Surely, you've heard that Big Bird and his friends have turned 40. There's been plenty of both low-brow and high-minded things written about it.
The New York Times, as usual, did a complete job with the subject matter. Their story documented how, over the years, Sesame Street lost some of its grime and cookie obsession and gained some princess fantasy and corporate sponsorship. As with all of us, there is good and bad in aging.
But while others explore the history of children's television, I want to lament the loss of one particular kind of children's television -- the family hour.
If you don't remember that phrase, you can get a history of it from the Museum of Broadcast Communications. The basic point is that there was once a time when shows that aired at 8 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Central) were supposed to be appropriate for parents and children to watch together.
It has obviously been long forgotten. But I was reminded of it recently when reading about the BBC series, Robin Hood, which is good campy fun. A major character dies at one point, and commentators noted a laughable lack of blood in the scene because it aired in the UK before the "watershed hour." (Which is their less aptly named version of the family hour.)
I suddenly realized that I probably could watch Robin Hood with my kids. There were a couple of scenes early on that were a bit grim, (and my children are quite young) but overall.... maybe.
This is startling! Because in vast world of American television, a place that includes Lost and Glee and Law and Order and Bones and Vl and Mad Men, there's not a single show I can think of that I'd consider unobjectional for younger children.
This actually is part of the appeal of "reality tv." American Idol and The Amazing Race are (sometimes only marginally) appropriate viewing for kids.
When I was kid, I watched The Waltons with my parents. And Little House on the Prairie. There was a show about a paramedic crew and The Hardy Boys. I suspect some of those shows have moments that would make me cringe now. Kids probably engaged in fistfights for sport and men probably did sexist and annoying stuff.
But at least by the standards of the time, it was the sort of thing that a 7-year-old could watch with her mom. (As opposed to Sesame Street, which is the sort of thing you watch while your mom is, very happily, doing something else.)
Certainly, the genie is out of the bottle on this issue. We are never going to have a "family hour," designated by time again, and ... who cares? I don't watch ANYTHING when it is actually aired anyway. I don't think all shows need to be sanitized for children. I don't even think most shows do. Children, like the rest of us, don't need to be watching that much tv anyway.
But in the entire glut of bad programing coming out of Hollywood these days, can they really not make one show where everyone keeps their clothes on and no one dissects dead bodies.
My son and i spend an hour each night watching "Family Guy" and "My Name is Earl" before we play GTA IV where we kill all those hookers and dope dealers. He quit watching Sesame Street when he was 5 because Bert and Ernie made him uncomfortable.
A lot of people have suggested animated shows -- Family Guy, Sponge Bob, etc. I know animated shows are sophisticated and "grown-up" now, but I still just have a thing about them. I can not defend this. I know it is irrational.
Let's discuss parenting as it exists here in Louisville, Ky., at the beginning of the 21st Century -- the ridiculous, the worrisome and the occasional moment that makes it all worthwhile
Surely, you've heard that Big Bird and his friends have turned 40. There's been plenty of both low-brow and high-minded things written about it.
1
