A big part of my job involves children's television. Typically, Sprout (a 24-7 preschool television station) stays on during the day as background noise, or the occasional distraction when one of the babies are in the midst of a crying spree (love you Chica!) That being said, there are several shows that are beloved by children everywhere that just grate my nerves.
What's funny is that I remember the flip side. I was OBSESSED with Barney and Friends when I was a toddler. I had Barney curtains, bed sheets, sippy cups and plates. My earliest baby picture shows the bald toothless me grinning at the camera and surrounded by both Barney and Baby Bop. I had all the tapes, and I would sit in front of the tv for hours replaying the same show I had seen a million times. In the car, "I love you, you love me" and "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" were two of my favorite songs to sing.
I'm fairly sure I recall my dad saying something about a Barney dartboard that he and my mother would bring out after I had toddled to bed in my little Barney nightgown.
But now, as an adult who goes around with the "This is a Song About Elmo" stuck in my head, I can see why adults form such unwarranted hatred against fictional children's characters.
For starters, Caillou. On the outside, cute, well rounded (no pun initially intended but I rather like it) 4 year old boy transitioning between the awkward toddler stage in life to a preschooler. He makes mistakes like any other preschooler (and how he resolves them are great teaching tools) but man! That kid is so whiny! Seriously Caillou, grow some hair (and a pair) and quit talking like a teenager who thinks she's doing a cute baby impression (but sounds nothing like a baby).
Thomas and Friends. I hate you. Your shows are boring, even after you transitioned from narrating toys to computer animated characters. And the theme song! Nobody in the show has a British accent, yet there's a chorus of British girls waxing on about trains and their personalities. ("The cheeky one?" Really?)
Tree Fu Tom, maybe it's because I'm a girl, or maybe its because you take 10 friggin minutes out of your "dire situation" in order to teach children how to use "big world magic". I'm sorry but clapping your hands and jumping back and forth on one foot never got you anything in life except funny looks.
However, just as I transitioned from enjoying Barney and Blue's Clues to my preteen Disney years (remember Lizzie McGuire?) into my current sadistic enjoyment of the raunchy jokes on Family Guy, I'm sure when I look back on the shows I watch now, I will think they are just as terrible as my current opinion of Yo Gabba Gabba.
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