Why Kid Shows Are Not Just For Kids
As we grew
out of our baby sizes, started walking, potty training or talking, or
transitioned from sleeping in a crib to a bed, our parents wanted to provide us
with entertainment that could both entertain and educate us without knowing it.
There were great shows like Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues and The Wiggles, and
we’d also get crap like Caillou, Barney and Teletubbies (I will say I would
pick Barney over Teletubbies because at the very least it teaches children,
albeit in an overly sentimental and sappy way but it’s better than minutes of gibberish
nothingness). As we grew up, a lot of us grew out of these shows because we got
interested in different things and sometimes we would stop watching them
because we thought they were too childish, while I do agree, at least when it
comes to the crappy shows I mentioned and especially a lot of shows nowadays, there
are some like the good ones I mentioned and some others I have yet to mention. I don't have kids and I don't babysit, i just really enjoy them,
I believe that you don’t need to be a kid to like them. Whether you want to
embrace your inner child or if you have kids, they can be fun. I would like to
talk about some I saw as a child and also some I got into as I got older.
Arthur
In 1996 PBS
aired a show based on the children’s books of the same name by Marc Brown,
Arthur. A series about an eight-year-old boy who shares the name of the title,
going on many adventures or learning life lessons along with his friends,
classmates, family and more. The show has shown typical lessons like sharing,
not stealing, being a good friend, listening to your elders, doing the right
thing, love matters and more! However, sometimes, they could also some pretty
sensitive topics like death (there’s an episode where DW’s pet bird Spanky
dies), the consequences of rough play (there’s an episode where the Tibble
twins watch a violent show and start recreating it, to the point where they end
up hurting DW, causing her to get stitches at the hospital, don't worry, no blood is shown), bedwetting (Jenna
is scared to go to a slumber party because she sometimes wets the bed), head
lice (Muffy and almost everyone in Lakewood Elementary get head lice),
Alzheimer’s (Grandpa Dave gets it at one point), divorce (Buster’s parents are
divorced), asthma (Buster has asthma) and more. I would like to talk about a
few episodes that tackled tough subjects.
Cancer
In The Great
MacGrady, the lunch lady, Mrs. MacGrady doesn’t show up, a week later, Mr.
Ratburn tells the class that she’s not here because she has cancer and they
don’t know when she’ll be back. Francine is worried because she lost her
grandfather to cancer, whenever any of her classmates try to convince or
encourage her to visit Mrs. MacGrady, but she’s too afraid to do it. One day,
Binky gives her the email address of Lance Armstrong (in the remake episode it
was Binky’s favourite wrestler Slam Wilson, it was changed due to the
controversy surrounding Armstrong), the celebrity replies to Francine’s email
and hangs out with her, telling her about their experience with cancer and how
they went through and got better, and encourage her to start a bike fundraiser
where the money goes to help people with cancer. After the event, Mrs. MacGrady
comes and praises her for this and is understanding about why she didn’t visit
her and let’s Francine hug her, making Francine come out of her depression.
Arthur and
DW try to help by giving her soup and gifts, but they get a bit carried away
and give too much, after a while they clean up her kitchen while she’s out
getting treatment showing that there are different ways to help, not just by
gifting but by helping out too.
Plus, the
times they visit her, she explains her illness in a simple way that kids can
understand, by saying our body cells are like flowers growing in a garden and
the cancer is like weeds and the medicine helps get rid of them, simple yet
effective way to help kids understand this disease.
Muffy is her
usual oblivious self, she acts like it’s not a big deal and doesn’t understand
why Francine is so depressed and worried, but when she does spend time with
Mrs. MacGrady, she learns how sick she really is, from learning she lost her
hair due to chemo and then talking to her. This gets her to help out and
encourage Arthur and DW to help clean up.
This episode
did a great job talking about cancer with accuracy like showing you need to
have clean hands when interacting with the cancer patient since they could
easily catch any illness, the patient having no hair as a side effect of
chemotherapy, showing the many ways you can help and that recovery is possible.
I wish this
episode aired when my Grammy was sick (though sadly, she was terminal) it
probably would’ve helped me understand what was happening since I was too
little to understand it and my family did a good job not showing it (likely so
I could enjoy being a little girl). Plus, during Covid, my best friend had
leukemia and ended up in the hospital and during that time, I revisited that
episode of Arthur and the details were super accurate and true to what it was
like from Mrs. MacGrady telling Arthur and DW to wash their hands before coming
to her, when I hung out with my friend I had to wear a mask and keep my
distance from her especially since Covid hit, or when Mrs. MacGrady loses her
hair, I remember seeing my friend’s hair falling off and by Christmas, her head
was really smooth. The good news is, she’s cured and her hair has grown back
and I’m so thankful that the health care workers helped her get back on her
feet. I think revisiting this episode helped me understand it better and I
think it gave me hope that my friend would be okay, along with my parents
telling me about what it was like when my Grammy was sick.
If any of
you have kids or are affected by cancer, watch either version of The Great
MacGrady, it can help.
PTSD
In 2002,
PBS, aired an episode of Arthur called, April 9th, this episode was
made in response to 9/11 without directly referencing the disaster, it was an
allegory.
If you want
to know what that word means, make sure you revisit the episode, Arthur’s
Almost Live Not Real Music Festival, where the Brain defines the word while
turning into Jekyll Hyde, beware, the songs in that episode are earworms, view
at your own risks!
Anyway, in
this episode, things go on like a normal day, Binky is causing a bit of
trouble, Buster oversleeps, Arthur’s family breakfast is wild and Arthur’s dad
is catering a breakfast at Arthur’s school, Mr. Ratburn is about to give the
class their graded work. However this is when things change, everyone smells smoke and the fire alarm goes off
and we see another class walking in the hall. This bit shows how well
disciplined the class is, because Mr. Ratburn advises everyone to stay calm,
line up, not to run and tells Sue Ellen not to get her bag and stay in line and
the class does just that, they walk out of the building quietly and calmly,
like we all did when we had fire drills.
After the
fire is put out, we see how it affected 4 kids, no doubt very similar to what
the people affected by 9/11 felt like.
When the
class exited the classroom, Binky saw the flames and he felt scared, thankfully
Mr. Ratburn came and ordered him to come along and they got out before the
flames spread, he especially got worried when he saw the janitor Mr. Morris had
injured his leg. Then we see how this moment affected him, he’s unable to watch
Bionic Bunny because the villain of the show had a fire head, he pulled the
fire alarm at the school they were at until their school was repaired to see
how long it would take for the firefighters to come, when he had to do
community service with Francine’s dad Oliver, he tells Binky about his
experience as a firefighter before he became a garbage man and how scary it was
to see flames, and Binky denies being scared. When the school is finally back,
he has visions of smoke and flames and runs out of the school, when Oliver sees
him crying Binky tells him why he’s scared, and Oliver assures him that talking
about his fears can help him feel better and allows him to help him until he
feels safer to go back to school.
Since
Arthur’s dad was catering at the school, he ended up stuck in the burning
building and Arthur was worried about him, especially when the firefighters
wouldn’t allow him to get near the building because it was too dangerous,
thankfully he came out covered in ashes but unharmed. However, Arthur felt
worried about his dad and has nightmares of his dad being in danger, and when
Buster makes up stories about the fire, Arthur gets offended because his dad
could’ve been hurt. One week after the disaster, Arthur’s dad had a catering
event at the aquarium, the worried 8 year old tries to fake a sore throat so
his dad won’t go, but soon his dad figures out why he’s doing this and instead
of getting angry and scolding him, he tells him about when he was a kid,
Grandma Thora was in a car accident, though she wasn’t hurt, he felt worried she
would be in another car accident every time she got into a car. Whenever she
did leave, he would shoot crumpled balls of paper in the wastebasket and if he
made more shots than missing, it would tell him she would be okay, then he
mentions that one day he forgot to do it and she was gone for a long time, but
she came home safe and sound. By the end Arthur is still worried, but he tries
the trick his dad mentioned and it makes him feel a bit better, especially when
he sees his dad come home and allows Buster to play Clementine on the accordion
for him.
Sue Ellen
had gotten a postcard from a friend that she put in her diary before the fire and
when the alarm went off, she couldn’t bring her backpack with her. Then, the
diary got ruined by the fire and the hose. Later, as the kids talk about what
happened Sue Ellen is still crying not only because of the postcard in the
journal, but also because she had it since grade 1. Muffy tries to get her out
of her sadness by buying her new journals, but it’s hard for her since the
memories are irreplaceable, especially when Muffy insults her old journal. She
does eventually accept one of them. At first, she doesn’t know what to write in
the new journal but soon she volunteers to help repaint the repaired school and
she was able to find a bit of the post card. She puts it on her new journal and
writes about how she is lucky to have great friends and how they can all
overcome anything. She may have lost something dear to her in the disaster, but
she did get a little something from it and was able to move on with a new one,
with some help.
Buster
overslept that morning, so when he came to school, the damage had been done, he
feels upset that he wasn’t there to experience this. After Arthur gets mad at
him for telling exaggerated tales about the fire, he talks to his mom about how
he feels about it and she reassures him that it’s okay and it takes time for
one to feel upset. Then she encourages him to visit Mr. Morris at the hospital
and when he does, he gets to know more about him, he has asthma too and he
believes in aliens. It doesn’t take long for the two to become friends and
Buster was able to experience the fire by talking to someone who was there. When
the school was repaired, Buster found out that Mr. Morris was retiring and he
gives Buster his accordion. When he calls Arthur on the phone, he tells him
that he wouldn’t have been friends with Mr. Morris had it not been for the
fire, and that gives Buster a new way at looking at the disaster.
This episode
did a great job tackling the many ways people can be affected by a disaster
from trauma, worrying about loved ones, loss and feeling left out. They handled
it in a mature fashion and I’m sure any of the kids affected by 9/11 or any
disaster in general were able to relate to it and felt less alone. This episode
can garner empathy in children and show them that disaster can happen but there
are ways to overcome them.
Plus,
whenever Arthur aired on PBS, there would be a segment in between episodes
where some kids talk about subjects based on the episode. In this one, it
showed a third grade class talking about fires with firefighters, so they can
make a website. They ask many questions like what to do if your pets are stuck
inside, and the firefighters teach them about what to do in infernos, like
feeling the bedroom door to make sure it’s not hot before opening it, it works
as affectively as the episode DW All Fired Up, which shows DW feeling scared
about fire safety and fire drills, as a way to teach kids about fire safety and
how important it is to have fire drills so they’ll know what to do.
Bleep
In another
surprising episode, Arthur tackled, swearing!! The intro of the episode showed
a parody of The Sopranos only here it’s called The Altos and Arthur shows that
the bleeping sound is meant to block out words that should not be heard.
As the
episode begins, DW is out at a China store with her Grandma Thora who’s getting
a gift for her friend, as she waits she sees a bratty teenage boy talking back
to his mother and when she tells him he can’t go to a concert, he gets angry
and swears at her (don’t worry, they bleep out the word every time), causing
her to drop the glass. Once Thora takes DW out of the shop, DW tells her what
she overheard but before she can ask her about the word, she imagines Thora
dropping the bowl and breaking it so she says nothing. When DW asks Arthur
about the word, he drops his plane and tells her not to let their parents hear
that. DW is unsure about what to do, even when her imaginary friend Nadine
tells her to ask her parents, she foolishly asks the Tibbles and they tell her
that if you say it to adults they become zombie servants. She imagines doing
this to Miss Morgan her teacher, but when she can’t bring herself to do it, she
says nothing and the Tibbles bully her for it. Now she really doesn’t know what
to do, then she gets an idea, she calls her neighbour Vicita who is a bit
younger than her, and tricks her into saying it. Then she spies on their house
and sees Vicita bringing her parents and older brother Alberto to the family
room. You can tell by her smile and her family’s shocked reactions, she said
the word. Then DW gets annoyed by her mother constantly calling her to dinner
and she ends up saying the word, leading to silence and scary music as Mrs.
Read enters and scolds her. The neighbours come and tell Mr. Read what she did
and it looks like she’s in big trouble, but at bedtime Mrs. Read tells her
she’s off the hook since she didn’t know what that word meant and tells her
that swear words are inappropriate to say and DW feels relieved to have finally
understood and goes to talk to her classmates about it when she hears them
swearing.
While not
showing the word, it did a good job teaching children not to swear and why it’s
wrong, it can especially be good when children hear swear words.
That’s A Baby Show!
There’s also
another episode that I’m sure older viewers can relate to. This episode,
“That’s A Baby Show!” has Arthur intending to watch Dark Bunny (a parody of
Batman) but ends up becoming hooked on a “baby show” called The Love Ducks (a
parody of Teletubbies but not cringy) he’s afraid to admit he likes it in fear
of being made fun of. One day, Buster and Francine find out and Arthur ends up
letting it slip. The next day, Francine says out loud that he was watching Love
Ducks and everyone but Buster makes fun of him until Mr. Ratburn comes in.
Later, Buster sees the show playing at a TV store and he likes it. At the end,
Arthur and all his friends watch it with baby Kate and Francine admits that she
secretly likes it too. It’s a nice episode, let’s be honest we all like shows
that are considered babyish and we’re embarrassed to admit it but it also shows
that it’s nothing to be ashamed of and loving it matters more than what others
think, which ties into what this article is about.
It was even
tackled before, in an episode where Mr. Rogers comes to Arthur’s house and
Arthur is scared to have his friends see him with him. After a series of chaos,
Mr. Rogers talks to Arthur and lets him know that he understands why he feels
this way, he understands that sometimes you might feel like you’re too old for
something and doesn’t shame him for it he knows it's natural for kids to feel like that. He even assures him it’s okay because
real friends don’t make fun of real friends, it’s a nice message works just as
well as the previous episode I mentioned, plus with someone like Mr. Rogers
makes it more effective.
These
episodes, along with many others make Arthur timeless and a show that even
newer generations are watching today. I highly recommend this show.
Winnie The Pooh
When Disney
released 3 shorts based on AA Milne’s book series (then got turned into a
package movie in 1977) Pooh and his friends became as beloved as their book
counterparts, this lead to Disney turning it into a franchise and it gained
series meant for a younger audience like The Book Of Pooh and My Friends Tigger
and Pooh. However, it does irk me when people say Winnie The Pooh is for babies
because when you watch some of the movies, you’d see how they can be quite
dark, like how Pooh and his friends go through many epic dangers in Pooh’s
Grand Adventure or Roo getting trapped by a bunch of dead trees in Pooh’s
Heffalump Movie. I would also like to talk about the two Pooh movies I watched
a lot growing up to prove this point.
The Tigger Movie
The Tigger
Movie, despite being about our favourite bouncy Tigger is actually a pretty sad
movie when you think about it. When Tigger’s bouncing causes a bit of trouble and
Rabbit gets mad at him and his friends tell him they can’t bounce like him
because they’re not Tiggers, Tigger feels sad and lonely, especially realizing
being the only Tigger isn’t really the most wonderful thing. When Roo
unintentionally gives him the idea that there could be other tiggers, and after
getting advice from Owl about finding a family tree, he and Roo search but find
nothing, even after trying to find an heirloom or send them a letter, they get
no results, Tigger feels more sadder than ever. Once Roo gets the idea to have
their friends write him a letter from his family, it works in making Tigger
happy, but then he thinks they’re coming to see him. Because his friends don’t
have the heart to tell him the truth and break his heart, they disguise
themselves as Tiggers which makes Tigger happy again, but it doesn’t take long
for him to realize they were wearing costumes, this enrages Tigger to the point
where he decides to go out in the snowstorm to find them and pretty much
disowns them, coming from Tigger, ouch! He searches, slips in ice and freezes
and then he does find a big tree but no tiggers, breaking his heart once again,
when his friends find him, he orders them to leave to be safe from the storm,
but then his yelling causes an avalanche, yes you heard right, an avalanche.
Tigger puts the others up in a tree to safety but ends up in the avalanche
himself! Luckily, Roo remembers a powerful bounce Tigger taught him and once he
gets to Tigger, they do the super bounce back onto the tree safe and sound!
Once Tigger realizes he lost the letter, the gang recite the letter, and that
makes Tigger realize his friends are his family, and that makes Tigger feel so
happy. He shows his gratitude by gifting them with things they’ll need for
winter and gifts Roo his heart shaped locket and it ends with Christopher Robin
taking a picture of everyone together, a true family portrait.
I watched
this movie so many times when I was little, but man, as I grew up I realized
how deep and mature it could be, showing Tigger struggle with loneliness and
feeling left out, totally relatable especially if you’re a teenager. And the
avalanche climax, wow, so tense, it seems strange for a Winnie The Pooh movie,
yet it works, showing how much everyone cares for one another, even Rabbit was
worried about Tigger when he got caught in the avalanche. If you ever watch
this movie, remember to have tissues it will probably make you cry.
Piglet’s Big Movie
This one has
Pooh and his friends overlooking Piglet because he’s so small, he walks into
the woods feeling sad, but sees how useful he is when he helps little animals,
he thinks maybe his friends need him and goes to find them. However, after
getting chased by bees and hiding in Piglet’s house, they realize he’s not
there and want to find him. They use his scrapbook of memories to figure out
where he could be, the memories tell stories about how Piglet has done more for
them than they realize, from seeing how nice Kanga is, saving Roo from the
water and building a house for Eeyore, his friends feel bad for overlooking him.
When they lose the scrapbook due to a fight between Rabbit and Tigger, they go
to Piglet’s house to keep warm and dry from the thunderstorm, they feel better
after drawing pictures of Piglet and draw him as a hero. Once they decide to go
back and find him, they find the scrapbook pages but then they see the
scrapbook hanging by the branch of a dead log that is near a waterfall. This is
when things get a bit tense, Pooh actually walks on the log, he could fall! He
does lose his balance and gets stuck on another branch, his friends try to make
a rope out of themselves but it’s not long enough, then Piglet shows up and his
friends encourage him to help, which he does, but then the log breaks in half
and Pooh and Piglet jump trying to get to the safe side. As the other half of
the log falls, there’s only silence and for a bit it looks like they didn’t
make it. The friends begin to cry but then we see Pooh and Piglet come out
showing they made it, wet but safe. The friends are relived when they see
they’re okay and they show Piglet how great he is when they show him the
pictures they drew and it makes Piglet very happy. They throw a party for him
and Pooh shows him that he renamed Pooh Corner to Pooh And Piglet Corner, giving
him the credit he truly deserved for the idea of building Eeyore a new house.
This was
actually my first movie in theatres and while it does have continuity issues
with the Poohniverse it still is effective. I’m sure we can all relate to
feeling overlooked and unwanted or unneeded, but this movie can help one
realize that they are capable no matter their size or limits, very mature for a
kids movie. Plus, that climax, some could have their heart beating rapidly or
have a sense of panic when Pooh walks on that log, risking his life, especially
when Rabbit panics, plus the fact that they briefly make it look like they
died, good heavens! Takes a lot of guts to do that so kudos Disney!
Sesame Street
Sesame
Street is another beloved series for kids, it’s been entertaining for many
years, it taught lots of lessons like sharing, counting and the alphabet,
however, it also tackled real life subjects that are heavy like divorce,
autism, foster parenting and even incarceration. Here are a few serious
episodes they had
PTSD
Like Arthur,
PBS made an episode of Sesame Street made an episode in response to 9/11. It
wasn’t easy because the show was filmed in New York and a lot of the crew had experienced
or saw the disaster and it was traumatizing but they still went for it.
The episode
has Elmo and Maria going to Hooper’s store for lunch, but just as they’re about
to order, Alan notices smoke coming out of the kitchen. He goes to put it out
while Maria and Elmo quickly evacuate the building, where Maria orders Elmo to
stay low while escaping, you must try crawling when escaping a fire to avoid
the smoke and gas. Maria calls the fire department and soon, the firefighters
arrive and put out the fire. Once it’s safe, Elmo feels scared and traumatized
to go back into the store but then a firefighter comes and tells Elmo about his
outfit and what they do to protect them from fires and then he takes Maria and
Elmo to the fire station to show the latter what happens in the fire house.
From where they eat, wait, slide down poles, the tools they use, like the hose
and remind him of what to do if there’s a fire, making Elmo feel better.
It is very
important for kids to learn about fire safety, I’m sure we all remember having
fire drills when we were in elementary school, in fact I’m sure the
firefighters would want the kids to learn about it, it was especially important
after 9/11 since a lot of kids were practically traumatized by the disaster.
Plus Phantomstrider and BlameItOnJorge mentioned that the fire station Elmo and
Maria visit is the one that came when the disaster happened and they lost about
12 firefighters. It was hard for the cast, crew and firefighters but they did
very well, honouring the firefighters they lost and everyone that lost their
lives and help children know that the world can be scary but when it does
happen, they’ll have all the help they’ll need to be safe, and that’s a great
thing.
Goodbye Mr. Hooper
One of the most famous episodes of the show is Big Bird
learning about Mr. Hooper’s passing. The actor who played Hooper had died of a
heart attack and the creators didn’t know what to do, they knew the children
would notice he was gone, they spoke to child psychologists and that gave them
the idea to discuss death, without mentioning the cause of his death or being
in a hospital but in a simple way for kids to understand and not make it scary.
The moment has Big Bird showing the adults his drawings of
them and they love it, but the mood changes when he shows them a picture of Mr.
Hooper, and he asks where he is. Maria reminds him that they told him Mr.
Hooper is dead, Big Bird remembers and thinks he’ll come back but soon the
adults try to explain the concept of death gently, the way a parent would to
their child, Big Bird feels sad and wonders what will happen, David tells him
that Hooper left the store for him and they will all do the things they did
with Hooper. Big Bird shows a bit of anger asking why it has to happen and Gordon
tells him it happens just because and Big Bird finally accepts it and he tells
the drawing he’ll miss him.
This was a tough episode to film, in fact, in that scene you
might notice the adults holding back tears but it was a great way to give a bit
of closure on Will’s passing and also be a great way to help kids understand
and learn about the concept of death, not to scare them but so they’ll know
death is a part of life but they’ll be okay as long as they have their memories
and they’ll still have love and support no matter what.
When Families Grieve
Years later,
another episode of Sesame Street tackled death, this time with Elmo’s uncle
Jack.
Elmo and his
dad are getting ready to go on a picnic with Rosita and his cousin Jessie, Elmo
is looking forward to seeing his uncle Jack, but his dad tries to gently
explain to him that he died and what happens when people die, but it still is
hard for Elmo to understand, he even asks where uncle Jack is when they arrive.
His mother tries to explain only for his cousin Jessie to ask them not to talk
about it. A few minutes later, Elmo goes to see his mother and aunt Jill,
finally understanding that his uncle is dead and it makes him sad, and they
agree and Jill assures him it’s okay to feel these emotions because even adults
do too and that they never will stop being sad, but these feelings come and go.
The episode also shows how Elmo’s cousin Jessie is dealing with the loss of her
dad, she doesn’t want to talk about him, seeing Elmo with his dad makes her
miss him more and she denies any feelings of sadness when Rosita tries to talk
to her. It’s only when Elmo’ dad talks to her about it that she finally opens
up about her feelings of sadness and anger over her dad’s passing. He also
tells her how important it is to talk about your feelings because it helps you
feel better and reminds her that she has friends and family that care for her
and they share a few memories. The family sings a song about missing a loved
one, feelings and how to cope. Later, when the kids want to play, Elmo shows
the hat he got from uncle Jack and how he taught him to bat, it makes Jessie
laugh the way her father used to. Then they find some objects like chattering
teeth, photos and Jack’s tie in Jessie’s backpack, showing why Jessie carries
her backpack around all the time.
During the
episode we also see some families talking about the losses of their fathers who
died in the military, how they cope with the pain, how the parents told their
children about it, sharing their feelings and important things about loss, like
letting your feelings out and that as long as you remember them, your memories
will stay alive. I hope this helped anyone who saw this episode who might’ve
dealt with loss at a young age it can help kids grow into emotionally healthy
human beings. Plus, this episode shows
how sometimes just being there for someone when they lose a loved on is the
best thing you can do for them, and that’s a great thing to teach.
The Electric Company (2009)
When I was
10 I got to see a show that was a remake of an old show, The Electric Company.
This show had 4 teenagers who can throw word balls to make words and sentences
and each member have special skills. Jessica can use sound recordings to hear
what has been said, her big brother Hector can check things out with pictures
like a video camera, Lisa can rearrange letters to make another word or
sentence and Keith can draw pictures that can help. The Electric Company work
together to stop the Pranksters, Francine (a snobby girl who uses wordballs for
her own gain and vlogs to bully or antagonize others), Manny (who uses gadgets
to cause trouble), Annie (who scrambles words to cause trouble and has her
uncle hypnotize others so she can get what she wants) and Danny (who likes to
write sentences in rebuses to antagonize the Electric Company) from causing
trouble or havoc. In between the stories, come some segments where viewers
learn words, the sounds letters make and reading words. They teach more than
school ever could.
The in
between segments could be pretty entertaining, from Prankster Cam, where the
pranksters talk about letters and the sounds they make like how the last
letters of some words sound the same, using an apostrophe, silent letters, how some letters have different sounds and
end punctuations. There could also be a popsicle recap where popsicle puppets
give a recap of what happened, a “Big Face-Face Off” where one member of the
Electric Company fights against a prankster and wins in the end, using words
and specific sounds to do so, Shock (an employee of the diner) beatboxing,
pretending to be a ninja, butcher or spy while reading words or pronouns, a dog
named Jack Bowser has to read a code sentence to get out of a room before it
explodes, a sound carnival, Hector or Lisa sounding out words, a cartoon segment where kids go to a pet store to
ask for a pet, only for the owner to offer strange pets, driving them away, the
list goes on!
The show
appealed to children for the rapping or beatboxing and the songs teaching them how to spell
words.
Adults,
would find it appealing because of how it teaches kids some big words like
immobile or stamina and they could feel a bit of nostalgia with one of the
segments that was on the original show, the silhouettes blends, where two
people (in this case it’s Hector and Lisa) take two different letters or sounds and turn them into a word. The
parents might also dig some of the celebrities that show up, you can see Lin
Manuel Miranda singing about letters with Shock, Jimmy Fallon even sings a song
or two. Some actually appear in an episode like former New York Giants player
Tiki Barber plays himself, where he hires Jessica to take care of his parrot TD,
but when TD flies away because Manny recorded a bird squawking and took him to
make Jessica look irresponsible, resulting in Tiki playing judge and jury, TD
squawking “Clean up that seed,” is what helps Jessica prove that she’s innocent
when she shows the bird was mimicking Manny’s mother when she ordered him to
clean up the seed, and Tiki claims Jessica not guilty.
Plus,
there’s an episode where a magician performs a trick to turn him into a snake,
his goofy assistant Marlon is played by Jack McBrayer and he gives his usual
charm that can be appealing whether he’s singing a song about the magician or failing
to attempt to transform Jessica back (she read a note from Danny that turned
her into a lizard and Marlon got the spell wrong and she turned half lizard
half human, you could say Felix couldn’t fix this one).
This show
was a great way to teach kids reading, words and vocabulary, I may have been 10 when I
got into it but as time went on I really enjoyed it. If you want to watch it go
to PBS learning media, they play the full episodes, beware, Hector is man
candy.
Bear In The Big Blue House
Oh my. This
was without a doubt one of my favourites when I was really small. I would watch
it on tape or on TV, being a Toronto girl, sometimes I’d see Gisele Corinthios
sing the “Nook Morning Song” with Bear, I had some books, (I remember when my
mom read them to me, I would request her to sound like Tutter and Pip and Pop),
I had some CDs and I even saw the show live a couple of times.
This show
was a great one, it taught kids about sharing, making friends, how friends
never stay mad for long, brushing your teeth, tidying, love and overcoming
fears. It does a nice job delivering those messages without coming off as
preachy, there were a few subjects they could talk about which could be tricky
but was handled effectively.
Potty Training
I know some
kid shows tackle this new stage in kids lives, but I think this is one of the
best ways to do it. When they tackled this particular subject, they do use the
word “poop” a few times but not to the point where it gets gross but in a way
that kids will understand.
The episode
begins with Bear and Tutter playing checkers, but Tutter is moving funny and
has trouble focusing, Bear figures he has to go to the bathroom and encourages
him to go now, which he does. Bear explains to the viewers why they grow out of
diapers and start using the potty. It also has Bear and Tutter talking about
what you should do after using the bathroom, wipe, wash your hands and flush. No
sooner afterwards, Treelo calls Bear saying Ojo needs help. The little cub asks
Bear to come in only if he’s alone. She reveals that she tried to go to the
bathroom in time but she missed, (thankfully we don’t see any mess) but Bear
reassures her that it’s okay, praises her for trying to get to the potty,
giving her advice on what to do next time and what to do if she’s not home and
she has to go, which makes Ojo feel better. Before the night falls, Pip and Pop
invite the other kids to their club called, “The Toileteers” a club for
everyone who is or who will be ready to use the potty, resulting in a catchy
song starting with Indian like music and then a catchy jazzy tune. Then when
Bear goes to talk to Luna the moon about how potty training is something every
one learns eventually, Luna mentions that she’s noticed how some little ones
worry about leaving their diapers behind which is so true (I still struggled
with that at 3) but they reassure the audience that even though they don’t need
their diapers anymore, that doesn’t mean they don’t have to leave everything else
behind like hugs and your mommy and daddy will still take care of you, which is
sweet (I wish that helped me get better at letting go of my diapers) before
they sing the Goodbye Song (I’m sure you’ll be looking that up on YouTube
soon!).
The episode
also could be pretty funny, there’s a running gag where Tutter keeps beating
Bear at checkers, and Bear’s confused responses are just gold!
I highly
recommend parents play this to their kids especially when they are at their
potty training stages, it can help them adjust to this change very well.
Christmas
In 1999, the
Jim Henson company made a double length Christmas special. It has Bear and the
kids getting ready for Christmas, decorating the house, and the kids asking
Santa for a lot of presents. At one point, Treelo tries to take the gifts for himself
and the others argue with him, and though they disagree when Bear tries to tell
them that Christmas is about more than presents, the protesting is cut short
when they hear a howling from outside. They find an old hound dog named Jack
out in the snow, they bring him inside to warm him up and they find out he’s
homeless and the kids feel sad. Tutter sings a song about what it would be like
if he didn’t have a home, but Bear reassures him that the Big Blue House isn’t
going anywhere and they both declare that they can bring joy to Jack, it’s so
emotional and sweet. The next day on Christmas, Jack helps the kids make a
present for Bear and as they exchange gifts, the kids realize they don’t have a
gift for Jack but he assures them that they already gave them the best gift, a
place to stay, and that makes the lids feel good. Plus, Bear also talks about a
special holiday tradition where two bears found a winter berry, split it and more
berries grew, it was said that if you find a berry, you can make a wish and it
will come true. When Jack helps Pip and Pop get the berry, he allows them to
have it and they wish for Jack to have a home. Their wish comes true when Doc
Hogg tells Jack that he has a doghouse just for him and everyone is happy for
Jack. It’s such a wholesome special showing the heart of the holidays and
helping kids understand that some folks aren’t as fortunate and how they can
help.
Even when
the kids ask for a lot of things, they’re not being mean, just kids, and their
desires for things don’t outweigh their caring sides, like how sad they felt
for Jack when they learnt of his situation, wanting to make Bear a gift and
feeling bad when they didn’t have a gift for Jack. It did very well at showing
how love is the best gift you can give on Christmas.
It took me
years to see this episode but I’m glad I did and I highly recommend it.
Some
episodes also addressed a few disasters like a river ruining muskrats’ homes or
a tree destroying a library due to a storm and how Bear does a yard sale or
hosts a potluck to raise money or get everyone together to help, it’s a great
way to learn about charity and how working together can be a big help.
Kids will
enjoy it for the colourful characters and the fun songs, but the parents might
not only appreciate the messages they teach but maybe get a sense of joy seeing
these lovely puppets, especially if they saw the Muppets and Sesame Street when
they were kids. The Henson family created yet another great piece of
entertainment that still is beloved, especially since it’s on Disney Plus. If Jim
Henson were alive, I’m sure he would be very proud.
Before I go
to the next show, I would like to mention the final Goodbye song (warning you
might need tissues). After Luna rises and Bear goes back into the hotel he and
the kids are staying at, (Bear won a vacation) he tells the viewers that he
hopes they had been one of the nicest parts of their lives because they are one
of the nicest parts of his, gosh, so sweet! I recommend you see it either on
YouTube or Disney Plus and I dare you not to cry.
Noel
MacNeal, I don’t know if you’ll see this but to reply to Bear’s comment, you
have been one of the nicest parts of my life and I thank you for that. I know
one day, I’ll come back to the Big Blue House to come and play. Bye now!
Blue’s Clues
This was yet
another show I loved since I was a baby. This show had hosts Steve or Joe and
their puppy Blue who would leave her pawprints on things to give clues on what
she’s trying to say, the hosts get mail, when they find all 3 clues, they sit
on the Thinking Chair and the viewers figure out the answer because they’re so
smart. After the activity is done, the host sings a song to bid them farewell.
I was a huge
fan of the show, I remember on my thrifting article I mentioned that I got a
stuffed Blue on my first Christmas, I had a lot of tapes, the beautiful orange
tapes, I had and played with a lot of toys, I had a Blue’s Clues cake on my
second birthday, I had some audio episodes on CD (they would make an episode
where you can hear it), I even had a cassette where you could listen to one of
the co creators reading the book “What To Do Blue?” while incorporating it into
an audio episode (thumbs up if you remember that), I even saw a couple of shows
live.
Plus, I mentioned
before that my Grammy had a big book of stories that had many Blue’s Clues
books into one, when I used to sleep over there, I used to read or look at the
pictures, before she would say good night, I even remember watching Magenta
Comes Over at her apartment. My aunt told me another story one time and a
memory popped up. One time when I was little, my aunt bought food at a grocery
store, which is normal, but she found out too late that the food had been
infected and I had eaten some of it, my Grammy had to take me to a doctor to
get a shot, it was a long time ago but I have a faint memory of bringing my
stuffed Blue with me when we went there.
This show
was very educational, it taught lots of things like ABCs and 123s, feelings,
friendship, dancing, time, sounds and more. They had special episodes like a
holiday episode where Steve and Blue make a holiday quilt and learn about
different holidays, it’s a great way to make kids feel special for whatever
holiday they celebrate. There was an episode where Steve and Blue go on a
treasure hunt, or one where they host a pajama party, and they learn about
nocturnal animals and how we get day and night before they have a bedtime story
and say goodnight. And who can forget the Blue’s Birthday episode, especially
if you remember having the VHS where it had extended footage, where kids teach
Steve the Birthday Candle Dance and Steve opening a lot of presents from Blue.
Plus her birthday card has celebrity cameos like Gloria Estefan, Tia and Tamera
Mowry and Amanda Bynes and Michelle Trachtenberg and even Rosie O Donnell (only
in the TV version not the VHS version), yes Blue got a birthday wish from
Harriet The Spy and Golly (fitting since Harriet The Spy came out the same year
Blue’s Clues aired)/
The show
could have unique messages as PhantomStrider pointed out.
Blue Gets Frustrated
This episode
has Steve, Blue, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper and Mailbox dealing with frustrating situations. Steve is unable to put the picture frame straight, he has trouble with his
crayon, from it slipping off the notebook or the top breaking and has trouble
cleaning off the pawprint. Blue and her rabbit friend have trouble balancing
blocks on the teeter totter, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper are having trouble
preparing for the picnic and Mailbox has trouble getting in the house. You can
see how the characters feel, they look angry and grumble, like I’m sure we all
feel when things like that happen. However, the episode teaches a simple but
effective technique that can be used to deal with these emotions. Here are the
3 steps
1. Stop
2. Breathe
3. Think
This can not
only help kids but even adults deal with frustration. A lot of things can make
us frustrated, like subway delays, having trouble zipping your coat or dropping
the dishes when you’re trying to put them away, take it from someone who has
dealt with these things.
Tell me
things that happened that made you frustrated in the comments.
As
Phantomstrider said when he talked about this episode, when you feel
frustrated, it’s hard to think clearly due to the anger inside, but taking a
deep breath helps you acknowledge the emotion, calm down and it can clear your
mind so you’ll be able to think of a solution to the problem. As Master Shifu
said to Po in Kung Fu Panda 2, “Anything is possible, when you have inner
peace,” I’m looking at you KFP4 thanks for treating it like a joke!!
It’s a great
idea to teach kids this technique at an early age so they can manage their
emotions and grow into well adjusted people and it can help teens or adults since
a lot of things can frustrate them and it can help them.
Colours Everywhere
One of the
Joe episodes did something unique, it taught what a lot of kid shows teach
about mixing colours, mixing primary colours to make secondary colours, but it
also does more, they show how to mix a primary colour and a secondary colour to
make a tertiary colour, red and orange make vermillion, orange and yellow make
marigold, yellow and green make chartreuse, green and blue make aquamarine,
blue and purple make violet and purple and red make magenta. It’s not every day
kids shows teach how to make those colours. It also happened before that
episode in one of the PC games, Blue’s Art Time Activities, when you help Marky
Marker paint, you can mix colours and there’s also a part in the game where
Blue and one of her friends play a colour mixing game where they mix colours to
move ahead on a board and the one to reach the ribbon first wins, for a bit you
learn how to make secondary colours, but after some rounds you get to make
tertiary colours, (but be careful not to make brown) both the game and Colours
episode do a great job teaching kids about different colours and how to make
them. I loved that so much, that for the past few Easters I wanted to try those
colours, they didn’t turn out perfectly but it was fun regardless.
Blue’s Clues
was enjoyable for little kids from the colourful characters and Steve’s
goofiness, but it could appeal to adults like whenever Steve would imitate
singers, like in a rainy day episode, he sings like Bing Crosby and who can
forget the episode, “What Story Does Blue Want To Play?”
In that
episode the rabbit is putting on a story play for Steve and Blue to participate
in, Steve’s role is the king, when he does it, he lifts his collar up and speaks
in an Elvis accent and even dances like him. Even when he splits his green
striped “cookie” with Blue and she licks him, he tells her not to be such a
hound dog, clever. Plus, in the ending when Steve sings the So Long song Elvis
Style. He sings and dances like the king and refers Blue as a hound dog and
says, “Thank You. Thank you very much,” just like the king himself. The little
ones might not understand but the parents would definitely smile.
Full House
Now this
isn’t exactly a baby show but some have criticized it for being too sappy and
being a corny show that would only appeal to children, but that couldn’t be
further from the truth. Kids can get a kick out of it, especially with Joey’s
voice impressions but they could also learn things, as the show was not afraid
to tackle difficult topics like drinking, child abuse, eating disorders and
more. Here are a few episodes that tackled hard subjects
I already
talked about the eating disorders episode in the Inner Beauty article but there
is more to cover.
Drinking
There are
two episodes that tackle drinking.
The first episode
is called Just Say No Way. This episode has the middle school having a
“Backwards Dance” where the girls ask the boys out. While it has funny moments
like Michelle constantly listening to Baby Beluga much to everyone’s annoyance
(plus when Danny and Stephanie show their dance, Joey spits out water like a
whale) it knew when to get serious. When DJ looks for her date Kevin, she sees
him and two boys drinking beer, which they aren’t supposed to because they’re
underage, DJ scolds them for it, one of the naughty boys sprays beer on her.
When Kevin goes to get paper towels, DJ takes the can and mimics them to show
how stupid they’re being. Unfortunately, uncle Jesse show up and the boys make
it look like she was drinking, so Jesse immediately assumes she’s guilty no
matter how much she tries to explain. Even when they come home and tell Joey
and Danny what happened, the adults think she was drinking because she smells
like beer. DJ runs off to her room in tears, Stephanie sees her crying and
though she doesn’t know why, she knows DJ is telling the truth because she
looks up to her. Stephanie goes downstairs to tell the men that not only is DJ
is innocent but she went back to the dance with Kimmy’s mom to clear her name. when
DJ comes back to the school, she finds out from Kimmy that Kevin and the two
boys got caught and are suspended from school. DJ finds Kevin and when she
tells him about her problem, Kevin feels bad and before leaving to see his
parents (he’s so grounded), he apologizes to her and promises to call her as
long as the old him calls. After he tells Jesse and Danny the truth, Jesse goes
to the room to apologize to DJ and talks to her about how proud he is of her
for saying no, and warns her that once she gets older, it’s going to be much
harder and advises her to use that good judgement in the future, which she
agrees to do so.
The other
episode, “Under The Influence” had Kimmy and DJ go to a frat party, and Kimmy
has too many drinks leading to her and DJ getting kicked out, plus Kimmy tries
to drive home but DJ puts a stop to that. The next morning Kimmy gets mad at
her and threatens to end the friendship but DJ tells her that her mother died
because of a drunk driver and didn’t want to lose her best friend the same way,
that helps Kimmy realize the error of her ways and apologizes. This shows why
DJ and her family feel strongly about drinking, the loss of a family member can
open people’s eyes and speaking of loss.
Loss
The show
also effectively tackled themes of loss, especially in the beginning.
Here are
some episodes that dealt with the girls’ mother Pam’s passing.
The pilot
shows DJ feeling unhappy about the sudden changes, regarding her mom’s passing,
having to share a room with Stephanie since Joey and Jesse were moving in, but
Danny assures her that even though Pam is gone and things are changing, things
will be okay and they’ll all stick together as a family which helps DJ feel
better, leading to the whole family singing the Flintstones theme song.
The first
Thanksgiving episode shows Jesse holding in the pain, knowing it’s his first
thanksgiving without his sister, he eventually lets it out to Danny, thinking
the pain will go away, but it doesn’t Danny helps him see that talking about
your feelings is a good way to cope with it, something younger kids should be
taught too.
The episode
Goodbye Mr. Bear, shows how some items mean more. The family had their spring
cleaning day and it seems that Stephanie’s favourite toy Mr. Bear might’ve been
accidentally donated and the adults try to get her a new one but nothing works.
At first, Jesse is annoyed by this but softens up when they remember or realize
that Mr. Bear was a gift from Pam when she came home from the hospital with
Michelle, 6 months before she died. The family share many memories and then
watch a home video of when Pam came home with baby Michelle, it shows Joey
bringing in gifts for the older girls. For a happy bit, Michelle takes Mr. Bear
out of an ottoman revealing that she hid him there, which makes Stephanie so
happy. It gets bittersweet as we see Danny and Pam on the video, and the family
looks sad, knowing Pam is gone forever. Now it’s more heartbreaking now that
Bob Saget aka Danny Tanner is gone now, even though Pam’s actress is alive, you
could say Danny and Pam are together now.
Another
episode, The Slumber Party had Stephanie wanting to quit being in the Honeybees
(their version of Girl Scouts) and not wanting to go to the upcoming slumber
party because it’s a mother daughter party, Pam took DJ when she was
Stephanie’s age. Aunt Becky agrees to take Stephanie, but on the night of the
event, her car breaks down and is unable to make it back in time much to
Stephanie’s disappointment. Joey offers to take her, to which Stephanie is
unsure about but reluctantly agrees. With Joey not fitting in, things don’t go
well with the slumber party activities from barbies, jump rope, an egg race
(where you wear heels) and once they suggest makeovers, Stephanie is humiliated
and runs off in tears. After a funny bit with Danny showing Michelle how to
dance to Shake Your Booty (with Jesse behind him) they see Stephanie running to
her room. DJ goes to talk to her, after Stephanie admits to feeling sad seeing
girls with their moms, DJ helps the pain go away by reminding her of the family
she has and that they have each other, which makes her feel better. Then DJ
goes to the party with Stephanie, but not before Stephanie thanks Joey for
taking her, showing him she appreciates the effort, it’s such an emotional
episode showing how love can help you get through loss.
Another
episode tackles another family loss
The episode,
The Last Dance has Jesse’s grandfather Papouli come to visit all the way from
Greece and his cheerful nature rubs off on Michelle. After he teaches her a
Greek dance, she asks him to come to school with her for share time to teach
the class a Greek dance, which he agrees to. Sadly, that doesn’t happen,
because the next day, the whole family (except for Michelle) is sitting in the
kitchen looking really sad, it’s easy to guess what happened. Jesse feels a mix
of emotions, he wishes he could’ve done something about it even though Becky
tries to assure him it wasn’t his fault. Jesse even insists on making the
funeral arrangements alone as a way of dealing with the pain. Then Michelle
comes home from her Honeybee meeting, she made a popsicle stick project for Papouli
but when she asks where he is, Danny tells her that he passed away and Michelle
drops her project on the floor and runs to her room. Stephanie later tells her
not to cry or be sad around Jesse, that meant well but is a big burden for her
to carry (as Shane Wolfe from the Pacifier said).
On the day
Papouli was supposed to teach Michelle’s class a Greek dance, she doesn’t get to
school, Jesse finds her and it takes a while until she tells Jesse about why
she didn’t go to school. Jesse reassures her that it’s okay to be sad, and when
she tells him how Stephanie told her to be strong for him, Jesse tells her that
Stephanie was wrong to tell her that and they should all be willing to share
their feelings, something that’s important for families to do, it cam help kids
grow up to be grounded and caring people. It gets more emotional when Jesse and
Michelle talk about how much they loved him and Michelle reassures him it
wasn’t his fault when he blames himself for not taking care of Papouli, she
reminds him it’s okay to be sad. Then she asks him if it’s okay to cry and
Jesse says yes and the two share a tearful embrace. The episode ends on a sweet
note when Michelle comes to school, she tells her teacher about Papouli and the teacher gives her condolences and encourages her grieving student to try to show the dance. At first, Michelle
has trouble remembering but Jesse comes in and helps her teach the dance much
to the delight of her classmates and teacher.
This episode
handled loss and the feelings one can have when losing a loved one very
maturely, and also had a great message that Pixar taught many years later when
they released Inside Out, that it’s okay to be sad and it’s okay to cry, something
that, like I said earlier, should be taught nowadays.
Silence Is Not Golden
In this
episode, Stephanie comes to school, she talks to the two Jennifers, the cool
girls, until an annoying boy named Charles appears and acts like a fool. The
teachers catches the two squabbling and comes up with an assignment, where two
students have to find the best in each other, she assigns Stephanie and Charles
to be partners.
Charles does
rub the Tanner family the wrong way but as Stephanie and Charles do the
assignment, Michelle comes in to tell Stephanie that she’s in trouble because
she forgot to take out the garbage again. Charles feels concerned and he tells
her to think of a funny movie as he does when his dad gets mad at him, he ends
up revealing his dad hits him, last week he had a black eye. Stephanie and
Charles also see one thing they have in common, their mothers are dead. When
Charles rushes out in fear that his dad will kill him because he forgot to call
him, he makes Stephanie promise to never tell anyone, which she agrees. The
next day, her teacher tells Stephanie that she needs a new partner for her
assignment, because Charles had an accident, she says he fell down the stairs.
Even though Stephanie and the viewers didn’t see it, it’s easy to guess or know
what really did happen. Stephanie at first tries to tell her teacher only to
remember her promise that she bails out. Her interaction with Charles even gets
her to call the Jennifers out when they make fun of him. This worries her so
much that she doesn’t want to hear a joke from Michelle and her friend Denise.
Before we continue, let’s go to Michelle’s plot.
In between
this plot, Michelle and Denise have been calling “funny buddy” where someone
over the phone tells the caller jokes, the only problem is, the call costs
money, so they say nothing, until Danny gets a phone bill. When he calls the
number, as Michelle and Denis tell the joke, Danny says the punchline. After
scolding her, Danny sends Michelle to her room so she can go to bed early. When
Michelle gets mad and complains to Stephanie who calls her out for saying bad
things about their dad. As Michelle goes to brush her teeth, Stephanie goes on
about how some kids have it worse, Jesse (who came in after hearing the girls
argue) wonders what’s going on, it takes a while but then she eventually tells
him. Jesse immediately goes to report this to the police only for Stephanie to
try to stop him. Jesse tells her that while she is a good friend to keep her
promise but this is something she must tell or else she’s letting it happen
again, she relents and lets Jesse call the police. A week later, Jesse tells
her that Charles was put in a foster home, Stephanie at first freaks out, but
Jesse reassures her that she did the right thing and now Charles is safe because
she told someone. They have a little heart to heart moment wondering how anyone
can hurt their child. It ends happily when before dinner, Stephanie hugs Danny
telling him how lucky she is to have him.
When the
episode originally aired, it ended with John Stamos and Jodie Sweetin giving a
brief PSA about what to do if you suspect child abuse and who to call, and I
thank whoever did upload it to YouTube. It’s very important, child abuse is a
serious thing and it takes a lot of courage for a family sitcom, let alone any
show to tackle this type of topic, but it’s still a great way to show how some
children are battling certain hardships and we should help them (I admittedly
am not good at that).
The Volunteer
This is the
last one I’ll be talking about.
DJ goes to
volunteer at a nursing home where she makes friends with a man named Eddie, she
talks with him and plays pool with him. When she has to leave, Eddie wants to
go with her and he’s able to convince her it’s okay, so they leave. Eddie
enjoys visiting the house, but things go wrong when a nurse comes in telling DJ
that he’s not allowed to leave without permission or being signed out by a
family member. When DJ calls to call Eddie out, she notices he doesn’t remember
her name and says rather strange things. Danny comes to DJ and tells her the
nurse told him, he has Alzheimer’s disease and he won’t get better. DJ feels
sad and unsure about coming back because of his condition but Danny reminds her
of why she volunteered in the first place, to help people and tells her that
being there for a friend even when they have health issues, is a great thing to
do and that picks her up and DJ promises to Eddie that she’ll visit him as much
as she can.
It’s a nice
way to help the youth understand what the elderly people go through, especially
those that have grandparents. Plus, it can be a great way to encourage the
youth to volunteer, they can see the benefits of helping others in their
community. I remember when I was 16, in the friendship club, we went to a
retirement home to play bingo with some of the elderly, I played with this
woman, she was nice.
While Full
House may be dismissed as sappy, it’s a lot more, it has the right balance of
sweet and serious which is why it’s a great family sitcom. I hope Netflix puts
the show back because it’s a great show for many generations.
Zoboomafoo
This is
another show from PBS that remains so beloved to this day. The show revolves
around the Kratt Brothers, Chris and Martin who go to a place called Animal
Junction, where they meet their lemur friend Zoboomafoo and they meet so many
animals and learn things about them. Plus, Zoboo would tell tales of his time
in Zobooland, the brothers would take a trip to answer a kids question about
animals and the trio sing a song before saying goodbye.
It was such
a nice show, Zoboo himself was cute as well as the animals that come to Animal
Junction (especially the episode where kittens come). It had some funny running
gags like an avalanche of things fall on the brothers every time they open the
closet (one time they got doused by water), Zoboo falling on a mud puddle or
the brothers yelling, “Duck!” every time a bird comes with a message. It
entertained kids with the cute animals and learning about them and I’m sure
adults or parents can relate to the messy closet. RIP Jovian the lemur, I hope
you’re having a nice time in Zobooland. I’m so happy the Kratt brothers are
still continuing to help and teach about animals. Keep up the good work
brothers!
Franklin
In 1997,
Nelvana Studios created a TV show based on a series of books called Franklin.
The show revolved around a young turtle who learns many life lessons like
saying sorry, not being bossy, playing fair, being true to yourself, generosity,
honesty and more.
I remember
loving it as a child, I had a lot of books , I remember my family especially my
Grammy reading me “Franklin Goes To School”, my first grade teacher read us
some books, one time she played us a Franklin video, I remember in kindergarten
when we watched the episode, Franklin Has A Sleepover, when Franklin, his
parents and Bear dance to “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” the class and I
followed the moves, it was really fun!
In this
episode Franklin and his parents wake up one night to see a fire in the
distance. In the morning Franklin finds out that Mr. Mole’s hardware store got
burned, luckily nobody got hurt. Franklin gets scared when Mr. Turtle talks
about how scary the fire was and when Mr. Moles talks about the possible causes
like faulty wiring or a spark. When Franklin plays with his friends, his fears
increase when Beaver mentions everything would be gone if there was a fire and
how he must be prepared. Franklin ends up getting carried away like putting out
buckets of water, getting rid of candles, putting his toys in the shed and
unplugging the toaster. His parents tell him that fire is useful and while it
is dangerous they must use him wisely, and they remind him of fires he likes,
like birthday candles and campfires. The decide to show him how they think
about fire safety, from having a smoke detector, a fire extinguisher, emergency
numbers and decide to have a fire drill. They use walkie talkies and work
together on tips like feeling the door, Franklin says it’s hot so he won’t open
it and he leaves the room out of the window. This episode helps him feel more
calm. The episode ends with Mr. Mole coming for dinner, telling the family that
the store will be repaired within a week and it will be open again and if
another fire comes, he’ll be ready and Franklin and his family declare that
they’ll be ready too.
This episode
was yet another great way to teach kids about fire safety and what to do,
showing that while things like that can happen and be scary, knowing what to do
and being prepared will make it less scary.
The Muppets
Years ago,
Jim Henson created a comedy sketch, featuring puppets, known as the Muppets. The
show had a series of comedy sketches from the vain Miss Piggy, the talented
Gonzo, the unfunny funny Fozzie bear, the crazy science experiments of
Professor Honeydew and Beaker, the musical talents of The Electric Mayhem
especially from the crazy Animal and the heckling Stalter and Waldorf, not to
mention the show had different celebrities appearing. The show was so good that
it expanded, from an attraction at Disney World, and even movies too.
In 1992, Jim
Henson studios released a movie based on Charles Dicken’s classic story, A
Christmas Carol, with Michael Caine as Scrooge and the Muppets being different
characters like Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Fozzie as
Fozziwig. It would seem strange for the Muppets to make a movie based on such a
dark and scary story, however, they actually nailed it effectively! They don’t
sugarcoat the darkness of the story, the part where Scrooge meets the Ghost Of
Christmas Yet To Come, is creepy from the graveyard and the ghost is creepy, he
has no head and says nothing too. It also remembered one of the turning points
for Scrooge, Bob’s son Tiny Tim. In the present, the jolly Ghost Of Christmas
Present, shows Scrooge Bob and his family and that though, they don’t have
much, they have each other and are thankful, after a beautiful song called,
“Bless Us All” Scrooge notices that Tiny Tim is sick and learns that if things
don’t change, he might die, yes, they used the word die. It gets worse when
they go to the future and Scrooge sees the Cratchit family home is more quiet
and gloomy, seeing Kermit of all characters feel sad but trying to stay strong
for his wife and other children is just so heartbreaking. It gets even worse
when you see Tiny Tim’s hat and crutch on a chair by the fire, it made a lot of
fans cry. Plus, the line he says, might’ve been what the crew might’ve said to
each other since this was the first Muppet movie to be made after Jim Henson
died, it must’ve been hard, yet they still kept going, knowing that is what Jim
would’ve wanted. The movie does have a happy ending, Scrooge is able to change
his ways, give to everyone and invite the Cratchits to a big turkey dinner and
Gonzo assures the audience Tiny Tim did NOT die.
It would
seem out of place for the Muppets to make a movie based on such a dark tale but
if Mickey Mouse could do it well, then the Muppets can too. It’s such a shame
the movie underperformed due to being released around the same time Home Alone
2 and Aladdin were out, but it did gain
a cult following, so all that hard work paid off and I’m sure Jim would’ve
smiled and maybe Charles Dickens too!
Rugrats
In 1991,
Nickelodeon released a cartoon called the Rugrats, a series about babies going
on many adventures or going through natural stages in life and we can see it
from their perspectives. While it was a goofy show with maybe a little too much
potty humour, it did sometimes get serious. Here is the most famous one.
In the
Mother’s Day episode, Angelica tells the babies about Mother’s Day, and when
the babies plan to make gifts for their mothers, they remember that Chuckie is
the only one that doesn’t have a mom. His dad Chaz tries to hide special things
from his deceased wife so Chuckie won’t see it since he can get curious and
might find it, plus it shows how his wife's death has affected him. After a series of mishaps, where Chuckie has Angelica be his mom
and she shoves the babies in a closet for a time out, being the bratty diva she
is, the babies find the box and rummage through it. When Chuckie goes to show
Chaz the picture, he tries to put it away, only for Didi to encourage him to
share them with Chuckie so they can miss her together. He shows his son the
flowers she planted in the garden and shows him her diary she wrote when she
was sick and reads him her last poem for him, telling him how she will always
be there, the wind is her hand on his face, the tree giving him shade is her
giving him shelter, the freckles from the sun is her tickles and the rain is
her tears of joy, the long grass is her holding him tight and the Whipporwill
singing is her saying goodnight. It does a nice way telling Chuckie know where
is mom is and he takes it well and knows she’s always there even if she’s gone,
it’s very emotional and powerful. Plus, it gives Chas a bit of closure from his wife's passing.
The topic
comes back in Rugrats In Paris. When Grandpa Lou gets married, the wedding has
a mother and child dance but Chuckie feels left out because he doesn’t have a
mother. Them, when they fly to France, Chuckie looks out the window and sees a
cloud shape of him and his mother and he cuddles his teddy bear, that his
mother gave him, while Cyndi Lauper’s song I Want A Mom That Will Last Forever.
It ends on a happy note, when Chuckie saves his dad from marrying an evil gold
digger, he marries a lovely woman named Kira who has a daughter from a previous
marriage named Kimi, giving Chuckie a new mom and a new sister, it gives
Chuckie’s mom’s story a bit of closure and it’s nice to show American and Asian
people as a couple, they should show that more often. It’s sweet to see Chuckie
to be happy to have two moms and get the mother dance he always wanted, plus
it’s great to show how one can remarry after the death of their spouse, not to
replace them but to open a new chapter and be happy again. For a show about babies,
that’s very mature, kudos Nickelodeon!
The Wiggles
I’ve decided
to save the best for last, my favourite when I was little would have to be The
Wiggles. From all the way Down Under, four guys, Greg, Murray, Jeff and Anthony,
along with their friends, Dorothy The Dinosaur, Wags The Dog, Henry The Octopus
and Captain Feathersword would sing songs for children songs about healthy
eating, active movement, animals and even the sounds they make, their friends,
road safety and sometimes songs from different parts of the world like France
or Italy. They could entertain children and they would learn things without
even knowing, plus, their videos can be good workout videos because they teach
really great dance moves that can wear you out but can still be worth it, think
of it as Wii Fit without the fat shaming. They even got to have famous Aussie
stars join them, from the late Jimmy Little singing the Seekers’ classic song,
Morningtown Ride, or even the Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin, he and
Terri and Bindi joined them in a video where it had Steve teaching the children
about different types of animals and Captain Feathersword making kids laugh
when he makes animal noises, this crossover for sure beats Avengers Endgame!
I had been a
huge fan since I was about 2 years old, I had a lot of videos and DVDs, I saw a
few concerts, even though I was too young to remember them well, I had a few
toys, I remember my parents giving me a couple of plushes after one concert, I
got Henry for one Christmas and I remember listening to some of the albums
either on long car rides or at home. Plus, I remember my Grammy bringing me
some new tapes and I would watch them at her apartment, that’s probably why
they’re special to me.
I will be
talking about them more in future articles. Stay tuned.
Children
will love them for the colours, the boys and their friends’ goofy moments, from
waking Jeff up or the Captain’s funny antics and be so eager to participate in
the dance moves. What would appeal to the adults is whenever they pay tribute
to classic singers. They have paid tribute to Elvis a lot, in one of their
songs, Shaky Shaky they dressed in Elvis suits, Anthony even spoke like him and
even played the guitar like he did. When they covered Here Comes Santa Clause,
Greg sang the second verse like the king and even in the final verse there were
backing vocals similar to Elvis’ cover of the classic song, I kid you not, this
is what got me to listen to Elvis’ cover, kudos mates! They even have shown
respect for the Beatles, if you watch the 90s videos, you’d probably notice at
least one of them, mostly Murray, playing the Hofner Bass guitar, the exact one
Paul McCartney did and probably still does play. Plus, in the Sam era (this guy
took over for Greg because he had to retire due to illness) they did a song
called The Shimmie Shake where the boys not only dressed like the Beatles but
they even wore wigs too! The kids might not understand them but it can give the
parents something nice too, especially if they listened to Elvis and The
Beatles growing up, it could be a great intro to music before the kids listen
to these classic guys. Some could even call The Wiggles, the Beatles for kids!
Parents would also appreciate how great they are with kids, since 3 of them
studied to be preschool teachers they were able to learn about kids and what
they love and also how they treat children like people and not idiots. They also
manage to be happy a lot without making it too sappy. They also show how much
they care about children. They’ve taken part in charity cases to help kids or
families, like Red Nose Day, to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, they like
to meet fans with special needs and treat them like equals and 2 months after
9/11 they came to New York to perform a few shows to give all the families a
ray of hope that they will be okay and that they’re all in it together,
including a family who lost their husband and father in the disaster, it was so
sweet. It shows that they never did it for the money but to make children happy
and that’s a sign that humanity is not lost. They’d probably appreciate how
inclusive it is, seeing how Jeff is part Asian part Australian and in their
videos, they made sure to include black children and treat them all like
equals. Even now, with new members of the group, they still respect children,
one of the new ones Tsehay wrote a book about how there are different kinds of
children but they all have something in common, since she’s
Ethiopian-Australian and was adopted by a white family, a great way to let
those kids know how special they are. Plus, during the Emma era, they wrote a
beautiful song entitled, “It’s Okay To Cry,” to help children know that it’s okay
to feel sad when certain things happen like moving to a new place or losing a
family member (this song was made after Emma’s grandmother passed away), it has
moved me sometimes, like I said before, it’s good to teach kids that so they
can be more in tune with their feelings and be emotionally healthy, helps that
it came out the same year Inside Out came out, a movie that taught the same
lesson, can’t wait for the sequel! I am more into the older era but I do
appreciate how they still bring joy to children and make positive influences,
continue to do well mates!!
Before I go
further, I highly recommend you see the Wiggles documentary on Amazon Prime,
it’s so good, it will make you dance and maybe make you cry a little.
Conclusion
It is
natural to grow out of things like our childhood shows, however if you still
watch them and probably feel ashamed of it because people give you a hard time
or make fun of you for it, I want to say, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. They
can be fun, take you back to your childhood, and even make you learn or relearn
something that will stick with you forever and give you some much needed joy. In
a world of cynicism and pressure, remembering those things you enjoyed in your
childhood can bring you joy and help you get through any challenges as Christopher
Robin and Peter Banning learnt. If people give you crap, let them, because it’s
what you love, I was given crap by some people growing up for watching shows
meant for a younger audience including some family members, but I have to
remember it’s what I love and I shouldn’t care what others think. Plus, if
someone gives you crap, show them this article to help them see how “babyish”
these shows are and maybe they’ll think twice. Always remember you’re never too
old for these shows no matter what anyone says, you’re only too old when you
say you are!
These shows
are great examples of why kids shows can be enjoyed by adults too, from their
ability to deliver serious messages and pay tribute to stars that only the
adults would understand giving them something to enjoy too!
What shows
did you love and still love growing up? Which shows do you think are great for
kids and adults too? Let me know in the comments!
Never forget
your childhood and embrace your inner child!
As a bonus, here's a picture where you can see many tapes of my favourite shows when I was little.
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