Tot TV Watch

My vacation is over and now it’s time to get back to the daily grind.  The last day of vacation is always the hardest.  This time around, we planned an extra day at home to recover before heading back to work.  I knew my 2-year-old would need a little extra time to adjust back to his normal routine, so we spent the day relaxing and watching some of his favorite shows.

When I had had enough of Blue’s Clues and Little Bear, I decided to pull out the Fraggle Rock Season 1 DVDs.  My son received the set for his birthday a month or so ago but we hadn’t had a chance to watch it yet.  I decided it was time to introduce him to one of my favorite kids’ shows.  It took him a few minutes to get into it, but once he heard the Fraggles sing a couple of songs, he was a little more interested.

We didn’t quite get through the first disc of the set, but I have a feeling that there will be many more weekends spent watching Fraggle Rock together.  It was nice to return to the simplicity of the Muppets, if only for a while.  I love being able to share that little piece of my childhood with my own son. 

Fraggle Rock

Today’s guest post is brought to you by the talented Allison Boyer. You can read more from Allison at www.findreligion.net and www.RealityOnBravo.com.

When Saturday morning rolls around these days, I usually hide under my blanket for an additional hour or two of sleep–at least until my cat jumps on my head to wake me up! I’ve always loved sleeping in, but I do remember that for about 7 years, I gladly traded in those precious extra minutes for something else: Saturday morning cartoons. I was that child who would run downstairs at about 7:30 AM and sit in front of the television in my flannel PJs, with my big bowl of Captain Crunch. I’d watch what NBC and ABC had to offer, and occasionally my grandma would tape a few hours of Nickelodeon, since I didn’t get that channel.

Now, nothing against Dora the Explorer…but when I see kids’ shows today, I often think how they can’t compare to the shows I used to watch. I feel like these older shows were more intelligent, but also more about fun. If you wanted educational, you watched Sesame Street.

I miss being excited for something as simple as cartoons and other children’s programing. Here are my 1980s-90s favorites. What were yours as a child?

Eureka’s Castle
The singing fish statue and Batly were my favorites!

Land of the Lost
I remember thinking that the show went downhill when they focused more on the talking dinosaurs. I wanted to be Crysta, though, and I had suuuuuch a crush on Kevin!

Inspector Gadget
Who didn’t love this show? The boss was so funny when he got blown up, and the dog was hilarious.

Fraggle Rock
I’ll have you know that I own this on DVD now and watch it occasionally, just because I still love it so much! Boober!

Gummy Bears
…bouncing here and there and everywheeeeeeeere! I used to drink cranberry juice and pretend it made me jump around when I watched this at my Mammy’s house. Now that I think about that, I’m sure she loooooooved when I did that!

Other shows I miss: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Salute Your Shorts, 3-2-1 Contact, Saved by the Bell, Hang Time, Under the Umbrella Tree, and ANYTHING with the Care Bears!

Did you grow up with the stretchy green character known as Gumby? I remember being introduced to Gumby by my cousin who was wearing a bright green Gumby shirt during our vacation one summer. I had no idea who Gumby was until he professed his love and explained what in the heck that green thing was. I’m not sure I ever really understood, but to each his own. If you loved Gumby as much as my cousin did and have a desire to re-live the days of your youth, you now have it. Thanks to DMGI, you can now watch Classic Gumby shorts on YouTube, Google Video, and In2TV. They will also be released on DVD later this year. Check a few of them out and share them with your kids. You never know, they just might like them.

tip: TV Squad

Gumby, claymation, YouTube, Google Video, In2TV

I was thinking today about one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, Kids Incorporated. I remember rushing home from school, flipping the TV on, and waiting (not so patiently) for it to start. I loved the stories, but more importantly, I loved the music. I suppose in the back of my mind I’ve always dreamed of being a rock star and I was fascinated by these kids who got to perform their favorite songs on stage. I spent some time today having 80’s flashbacks and watching some Kids Inc. clips on YouTube. Somehow it doesn’t have the same effect that it used to, but it was fun to reminisce a little. Just in case you might be missing the Kids Inc. gang (or if you just want to see a young Stacy Ferguson), I thought I would share a clip from one of my favorite episodes with you.

Kids Incorporated, Kids Inc., Stacy Ferguson

One of my favorite shows as a Kid was Fraggle Rock. I think I got more excited about it than any other show. You really can’t go wrong with a Jim Henson creation, can you? I ran across this video clip on YouTube this morning and just had to share.

If that left you wanting more, you can order the complete first and second seasons on dvd at Amazon.com.