Everyone has a list of favorite shows from their childhood. We fondly remember trying so hard to wake up early enough to catch it (a fact that totally confounds our children in the age of TiVo), eagerly anticipating our transportation to another world for 30 minutes. We remember falling off a cliff with Wile E. Coyote, running from the villain of the week with Scooby Doo, and singing “kill the wabbit” to the tune of Ride of the Valkyries with Bugs Bunny. We wished we could say “go go Gadget Copter” and zoom away to save the world from Dr. Claw. And really, who didn’t harbor a secret fantasy of being He-Man or She-Ra?
Now 20-30 years later, I’m sure many of us have revisited our childhood passions and brought our children along for the ride. And somehow these shows that held our rapt attention as children still appeal to our adult selves. Maybe it’s the universal appeal of seeing Wile E. Coyote blown up for the 100th time, or simply nostalgia for the simple joys and pleasures of childhood. But there are definitely shows that captivated us as children and made the journey to adulthood with us too.
Somehow the majority of children’s shows currently on the air seem like they would be buried in the attic and denied three times. I’m sure the most of us of us have been subjected to our favorite bilingual explorer at least once (and if you haven’t, it only takes about 1 minute of viewing to see where I’m coming from). Can you really imagine your children pulling out an old DVD of that and introducing their kids to it with anything but dread and embarrassment?
Not that there aren’t modern shows we actually enjoy watching with our children. Disney/Pixar films come to mind, Phineas and Ferb can be quite entertaining, and Cartoon Network’s new somewhat satirized version of Scooby Doo is often hilarious. The ability to imbue a program with subject matter, language, dialogue, and comedy that children understand, and yet sprinkle in enough humor that we adults can appreciate it too is a rare skill.
On one hand, we don’t want to sit through 30 minutes of baby babble by the Teletubbies, yet we are (rightfully so) not ready for our children to be exposed to the more mature themes we find so compelling. Walking the tightrope between the two to produce an entertaining program is a recipe few chefs have perfected.
Maybe when our children have children of their own there will still be a few gems left they can enjoy together.
I completely agree - so many cartoons on today fall into either being Saccharine (Dora, Backyardigans, WonderPets) or Toilet Humor (Adventure Time, and others I have caught snippets of and immediately turned the tv off). The battle ones are actually not too bad (pokemon, bey blades, bakugan). Phineas and Ferb is a total gem. We also really enjoyed Avatar the last Airbender (so much better than the movie). More often than not we leave the tv off, although I have to admit that the older the kids get the more often it is on. Some of the ones that have recently caught interest are darker, and I am still in research mode on those - Star wars, Ben 10, even Batman seems kind of dark these days.
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on internet games...
And finding something they can both AGREE on to watch is even more difficult. Apparently almost 7 and just turned 5 is a major developmental gap in what they enjoy watching. Marie finds action a bit scary, and Joyce finds more sedate shows boring. They both enjoy the Toilet Humor (as evidenced by Joyce's discovery of Captain Underpants books), but it tends to continue after the TV is turned off so I"m not crazy about it.
ReplyDeleteWe've ended up going back in time, thanks to NetFlix streaming. They're currently enjoying Inspector Gadget and Flipper.
Nice. I agree. We have found Little Rascals on Netflix and the kids loved it. I loved watching it with them. Also the Pink Panther is a favorite. You're right, who would want to watch Dora in 30 years?
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