10. Dora the Explorer
Most of you probably know all about this show and what it's about. Next to Blue's Clues, it's one of Nick's most financially successful shows, with annual merchandise sales topping one billion dollars in 2004. A pudgy seven-year-old Hispanic girl named Dora and her monkey friend named Boots go on adventures, which usually involve following a path, solving puzzles, and being attacked randomly by a fox named Swiper.
Here's what bothers my about the show. It's not the monkey. It's not the fact Dora's parents need to be arrested for child neglect.
It's the map.
Murderer?
The talking map that lays out Dora's path at the beginning of every adventure. What is this thing, and who does it serve? Why is it always trying to kill her? I can see just by looking at the plan that she doesn't really have to go over that alligator-infested lake. She can walk right around it. She doesn't have to crawl right through the cave with the sleeping lion. Freakin' Isa always gets there on her own, and she doesn't have a talking map trying to kill her. Wtf?
9. Teletubbies
If this were 1997, this show would be number one. Who by now doesn't know about the adventures of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po? Who hasn't heard about the Tinky Winky purse scandal, where he was accused of being an evil, subversive homosexual teletubby out to turn your children into queers?
Still, this show is a regular of the PBS Kids lineup, and it's still creepy. What exactly are the teletubbies? Who is that voice on the mysterious megaphones that pop up out of the ground? Why do they worship the sun with the baby trapped inside? And why, exactly are these creatures so intent on spying on our children?
8. The Backyardigans
This creepy-as-hell CGI cartoon is one of Nick Jr.'s most popular shows. It features five creatures: a moose, a penguin, a hippo, a kangaroo, and ... an alien. The premise is these colorful little critters have a connecting back yard and they go back there and get into imaginative, musical adventures (ala Muppet Babies and Rugrats) where the backyard is turned into a desert, space, whatever.
I guess the most disturbing thing is the CGI itself. There's nothing really wrong with it, but I get a funny feeling in my stomach when I look at them.
7. Wonder Pets
This one is brand new on Nick Jr. It's a superhero show featuring three pets (Linny the Guinea Pig, Tuck the turtle, and Ming Ming Duckling) who live in an elementary school room and get called out to go on adventures, usually to save other animals from danger.
It has a very crude animation style, but apparently they go all out with the music, and a live orchestra performs each episode with original music.
6. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
Those of you calling out in protest, shut up. Mr. Rogers is dead, yes, but they still show his weird-ass show every single day on PBS. It's not so much the creepy, there-must-be-something-wrong-with-him smile. It's the Neighborhood of Make Believe, or whatever that town is called with the hand puppets and the humans who have to crawl underneath the tracks to go talk to King Friday the Thirteenth or Daniel the pussy tiger who's always whining about something absolutely ridiculous. And what's up with that floating museum run by the lady with the red nose?
The other day I was watching, and it featured a psychedelic purple panda bear that was really an alien who could teleport. If you don't think it should be on this list, there's something wrong with you.
5. Lazy Town
Okay, let me get this right. There's this town, Lazy Town. It's inhabited by about six or seven puppets and one guy who is half human/half puppet named Robbie Rotten who lives in an underground lair trying to cause trouble all the time. Enter Stephanie, a human, who comes to live with her uncle, a puppet. (Errr?) The hero of the show is an Icelandic superhero named Sportacus who floats over the town in a blimp and comes down whenever there is danger. Whenever Sportacus moves, horns herald each of his movements.
There's sort of a weird angel/demon thing going on with Robbie and Sportacus characters. It's also notable the Icelandic Magnús Scheving, the guy who plays Sportacus is also the creator of the show.
4. Oobi
Talking hands.
You have to get the Noggin channel to see this one. It's about "Oobi," a four-year-old hand, his little sister, Uma, his grandfather, Grampu, and his best friend, Kako. (Kako, incidentally, is voiced by Noel McNeal, most well-known as the voice of Bear in Bear in the Big Blue House.)
I can't imagine how this show came about. "We only have twenty bucks in our budget, and we need another show! What do we do?" It has its moments. Really little kids seem to enjoy it. My favorite character in this one is one of Oobi's friends. I can't remember the name, but it's a foot. (edit 5/24/06. The name is "Freida." Thanks, anonymous!) The foot floats around with the hands playing ball and going to the park. I would give anything to see the human pretzel behind-the-scenes logistics on that one.
Still, there's something creepy about the whole thing. How do these hand creatures move around? How do they go to the bathroom? There's something they ain't telling us, and I don't like it one bit.
3. The Doodlebops
Disney Channel. They're clowns. They're a band. They're Canadian. The two male band members are so flaming, Richard Simmons asks them to tone it down. They play instruments whilst wearing those giant gloves, and I don't know how they do it.
"We want to eat your children."
They practice (and live?) in a space similar to PeeWee's Playhouse, but not as cool, and they're constantly playing concerts, but they never leave town.
2. BooBah.
*Shudder*
I almost didn't include this on the list because it's not currently aired in my local PBS Kids lineup, but it does still appear on the PBS Kids homepage, so I'm assuming it's still available to local affiliates to broadcast.
BooBah is Teletubbies on acid. (In fact, it was created by Anne Wood, the grandmamma of Teletubbies.) It features five colorful blob things with names like Zing Zing Zinbah and Jingbah. The show involves these creatures running around like they're having a seizure for a few minutes, and then it cuts to "Storyworld" where a multicultural family of six (and their little dog, too) stand there like zombies and do what they're told, all while they grin like they've just been slipped the date rape drug.
I don't like this show. It's weird, and it gives me nightmares. It's supposed to teach kids about movement and math, but I suspect it's secretly funded by a psychiatrist lobby trolling for future customers.
1. Higglytown Heroes.
I dare you to watch this show and not have it ruin your life with nightmares.
Another Disney Channel darling. The premise of this show scares the ever-loving crap out of me, and I want it off the air immediately. It's about a group of four friends and a squirrel, all of whom also happen to be Russian nesting dolls. You know, these things:
Only in the show, they're living, breathing creatures. Yet they still nest when they have to go someplace. First the crew cut kid opens up at the belly, and the squirrel climbs in, then the black girl does the same, all the way to the fat blonde kid who is in charge of taking them wherever they want to go.
I guess it's dumb luck that this particular group of friends all happen to stack perfectly with one another. And what if the fat kid decides he doesn't want to let the others out? How long can they live broken apart like that?
I don't think I want to know, but I can't help but ask myself these questions.
(edit) I just learned Jay Jay the Jet Plane is still shown in my area (on Saturday mornings at 4:30 am, but that still counts). If it were on this list, I'd put it between number 3 and number 2, but I'll leave it off for now. I'll eventually make a post about the PBS Kids Death Curse, and I'll include it then.
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327 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 327 Newer› Newest»Creepy. Good thing I don' thave kids and if I had them, I'd never let them watch TV.
Holy crap dude. Definitely some creepy crap goin on.
Yeah Oobi is creepy, incredibly creepy. If I were on drugs, I'd think the end was nigh.
What, no Barney?
One of the hands on Oobi belongs to the same puppeteer as Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House.
What, didn't recognize the hand? :)
random fact: the music for Boobah is done by Boards of Canada
I grew up with one of the doodlebops guys and yeah, he's flaming. Not that theres anything wrong with that.
Fruity Pie
Chinese guy
in Grandma drag
he sings....
Boards of Canada? The same band that deliberately put Satanic messages on their album "Geogaddi"? Like the song "The Devil Is in the Details", and the fact that the album is exactly 66:06 long. Not to mention that eerie tape-wobble effect in every one of their tunes. All proof that Boobah, like Sesame Street's Bert, is EVIL.
I heard an interview with Fred Rogers. The interview was with Diane Rehm on NPR; it was quite possibly the slowest moving interview I have ever heard. It was auditory Thorazine. From just about every account I've heard, the Fred Rogers you saw on the show was very much the real him, not some personality he put on.
And dear lord, there's something creepier than Boohbah?
Having a child, I have sat through about half of the shows listed. Boobahs are from a bad acid trip. Dora isn't that bad. I have seen all of the Backyardigans - they really should be #11 on the list. Crazy Town is about getting kids to exercise I think - not sure. Stay away from the Boobah.
Wanna know the freaky part about Mr. Rogers? That creepy, overly kind never to anger man was a freakin Marine. With combat experiance in Korea. I could not see that man running a bayonet through a gook, smiling ear to ear.
BooBah is indeed creepy. My kids happen to see it one day and they were laughing so hard I had to take a look for myself...they kept calling them the "farty things". They keep making this farting noise when they dance around funny and yet disturbing.
You missed posting a pic of the whole reason why Lazy Town is still on the air - the hot Icelandic guy jumping around in spandex. Yum.
Higgly Town Heros is indeed heinous, but at the very least they have They Might be Giants doing their theme song (and if I remember, some other music too). Though it seems like TMBG will do a theme for just about anyone these days...
Enjoyed the list... but for the Anonymous post about Mr. Rogers - untrue.
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mrrogers.asp
There's enough misinformation on the net. Don't contribute.
What? No Wiggles??
The worst thing about Higley Town Heros is ... Everyone is a flipping hero. For doing their job.
Dialog from the show:
Here comes the plumber. Yea ! He stopped the leak ! Yea ! He's a hero.
Now if the plumber died plugging the leak in the dam, then he's a hero.
Don't cheapen the hero qualities with everyday actions.
does anyone remember under the umbrella tree? that show was awsome...
The episode i remember best is the one where iggy makes a machine to stretch himself out so he can be taller. (God only knows why i cant remember...)
Now that i think about it that was a wierd show. A single woman living with a talking gopher, iguana, and blue jay...
Fred Rogers wasn't creepy! He was soothing, and nice, and calm. SO much different from the "everybody scream!" style of of kids TV we see today. He wasn't targeted at any specific age, and he wasn't afraid to use words we (the viewer) didn't know, cause he would explain the words afterwards.
When he passed on, I cried. He was a true Icon and last of a generation.
What belongs up there? Bozo the clown. Clowns = Creepy.
Five bucks says the one that cried when Mr. Rogers died is from Pittsburgh.
He was born there -- and they worship him like some sort of cult leader. I lived there for a year, and saw flyers for FIVE different Mr. Rogers events in that one year.
All of them post-mortem.
THAT is creepy, my friends.
HaHa! I actually refer to Lazy Town as Creepy Town and refuse to let my daughter watch it.
I think what creeps most people out about Mister Rogers is that he was what people are 'sposed to be like, not like we are.
Dude, where are the frickn' Wiggles? Why are they not on your list? I mean they want kids to join their gay Australian Star Trek cult. That just creepy.
Oh great! Now I have that song in my head: 'In the Wiggles world...'
I've been awake for about 30ish hours so please excuse any spelling mistakes contained in this comment. (World of Warcraft addiction)
Does no one remember these?
-Polka Dot Shorts
-Bananas in Pyjamas
-Eureka's Castle
There are more, as a Canadian I've found most of the creepiest childrens programming originates here.
Who is that voice on the mysterious megaphones that pop up out of the ground?
Trillian. This means something.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0225549/
Fred Rogers was never a marine. Never a sniper. All urban legend. Your top 10 list could just as well be my kids favorite 10 shows... ...yes, I own a pair of "oobie eyes".
Any list like this that doesn't include the Wiggles is NOT complete. If nothing else, they should've made #1 for finding the four creepiest men in the world and putting them together as a group to entertain kids.
This should have been a top 5. After Lazy town, which is creepy, you're stretching on the rest.
BARNEY
what really bothers me about Fred (MR.)Rodgers is the fact his middle name is mc. feeley. Yes its true, check it out. I find the fact that he likes children and his middle name of mc feeley extremely disturbing.
At least Mr. Rogers was on PBS without paid-for corporate advertising indoctrinating us all with their one dimensional profit motive. And yes, PBS encourages free riders; let us all recognize the market failure…
I hear the Wiggles tour the pubs of Sydney (or some other Aussie town) as a pub rock band. Doing much of their own material and covers of early 70s rock and roll.
You failed to mention Pee Wee's Playhouse.
Same poster who cried. I wasn't born in Pittsburgh, but my folks were from there. I watched Fred Rogers growing up. I even met him once (when I was in my late teens). He was possibly the nicest, calmest person ever.
i grew up in h.r. puff-n-stuff, and i turned out to be a huge freak. but even the boobah's scare me....
Circle Six... low budget Christian automotons, with puppets...
I'm really surprised no one mentioned "Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy"--wonderfully family oriented cartoon where a little blonde girl 'won control' of the Grim Reaper, and her retarded ADHD brother keeps them all in shenanigans--such as Billy eating so much chocolate that he turns into a chocolate person, and eats himself--niiiiiiccceee.....
COMFY COUCH
In the mornings, the kids will climb into my bed, turn on the TV, and I'll wake up to Dora, so I have come to loathe her and the map that talks like he's constipated.
But the Doodlebops is definately the worst. Flame or not, they is teh wrong and teh ghey.
What about "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends?" A cartoon on Noggin about a large female spider who has like 8 adopted insect children. What the hell is this? A spider taking in insect kids? Is she trying to fatten them up to eat later?
Billy isn't Mandy's brother, they're just friends. And that's also one of the rockinest shows ever!
Anyone ever see the Kids Next Door on Cartoon Network? There's one episode with a vampire who has an obsession with spanking children. I think that's kinda creepy.
The most disturbing thing on this page is that someone found Mr. Rogers creepy for being how we are supposed to be and not how most of us are.
In the old days, that was called being a role model. Confucius advocated emulating people like that; we regard them as creepy.
I'll take a host of purple pandas and talking platypuses over a nation of cynical gits anyday.
I completely concur on Higglytown Heroes. I was watching with my little girl and I almost pooped myself the first time they all disassembled themselved and jumped into the fat kid.
Same on the Backyardigans. WTF is Uniqua? They can sing really good, though.
With Dora, I'm always wondering a few things, even aside from the points you mentioned.
1.) Dora's head is unbelievably huge, even by cartoon standards. How does she take her shirt off?
2.) What the hell kind of thought occurred to the monkey that made him start wearing boots, yet no underwear or any other clothes?
3.) Dora must smell bad or something, because the only other humans on the show are ones are her family.
It's going back a few years, ok, a few decades, but Charles Neslon Reily starring in Lidsville was the most creepiest show ever. The Wiggles are tame compared to that show.
It was kind of an offshoot of H.R. PuffNStuff...on crack.
I have kids and all these shows are in our heavy rotation. Fortunately, the gay Wiggles never caught on with our bunch. And no, there's not anything wrong with being gay - but there is something VERY wrong about being a "Wiggle". Chock full of crystal-meth and vegemite. Never trust Australian millionaires in matching shirts, mate. Fruit salad - yummy yummy - Bite me, Wiggles.
Pulling out a great big old can of hate on Dora and her creepy cousin, Diego. All they do for the entire damn show is spur your kids on to yell at the television - IN SPANISH, no less! It's like my home is the short-order kitchen at Tippy's Tacos! Why don't you go ahead and encourage the kids to knee Daddy in the groin you exploring bitch! Explore this!
And back in the day, cartoons were confined to a three or four period on Saturday mornings. Throw in a little Schoolhouse Rock to bump up the "educational value" and you're money. Now there are whole cable networks dedicated to these horrible shows! At least Bugs Bunny had the balls to flat out bean Elmer Fudd on the dome with a frying pan once in awhile. Pissant Dora has my kids standing guard and screaming when that bastard Swiper creeps up on her. I'd go ACME on that thieving fur coat. Bugs would have no patience with that flea-bag. STOP steaming up my tail!
Still, I guess I could get off my lazy ass and engage my children. At least they're learning the requisite language to get anything done in the world today. All they'd get from me is banged up grammar and some universally accepted hand gestures.
Has anyone seen the new show "Big Big World"?
I think it should as least get a runner up nod.
a little blonde girl 'won control' of the Grim Reaper, and her retarded ADHD brother keeps them all in shenanigans
Bill isn't her brother, dumbass. He's her neighbor.
All time creepiest has to be Zoobilee Zoo. Totally nuts.
We need more shows like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on TV. What would you recommend, that kids be left to watch Spongebob?
The chick from The Doodlebops is actually quite attractive outside of the costume.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned The Great Space Coaster. Or perhaps that's too old for most readers. Still:
TGSCoaster.com
Is that Grandmama chick on Boobah on crack, meth, or both?
She's creepier than the Boobahs themselves...
Uh .. the doodle bops are like Celine Dion, and Bryan Adams. They may have COME from Canada, but the US can keep them.
any such list without Xuxa loses all credibility.
"Many parents were taken aback by her seemingly open displays of sexuality and lack of modest clothing as well as her practice of putting on bright red lipstick and kissing the cheeks of prepubescent males at the end of each show."
When I was a child I watched Road Runner....who was always being chased after by a homicidal coyote! HE was always playing with something dangerous....guns, canons....dynamite. Come on these shows aren't the greatest but then we aren't 5 years old anymore!
My daughter watches and enjoys several of these shows.
The fact that Sid and Marty Krofft are not mentioned makes this list invalid.
H.R. Pufnstuf anyone?
i work with brain damaged adults, and they love love love Dora.... what does that tell you??? And by the way... BARNEY is the antichrist. AND yes, I have kids...and no..they aren't allowed to watch either.
Am I the only one who finds the female clown on Doodlebugs excessively smokin hot?
/What?
wow, you must have a boring life...
ANYONE CREEPED OUT BY, ITS A BIG BIG WORLD, BESIDES ME?
Boobah look like uncircumcised penises.
I'd have included Dragon Tales and taken off Mr. Rogers.
Dragon Tales: the show where they say a chant while holding a dragon scale so their wallpaper comes to life and whisks Max and Emmy out of the room and out of the house even though the kids never even bothered to tell their parents they were leaving.
What about the wiggles???
I can't believe none of you lame nobdies can remember Pipkins! Or the original Rainbow! I'm not actaully that old, but I remember kids TV the way it should be made (ie by British TV companies).
While I agree about the eerily hermetic nature of Dora's Map (remember that in Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, it was a changing map of telluric currents that got everyone into trouble?), I have to say there is no children's show character that will send me into a flying rage faster than Boots the Monkey. That critter is dumber than a bag of dead gastropods.
it all frightens me and I've been killed once already..but I got better :)
I don't think I have laughed this hard in a while..all these shows are extra creepy but I still have nightmares about the Wiggles! That one cambodian looking man just freaks me out!
Is it just me or does the Robbie Rotten look like Bruce Campbell (the beloved B-movie actor)
Can I ask what scares people about these shows? I agree that they can be creepy in some respects but I think we're going a little overboard here.
It sounds like the shows scare the adults and play on thier fears more than the kids. Kids tend to have one thing that adults lose - imagination.
I have always thought Dora was creepy, even when it first came out. I am so glad I am not the only one who feels this way!
does anyone remember "Kid Video" from the 80's. THat show was super creepy...
what about pee wee's playhouse?
and we want to know why are children are going crazy.... because we let them watch this crap so that we can watch frekin american idol or wife swap or some other b.s. show....and i find that a grown man dancing with a little girl a little wierd but hey canadians like that kind of thing i guess.....teh map is crazy but i am learning spanish the new language of the u.s. see ya
Jay Jay the Jet Plane is definitely #1. Thank God it's off my PBS line up. Also, Caillou. Is he a chemo patient? Those wacky Canadians....
I gotta agree on Lazy Town and the Doodblebops.......they are both creepy. I might want to put in a vote for "Tiny Planets" too. Bing, Bong and Halle and those mysterious Flockers. I do like the theme song though.......
I do have kids, and these shows are on my "NO YOU MAY NOT WATCH THIS CRAP!!!!!!" list.
I have gotten such horrid nightmares from this stuff, it's nausea-inducing horror!
one thing you forgot on the list though is sesame street. I get the creeps from those freaky things, especially elmo.
I know why Backyardigans is creepy to me.
It was just on and I realized my toenails hurt.
They totally remind me of the fungus creatures who go into the guy's toenails in that horrible anti-toenail-fungus-pill commercial.
Agree With Most Of The List,EXCEPT For Mr. Rogers...
I Met Mr. Rogers In Washington DC At The Air & Space Museum Back In 1991 With 2 Of My Friends...We Had Just Come From A Funeral At Arlington,And Were In Full Dress Uniforms,When We Decided To Go There As A Tribute To Our Friend Who We Just Buried.
Mr. Rogers Was There Filming Footage For His Show,And Was Taking A Break. He Was Walking By Us And Noticed We Looked Sad,And Asked Us If Everything Was OK?
We Told Him Of Where We Had Just Come From,And That We Were There To Look Around And Think Of Our Friend. He Proceded To Console Us,And Said He Would Say A Prayer for Our Friend.
We Talked For About 20 Minutes,And The Whole Time,He Kept Telling Us To Call Him 'Fred",Since We Kept Calling Him 'Mr. Rogers'...We Couldn't Do It,It Seemed Wrong For Us To Call Him By His First Name (Seems Silly,Right?).
He Was The Nicest Man I Have EVER Known...And I Will Cherish That Moment Forever.
As For The Doodlebop "Men"...
A Gay Day Parade Consisting Of Elton John,Nathan Lane,Rosie O'Donnel And Ellen Degeneris,All Wearing Pink Rinestone Studded Ballet Tutus Singing "It's Raining Men" And "I Will Survive"....Is Less Gay Than Those Two Guys Are!
I'm a bit older but none of these even rank up with two of the oddest of all time. Anyone remember "The Banana Splits" or "Sigmund the Sea Monster" ?
My four year olddaughter Nora watches Dora, and gets pretty mad.
Dora: Can you help me find all the....?
Nora: I am not sup'osed to
Dora: Great! They are all....
Nora: I am not going to help you
Dora: Thanks!
Nora: I SAID NO!
She can always find a relevent lesson in Billy and Mandy; Don't go through other people's stuff...Don't eat things you find lying about...Don't pick your nose...
As a child my mother would often suggest I watch Mr. Rogers, she didn't notice that he was creepy. finally my father explained to her what I obviously had picked up as a three year old...that he was just to creepy to trust. She was so upset but I was never forced to watch it again.
When my three-year-old saw boobah for the first time (it used to come on after sesame street), he cried. He was whimpering and howling like it was the worst nightmare he had ever had.
Now tell me that show isnt creepy.
Unfortunately, as someone said above the worst childrens shows seem to originate from canada. Take "The Wiggles" for instance. You get weirdos like this http://www.treehousetv.com/parents/tvShows/img/show_wiggles.jpg
Doing the weirdest shit you could ever imagine.
Here's another gem, toy castle.
http://www.treehousetv.com/parents/tvShows/img/show_toy_castle.jpg
Lesbian Balerina's? Unfortunately no such luck. THere are plenty of men in very tight tights. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch.
Also, who could leave out the Big Comfy Couch?
http://www.treehousetv.com/parents/tvShows/big_comfy_couch/index.asp?showid=5
What a bunch of weirdos.
NANALAN' is creeeee-pyyyyyy.
How many senior women are that perky?
And who creates a main character with a vocabulary of no more that four words? Get that kid to talk already!
Great post! Someone way up the comments list posted:
"Who is that voice on the mysterious megaphones that pop up out of the ground?
Trillian. This means something."
Did you notice she was also in "The Tomorrow People?" Now THAT was a weird-ass show!
Can't blame Canada for the Wiggles, that's Australia's fault.
Another one, "It's a Big Big World". Am I the only one who thinks that Snook the Sloth is a freaking STONER???? I think they were trying for "slow and deliberate" and it came out "wasted and baked to the gills".
I'm sorry, but the Boobahs HAVE to be number 1, even beyond the Russian dolls.
My 4 year old niece actually cries when the show comes on, because it scared her when she was like, 2.
This is a childrens show that SCARES children.
And don't get my started on the thoughts of how the multicultural family came to be. A few friends and I worked out the marraige/divorce/infidelity set-up and it's dowright scary.
The creepiest Children's show I ever saw was a German one. It was a green puppet with an obvious penis for a nose. In the episode I saw, the green puppet became enraged at some beach tourists for littering. In retaliation, the green puppet sprayed the beach-goers with it's penis nose. Does anyone know what this show was called?
I dont know how we forgot the Wiggles. What a novel idea. Lets have 4 grown men who entertain our children (has anyone heard of pedophiles?). The crazy thing is I actually coughed up 80 bucks to take my daughter to see them and they were just as weird in person!
"the wiggles" has got to be one of the worst ones. i'll take hands and puppets over creepy perverted-looking over-stimulated 30-somethings anyday :)
Higglytown Heroes is a Communist plot. Everyone's supposed to be satisfied with their lives being a pizza delivery man and a garbage truck driver, and they're all so happy.
It's a plot to keep the Proletariat down.
http://www.hitentertainment.com/oswald/uk/intro.html
I can't believe you didn't mention Oswald! The first time I saw that show, I seriously thought someone put LSD in my food. Paper dolls? Eggs? Daisies? Weenie looks like a hotdog! The penguin is Squiggy! The bakery is a giant cake! WTF?!?!
Totally creepy!
Does anyone remember The Banana Splits? http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/kids/bananasplits.htm I still have nightmares about that show!
"One banana, two banana, three banana, four. Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more."
Nitpick: The Wiggles are from Australia.
Yeah, This list needs a heapin' helpin' of the Kroffts. You would have to lump everything they ever made under a single entry just to have room for anything else on the list at all! At the very least, H.R. himself needs to be up there.
Anyone remember Today's Special? Fruity guy in a stretchy outfit Richard Simmons would think tacky, and a goofy floppy hat. And that irritating rhyming mouse puppet *shudder*
As for Mr. Rogers...I have my own kids now. I only wish that I could raise a person half as kind and tolerant as he was. He was one of the few people to ever grace the small screen that deserved to be considered a role model. In this day and age, we'll never see his like again.
Nitpick: The Wiggles are from Australia.
Yeah, This list needs a heapin' helpin' of the Kroffts. You would have to lump everything they ever made under a single entry just to have room for anything else on the list at all! At the very least, H.R. himself needs to be up there.
Anyone remember Today's Special? Fruity guy in a stretchy outfit Richard Simmons would think tacky, and a goofy floppy hat. And that irritating rhyming mouse puppet *shudder*
As for Mr. Rogers...I have my own kids now. I only wish that I could raise a person half as kind and tolerant as he was. He was one of the few people to ever grace the small screen that deserved to be considered a role model. In this day and age, we'll never see his like again.
Being a kid in the 60's and 70's, there were plenty of twisted & bizarre Saturday morning shows that could make your list or at least honorable mention.
Bugaloos
H.R. Pufnstuf
Lidsville
Banana Splits
Sigmund & the Sea Monsters
Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad
Uncle Croc's Block
The Krofft Supershow
Snorks (80's) <- Aaaahhhh!!!!
Smurfs (80's) <- Another Aaaahhhh!!
Pee Wee's Playhouse (80's) <- Stoner stuff...
Since then, I've fought my boy over which shows he can watch. Your list has covered most of them but there are a few more.
BARNEY <- Agree, the AntiChrist...
Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy <- Sick!
Ed, Edd, & Eddie <- Twisted..
Of course, with a good bong and a healthy stash, most of these are hilarious...
I agree about the Doodlebops, completely. You've omitted that Bing and Bong show from Disney, which is truly disturbing. Also, you call Dora pudgy--dude that's harsh. Also, Sunny Patch has a spider mom with fly kids, very weird.
Forgot about Rem & Stimpy, too...
i say the creepier the better. no American child is being raised right if they're not having nightmares and getting prepared for they sucky and equally creepy part of life called adulthood.
yes, i am in fact creeped out
Anybody remember Fraggle Rock? The Fraggles always escaping death from being eaten by that dog, or escaping death by not becoming slaves to those hideous monsters that always tried to capture them? Not to mention, always breaking out into god-awful songs. Eh, it was entertaining when I was young, even had the stuffed animals, but looking in hindsight, definetly disturbing.
Am I the only one who thinks almost EVERYTHING on the Cartoon Network is creepy? There is some weeeeeiiird shit on that station.
Also, Little Bear creeps me out. Why is he naked but his parents aren't?
This was friggin hilARious. Oobi has got to be the cheapest piece of sh*t cartoon I have ever seen. Forget $20 they had about 50 cents left. And if you stare too long at their fingernails you'll really get creeped out. I guess we've come a long way from those scary assed birds on the Brady Bunch Cartoon....but still.
The BEST Canadian children's show to date, by far, is The Hilarious House of Frieghtenstien. Billy Zane rocked as the Count, the wolfman, etc. The show was great. Between kickin' 60's tunes played by the wolfman, the gorilla that was always trying to dodge the golfball (or golfballs). The Pet Vet, Grammar Slammer Bammer, Igor. Man, if you guys didn't see that show, you didn't live.
It might explain why I'm on Paxil now....
The Wiggles scare the s*** out of me!
I only have daughters - little ones - they don't like Dora (boring) and sometimes they end up watching those fairies, I mean, Wiggles.
If I had a boy I would never allow him to watch those guys... unless until he would make up his mind about his own sexuality.
Tha pirate is a serious mental case and the dinossaur is plainly scary.
It's a big miss in this list!
Giv'em a "hors concours" medal!
Fantastic job.
One suggestion if you were to lengthen the list:
The Wiggles.
Holy crap, talk about creepy.
As much as Dora, Backyardigans and Teletubbies annoy me, I have to admit they are some of the better shows on TV for younger age groups.
Barney, Big Big World, Comfy Couch, those are all freaky bad.
Oh and Caillou, or however the heck you spell it. He is a spoiled misbehaving brat that should just a good old fashioned swat on the rear, and be told to go to his room until he can stop with the whining.
What was the name of that British show that had "Captain Pugwash" and "Seaman Stains" in it? Yes, SEAMAN STAINS what kind of name is that???
Yeah, and the crap we watched as kids wasn't freaky? HR Pufnstuf wasn't on crack? Sigmund and the Sea Monsters? Include all the shows about cars with personalities!!
We're just making sure our kids are as screwed up as we are.
Boobahs need to go, though!
Okay, you rule. I should have thought up this topic much sooner. I have been positively STEWING about an episode of WonderPets that I saw last week! The one where they sang while the dolphin was drowning??? AUUUUUGHHH! "Your writing really spoke to me" (as a mother of three under eight, how could it NOT?).
Does anyone remember Lidsville???
After mid-terms I was relaxing w/ a hitter when I came across BooBah.I started taping it to show my housemates.Briefly,we got some shrooms and watched three dif. shows and have never been the same.Very trippy & super creepy.