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Children’s Television

By DivineOmega | May 29, 2006

I have figured that I am getting old. I heard recently from the obviously well informed Children’s British Broadcasting Corporation (CBBC) that the introduction of Cable and Satellite television is part of history. Satellite television only begun to gain popularity around 1990 and cable television only recently, around 2000, become fully established. I was three in 1990 and thirteen in 2000, only just becoming a teenager.

I feel like I should have an old beard and say sentence beginning with ‘in my day…’ all too often.

Again - in relation to children’s television, my annoyances and irritations:

  1. Trends - They will always continue to focus on trends which interest children of the current generation. In addition, they will always fail miserably to do so. I recently saw a whole feature on how to put up a bird house. These children had obviously been scripted in what to say as well - the notable delay as they remembered their lines was evident when one of the cheerily smiling presenters prompted them.
  2. The Image - Children’s television never stops changing its image. It’s a shame because I can no longer think it cool in any way, unlike the amazing times of SMTV. It is now just a long painful endurance most of the time, such as CBBC’s new Level Up, which primarily involves little kiddies, which have no ability to solve their own problems, sending in what annoys them. These annoyances, known as ‘glitches’ in the program are then treated with ‘fixes’. Firstly, you get a professional opinion for somebody knowledgeable in the area, which is relatively interesting, but must bore the hell out of the kids. Secondly, you get the kids responses (which they have entered via the programme’s website, because everything must be 500% more interactive than it need be). These responses often conflict directly with the professional’s point of view, which I find hilarious.
  3. Interactivity - Yes, in relation to what I previously said, why do almost all television programs have to be interactive in every single way possible, especially childrens’. For example, in the program previously mentioned, you can vote on the ‘fixes’ to the children’s ‘glitches’. WHY?!? For what possible reason is this useful!? And why, for heaven’s sake must children rely on the television for advice on their personal problems. Reliance on parents, teachers, other relatives and even the bus driver but not television shows please.

Maybe someone who reads this will have the power to ‘fix’ the ‘glitch’ in children’s television. I hear some companies are actually using blogs as market research, but having read early-teenage blogs before I feel that could easily be the cause of the ‘glitch’.

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