Krusty Towers, which for me is one of the funniest and well-written episodes, while my wife is a fan of "Flats" in "The Bully" where all he says is "I'm gunna kick your butt". My wife and I even got into an argument as to which episode was funnier, to the point where we had several friends watch both episodes back to back and judge on a scale of 1 to 10. My episode was determened to be funnier.