Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Travel Log 4-5: Children's TV Tuesday

Seeing as I have 2 small savage creatures sweet little boys living in my house, I see probably more than my fair share of children's tv. Now as an adult, watching these shows is a completely different experience than my little monsters little sweetlings are having. Being an adult I am beset by questions and critiques that would never occur to a child and they generally make me want to sit down with the writers of these shows and shout WHY???!!! at the top of my lungs.
    So now I'm going to share it with you.

   Here's this weeks installment, sorry it's a little late-

   Special Agent Oso from Disney Jr.
          This is a cute little show about a turquoise and yellow stuffed bear that is a trainee at an elite facility that provides special agents to help kids with their problems. Now we're not talking about life changing issues like death, divorce, or anything like that. We're talking packing a suitcase, tying your shoes, or making a salad (you have no idea how hard I snorted tea out my nose the first time I saw the episode where they told him he only had 8 seconds to toss the salad) and he has to do these things using 3 simple steps provided by his cyber helper PawPilot. Basically it tries to instill in kids that if they just identify 3 steps to get something done, and follow those steps, they will get it done.
     Now here's my problem with this little scenario- Oso has no idea what he is doing. EVER. He has no idea how to actually accomplish the task the child needs help with and generally relies on PawPilot and the child themselves to actually figure out how to do it. I have no idea how this bear gets himself out of bed in the morning, let alone became a secret agent.
    And then how secret is this agency anyway? Every single kid knows this guy on sight, and so do their parents. Most of the time the parents check on the kid, see a walking talking jet pack wearing stuffed bear helping them with whatever task the parent set them, say hi Oso, and keep walking. Apparently every person on the planet knows about this secret agency, and there must be some sort of memo they send out with the agent's pictures and bios. Cause without something like that I might just be a little concerned to see my kid chopping vegetables in  the kitchen with a TALKING STUFFED ANIMAL.
   Ahem.
    With that said, it's kinda a cute little show with some pretty funny Bond references and it does show kids that it's easy to start doing things on their own if they just follow the steps.

2 comments:

  1. Ha!! I love it! Mind you, Special Agent Oso ("He's oh-so special!) will never raise the queries that the BBC show "In the Night Garden" does. Like - why does Upsy Daisy take her bed everywhere? And why does she lift her skirts up to cheer up Iggle Piggle? And is Makka Pakka's mission to clean every stone and person in the Night Garden a sign of OCD? And how on earth do the Pontipines have 8 children when they sleep IN THE SAME ROOM AS THEM but also IN SEPERATE BEDS?

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  2. Lol..I was going to do In The Night Garden next!
    My husband and I totally think that Makka Pakka is the central park homeless person of the group, mental problems and all..There are just so many problems with that show it's ridiculous. From and adult standpoint the jokes are endless..

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