Today was the long-anticipated launch of Disney Junior, a channel running shows all day for the preschool crowd. I'm reading that the change in formatting is to focus on healthy living. When my children were a little younger, I desperately wanted this option. Nickelodeon turned me off with their dedication to inundating my children with loads of commercials. Our playroom looks like Toys R Us and AmericanGirl.com ate Christmas morning, had some sort of breeding session with it and puked it back out. We're good in the toy department. The last thing I need is pleading for junky toys that look amazing on TV and fall apart in your hand. Disney channel, up to this point, has shielded me from that. Now that the gals are 6 and 7, I'm hearing some grumblings about "baby shows" and I can't blame them. Handy Manny is cute, but is definitely designed for the five and under crowd. So this morning I searched out Disney XD on our TV, looking for Hannah Montana, Sonny with a Chance...something. I did find The Suite Life on Deck - sandwiched between commercial breaks for some crappy erasers and robot toys. Really? This is my new option? No thank you.
Disney, I'm mad at you. I was okay with the promos for your movies coming out on DVD. I was only mildly annoyed when you ran that commercial for the Tangled tower that my little one wanted for Christmas and was $160. And now you've got that Selena Gomez song "Round and Round" permanently stuck in my head. All excusable. But now, not only are you saying, "Be exposed to advertising for crappy products or watch baby shows," but by looking at the programming schedule on both Junior and XD, you've got nothing *really* age-appropriate for kids my daughters' ages in the before/afterschool hours. No Phineas and Ferb. No Good luck, Charlie. Why was this age-group completely dumped?
So I'm wondering. What did parents of young grade-schoolers gain? I'm thinking it's a strengthened commitment to PBS.
No comments:
Post a Comment