25 Days of the Unpopular: PBS

If you didn't watch Arthur or Dragon Tales on PBS Kids when you were younger, you probably had an awful childhood. I don't know about you, but these shows crafted me into the woman I am today. I wouldn't have been able to tell time if it wasn't for Loonette's clock rug stretch on The Big Comfy Couch, and the lions from Between the Lions taught me the importance of proper grammar. When I heard the intro song to Arthur playing from my living room, my 7 year old problems would disappear and I got to live in a land of talking aardvarks for half an hour. Then, I could fly with dragons in the land apart. After that, I'd Cyberchase Hacker around Cyberspace with Matt, Jackie, and Inez. And I can't forget Zoom. To this day, I don't know exactly what Zoom was rather than a bunch of socially inept children getting together to play games.


I haven't heard much about PBS Kids anymore. It seems like PBS has grown up with our generation. Now the major shows on PBS include Downton Abbey and Rick Steves' Europe. We've left our Reading Rainbow and Maya and Miguel days and moved onto the post-Edwardian British social hierarchy and a middle-aged man running around Europe. That is, if you still watch PBS. Nowadays, we're glued to E!, either mocking the Kardashians or kissing Ryan Seacrest and Jason Kennedy through the screen. We must remember to look back on our halcyon days and never forget the prime animal/owner friendship Emily Elizabeth and Clifford the Big Red Dog taught us.