Freaky children's shows

[Ringtail Z28]

Anyone else ever notice how freaky some kid's shows are? Some of these things like Teletubbies and Boobah are just plain creepy looking to me, and I'm the kind of guy who can sit through a Takashi Miike film festival and never so much as flinch. I remember working in the toy department and looking at some of the merchandise from these shows thinking ,"Damn, no wonder so many kids need psychiatric drugs these days."

While lurking around on another forum I found this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_1QyOQDx6w It's some good ol' Nightmare Fuel from the UK, I thought I'd share with everyone here. Personally I find it kinda weird.

[CanadaGirl]

Ever seen PeeWee's PlayHouse? Utter fear.

[MustangErin]

I work in a video store so I get to see the strange stuff that we get. Some kids stuff is just weird.

The Wiggles I think are creepy.

Check out this, it is a link to Amazon.ca that has a Wiggles for sale. Click on "see larger image". Check out the guy in the red shirt, CREEPY.......

http://www.amazon.ca/Wiggles-Splish-Splash-Red-Boat/dp/B000E112Q6/sr=1-2/qid=1159417848/ref=pd_bowtega_2/702-3996158-7663237?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

[Barefootgirl]

Noseybonk !!!! i haven't seen Noseybonk for about 20 years. How cool is that? No nightmares here, I'm afraid, just rekindled love for a character from my childhood....

I'm not mad about the Wiggles, but fortunately DD has gone off them a bit. She likes Fifi and the Flowertots, The Upside Down Show and Balamory. I don't really like her watching the imported American kids TV we get here because (I'm sorry about this) its not very good and has little educational value.

[sportsmom]

The Wiggles actually aren't too bad when you actually watch them. After awhile they get annoying, though. I asked one of my customers who was from Australia if they were as annoying to them as they are to us and her reply was "yes, and remember, we've already had them for 10 years."

Barefoot, there are some really good shows on Disney now. My 4yo dd loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon, it teaches problam solving geared to a preschoolers level. Some of the shorts are goo, too. DD learned the word "anticipate" and can tell you what it means from one of them.

"Dora the Explorer" is very good and also "Go Diego Go". They are both problem solving and Diego teaches about animals, too. My 4yo pointed out a sperm whale to me at the aquarium after she watched that episode of Diego.

Also, there are some really good ones on PBS. My favorte of those is "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggly Winks." It's about a pig who is from irreland and now lives in America with his daughter and three grandchildren. Every episode he tells the kids a story about his chidhood in Ireland and it teaches them a lesson about something. "Between the Lions" is very good, too.

I sound like I'm defending US kids' shows, but they really are not all crap, I promise. :)

[draftermatt]

Most cartoons and kids shows are weird now a days. Some are just flat out gross.

Where is my original Scooby Doo?!!?

[NightAngel]

I think The Wiggles are creepy also!

Jay Jay the Jet Plane weirds me out but Thomas the Tank Engine does not. Go figure.

The Doodlebops annoy me.

I'm so glad that my youngest is more into Spongebob and The Fairly Odd Parents. :D

[Lace Neil Singer]

Boohbah look like creepy fat men in polo necks. I was emailed a link to their site, and it reminded me of an acid trip more than anything else. If any kid actually met a Boohbah, they'd probably wet themselves in fear. :o

However, try the site after a herbal cigarette and suddenly it starts to make so much more sense... Boohbah site (http://www.boohbah.com/zone.html)

[BrightEyedKitty]

You can't say anything bad about Sesame Street.

[Mr. Rager!]

I like children's shows now days. My favorite is "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends"... but that might be partially due to my Bloo obsession.

http://livingdoll.net/bloo.jpg

And that's all he is. But he's too freaking funny!!

[Fera Festiva]

Bloody hell.

Thanks to you, Ringtail, I won't be sleeping for a week. I'll be lying in the dark clutching a table leg ready for when Noseybonk comes to kill me.

:D

(Then again, I grew up with Pob - anyone remember Pob? - which was a hideous knitted thing that screamed like a maniac and spat all over the camera lens, so what do I know.)

[NightAngel]

That reminds me! I like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/billymandy/

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Ever seen PeeWee's PlayHouse? Utter fear.

I love that show!

When somebody says the secret word, SCREAM REAL LOUD!

[Tanasi]

From what I've seen and read here I'm glad I had Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room.
We don't allow our kids to watch very much TV, we prefer them to read. What little they do watch in on the History Channel, Discovery, A&E and suck type channels. My youngest son is in love the Giada De Lorentis (sp) not that I blame him, a beautiful woman that a great cook, I wish I had one that could cook.

[XCashier]

Jay Jay the Jet Plane weirds me out but Thomas the Tank Engine does not. Go figure.
Thomas is just model trains and puppets. Jay Jay & Co. have weird, ugly computer-animated faces. Yeah, I prefer Thomas too.

Sesame Street is still good, though my son doesn't watch it as much as I'd like him to. Thank God he never got into Barney, Teletubbies, Boobah or any of the other weird ones!

:sigh: I miss Wallace and Ladmo...

[Ringtail Z28]

Thanks to you, Ringtail, I won't be sleeping for a week. I'll be lying in the dark clutching a table leg ready for when Noseybonk comes to kill me.

Noseybonk doesn't want to kill you, he just wants to play games...WITH YOUR SOUL!!! :lol:

Thanks to the agonybooth forum I found a clip to that Pob show. It's pretty weird too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zqeahogswE

[Lace Neil Singer]

(Then again, I grew up with Pob - anyone remember Pob? - which was a hideous knitted thing that screamed like a maniac and spat all over the camera lens, so what do I know.)
:lol: :lol: :lol: Me too!

[Luna]

Good grief, now I feel old.

I watched Sesame Street, the Great Space Coaster, The Magic Garden (http://www.caroleandpaula.com/themagicgarden.html), and I was addicted to classic Disney like Mousterpiece Theatre and the Wonderful World of Disney.

Apart from that, I was outside making mud pies and playing with the local wildlife if I could get my hands on them.

I did love 80's cartoons. BTW - Ducktales and Darkwing duck are available on DVD now!

[BunnyJas]

The kid shows today either frighten me or I just don't get them. The Boobah puppets look like butt-plugs and teletubbies just don't make any sense. Plus I believe they are not good for kids to watch if they are learning to talk. Barney use to frighten and disgust me. The Wiggles annoy me and creep me out. I never understood what the big deal was with the whole Pokemon or Yo-gi-oh thing either.

When I was a kid I watched Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Pinwheel, The Muppet Show, and Pee-wee's Playhouse.

[ArenaBoy]

I worked a Wiggles show a few months ago. I went inside to see my mom who works inside and hearing them over and over annoyed me. A lot of today's kids shows scare me. Kids don't know what we had in the good old days.

[Dreamstalker]

The kid shows today either frighten me or I just don't get them. The Boobah puppets look like butt-plugs
*chokes on spaghetti* :spew: Indeed.

WTF happened to "normal" shows? Classic Nick/Pinwheel rocked :D

Adventures of the Little Prince is out on DVD as well, as is Dangermouse.

[Caveat Emptor]

The Magic Garden (http://www.caroleandpaula.com/themagicgarden.html),

Holy *bleep* you remember that too!?!? I must have been 3-4 y/o and still remember the Chuckle Patch!

Electric Company - I thought the beginning was bad as a kid (hey...you...guys? Hey...you guys....?? HEEEEEYYY YOOOUUUUU GUUUUYYYYYSSS!!!!!)

Romper Room? Of course I didn't realize until years later it was franchised, I just remember being upset because she NEVER saw me in her magic mirror.... :lol:

Pinwheel (..."Spinwheel spinning around?") With that puppet...whatever his name was...with the green face (?) and long nose...he was a grouch IIRC.

Captain Kangaroo

[BusBus]

Noseybonk doesn't want to kill you, he just wants to play games...WITH YOUR SOUL!!! :lol:



:spew::roll:

I agree that some of today's shows seem a little creepy. Although, I can't say that Mr Rogers didn't have his odd moments either....Give me Fraggle Rock any day.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Barney use to frighten and disgust me.
I hate you, you hate me, we hate each other equally. With a shotgun blast, Barney's on the floor. No more purple dinosaur.

No, I didn't make that up.

[Fera Festiva]

I hate you, you hate me, we hate each other equally. With a shotgun blast, Barney's on the floor. No more purple dinosaur.

:lol:

The version I heard goes: I hate you, you hate me/Let's tie Barney to a tree/ With a dagger in his back and a bullet in his head/Yay! That purple's bastard's dead.

I like yours better, though.

:lol:

[sportsmom]

The version I heard goes: I hate you, you hate me/Let's tie Barney to a tree/ With a dagger in his back and a bullet in his head/Yay! That purple's bastard's dead.


My 11 yo dd has one to "Joy to the World"

Joy to the world that Barney's dead
I barbecued his head
What happened to his body
I flushed it down the potty
And round and round it goes
And round and round it goes
And round and round and round it goes.


Love it!

I bought a friend a t-shirt one time that had the bottom half of Barney sticking out of a T Rex's mouth and it said "Tastes just like chicken." Very funny stuff.

[Ree]

You can't say anything bad about Sesame Street.Actually, I can and do.

This is just my opinion, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about it.

I blame Sesame Street for the large increase in ADD, and the fact that many of today's children and young adults are easily bored and unable to occupy themselves. Sesame Street was the beginning of the end. Kids now expect to be entertained, rather than make their own entertainment.

The Sesame Street generations have grown up expecting mental stimulation that changes every 30 seconds. They spend an hour being constantly bombarded with sound and music and images and jokes, so anything outside of that ends up being boring for them. They can't use their imaginations and just sit quietly and think, or read. (Even some of their books have little buttons to press to make sounds and read the pages for them.)

Give me a show like Mr Dressup, Mr Rogers, or Captain Kangaroo any day, where the hosts showed kids how to transform paper and shoeboxes into something wonderful.

Oh...and Fashion Lad...is it just me or is it hooooottttt in Topeka? :D :p

[Lace Neil Singer]

Boobah look like something much much worse to me...
And that would be... what? O_o

And my daughter loves themBe afraid. Be very afraid.

Have you clicked that link I posted? It's an LSD paradise for the Boohbah! :lol:

[Sunsetsky]

Joy to the world that Barney's dead
I barbecued his head
What happened to his body
I flushed it down the potty
And round and round it goes
And round and round it goes
And round and round and round it goes.



I remember singing that when I was a kid. My friends and I would sing it together.

I used to babysit a little boy who watched the teletubbies. It was horrible...it was torture. And then they've started to show Peewee Herman on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. I turned it on out of curiousity and ten seconds of it decreased my IQ greatly. I still don't know why they are/were showing it on Adult Swim...

I remember watching Sesame Street when I was really little. It was my favorite tv show as a little kid. I've always thought it was pretty educational...although it's probably changed in the last 15 years.

[Tanasi]

I hate you, you hate me, we hate each other equally. With a shotgun blast, Barney's on the floor. No more purple dinosaur.

No, I didn't make that up.

I've always had a special place in my heart for Barney, granted it's in the homicial part but it's there.
I have a T-Shirt that has a picture of Barney Rubble with a K-Bar in one hand and Barney the Dinosaur's head in the other. The caption say's "There can be only one Barney".

My youngest watches some sort or talking vegitable shows on DVD. I can't handle talking carrots so I don't pay attention.

[protege]

Good grief, now I feel old.

You're not the only one. I'd forgotten all about The Great Space Coaster. Hehe that's not surprising since it was last on about 20 years ago...:eek:

[Lace Neil Singer]

:lol: Getting a weird visual here now.

[Heksubah]

Back when I lived with the evil ex, we had a time where our only entertainment was the television. In fact, our television only got three channels. PBS of Central Missouri, PBS of St. Louis, and PBS of Branson. Now, at night we got some ABC and would watch sitcoms there (Yay, Joan of Arcadia!), but during the day... only PBS.

Since it was all I could watch, I had a rather critical eye on PBS and came to really be inspired by many of their shows. Now, some of them I'm less fond of. (Die, little boobahs! Die!) Many of them, though, seem to take a genuine approach at trying to educate children unlike many other shows on other channels. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Sagwa, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Arthur, Jakers, Between the Lions, Clifford, Cyberchase, Dragon Tales, etc.

As a network in general, I entirely support PBS and their shows.

[Ree]

To clarify...I don't dispute that Sesame Street is educational.
My issue is with the way that educational stuff is relayed to the child.

[Caveat Emptor]

I've always had a special place in my heart for Barney, granted it's in the homicial part but it's there.
I have a T-Shirt that has a picture of Barney Rubble with a K-Bar in one hand and Barney the Dinosaur's head in the other. The caption say's "There can be only one Barney".

http://impressive.net/games/barney/fun.cgi

I found this link back, oh, 10 years ago. Simple but fun. Keep on going until he's just a morass of guts!

[BunnyJas]

Remember that rumor going around a few years ago that Bert and Ernie were lovers? The TV show Family Guy did a short on that. :lol:

Overall, I think Sesame Street is good for kids. I grew up on it and I never had any ADD problems. However, my parents would not allow me to watch TV for hours. Whenever parents use the TV as a babysitter then I think you run into children having shorter attention spans with other activities. These children are not being encouraged to engage in imaginative play because the TV is always doing it for them. As Ree pointed out, everthing happens pretty quickly on TV. As a result, the kids become bored and frustrated when the same thing doesn't happen to them in real life. In short, it's not really the quality of Sesame Street that I worry about but the quantity.

[CaroPhoenix]

My 3-year-old daughter loves to watch:

Blue's Clues
The Doodlebops (and I like them too - they're cute!)
Little Einsteins
The Backyardigans
Clifford the Big Red Dog (though she's not too into Clifford's Puppy Days)
BooBah
Teletubbies
Wonder Pets!
Sesame Street
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I'm not saying that I let her watch a solid 5-6 hours of tv, but I do let her watch some of the kiddie shows in the morning and then I pack her off to afternoon pre-school. However, these shows I don't mind her watching.

Also, I have Season 1 of the Muppet Show on DVD. I let her watch 1 half hour show a day. She loves it (especially the opening). However, as I'm re-watching the show (I used to watch when I was a kid), I realize the show is more adult oriented than kiddie oriented.

Also, when I was working at Children's World, Barney was really big (daughter doesn't like him). I learned this song from the rest of the workers:

I hate you/you hate me/let's all go and kill Barney!/With a shotgun/BangBang/Barney's on the floor/No more purple dinosaur!

[kibbles]

My favorite is "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends"... but that might be partially due to my Bloo obsession.

LOL, I love that show too and I watch it for Bloo too! :)