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friday five
Jun. 14th, 2002 10:42 am1. Television these days seems to be a staple in a child's life -- in many ways, it's always been a part of a kid's day or weekend. Did you watch television as a child? What shows were your favorites? Describe your most vivid television memory from childhood.
did i watch TELEVISION as a child? what a question. yes. i watched a lot of television, much to my parents' chagrin. my favorite stuff was ALWAYS muppet related. i watched sesame street religiously, and the muppet show, and fraggle rock. i remember being really upset when my parents got rid of the pay channels and i couldn't watch fraggle rock anymore. bogus. my mother was also totally cool with me watching the cosby show, so that became one of my favorites. of course, that also led to me wanting to watch more and more dumb eighties sitcoms, especially the older i got and the more i wanted to be able to compare notes with my classmates about the previous night's episode of full house. *shudder* and don't even get me started on nickelodeon! you can't do that on television, pinwheel, today's special, turkey television, belle and sebastian, and then later there was FIFTEEN! the worst show ever! which i watched CONSTANTLY!
but i guess my most vivid childhood television memory is when everyone on sesame street met snuffy for the first time. i knew it was going to happen, so i taped it while i was at school. and recently, i taped it again, off of noggin, so i have it in non-beta format.
2. Saturday morning cartoons have changed a lot in the past 30 years. What were your favorite shows? Why? What cartoon character did you love the most? Which one did you hate? Describe your Saturday morning cartoon routine.
i liked the flintstone kids the very best, i think. but i also liked the chipmunks and the care bears. and there was one year that there was a show called foofur -- i liked that one. and gummi bears. and pee wee's playhouse was pretty cool. i also remember there being a teen wolf cartoon one year. i never liked the alf cartoons, though i liked the show. i used to wake up early to watch them, and when i was very young i bounced around between channels a lot. but by '87 or '88, i was pretty singularly committed to the nbc lineup. i liked nbc sitcoms the best, so i enjoyed that the stars of family ties or my two dads would indroduce each show. when i was very young, i liked abc because it had the littles and teddy ruxpin, as well as (i think) schoolhouse rock reruns. but that ended after the '85 season, i think. and then, there was saved by the bell, to usher me into my early adolescence. yikes. i stopped watching around the time that nbc put that sports show with ahmad rashad on at the end of the lineup. i felt betrayed that sports was intruding on my precious cartoon time.
3. If you have children, work with children, or have friends/relatives with children, what are their favorite television shows? Which shows make you stop and scratch your head in amazement, either because they're funny, weird, or just out there? What makes today's children's programming different from the kind you experienced as a kid?
i don't spend any time with kids at the moment, but i do think the quality of children's television has declined. most of my observations come from sesame street, though. i still love to watch old episodes of sesame street on noggin, but i just can't even WATCH the new ones. and those crappy teen shows on nbc saturdays will never touch the sublime cheese that was saved by the bell. i think it's gotten more and more dumbed down. sesame street, when i was a kid, had clever puns and pop culture and literature references that parents could enjoy while watching with their kids. now it's just stupid pop songs about how elmo says you should wash your hands. whatever.
4. What is the ideal family relationship with the television? Describe how your family handled television viewing? How, if at all, has your attitude changed since you've matured? If you have kids, how do you handle television with them? If you don't have kids, what might you do?
my sister, growing up, was only allowed to watch one hour of television a week, which she allocated to little house on the prairie. that didn't include public television, of which she was allowed to watch as much as she wanted. by the time i came around, my mother's hippie values had weakened a tad, so i was allowed to watch considerably more than that. i also came of age at the brink of the video revolution. my father, being a gadget freak, had already gotten cable (including the fledgling pay channels), and when i was two he bought a betamax. so i watched a lot of childrens programming on showtime (like faerie tale theatre), and video cartoons that my father and i would go out and rent at the beta hut.
i don't think kids should be allowed to watch unlimited television, but i don't think they shouldn't be allowed to watch any, either. and i think it's important for parents to watch with their kids, so that if controversial issues raise themselves, you know about it, and can share your opinion with your child. and i think kids should be encouraged more to play! make up stories, use their imagination, do artwork, so that after school they don't just plunk down in front of the tv for hours. my mom always had me look through the tv guide and point out beforehand what shows i was planning to watch, rather than just flipping endlessly.
5. What children's programming would you like to see continue or return from your childhood? Why? Is it possible for something that's "old" to become "fresh and new" for today's kids? Why or why not?
i would love to see a channel entirely devoted to children's programming of the seventies and eighties. LOVE it. in fact, i would love to WORK at such a station. the songs from the electric company are just as cool now as they were back then. i don't think remakes of shows are ever successful. the new zoom is total ass. but if kids haven't seen the originals, it's new to them! i would personally love if my kids had access to the stuff i watched as a kid, because i loved it so much. i would love to watch with them!
did i watch TELEVISION as a child? what a question. yes. i watched a lot of television, much to my parents' chagrin. my favorite stuff was ALWAYS muppet related. i watched sesame street religiously, and the muppet show, and fraggle rock. i remember being really upset when my parents got rid of the pay channels and i couldn't watch fraggle rock anymore. bogus. my mother was also totally cool with me watching the cosby show, so that became one of my favorites. of course, that also led to me wanting to watch more and more dumb eighties sitcoms, especially the older i got and the more i wanted to be able to compare notes with my classmates about the previous night's episode of full house. *shudder* and don't even get me started on nickelodeon! you can't do that on television, pinwheel, today's special, turkey television, belle and sebastian, and then later there was FIFTEEN! the worst show ever! which i watched CONSTANTLY!
but i guess my most vivid childhood television memory is when everyone on sesame street met snuffy for the first time. i knew it was going to happen, so i taped it while i was at school. and recently, i taped it again, off of noggin, so i have it in non-beta format.
2. Saturday morning cartoons have changed a lot in the past 30 years. What were your favorite shows? Why? What cartoon character did you love the most? Which one did you hate? Describe your Saturday morning cartoon routine.
i liked the flintstone kids the very best, i think. but i also liked the chipmunks and the care bears. and there was one year that there was a show called foofur -- i liked that one. and gummi bears. and pee wee's playhouse was pretty cool. i also remember there being a teen wolf cartoon one year. i never liked the alf cartoons, though i liked the show. i used to wake up early to watch them, and when i was very young i bounced around between channels a lot. but by '87 or '88, i was pretty singularly committed to the nbc lineup. i liked nbc sitcoms the best, so i enjoyed that the stars of family ties or my two dads would indroduce each show. when i was very young, i liked abc because it had the littles and teddy ruxpin, as well as (i think) schoolhouse rock reruns. but that ended after the '85 season, i think. and then, there was saved by the bell, to usher me into my early adolescence. yikes. i stopped watching around the time that nbc put that sports show with ahmad rashad on at the end of the lineup. i felt betrayed that sports was intruding on my precious cartoon time.
3. If you have children, work with children, or have friends/relatives with children, what are their favorite television shows? Which shows make you stop and scratch your head in amazement, either because they're funny, weird, or just out there? What makes today's children's programming different from the kind you experienced as a kid?
i don't spend any time with kids at the moment, but i do think the quality of children's television has declined. most of my observations come from sesame street, though. i still love to watch old episodes of sesame street on noggin, but i just can't even WATCH the new ones. and those crappy teen shows on nbc saturdays will never touch the sublime cheese that was saved by the bell. i think it's gotten more and more dumbed down. sesame street, when i was a kid, had clever puns and pop culture and literature references that parents could enjoy while watching with their kids. now it's just stupid pop songs about how elmo says you should wash your hands. whatever.
4. What is the ideal family relationship with the television? Describe how your family handled television viewing? How, if at all, has your attitude changed since you've matured? If you have kids, how do you handle television with them? If you don't have kids, what might you do?
my sister, growing up, was only allowed to watch one hour of television a week, which she allocated to little house on the prairie. that didn't include public television, of which she was allowed to watch as much as she wanted. by the time i came around, my mother's hippie values had weakened a tad, so i was allowed to watch considerably more than that. i also came of age at the brink of the video revolution. my father, being a gadget freak, had already gotten cable (including the fledgling pay channels), and when i was two he bought a betamax. so i watched a lot of childrens programming on showtime (like faerie tale theatre), and video cartoons that my father and i would go out and rent at the beta hut.
i don't think kids should be allowed to watch unlimited television, but i don't think they shouldn't be allowed to watch any, either. and i think it's important for parents to watch with their kids, so that if controversial issues raise themselves, you know about it, and can share your opinion with your child. and i think kids should be encouraged more to play! make up stories, use their imagination, do artwork, so that after school they don't just plunk down in front of the tv for hours. my mom always had me look through the tv guide and point out beforehand what shows i was planning to watch, rather than just flipping endlessly.
5. What children's programming would you like to see continue or return from your childhood? Why? Is it possible for something that's "old" to become "fresh and new" for today's kids? Why or why not?
i would love to see a channel entirely devoted to children's programming of the seventies and eighties. LOVE it. in fact, i would love to WORK at such a station. the songs from the electric company are just as cool now as they were back then. i don't think remakes of shows are ever successful. the new zoom is total ass. but if kids haven't seen the originals, it's new to them! i would personally love if my kids had access to the stuff i watched as a kid, because i loved it so much. i would love to watch with them!
