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• Behind The (Big) Bird

  The Sesame Street my daughter watches and the one I watched have only a few things in common. I'm BE, for one thing -- "Before Elmo" and all his little pals. The Count used to be scarier, Oscar grouchier, and Bert and Ernie a little less, ahem, ambiguous. One thing, though, we share: Carroll Spinney's been the man behind the Big Bird costume all that time. Now 74 (which certainly explains why we don’t see as much of Big Bird as we used to), Spinney is still playing the loveable, goofy, 8-foot avian (he also plays Oscar the Grouch). His book about his adventures, The Wisdom of Big Bird and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch, was released yesterday. A few fun facts from the article Read More... Posted Jun 18 2008, 06:03 PM by AmyinMotown with | with no comments Filed under: sesame street, children's TV, puppets, Carroll Spinney

• Kid's TV Food Ads are Supposed to Improve, Sort Of

  Yep, lots of people want to blame the fat-kid problem on junk food ads on TV, and the jury's still out on that one. But meanwhile, eleven of the U.S.'s biggest kid's food advertisers have agreed to new standards of the products they advertise. Sounds good in theory, doesn't it?  But the reality is a bit, well, watered down.  For instance, Campbell's will advertise its low-sodium soup as opposed to regular old chicken-noodle. Trix won't advertise until it changes its formula (WHAT?? Mess with Trix?!! Sacrilege!). And McDonald's will still advertise, of course. Only it will be for kid's meals limited to 600 calories or fewer. So kids can still see junk food, only, what, in smaller portions? Reduced-fat? Couldn't we just have ads that didn't actually feature any junk food? Or is that too much to ask? Yeah. I know the answer to that one. But consider this: will the new initiative cause more marketers to actually change their products or will they simply spend less on kid's advertising and spend their dollars elsewhere? A Nickelodeon spokesman predicted their financial impact from loss of advertising revenue based on the new standards would be “a non-issue” because most products advertised already fit the criteria have plans for reformulation. So like I said, the changes won't amount to much in practice. Oh well.  Posted Jul 20 2007, 07:29 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: television, mcdonald's, junk food, children's TV, Trix, advertisements, Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup

• Disney More than Frozen Body; Now with More Racism!

  Hope you didn't already book those travel plans to Disney World this summer! Because this video is an eye opener. The Media Education Foundation explores the darker side of the Disney Empire -- the all trusted, all innocent, all knowing media conglomeration. From highly sexualized female cartoon leads that haven't changed much in appearance since the 1940s to entire movies about Africa without any black people in them to the idea that it's a woman's job to overlook a violent, brooding beast to find a true prince, the video uncovers a not-so flattering side of the happiest mega-corporation in the world. It's definitely worth a look if you're not afraid of being locked away in the Disney Vault .... Posted Apr 17 2007, 09:28 AM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: children, education, disney, children's music, Disney World, video, children's TV, children's products, disney channel, disney princesses

• Ninja Turtles Kick Butt, Take Names

  A few weeks ago, I wondered why on earth the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a new movie -- considering the show last saw massive popularity when "Alf" was eating cats and molesting that boy. Or whatever it was Alf actually did. The point is, I was wrong. Turns out the turtles are a big thing, and they just beat the crap out of the box office competition - making the cartoon the hottest movie in America and bringing millions of people back to their childhood for two hours at a time. Producers said the turtle movie tapped into the nostalgia young people have for those pizza-eating, Da Vinci clods (oh that's just bad). A lot of people grew up on turtles and they wanted to check them out one last time. That makes sense. Who doesn't want to remember the glory days? So when's that "Silver Spoons" movie coming? Huh? Huh!  Posted Mar 27 2007, 10:08 AM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: entertainment, Movies, cartoons, children's TV, nostalgia, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie? Aren't They 40 By Now?

  My younger cousins loved, LOVED the TMNT -- to the point that they dressed up like little reptiles and paraded around the house shouting something about Michelangelo eating all the pizza -- whatever the hell that meant. But that was more than a decade ago. My cousins -- the prime TMNT viewing audience -- are almost done with college now and have officially switched from dressing up like cartoon turtles and eating pizza to, um -- OK, fine, they're still eating pizza. But they've also started drinking beer and seem to not be able to dress themselves at all. I'm guessing that unless you can lick them and get a good contact high, turtles are the last things on their minds. So I found it odd to see a commercial for a brand-spanking new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Are those things still around? Or has every child in America officially flushed them down the toilet? I'd totally get behind a "Snorks" movie if Hollywood is going retro -- but Turtles? Really? Posted Mar 07 2007, 04:49 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: Movies, toys, cartoons, children's television, children's TV, chilldren, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• Julie Aigner-Clark: PWNED

  Today's lesson: if you're going to write a letter to Slate, you'd best bring your "A" game. Last week, Slate write Timothy Noah dropped the hammer on Aigner-Clark and her (Sarcas-O-Meters: on!) heroic contribution to Western Civilization, the Baby Einstein Empire. Well! Aigner-Clark was not about to have her good name slandered, so she sent a surprisingly weak response back to Noah, who was only too happy to post the letter in his column. To use a baseball metaphor, Aigner-Clark's letter was a hanging curveball, and Noah went all Barry Bonds on it. Noah counters Aigner-Clark's claims on several fronts. First, she denies that her husband donated a chunk of change to Bush and the RNC. (Strike one.) He does acknowledge her contributions to charity, but as she's a multi-millionaire, questions Bush's characterization of her as a hero. (Ball.) Finally, he brings up the numerous charges against Baby Einstein that consumer protection and the American Academy of Pediatrics have brought against the product line; namely, that it's a scam. (CRACK! And it's outta here!) It's a pretty scathing response. I'll cop to using Baby Einstein DVD's on occasion, for the same reason that many parents do: to keep the kid occupied for a few minutes while my wife and I were trying to get ourselves to work and the kid to daycare. Educational? Please. (However, if you pop in the Baby Neptune disc, turn down the sound, and play Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime" CD, it synches up, like "Dark Side" and "The Wizard of Oz".) Posted Feb 01 2007, 01:18 PM by JasonAvant with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: disney, tv, children's TV, baby einstein, julie aigner-clark

• Pee Wee Herman Makes a Comeback? God I Hope So

  Dora's dull. Diego's dimwitted. The Wonderpets? Wimps. There's just no children's show like "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." And it may be coming back -- at least in movie form. In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, Paul Reubens said the iconic show that offered lessons in childhood anarchy and not-so subtle gay subtexts (Cowboy Curtis does a mean "YMCA") could hit the silver screen in a more adult form. To which I say, it's about. freaking. time. I watched "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" with abandon. But because I was both too young and too stupid, I missed out on many of the wink-wink, nod-nod gags and characters that played havoc on Reagan-era conservatism at the time. Dixie the cab driver. Cowboy Curtis. Jambi the Genie. They might as well have went off with Dorothy in search of the Wizard. Now with a new era of conservatism, the time is ripe for a show that tells children it's OK to be a fat white lady and date your black neighbor or to "marry" a "fruit salad." I'm ready now -- and frankly, so is the country. Read More... Posted Jan 25 2007, 09:19 AM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: children, Celebrities, television, glbt, smoking, children's TV, gay, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Paul Reubens

• A Blast From Our Past: "The Electric Company" on DVD

  Am I the only one here old enough to remember "The Electric Company" on PBS?   Along with "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers",  "The Electric Company" comprised the third leg of a formidable children's programming lineup on PBS in the 1970's, and Parenting Magazine has just named a 4-disc retrospective of the show as one of it's "Best DVDs Of The Year" for children 5 and up.  The Emmy-winning children's program featured an ensemble cast of now-familiar names such as Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, and Rita Moreno, with voice-overs by such 70's comedy heavyweights as Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers (before she became annoying), Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel. "The Electric Company" became a cultural phenomenon of the '70s, teaching children basic reading and grammar skills with an emphasis on fun.  The new DVD set features 20 of its best episodes along with bonus programming, for a suggested price of $49.98. So what's up with this new interest in the 70's?  I don't have the answer to that, but I am guessing that having your kids watch a show like "The Electric Company" might be a lot more innocuous than a lot of TV out there today. Posted Jan 12 2007, 08:00 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: television, PBS, children's TV, 70's, The Electric Company