This week the Times has been giving away free DVD’s of classic British childrens TV programs. The Wombles, The Flumps, Hector’s House, Willo the Wisp, Rainbow, Chorlton and the Wheelies, Mr Benn, and Captain Pugwash, all these can be yours for the mere cost of a paper.
Or at least they could. You’ve probably missed most of them by now. Sorry.
Still, most of the shows are still shown on TV on Sky if you get a yearning for a bit of nostalgia (Channel 615 between 8 and 10pm).
I’m not one of those people who believes that children’s television was intrinsically better in the 70’s and 80’s. Yes, there was some good stuff out there, but there was also a load of pants as well. I know that Bagpuss is the holy grail of retro kids TV, but I saw an episode the other day and it was bloody awful. The animation was jerky, the storyline tedious, and those damn mice were very annoying indeed (I shall probably be lynched now; ah well, I regret nothing).
However it saddens me that Amy and Evan’s childhood television experiences will be drastically different from my own. When I were a lad there were only 3 channels to choose from, and they all stopped broadcasting for 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon. Kids TV was confined to around 15 minutes in the middle of the day and a couple of hours between school kicking out time and the six o’clock news.
Kerry had it even worse than me. She spent her early childhood on an army base in Germany and, as far as I can make out, their children’s TV ration consisted of half the theme tune to Playschool three times a year. I’m sure she could sue for human rights violations if she wanted to.
These days however kids have access to children’s programs 24 hours a day. With Sky+ they can even pause and rewind it. I don’t think this is necessarily a good thing. Alongside all the educational, social, and health drawbacks of excessive television consumption they are also loosing something even more important; the excitement and specialness of TV.
In eighteen years time will their generation sit around student houses discussing Higgledytown Heroes and Dora the Explorer with the same passion that we were discussing Bod or Dogtanian and the three Muskerhounds? Somehow I doubt it. Familiarity breeds contempt (that’s why I just sent Sam that anthrax parcel), and heaven knows we are already about as familiar with the output of Nick Jr and Playhouse Disney as any human being can stand.
Even with strict parental controls (such as no TV in the toilet) modern children are still massively over exposed to televison, and this must inevitably tarnish it’s magic. And that’s a real shame.
I have a lot more to say about this topic, but for now I shall just leave you with the special X rated version of classic British kids program Rainbow.
The Woodentops, Andy Pandy, Rag Tag and Bobtail, Bill & Ben and Tales of the Riverbank were my staples, Camberwick Green and Trumpton were cutting edge, we watched them in awe as they had no strings.
What I dont understand is why my two can sit and watch crappy American kids sit-coms that have no “com” element, but watch the same episode every four hours on rotation on a TV channel that I have never heard of.
Childrens programmes (until you are at least 18) should have visible strings and a lady called “auntie” presenting them.
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I hear you brother. Although our programs in the States were different (never heard of those you mentioned), there was something special about catching your favorite after school program. Now kids have access to as much Backyardigans as they want.
The other night, after his shower, I was walking our son down the stairs to the family room when he blurted out as clear as a child much older than his 21 months, “I wanna watch television.” It was a mix of funny, amazing and disturbing.
*Lynches Dan for his comment on Bagpuss*
At least Dora the Explorer can claim it is promoting bi-lingalism. And Lazytown has high camp value. But yes, there is a sea of dross out there.
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that was thé most suggestive 3.05 minutes of television I ever saw.
I say, check the computers of those guys and you’d probably find a lot of ‘plucking’ & ‘ball-playing’
I’m not that worried that kids won’t discuss tv in the future like we do now. I was born in the 80s and watched faaaaaaaaaar to much tv for my own good, but still relish those days. And pokemon, avatar and many others will be remembered by kids.
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I have a similar complaint. With so many kids’ shows on so often they never get to discover things like Gilligan’s Island, the Brady Bunch or I Love Lucy. Instead we watch the same episodes of SpongeBob or other things over and over again. I’m not sure those old sitcoms are even on so often anymore, but there must be some old show from the 80s or 90s that they’d love if they took a chance on it.
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Gary - Andy Pandy, Muffin the mule and Bill and Ben are still around in their reincarnated versions, although you probably wouldn’t recognise them now.
Jason – one of my other gripes is that while in our day we had uniquely British childrens TV shows, but now they are nearly all American. Which is a rant for another post I think.
Pandora – As I say, I’m not saying modern kids shows are bad, but I’m sad that my kids experience of TV will never be the same as mine.
Arjan – That Rainbow show is a genuine British TV program. That episode was made for the channels Christmas party and was never intended for public consumption.
Darren – I’ve managed to inflict the muppets on Amy, and have a long list of classic shows that she will be exposed to at some point in the future. But as you say, the problem with dedicated kids tv channels is they don’t get to see other stuff.
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Did you get Captain Kangaroo over there? He was my hero as a preschooler.
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Decent free DVDs and I’ve missed them. Damn, damn and double damn. If anyone ever gives away Mysterious Cities fo Gold though I will move heaven and Earth to get them. Heaven and Earth!
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i’m going to guess that you made up every title that you mentioned in this post.
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