By Jeanne AdamsSome of you have children. Other's don't, but whether you do or don't or you have neices, nephews or grandchildren, most of you either have heard of Thomas the Tank Engine, or you wish you hadn't EVER heard of Thomas and all his myriad of pals.
Or, if you raised girls - or were one (yes, I mean YOU) - you probably can regretfully say that you know the name of all the Polly Pockets dolls or the Bratz or Malibu Barbie and Friends.
Then, if you've got little ones like I do, you are bombarded by Disney's overwhelmingly cute characters like Dora the Explorer, Diego, her cousin; The Wiggles; or Bob the Builder. If you've got older kids, you probably had to live with Barney, Beanie Babies, Clifford The Big Red Dog and Berenstein Bears.Disney has a new group of four singing, dancing, educational guys called The Imagination Movers. Okay, I know this has been done, but for the kids, it just never gets old. They're pretty good singers too, by the way.
Then there's the ubiquitous Sesame Street. I feel old when I realize that I remember 
watching Sesame Street myself.Of course my favorite was Captain Kangaroo. Anyone remember him? My least favorite was Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Fred Rogers freaked me out. He's my mental pattern card for a serial killer, don't ask me why. He was by all accounts a fabulous person, really kind and dedicated to children's education. Still, he gives ME the willies!
One of my newer favorites is Zaboomafoo.
The Kratt Brothers have all these cool animals on the show...shades of Marlin
Perkins and Wild Kingdom. My kids could care less, but I like to watch it! Ha! (Probably because poor got-a-Timex-Marlin and hold-the-croc-for-me-Jim are dead and gone and Discovery is a weeeee bit TOO graphic for tender hearted me!)Anyway, I often wonder who sits around and writes the scripts.
Really. Have you LISTENED to this stuff??
I mean, how many ways can you rescue the butterflies, mend a friendship, settle a dispute, find something....you get the picture.
The other thing I REALLY wonder about is what the guys are smoking when they make up the songs for the kids shows. Seriously, would YOU ever sit down and write a song like "Whoop, whoop, chugga-chugga, Big Red Car!" which, like Louie-Louie, repeats the same thing over and over about ten or twelve times. And we adults KNOW that the guy who wrote Louie-Louie was smoking something, fer sher, dude.
Or there's the ever popular, "I'm a cow, yeah, yeah, I'm a cow. I have horns, yeah, yeah. I say moo, yeah, yeah..." and "Tie me kangaroo down, sport, tie me kangaroo down..."
Smoking. Something. You betcha.Silly songs aside, I realized that we all do the same thing whether we write kids shows, romance novels, literary fiction, or even fantasy. We write tales of what people do. In the main, its pretty simple. Boy meets girl. Girl likes boy, boy likes girl, complications interfere, are overcome and voila/presto/ta-dah, Happily Ever After.
(Or, if you're more the literary type, boy meets boy, meets life, meets tragedy, parents disapprove, everyone dies and the Earth is desolate....oh, sorry, that's my cynical view of literary fiction these days. Ooops. :> There are some I like. Really... )
Rewind. Back to the bizarre point I was making. Ahem. In kids lit and kids TV, it's friends go on an adventure, solve a problem, and come back home for snacks. "This Mystery is History!" Tigger claims at the end of every episode of My Friends Tigger and Pooh. My youngest son can't get enough of it. He knows how it will end, but he doesn't care, his attention is riveted to Tigger, Darby (Christopher Robin's younger cousin), Rabbit, Owl and Pooh. He's the same with Thomas,
and Diego.As a grown up, realizing that I do the same thing, I had to laugh. Then, as he immersed himself in Tigger and Pooh, I picked up Donna MacMeans Trouble With Moonlight and was just as engrossed as my son. Perhaps more so, since I made lunch with the book in one hand and the spatula in the other.
My son actually stopped long enough to eat. I did not.
My favorite kid stuff, of which my own kids never tire, is Scooby Doo. Now Scooby is about 186 in dog years long about now. It doesn't matter to my two boys. They know every Scooby Doo movie pretty much by heart. The "golly-jeepers" humor cracks them up. Shaggy eating everything in sight cracks them up. The fact that the monsters are always guys in (bad) makeup, never phases them, and usually cracks them up. The improbabilities never phases them. You get the picture. Scooby just cracks them up.
I love it too, improbabilities, bad clothes and all. No guns. No tanks. No warplanes. No world domination a la Pokeman or Yuh-gi-oh. No slaying or intense weeping, wailing or gnashing of teeth.And Shaggy and Scooby crack me up too. ZOINKS!!
So, does Scooby still make you laugh?
What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?
Did you get into role playing as if you were one of those characters?
Are there any of your kids' cartoons or characters that you abhor?
(I really dispise Barney, I must say and was eternally grateful my sons didn't like him)
What about the music? Does it amuse you or drive you nuts?
What Sunday morning comics do you read first?
67 comments:
Hey, I gave ya'll a chance to get to Chook! Now he's all mine, hehehehe. I'm visiting a prison tomorrow. Maybe I'll take him along. You think that might traumatize him?
I love this topic, Jeanne. Children's programs and cartoons are so mesmerizingly addictive and I can't figure out why. They didn't have those kinds of programs when I was little, but I do remember Howdy Doody. Does that count?
My kids liked Mr. Rogers, but whenever my husband came home from school, he'd cringe and insist we turn it off. He really did NOT like Mr. Rogers.
I love Sesame Street, even today. I know it's old hat, but it's sooooo good and I love the characters -- Ernie and Bert and all of the gang.
Probably not as much as being at my Pizza party! Trying to get ready for it has traumatized ME!
HAHAHAHAHHAHA!
Yes, that was crazed laughter.
Jeanne, my son LOVED Mr. Rogers and I never could understand why. You think he epitomizes a serial killer?!?!? I think he might BORE me to death.....
AC
Btw, I was talking about the GR being traumatized. That was the only post up when I was writing...
But yes, I'm afraid I really AM that incoherent right now! Off to organize the party supplies.
AC
Visiting a prison, Jo? Did you arrange that before or after the nefarious fowl came to visit?
I LOVE Sesame Street. It cracks me up that there's a vampire who's the Count who loves to Count. And Placido Flamingo. And Cookie Monster and Grover and... Actually I'm sure all those characters are old hat, but they still live in my heart.
When I was a little girl, I loved the Disney fairytales. They were so romantic and I always wanted to be the princess - sadly when it came time for casting school plays, I always got witches or grandmothers, which is a cruel lesson in real life for a little girl to learn!
Woo! Congrats on the GR, Jo! Is he watching any cartoons tonight? ;)
Jeanne! Sacrilege! You don't like Mr. Rogers!? ;) I actually remember enjoying it a lot, and for some reason, my kids don't watch his show much, but they've really liked his books (they're these photo books).
OK, onto your questions... I haven't watched Scooby Doo in ages, so I don't know whether I'd still find it as funny. My favorite cartoon was probably Tom and Jerry or Rocky and Bullwinkle, although I imagine I'd have second thoughts about letting my kids watch them now :) I don't recall role-playing any of the characters though.
Like you, I abhor Barney--I never let my kids watch, so I don't know whether they'd have liked him or not. And Caillou annoyed us so much we stopped letting our kids watch him either. The Wiggles scare me just a bit (guess it's a good thing the kids didn't get into them).
My daughter does love Hi-5 though--they're pretty cute, and the music's catchy :) And our youngest loves Diego; Wow, Wow Wubbzy; and Super Why!
For Sunday comics, I love Baby Blues, although my all time favorites are Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and The Far Side.
Anna, I LOVE Sesame Street still! I remember when Mr. Snufalufagas (sp?) was someone only Big Bird could see so you weren't sure if he was real or imaginary. Guess I'm dating myself!
I grew up on Sesame Street, Electric Company, and Looney Toons. I honestly credit the first two with helping me learn to read. Sesame Street TAUGHT you to sound out words. A critical skill. It was a wonderful show.
My issue with most of the "kids shows" that were on when my son was at that age, is that they weren't really educational. They stopped trying to help kids learn, and instead started to focus on entertaining them. It's like there was encouragement to use the television as a babysitter.
Not. In. My. House.
Now, I have no problem with entertainment. I didn't think it was unreasonable for me to plant myself in front of the TV for an hour every Saturday morning and watch Road Runner drop anvils on Wile E. Coyote. And during the week, I got an hour in front of the TV both being taught and entertained by Electric Company and Sesame Street.
I don't think it was unreasonable for my kid to catch an hour of the "entertainment-based" kids shows once a week. But after an hour, that TV got switched to NASA TV. If he wanted to watch that, fine. The kid could not only name the flight control surfaces of a fixed wing aircraft at age three, but he could describe how they affected the aircraft's attitude, pitch, and yaw. And not only that, but he knew what attitude, pitch, and yaw meant.
Most of the time, I view TV as destructive for a young mind. My poor oppressed kid. He sure didn't get much of it in his younger days. But now that he's a little older, and a little better equipped, he has a lot more leeway in what he does with his time. And, sadly, he still spends too much time watching that thing. In my opinion, of course.
What a fun post, Jeanne!
I still like Sesame Street. I'm still amazed how they worked the education in with the song lyrics and the little spoofs. I wish I could still find Fraggle Rock on somewhere and I must admit I liked the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Not fond of Mr. Rogers - or that kindergarten lady with the magic looking glass.
Hope you're loving The Trouble with Moonlight. That is such a fun book.
Oh - and I read whichever comic is on the front page of the comic section first and work my way through - but I always read the comics first before any other part of the newspaper.
Hey Jeanne! Great post. (Cracked me up about the Marlin and Jim stuff!)
Scooby was always a must watch when I was a kid. I also LOVEDDDDDDDDD Johnny Quest, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Flintstones and the Jetsons.
Sesame Street started when I was in sixth grade, but it came on early enough that we watched it before going to school...of course I watched it because my little sister wanted to...yeah, that's the ticket!
My kids loved the Animaniacs, and a show on Nickelodeon...Sharon, Lois and Bram's Elephant show. Talk about your weird songs...
Skinna-ma-rinky-dink, Skinna-ma-rinky-doo...
Yep, someone was smokin somthing!
Oh yeah, and Reading Rainbow was a must in the summers at our house...followed by Bob Ross' paining show. (hmmm wonder why my girls like to paint?)
Bob Ross' painTing...geesh, guess I'd best put on my glasses
I love love love comics/ cartoons. Sadly I haven't seen any in a while - and the ones today are soo different from when I was growing up (which honestly wasn't that long ago). My favorite character is eeyore :D
Well done Jo enjoy your day with him (in prison?)
Great post Jeanne I love cartoons and I love scooby doo still but my favourites would have been looney tunes bugs bunny daffy duck yes love them.
When my kids were young they loved sesame street playschool romper room 3 of mine went on romper room they loved humphrey b bear as well.
My grandkids love The wiggles high 5 we have taken them to a couple of their concerts Jayden can't get enough of them and as for big red car according to Jayden it is red big car we even have all the songs from the wiggles on CD and everytime we get in the car with Jayden he must have it on and knows the words to them all gotta love him he is only 2 and a half.
Have Fun
Helen
Jo, the GR at a prison!um I hope those prisoners are well fed! The GR could be in a real stew there!!
Cartoons(my era) - we all loved Mickey Mouse cartoons and Daffy Duck
...My Favourite was Pepe la Pew that so smooth ansd smitten french-accented skunk who always tried to romance the beautiful cats!And disguised his white stripe with boot polish etc...
My Kids era...Masters of the Universe and Rainbow Bright and the fantastic AstroBoy, and Simba the Lion
I don't think it harmed my children by watching lots of them, but the commercial side effect was the problem, it was the action figures...not one or two ...the whole range was required!
Now my main concern is the garbage food advertising in the childrens viewing time...sweets, burgers, bars all sorts of stuff to rot their young teeth and help push their sugar levels through the roof!
It should be banned!or at least restricted to healthier options. Do they run toothpaste adds...Helen you will know!
(says I..a confirmed chocaholic).
Regards too much TV...my idea was to promote a critical view of programs and point out to kids when something is garbage and hopefully why...
I've never watched the Simpsons and I know people love them and they are said to be terrific
...however I like animations/drawing to be more realistic...and basically thats why I've never watched them!
Cheers Carol
Hey Jeanne! Fun post!
Oh, I loved Captain Kangaroo when I was a kid! Do you remember Bill Cosby was on it and did a segment called Picture Pages? I still remember the Picture Pages song. You could order them in the mail and draw and learn along with Bill Cosby. That was cool.
I remember coming home from kindergarden and being really mad because the Watergate trials were on and they took Sesame Street off!
My kids watched Zaboomafoo! I thought it was adorable. They also liked Arthur the Aardvark. Now my niece is a huge Dora fan and they pretend they are not watching when she is. :-) Because, you know, they are way too cool for that!
How terrible, Anna! Every little girl should be allowed to be a princess at least once -- if she wants to. My Sydney eschews anything girly and only wants to be a superhero!
I'd already scheduled the prison visit, but I thought it was appropriate to scare the chook straight, mawahahahahah!
Poor, Aunty Cindy, don't pull your hair out! The launch party will be fabuloso! Hmmm, maybe you should invite Grover and the Sesame Street Gang. Naw, they'd eat too much pizza!
Jo, you have to come bback nd tell us WHY you would be visiting a prison...with the chook in tow...
Wait, is there a break out in the works? Jo and The GR recreate Prison Break! Aaaaaargh! Action!
Carol, I think you're right on about the commercials being more harmful than the shows. I think most of them try to be pretty educational and then BAM! an advert for some expensive toy or fast food comes on.
Dr. Big! (high five!) Obviously I'm not the only one with the good taste to be weirded out by Fred Rogers. :>
You're right, Jo, the cartoons are mesmerizing. I find that I lose time.....oh, sorry, watching Manny and the Tools in Sheetrock Hills in Handy Manny on Disney.
How do they DO that? It's all about a drive belt, the "finding something" plot. Chaos ensues.
ROTFLOL, Jeanne. Nothing so nefarious. Research, m'dear, research. But I'd forgotten that those hungry inmates might have ulterior motives about the chook. Hmmm, don't know what prison food looks like, but I'll bet nothing as tasty as a nice chook-stew.
Should I ask the inmates which TV shows THEY watched as kids?
Ooooh, Pizza! I'm going to AC's. I LOVE pizza. Launching, are we, AC? Grins.
Oh, yeah, Jo. The Chook needs to go incognito if you're going for the food serving. Heehee. :>
I think I'd be afraid to know what cartoons the inmates watched as children. Then again, it would be interesting to know..,.
Oh, Anna! I'm so jealous. I got cast as the animals or trees. I would have given ANYTHING to be the witch or the wicked stepmother.
It's the blond hair and the pigtails my mom used to insist on. Nothing screams NOT WITCH MATERIAL like curly blond pigtails.
Sigh.
Fedora, I love Calvin and Hobbes. We still joke around here about "Calvin Ball" - the rules are subject to change without notice, just like life. Ha!
We didn't much like Calliou either. Do your kids like the Doodlebops? Talk about freaky.
I adore Rocky and Bullwinkle. I like Coyote and Roadrunner too, but I always wanted the coyote to catch a break. :>
Oh, man, P226, I had fogotten about Electric COmpany! Very cool!
I agree with you about Not. In. My. House. I have a difficult time with the commercial channels and all the commercials. :> I love PBS. I love that there aren't any "I Want THAT" commercials. And Disney's that way too. Although Disney's its own marketing machine. (Don't get me started on that...)
Had to LOL about your son and the fixed wing aircraft and yaw and pitch. :> By contrast, but in the same vein, my now-8-year-old can give you the entire starting lineup of the Chicago Cubs, complete with numbers, stats, and so forth. He can also tell you most of the same for the Washington Nationals and the Braves. (The last is pure condescension. The Braves are my team so he deigns to know something about them)
And he too still spends too much time in front of the tube.
Hey Donna! I love the Sesame Street stuff too. Like Anna, I like The Count a lot.
There's a fab DVD with a lot of musical stars called Elmopalooza. It's Jimmy Buffet, The Big Bad Voodoo Daddies, Aerosmith...yeah, Steven Tyler sings with Oscar.
Only Sesame Street could pull that off.
The GR going hard time? Well, I KNOW he is guilty of grand theft auto and with all those cameras he's installed on his many visits he HAS to at least be guilty of being a peeping tom! Don't let him talk to any of the prisoners, Jo! God knows how he could corrupt them!
Kids's shows these days are just confusing as heck! I just don't get them. They look and sound as if they were developed by monkeys on crack. Do they lock these creators in a closet for weeks on end and demand they come up with the most bizarre thing they can come up with?
I remember Captain Kangaroo, thank you very much! I loved him! And I cracked up at the Wild Kingdom comments. Too funny and too right!
I STILL love Sesame Street because as p226 said that is a show that STILL educates children. I never really got Mr. Rogers.
My favorite cartoons have always been The Roadrunner (LOVE Wil E Coyote!) Scooby Doo!! (What else would a person who owned Great Danes for years like?) Bugs Bunny, especially the ones with the Classical music themes.
La Campbell, I too always loved the Disney Princess films (and the animal films as well.) And in college theatre productions I ALWAYS got cast as the Fairy Godmother or the Witch!
However, when it came to the musicals I got to play the princess on a number of occasions. Then in the operas it was everything from the Queen of the Night (DEFINITELY a wicked witch) to Lulu (a murdering hooker.)
My favorite part of playing the Princess? The CLOTHES, of course!
I always read the comics before I read the news. (Spoonful of sugar anyone?) I like Baby Blues, Crankshaft, For Better or Worse and Snuffy Smith.
My all time favorites would have to include Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side.
And does anyone know who Andy Capp is? The Andy Capp cartoons are some of my all time favorites. My father had books and books of them and I got them once Dad passed away. He and I shared a deep fondness for dear old Andy.
Suz! Obviously you and I were glued to Jim and Marlin. Yeah!
I loved Johnny Quest! I'd forgotten about that one. :>
Suz, Bob Ross Paining was more fun. :> And more like a lot of today's cartoons. (She said cynically...)
Limecello, I adore Eyeore. I have a stuffed one that's very old...yeah, I'm olde...and his wind up music box still plays a lullaby. :> Gotta love eyeore and music.
We used to play 100 acre wood. I always got to be Tigger. (Which unlike the witch issue, was perfect for me since Bouncing is what Tiggers do best!)
Helen, I feel your pain on the Wiggles CD. I pretty much know all the songs too. Gotta hand it to them, at least they're catchy tunes. However, I have to caution you, you can find yoruself humming Yummy Yummy! in the grocery store line...
I loved Bugs and Daffy too. :>
Carol, I forgot about Masters of the Universe too! :> Loved Pepe too. Do you reckon any kids today even know what boot black is? I know my kids don't. Sneakers and bucs don't need boot black. :>
I agree with you about the commercials. I restrict my kids to PBS and Disney mostly for that very reason. Junk food is everywhere and having sugar problems myself I want to watch their's for sure.
The good thing is, a lot of the Disney cartoons DO focus on things like dental health and manners. I can say this with impunity because the aforementioned Imagination Movers were discussing dentistry this very morning. There's also a catchy little inter-show-short on "Teach My Alligator Manners" and "Captain Carlos" which focuses on nutrition.
oh, Deb! I had forgotten Bill Cosby was on Capt. Kangaroo. I love Cosby. He's a genius. :> I loved Mr. Green Jeans too.
Isn't Zaboomafoo fun?
My youngest loves Dora and Diego. The Animal Rescue is his sort of adventure. We went to the Aquarium for his birthday. Ha! He'll be the next Marlin, I'm betting. Either that, or he'll be James Bond. He leans both ways.
See? See? Louisa agrees with me. These guys (and gals) that create the cartoons ARE smokin' something. You Betcha.
Louisa, I had to LOL about raising Danes and loving Scoob. He's a cool dude, that Scooby Doo.
I like Andy Capp too, Louisa. My Dad leans more toward New Yorker Cartoons, but my Mom and I like Andy Capp. :>
Hey Jo, what kind of research? Tell, tell! And how did you get to go in? (Make sure you keep that Get Out of Jail Free Pass handy, y'hear?)
BTW, congrats (I think) on the GR. Don't let him corrupt anyone OR on the flipside, learn even MORE tricks...
Deb Marlowe said:
Oh, I loved Captain Kangaroo when I was a kid! Do you remember Bill Cosby was on it and did a segment called Picture Pages? I still remember the Picture Pages song.
Sing with me now...Picture Pages, picture Pages, time to get your picture pages, time to get your crayons and your PEN-cils....
Captain Kangaroo is my favorite show of all time. I can still tell you stuff I learned from Mr. Green Jeans. And watching Bun steal carrots and Mr. Moose drop ping pong balls on Captain Kangaroo. I never missed it.
I always though Mr. Rogers was sort of strange--like he was...well..diluted or something. I can't explain it. He was just so soft and quiet and...I dunno...He was apparantly an amazing person, and kids LOVED him. But as a kid, I watched some but...I dunno. I was like, "doesn't anybody in your neighborhood ever scream or yell or talk above a gentle almost-whisper?" It kind of numbed me out a little I think. Boring perhaps? See...it's hard to define. Diluted is the best I can do. Like HE was a diluted sort of guy--diluted down to nothing but gentle. The fun was diluted down to not rip-roaring fun but sort of a softer, gentler fun. It felt like a bedtime story, but not an exciting one. Diluted.
It never had the entertainment value for me that Captain Kangaroo did. Or the learning. Where did YOU learn what a platypus is? I learned it from Mr. Green Jeans.
I liked Sesame Street okay but I was almost too old for it by the time we could get it on our tv. I liked Oscar and Big Bird and Bert and Ernie.
My favorite cartoon was Bugs Bunny. And it was my first exposure to opera. Okay don't be horrified...but...Those are still my favorite operas and I KNOW that's the reason. Even now those are the words I sing to the Barber of Seville.....cue elmer fudd voice singing..."Whaaaaaaat would I do-oo with a Waaaa-bit?"
I dunno if I'd still like Scooby or not. Ruh-Roh.
Louisa said:
What else would a person who owned Great Danes for years like?)
AHHHHH! This reminds me. Yesterday I was driving down the road behind a tiny little car--so small it was like the clown cars from the circus. And in the back seat, with his tail hanging out one window and his head poked out the opposite window--was a GREAT DANE!
Funniest dang thing I'd seen in ages. WAY too much dog for the car. I love the harlequin danes.
Get Fuzzy.
Best. Comic. Evah.
Carol
I agree and no I have never seen a toothpaste add while watching Hi-5 or The Wiggles.
Jeanne
Funny you should mention Yummy Yummy it is probably Jaydens favourite song and of course he loves Captain Feathersword and is always wanting an eye patch and saying ahoy me harties.
Have Fun
Helen
Great post!!! We love, love, love Thomas the Train at our house. Both boys totally enjoyed playing with all the trains, and we have even taking a ride on Thomas twice during The Day Out with Thomas weekends around the US.
I have to say that you Banditas are such a wonderful group of ladies. I met a few of you this weekend at the M&M Conference. Can we all stand up and clap for Nancy on winning the Maggie!!! It was a fabulous moment and she had our table in tears while accepting her award. Such a sweet, sweet lady!! And of course, Trish, Caren and Joan were too!!
Cassondra! OMGosh! I STILL remember the platypus thing and from EXACTLY the same source. I'm smiling about the pingpong balls too. Heehee. Loved the moose.
And the Pages song. Oh, my.
SO agree w/ you about Mr. Rogers, but that very softness and dilution is why he's serial killer material to me. Snork.
Fuzzy is pretty funny...
SNORK on the Dane in the car. Heehee. I love Harl's too, but the fawn Danes and the steely grey Danes are my faves. I love the tuxedo's but they look a little goofy too. Kinda like Peter Boyle playing the Monster in Frankenstein, like the tux is too big for them, even tho' they're big too. :>
Helen, Capt. Feathersword cracks me up. He's cute too. :>
I shouldn't have even mentioned Yummy-Yummy since it was stuck in my head all day.
Oh, Buffie! I'm so glad you were there to cheer our own Nancy and Joanie on! Yeah!
How fab!
Funny about the Day Out with Thomas. We've missed most of them, alas. Of course, if there were a Day Out with Scooby Doo, we'd just HAVE to be there...
Oh, NOOOOOOO... Jeanne, not the Doodlebops--those are some seriously scary looking characters! Another big ol' Don't Ever Watch for us!
I agree about the Coyote, too--that Roadrunner got to be a little too smug, I think... he could have used some closer calls!
Snorked at your post, Jeanne, especially the bit about the literary novels, but let's not go there. My boys are now fascinated with In the Night Garden, which is similar in feel to The Teletubbies. I don't know what it is about that program but it has them riveted. Darby, Tigger and Poo are favourites, too and I love that show mainly because Tigger's spoonerisms are so clever. But that's the word nerd in me, I guess.
As a child I loved all the usuals, plus the Banana Splits--do you remember that one? Great theme song and also there was this international mystery solving show called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids that I simply adored.
One thing I do know, is that if the house is ever quiet and I need cheering up, I can always turn on the kids' channel for a bit of happy.
Whew! Thank heaven's I'm not alone in thinking those Doodlebops and Bus Driver Bob are sccaaaaawey critters! Fedora, you've saved me, m'dear!
Snork.
And I think roadrunner should've lost at least a tail feather or two. BTW, I was visiting a friend in TX and actually SAW a roadrunner. VERY cool.
Hi Christine! I know your house isn't quiet, any more than mine is! Ha! But I'm betting in a few years when the youngest goes to school, I'll be turning on Disney just to keep me company. :>
We don't have In the Night Garden over here in the States but it sounds cool. I love Tigger's verbal miscues too and just enjoy the whole interactivity of the 100 Acre Wood Crew. :>
Cassondra said :
AHHHHH! This reminds me. Yesterday I was driving down the road behind a tiny little car--so small it was like the clown cars from the circus. And in the back seat, with his tail hanging out one window and his head poked out the opposite window--was a GREAT DANE!
Funniest dang thing I'd seen in ages. WAY too much dog for the car. I love the harlequin danes.
Oh I WISH I had a photo of that! Too funny! My last four Danes were harlequins or albinos - all born deaf.
Amazing and smart and gentle dogs.
My last Dane, Glory, used to turn heads at stoplights as she sat up front and wore the shoulder harness seatbelt just like a human. People would always do a double take! Especially as she wore sunglasses to shade her pale blue eyes from the sunlight as she was so sensitive to it.
Oh, Louisa, that's cool! DId you ever get a picture of it?
OMG Louisa, I'd love to see a picture of Glory in the car like that!
The GR going to prison? It begs the question...will they find stuffing during the cavity search?
Gulp, sorry about the previous tacky post. I just arrived home after 7 hours from Atlanta and it jumped right out of me.
It was SO wonderful meeting Buffie, Gannon, Andrea and PJ. PJ brought us HOMEMADE candy!!! Yum!!! And Gannon gave us S.L.U.T.S can covers. Hmmmm....
And did you know BB's can boogie?
As to the post. I watched Capt. Kangaroo when he was just a "joey"....no guest stars. I liked Bunny Rabbit..he was devious and that appealed to me at some level.
Bugs was my favorite "Huh. I knew I should have made that left at Albequrque" ROFL.
As to current comics I am an avid fan of "Pearls Before Swine". It is the "Dilbert" of the barnyard.
AND ....I'm a rapid fan of the new Maggie winner of Single Title...Nancy Northcott!!! Woohooooooo!
As a matter of fact I think I DO have a photo of Glory in the car in her shades! I need to dig into the "storage" room - the one where all the boxes that I still haven't unpacked from when I moved her five years ago are - and find the photo album where I put it. Glory has a couple of albums dedicated to her as she was a big part of my life for over ten years. in fact I think my brother has it on his computer. I'll check and see. She was definitely cool as her sitting posture was kind of laid back, as if you expected her to prop her elbow on the window at any moment. I think that is why everyone who saw her cracked up. I will definitely dig it out.
Again HUMUNGOUS Congrats to Joan and to Nancy on their victories in Atlanta!!
Hey, Jeanne! Great topic--sorry I'm chiming in so late. But I scanned through the comments & can't believe nobody has yet mentioned the awesome musical stylings of Sandra Boynton!
Yeah, Sandra Boyton. The kids' author--Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaur, Hippos Go Berserk, Personal Penguin, Snuggle Puppy, Barn Yard Dance? Her.
She has several CD/Books out that offer up a fun mix of celebrities & unknowns singing the funniest songs ever.
Philadelphia Chickens is a favorite (Kevin Bacon & his brother delivering such lyrics as "Philadelphia Chickens are dancin' tonight, thousands of chickens in the pale moonlight, I don't know much but I know one thing, poultry in motion is a beauitful thing.")
I have lately become a devotee of her Blue Moo CD/Book, on which people sing about tangoing with rabbits & teaching hippos to dance. The CD is also occasionally interrupted by the Uninvited Loud Precision Band (The Best Intruding Band In All The Land.)
Some good laughs there--ridiculous enough to be beloved by kids everywhere, clever enough to be enjoyed by mom & dad. Highly recommended.
Snork. Stuffing. Snork. Cavity search. SNORK!!!
JT, you crack me up.
Oooh, Susan, I lovee Sandra BOynton. We have most of her books before her music/book days and we have personal penguin which is totally cool.
My fav being Moo, Baa, La, la, la...
A Cow says moo. A Sheep says Baa.
Three singing pigs say, La, La, La.
How can you not love that? But it doesn't make me wonder what she's been smoking, like I do with the Wiggles or Barney or some of the others.
I mean really. "I want to be, your personal penguin" isn't that odd compared to Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport.
Snork.
Again HUMUNGOUS Congrats to Joan and to Nancy on their victories in Atlanta!!
Thanks, Louisa!
It was exciting and an honor to place in such a prestigious contest.
But it ROCKED to cheer Nancy on as she WON!!!!!
Can't wait for her to make it back to the lair. Might be awhile since she has to come back from Cloud 9.
:-)
I'm home too! I've spent all afternoon uploading my photos from M&M. I had a wonderful time which was all the more special for meeting in person Bandits Caren, Nancy, Joan and Trish and BB's Buffie and Andrea and rooming again with the wonderful Gannon!
Nancy and Joan, I'm so very happy for you both on your Maggie honors. Nancy, as Buffie said, when you won you had our entire table in tears and grinning from ear to ear. We were so very proud to be the Bandita Buddies in attendance to cheer your Maggie win!
Joan, BB's aren't the only ones who can boogie. You Banditas were doing a bang-up job out there on the dance floor too! :)
Jeanne, Thomas and his friends are huge with my honorary nephews. I'm at the toy store every Christmas and birthday adding to their collection.
Hi PJ!! {Waving madly}
It was an honor for us to meet ya'll.
The candy was so thoughtful and lasted...oh, about until Marietta
:-) My fave were the turtles.
Nancy's from the heart acceptance speech touched everyone and for those of us still striving toward publication the chords it resonates are indescribable.
LOVE Ms. Boynton! The youngest's current fave is Hippos Go Beserk ;) For a long time, we read The Going to Bed Book every single night. I still know the words by heart...
Oh, wow and fabulous to have you both stop by PJ and Joanie! I am so THRILLEd for you and Nancy, JT. And PJ, there was candy? Mmmm. I'm coming to M&M next year if there's candy. :>
You'll have to get some pix to us.
PJ, the Thomas collection in our house seems neverending. I have no idea how many we have, but I know all their names. (Lord help me.)
Fedora, my youngest loves But Not the Hippopotamus. He just cackles.
We laugh over Robbie the Reindeer too.
Ooh, yes, that's a good one, too :) That and Blue Hat, Green Hat ;p
And wow for you--knowing the names of all the trains and friends? Impressive! Me: "Hey, that's the green one! Oh, there are two green ones? That's not James? He's red?!..." ;)
Impresses the heck out of my daycare lady. "Oh, that's Oliver," I'll say. Or, "Son, we have Mavis, she has to stay here."
He's got a thing for Mavis. Snicker. Better than having a thing for Oliver, I guess. We've got so dratted MANY of them, but I recognize them all. I think its from hours and hours and hours of watching the DVDs and VHS tapes. Arrrgh.
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