The Untold Joys of Parenting

For me, one of the cool side benefits to becoming a parent has been the new world of TV shows that I am now aware of or have been reintroduced to. I am sure that many of you out there who are without kids have probably heard of Barney & Teletubbies & other stuff, but those are yesterday's news (and not that good, really). Let's get into some of the goodies:

Sesame Street - Yes, you've seen Sesame Street. But how long ago? I didn't recognize half the characters on it. Baby Bear? Zowie? Rosita? New to me. But the highlight is Cookie Monster. You have NO idea how friggin funny that guy is. I mean, when you were a kid, do you remember Cookie Monster saying "Ergo"? Yes, he said "ergo" the other day. And his ongoing conflicts with Prairie Dawn are just amazing. Must watch.

Bear In The Big Blue House - Another gem from Jim Henson's people. It's obvious that the writers know that parents end up watching this with their kids, and they throw out enough side jokes and comments to keep us entertained. Listening to two purple otters discuss how to put a string & a magnet together has never been this much fun.

The Wiggles - Hutch absolutely adores this show. And his dancing/singing along with it is a source of much entertainment at times. But there are two things that Jen and I find even more fun.

First, there are these terribly creepy Wiggle puppets that they bring out every now and then. You know how most ventriloquist dolls are creepy? Yeah, triple that. WAY creepy. And they oftentimes show up in the mirror to tell their human counterparts to "wash their hands" or something like that. The stuff of nightmares.

Second, the fact that these are 5 adult men acting like they have spent a LOT of time together allows Jen and I to rewrite the script out of the range of Hutch's ears a lot. Needless to say, if anyone ever wants to do an adult-parody of the Wiggles, give us a call. But in the end, these guys are the highest-paid entertainers in Australia ($47 million last year), so they're doing something right.

Oobi - Yeah, that's odd, isn't it? But they're pretty creative. And as with the Muppets, you beging to assign a lot of personality to them. But it's kinda odd to laugh at a hand with a couple of marbles glued to it. Great writing, again.

So next time you're looking for something to watch, flip over to Noggin or Disney Channel. For pure entertainment, these shows (and another 10 or so I didn't mention) are better than 99% of the drivel that the networks are putting out today. Enjoy!