I watch a lot of children's programming now thanks to my son. Let me rephrase that. I now have a rational excuse to watch children's programming. I don't remember watching too many of these educational programs like there are today, and that probably explains the grammar in a lot of my blog posts. My son really enjoys The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Curious George, and Dinosaur Train. Each show teaches lessons on nature, science, reading, and the social coexistence of a man living with a monkey. Let's take a look at these gems in particular.
The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, is the story of Sally and Nick, who tend to figure out minor predicaments they are in by joining a rhyming cat on an adventure to some land with a ridiculous name like the forest of Florah-Fah-Zoom, Jimmer Jammer Jungle, and Bed Bath and Beyond. The positives of the show are that the kids learn something about nature, and Martin Short does the voice of the cat. I do have some concerns with the show. For instance, where did this "Nick" come from and where is Sally's brother, Conrad, from the original book? I'd like to think that he's off at school or something, but I fear seeing him on TMZ stumbling down a back alley at 2 AM. Also, what's the deal with this Thing 1 and Thing 2? They seem to be under the control of The Cat. I don't know if he saved their lives at some point, or if he loaned them a large sum of money, but I have put a call in to the Better Business Bureau to investigate.
Curious George tells us of the adventures of a mischievous monkey who lives with a man who's only trait worth mentioning is that he wears a yellow hat. Not that he's a middle aged, single man, raising a monkey as his child, but that he wears a yellow hat. Whoever does his PR has really nailed it. What I don't understand is the amount of times, this guy leaves the monkey alone in public situations. This is where George tends to get in to his "predicaments" and they are fortunate that his misadventures only result in scientific discoveries and not mass chaos, or a lethal visit from Animal Control.
It's also weird, how intelligent George is. I have seen him build a soap box car, build a canal system, and figure out how to predict the weather through research and record keeping. The other day my son told me a a ghost was coming out of his butt when he farted, but this monkey is figuring out Meteorology. Sorry for the potty humor, but this is my life right now.
Dinosaur Train follows a family of Pteranodon's as they learn about different species of dinosaurs by visiting them on a train. Here's my problem with this show. You've got a bunch of talking dinosaurs that travel around on a train to meet other species and the train travels through time because a lot of the dinosaurs we are meeting were in different time periods. We're OK with the kids watching talking dinosaurs, traveling around on a train big enough to accommodate all of these dinosaurs, but we're worried that a kid is going to say, "Hey! The T-Rex was in the Cretaceous Period, and the Stegosaurus was in the Jurassic Period! I hate this show!" It just seems like an unnecessary covering of bases.
Dave
