Worst Role Models On PBS Kids Television
We all turn to PBS for wholesome family shows. You know, the kids shows that you don’t have to worry about giving your kids nightmares after viewing them. Educational, informative, safe. And also providing horrible role models for small children. Let me give you my list of the top PBS kids offenders*.
1) Cookie Monster. He gets an F for table manners and gluttony. Practically every parent has had the misfortune of cleaning up after a child imitating Cookie Monster while eating something. Diagnosis: Binge Eating Disorder.
2) The Man in the Yellow Hat on Curious George. Totally negligent pet owner, the SPCA should be after him. Diagnosis: Animal Cruelty.
3)Zoe. That little monster never wants to share, and is way too into that stupid pet rock that everyone has to pretend is alive. If Zoe were alive and human she would need a therapist to insure that she wasn’t having a paranoid break. Diagnosis: Schizoid Personality Disorder.
4)Ernie. And no, I’m don’t take any issues with Ernie and Bert being ambiguously gay. Rather, Ernie is rude for keeping poor Bert up at night and not letting him go to sleep. No wonder Bert is so cranky. Diagnosis: Insomniac.
5)Jetta from Clifford, the big red dog. Sure she looks sweet, but nearly every episode she brags and lies, then has some kind of catharsis and regrets it by the end. But somehow, by the next episode, she is back to being her bragging and lying self. Diagnosis: Borderline Personality Disorder.
Care to add to the list?
*This is all tongue and cheek of course. Really we love PBS, we do. Even Cookie Monster.
I don’t watch much PBS, but Ernie and Bert have been inextricably linked with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo4EryVVX_M
in my brain.
Comment by anonymouscoworker — Wednesday, April 25, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
What about caillou? I cannot stand that kid!! Could he whine more???
Comment by sarah — Wednesday, April 25, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Well…
Anything Teletubbies drives me out of my mind. They speak “baby talk” and will never learn how to enunciate nless they are made to speak properly. Plus, where the hell are their parents? Are they raising each other?
Unacceptable.
Comment by ADW — Thursday, April 26, 2007 @ 10:18 am
I’m not sure how great a role model some of these characters actually are. Some of them do annoying or frustrating things and although they are usually learning some lesson, my kid (at his young fragile age) doesn’t pick up on the lesson, just the fact that Elmo is yelling “mine mine mine”.
But ah well. He loves his cookie monster
.
Comment by Hanmee — Thursday, April 26, 2007 @ 10:23 am
And he loves “Ted” (the man with the yellow hat - but he’s picked up the name Ted from the movie).
Comment by Hanmee — Thursday, April 26, 2007 @ 10:23 am
Don’t let your kids watch it then, or be a real parent and explain to them what they are watching on TV is not real. Unless they are watching right now…
Comment by Melanie — Tuesday, May 22, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
I simply must add to your list!
Caillou
http://pbskids.org/caillou/
That little kid whines more than any kid I have ever seen.
When my daughter was little I started to notice she would whine allot during the day if she had watched that awful show that morning.
It got banned from our home and I couldn’t be happier!
Comment by Kim — Monday, January 14, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Don’t let your kids watch it then, or be a real parent and explain to them what they are watching on TV is not real. Unless they are watching right now
Comment by prefabrik — Tuesday, May 27, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
LOL!!! I just came across your blog. So bummed to see you’re not blogging anymore.
This post is hilarious!
Kim already beat me to it. I second that emotion. I want to strangle that cailou kid. Stop with the whining already!
Comment by tanyetta — Monday, September 29, 2008 @ 12:18 am
Just came across this blog also…apparently not blogging anymore? We need more of this. Where else can we say what a lot of us are feeling without getting the ‘what kind of mother are you’ look?
I can’t stand Cailou either…when my now 5yo was watching it, I couldn’t figure out how to pronounce his name. Now my 2yo watches it and I wish I could reach throught the TV and slap him and his parents.
Don’t you just love how they have drawn his mother? Could she look any homelier (if that’s even a word) and what’s with her saggy boobs? Is that how we appear to creators? And when is that kid going to grow some hair? Hello, he’s 4!!!
Thanks for making me smile this evening as I’ve been down lately.
Comment by Denise — Monday, February 22, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
my girlfriend gas an eating disorder called bulimia, she always throws up what she eats.*,:
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