*Sigh* It's That Time of the Decade Again...

[Drtooth]

A little off-topic, but I'd like to hear your thoughts about the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Tooth.

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

Yet there is no such campaign for commercial-free adulthoods. Go fig.

Yep... that's the idiot lobbyist group that's heckbent on destroying childhood. This whole "kids are so stupid and can't think for themselves! Now let's go take our SUV's to Wal*Mart and buy Blu-Rays and get some Viagra!"

This is a capitalist country... wait... even in COMMUNIST countries we have commercials. And these jerks are out there, making sure we get a Nanny state so they don't have to raise their kids or basically look at fat people. Another knee jerk reaction to the Childhood Obesity hype-o-demic. And YET if any of their taxes were raised to go to edible food in school cafeterias, they'd take their BMW's down to the state house and whine about it. Hire a FREAKING babysitter when you go grocery shopping... buy the kid's meal toy separate. Better than taking candy out of the hands of children.

And I'm guessing not a single one of those schmucks would DARE give so much as a penny to public broadcasting.

Remember when the outrage was that McDonald's was sponsoring Sesame Street? The outrage should have been that it HAD to.

That said, Those people are from my state. I'm still trying to find the Whole Foods or wherever they meet. They need a flaming bad of dog doody at their front door.

 

[D'Snowth]

They need a flaming bad of dog doody at their front door.

OMG, that is so much fun!

 

[mbmfrog]

Can the show truly survive on its own without the government money ?

I wonder this question in my own head, can the show truly survive on its own two/four feet without the aid of the government money backing it up ?

 

[RedPiggy]

I don't think it can, at least the way it exists now. Maybe, if they could broaden the scope, it'd be different, but relying on (voluntary) public support has only gotten them so far. "Not so voluntary" support is their meat'n'taters, so to speak. I still think that absorbing PBS into the Department of Education would be the most effective solution.

 

[Drtooth]

Show vs. network...


Hmmm, I don't think the network could survive, and if SW had the power to, SS could survive on cable... but only after major changes and accepting actual TV sponsers instead of letter U's and Number 3's. And the truth of the matter is, Sesame Street wouldn't have lasted 10 years, let alone 40+ without the protection of PBS. Look how much the show had to drastically alter itself to stay competitive. On a cable network, things would be worse. Even more Elmo, and he'd be a cheap CGI! We wouldn't want that.

Sigh... if only PBS still did children's programming pledges instead of old fogey social security check garbage like "My Music" and the various get healthy/happy/rich quick scheme infomercials posing as "specials." PBS already had to dumb itself down to beg for money. Without that small sliver (5 minutes in Iraq, I bet) things WILL get worse.

That said, maybe other children's shows, specifically ones produced by local PBS stations, need to adopt SW's merchandise theory. Having their share of the profits go right back into the local stations. I've been clamoring for Word Girl merchandise since the show premired. A Chuck the evil sandwich making Guy action figure is howling to be made. Ditto a "speaking" Martha doll for the little'ns. And hey, new Arthur stuff would be great if WGBH and Marc Brown split the profits the right way.

I highly recommend SS fans to collect the SS Hasbro Buddy Packs when they come out. Either for themselves or a family child. The more of those get sold, the more characters they make... and the more money goes to SW. Something tells me, they'll need it.

 

[mbmfrog]

Show vs. network...


Hmmm, I don't think the network could survive, and if SW had the power to, SS could survive on cable... but only after major changes and accepting actual TV sponsers instead of letter U's and Number 3's. And the truth of the matter is, Sesame Street wouldn't have lasted 10 years, let alone 40+ without the protection of PBS. Look how much the show had to drastically alter itself to stay competitive. On a cable network, things would be worse. Even more Elmo, and he'd be a cheap CGI! We wouldn't want that.

Sigh... if only PBS still did children's programming pledges instead of old fogey social security check garbage like "My Music" and the various get healthy/happy/rich quick scheme infomercials posing as "specials." PBS already had to dumb itself down to beg for money. Without that small sliver (5 minutes in Iraq, I bet) things WILL get worse.

That said, maybe other children's shows, specifically ones produced by local PBS stations, need to adopt SW's merchandise theory. Having their share of the profits go right back into the local stations. I've been clamoring for Word Girl merchandise since the show premired. A Chuck the evil sandwich making Guy action figure is howling to be made. Ditto a "speaking" Martha doll for the little'ns. And hey, new Arthur stuff would be great if WGBH and Marc Brown split the profits the right way.

I highly recommend SS fans to collect the SS Hasbro Buddy Packs when they come out. Either for themselves or a family child. The more of those get sold, the more characters they make... and the more money goes to SW. Something tells me, they'll need it.

Well, in an off-topic thing, they are producing a Word Girl Comic book, and it's by the same company that made the Muppet show comic book.

And there's also Martha Speaks books, which are books based upon episodes from the show.

Still, I don't know if that's enough or not to save some of their programs, right ?

 

[Drtooth]

The thing about OTHER children's television producers is that, unlike SW, the profit doesn't go back into projects. And we can all remember how many Barney and Teletubbies toys there were. Dinosaur Train toys are doing highly well... but you think the stations see that money? I wonder how much JHC gets out of it... THEY need more funding for projects than PBS, and that's saying something.

I don't even think for a minute that kids wouldn't happily buy (or beg mommy and daddy) for reasonably priced toys of their favorite PBS stars... if there could be some connection between PBS getting a reasonable share of the profits, that could very well help their kids line up. Every cent counts. And it seems like the best solution.

The thing that really gets my goat here is... well, remember Ralph Nerder and his crusade of vilifying Sesame Street for having McD's as a sponsor? Where was the outrage, not so much that they were a sponsor, but that they needed TO have them as a sponsor? Where was that outrage with Spaghetti-o's too? SS is already funded by 5 sponsors (and I SWEAR that egg segment in a season 40 episode was part of the national egg board's funding), the less money SS gets, the lower quality the show gets (more reruns and rerun segments in every episode than EVER before). You'd think said angry parental yutz groups would pool their resources together to save the safe haven of PBS instead of spending a fortune vilifying candy with Spongebob on it.

Sigh... the far right and far left are both choke-holding PBS.

 

[CensoredAlso]

The thing that really gets my goat here is... well, remember Ralph Nerder and his crusade of vilifying Sesame Street for having McD's as a sponsor? Where was the outrage, not so much that they were a sponsor, but that they needed TO have them as a sponsor?

Most people don't think that far unless it's pointed out to them. Not insulting, it's true of everyone.

 

[Drtooth]

It seems like the same "OMG! Big Food wants us FAT! Now let's go and blog about it in our comfy computer chairs that we never move from!" that takes away kid's meal toys and cartoon characters on candy packets without solving an actual problem.

Any good solution is worth effort, thinking, care, time... basically lazy people like easy answers. I still am convinced that the whole health initiative was PR damage control from that. But hey, they NEED money, they got money from a shaky source. And no one complained when Pharmaceuticals were sponsoring... no one complained when Spaghetti-O's had an ACTUAL commercial for their product. McD's commercials were vague. Ronald was barely seen in them outside of a foot or a hand. Even the Chuck E Cheese ads before Arthur and others has Chuck E Right there, dancing and jumping.

I still wish there was silent partnerships where they just said the names of the companies... but they want to use that bit of money (they probably write it off on taxes) to advertise. I still remember the Rhode's 60 second Cinnamon Rolls not a commercial at all before Arthur. Thank Frog those are long gone.

But as I said, if parental groups were serious about the stuff they preach, they'd GIVE money to PBS rather than use it to fund taking things away. You solve problems by GIVING, not by TAKING!