barney is a cult: tv "reviews"

i don't claim to know all the shows on our astro default channel (playhouse disney), but there are a couple that creep me out a little: barney & friends and out of the box.

the content of the barney show is actually not too bad and can be educational, however, the stepford children on the programme are just too artificial for my taste. barney, himself, also looks a bit creepy: helloooo, he's meant to be a t-rex; his arms are like rubber foetus arms and his plateau-ed head and high-set eyes could be those of a psychopath. well, ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated. but the moolah the show makes from parents when it goes on tour is just disgusting. a ticket to the barney show in kl costs more than a rock concert!

the other kids' show that has good intentions but stepford people is out of the box. every person has to end his/her line with a little giggle. all the forced jollity makes me grind my teeth, it's so painful.

needless to say the above are 2 shows on our "ban list".

fortunately, the playhouse disney (phdc) channel has other programmes, including updates on old faves, e.g. noddy, although this new version has been vulgarised! no longer is policeman plod called constable or pc plod, he's plain ole mister plod now. plus noddy has an american accent! is nothing sacred?!

but 2 other programmes on the phdc channel aren't so offensive (to me): little einsteins and pocoyo. the latter gets big bonus points for having stephen fry as the narrator. the clean crisp animation: the plain white background, having the characters take on one main hue, all help to minimise the kineticism of children's cartoons, and make it less disturbing on my aging retinas.

little einsteins is (unfortunately) a product of the baby einstein company, the latter of which i find a bit manipulative. but it gets high marks for incorporating classical music and good artworks into an interesting programme, for me anyways, since dd doesn't really follow the show. (in fact, she doesn't watch any of the programmes in full!)

an amusing part of each little einsteins episode is that as the four little einsteins prepare for take-off they need to help their rocket ship gain power by patting their laps/knees and then shout "blast off!" it's very music+movement for tots a la musikgarten/kindermusik/gymboree et al.

then yesterday, i found dd actually saying "pat, pat, pat" as the little einsteins run to their rocket ship...all in anticipation of what they have to do next! i find it amazing that she has picked this up. most of the time she looks at the tv and then ignores it, as if most of the animation bores her after a while. that is, unless she sees balloons on the screen! on the few occasions balloons show up in a programme dd would point to the telly and go, "buh?", look anxiously at me and repeat, "buh?" i had to tell her that mummy can't get her the balloons and show her that by tapping the screen.