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They yell all the time! Every emotion is shock, horror, or some kind of perpetual (fake) joy. Every line in the show is in that tone of voice that patronizing adults use with small children.
"Which one is the big yellow flower?!"
"noooooooooot that one!"
"is it (pause) thiiiiiiis one?"
"YAY! THE BIG YELLOW FLOWER! LA FLORA AMARILLA!"
and then they walk around a bit more and get in sudden danger.
"OH NO! A T-REX!"
"WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!? A T-REX!"
and then they say something totally inane like,
"LOOK! THE COMPUTER TRAIL GUIDE TELLS US THAT A T-REX CAN'T SEE YOU IF YOU HOLD STILL!"
thus propagating some fake science on top of it all.
What ever happened to Mr. Rogers? He was so nice and calm and soothing. He never yelled at me or told me how to say "Jurrasic Park is a valid scientific source" in Spanish.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
That's funny. That was Porter's reaction to Dora too, that they are yelling all the time--basically that their normal "talking" voices are yelling. It was weird because I didn't think of it that way.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Mr. Rogers was my favorite when I was little. Though I kept getting confused when I wanted to see the movie Mr. Roberts (starring Harry Fonda) and would be unable to remember which one was Mr. Rogers and which was Mr. Roberts...
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I like a lot of children's programming. I like Blue's Clues, Sesame Street, Teletubbies. Dora isn't educational or entertaining. It's just loud!
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I have often thought there is not enough Nova in the world. If there were a "Nova Channel", I would watch it. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:You should get teh Nova channel, that's great programming for kids, nothing but Nova programs!
Oh man, you got my hopes up there for a minute.
The Discovery Channel used to be great, but now it's the True Crime Channel. I really wish they had a Nova Channel.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I'm pretty sure you don't get the cooking channel, but if you do, you should totally watch that, everyone young and old loves the cooking channel!
Well not everything on it, Emril for instance is one of the 4 horseman...
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I don't like Dora the Explorer for that exact reason. Of course I don't like Bob the Builder for being the exact opposite(its too quiet and calm)...........but it doesn't really matter..............what we need is another old guy who sings while tying his shoes...........anyone up for the job???
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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OK, the weirdest of all is the Poombahs, or something. WHAT ARE THEY??? They make Teletubbies look like folks you would have over for dinner.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Yes, I guess something that appears to be peeking out of its own torso is quite creepy. No wonder they don't talk, they don't have mouths!
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Apparently all you have to do to stop someone from stealing your things is to yell a derivative of their name that means to steal and tell them not to do it.
And all songs must consist of about three words or less. For example : "I'm the map."
Why do little kids like watching this stuff? I swear I didn't when I was younger.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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He died. So far as we are aware at this time, that precludes his making any more shows.
I do agree, though, that Mr. Rogers was excellent children's programming. I watched it all the time, along with Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Square One Television.
I don't watch contemporary children's programming, because there are no children living in my home. So for the most part, I'm not forced to see what any of it is like. My sister does have children, and they seem to enjoy Dora. What little I've seen of it bugged the crap out of me. Dora does yell too much, and that bloody map song . . . argh!
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I've never seen Dora, but a little girl I babysit loves it. Maybe because Dora looks like her, and speaks a bit of spanish, maybe just because it has bright colors. Sophia is almost 3 and was adopted from Guatamala in fall of 2002.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Hmmm, as a kid I didn't really like children's programming. The only one I loved was Reading Rainbow, but I was always very confused about how Geordi could see.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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NFL, I agree that "Dora" has an amazing lack of basis in reality, even when compared to the fluffy Saturday morning cartoons we used to watch.
It also seems like a lot of children's educational shows are so dumbed down. Sesame Street is a prime example. I think I would still enjoy watching the episodes I loved as a kid. Now they are just innane. Everything has to follow a boring pattern. Ugh. Before you never knew what you were getting.
No doubt today's children's ed programs entertain and hold their interest, but I don't think they teach much. Are kids stupider this generation? I don't think so.
Blue's Clues seems to send really mixed messages as to what age level it is for. As far as I'm concerned, Teletubbies teaches that if you make a mess, someone else will clean it up for you. And Boobah is supposed to get children to be active while watching, since apparently they were too mesmerized by Teletubbies. But they are *more* mesmerized by Boobah, not less! They don't "get up and dance" with the Boobahs as intended. Nah, they just laugh at them.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I miss Reading Rainbow. I loved the flying pig story and the one about the Russian easter eggs. Shocking that I still remember those. I also used to watch Mr. Rogers but HATED that speedy delivery guy because he was very, very annoying. I did like the trolley alot and the owl that liked Ben Franklin. Arthur and Berenstein Bears are kind of cool. I really liked the Arthur books a lot when I read them to kids in Americorps. In fact, I liked the books more than the kids did.
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Boohbahs look like really fat belly dancers with veiled faces.
I loved Sesame Street, but even Sesame Street is overproduced now. When I was in HS, I loved watching Noggin-- non-stop re-runs of classic kids' programming!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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We don't have Noggin, but from what I have seen, Oobie is amazingly mesmerizing and soothing to the soul....
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I loved Mr Rogers as a kid. But I always laugh when I think about it now. I mean, how can it be a beautiful day in the neighborhood when you've got 150 factories in the same town? But for the most part, I'm glad they had the foresight to change Mr. Rogers's name from Fred McFeely to Mr. Rodgers (And they decided to name the mailman Mr. McFeely, for some odd reason.) For some reason, I don't think Mr. McFeely's Neighborhood would have made it past the parent radar
As for Boobah...Did anyone else get the idea that maybe Homestar Runner got ripped off with that show? I mean, in silhouette, those things TOTALLY look like Pom-Pom.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I always loved the songs they'd come up with.
[sings]Probability, don't you mess with me. Help me make the most of a chaaaance. . .[/sings]
[sings]I night, the stars were glowin', II hearts were overflowin', III woooooords. . .[/sings]
[sings]Nine, nine, nine. That crazy number nine. Times any number you can find, it all comes back to nine![/sings]
[sings]One million is big, one billion is bigger. One thousand times one million. That's one billion![/sings]
I really wish they'd put Square One back on the air. Or at least release it on DVD. Now that was a show that was always educational and never condescending. Unquestionably, one of the finest children's programs ever produced.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Hmmm, I always hated square one because it always (and still does) bothered me when each scene is not connected to the others (yes, I am not a SNL fan).
But I loved Mathnet, probably because I was a Dragnet fan as a kid.
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I still remember the palindrome song. Not the words, just the fact that they had a palindrome song, and that I will always remember what a palindrome is because of it.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:One million is big, one billion is bigger. One thousand times one million. That's one billion!
I remember that to this day! Wasn't it Run DMC who was singing it? That little rhyme comes in so handy. I think it was that same episode that taught me: one million seconds is 11 days. One billion seconds is 32 years.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I met Mr. Rogers when I was a kid...I was too shy to talk to him (if you can imagine that, me being shy... ) like the other kids, but at the end of the plane ride he came over to me and gave me a picture of himself, signed, and shook my hand.
Mr parents grew up in the same general area he was from, and my mom recently told me that they knew people in the neighborhood, and that Mr. Rogers was on of the kindest and most unassuming people they had ever met, and that everyone in the neighborhood thought he was great.
It restored my faith in PBS a bit to know that he was the same in RL as he was on his show...a man who adored children and wanted nothing from them but to help them learn and grow.
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"I ain't got no body" Talking heads. hee! I thought it was "Help me make the ghost of a chance... *wonders why I still remember all these things*
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Bionic Bionix six, oooo oooo. We stand together, we fight for right. ect Or the Thundercat's theme... And a host of other stuff like that. My brain is the Encyclopaedia Esoterica, it's an attic of useless things.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I wouldn't mind Emeril so much if he'd expand his vocabulary beyond twenty words. Even Saturday Night Live doesn't fall back on worn out catchphrases as often as he does.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Annie: We hate the yelling too. Jes makes fun of it all the time. At bedtime he says in this falsetto: "Goodnight kids! Sleep good in your beds! Where are the beds?! Past the door, on the floor, next to the closet! Door! Floor! Closet!"
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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