Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass of Gossip Girl, and Nancy Botwin, played by Mary-Louise Parker on Weeds, top Common Sense Media’s list of the “10 Worst TV Role Models.” The Gossip Girl duo represent the “ultimate mean girl” and a “drinking, drugging gigolo,” while Botwin “makes consistently terrible parenting decisions, getting her sons caught up in a world of drug dealing, crime, and violence” (that’s only good enough for #3?).
Other’s making the list: Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell on The Office (”so self-absorbed that he can’t see beyond his own ambitions”); Peter Griffin of Family Guy (”watches way too much TV, for starters”); and Naomi Clark on 90210 (”conniving, manipulative, and out for herself”). If kids and teens watch these shows, Common Sense Media suggests parents use the characters on-screen behaviors for discussion. “Even negative role models can open the door to a discussion of what is and isn’t acceptable behavior,” they note.
Even having a TV on in the background may be bad for kids, a new study in Child Development shows. Having a TV on in the room cut by half the amount of time very young children played and focused on a given toy.
When the TV was on, kids of all ages played with a given toy — a jack-in-the-box, a baby doll, blocks, a toy telephone, a school bus with toy passengers — for about 30 seconds, on average. Without TV, it was 60 seconds,” writes USA Today ed reporter Greg Toppo. “Researchers say solitary play, especially with toys, offers many benefits. It allows children to practice planning ahead and develop cognitive skills.”
I have to confess I didn’t know It’s Academic was still on the air in Washington, DC and six other cities after nearly 50 years. Sophie Altman, the brains behind the brainiac TV quiz show — the longest running quiz show in history, reportedly — died last week. The Washington Post files a lovely obit. Check out the 1965 photo from the show of a Illinois high schooler named Hillary Rodham.
Readers of certain age probably remember with fondness The Electric Company on PBS. At the very least, it was acceptable “educational” TV for 6 to 9-year olds who had outgrown Sesame Street. The New York Times reports PBS is reviving the show, although it will have to work harder to find an audience in the increasingly crowded, (if content-free) kids media arena:
“Refitted for the age of hip-hop and informed by decades of further educational research on reading, the 2009 version of “The Electric Company” is a weekly, more danceable version of its former daily self. The series, which is expected to make its debut in January, faces challenges the original never did (trying to stand out amid so much children’s programming and to shake the stigma of educational television) as well as familiar ones (trying to make reading a positive experience for youngsters).”
Now if someone would only revive Schoolhouse Rock, which probably did more to get me interested in social studies than any of my teachers. More than 30 years later, I still know all the words to those songs.
BabyFirstTV, a subscription-based network, is available via satellite and cable for $4.99 a month. Its programs air 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are targeted to children ages 6 months to 3 years. It claims to be an “educational tool that provides a positive learning environment and an engaging experience for both you and your baby.”
“Did you just shudder? Or did you reach for the phone to call DirecTV?” asks Buzz McClain of the McClatchy Newspapers. “Lots of adults have done both. Since its launch on Mother’s Day 2006, BabyFirstTV has found its way to 30 countries, making the network available to some 80 million homes. A DVD line of the programming is coming to stores soon.”
“BabyFirstTV transforms traditional TV into an interactive and educational tool that relies on the television as a medium to deliver high-quality programming and an engaging experience for both baby and parents,” the channel’s website breathlessly announces. “BabyFirstTV can enrich the connection between parents and baby and give them new opportunities for learning and playing together.”
“The general idea of parking babies in car seats on the floor in front of a television troubles childhood development professionals,” writes McClain. “The American Academy of Pediatrics says simply, “Don’t do it!”
Meanwhile the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood added BabyFirstTV to a suit filed with the Federal Trade Commission a month after the network launched, complaining that it, as well as the Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby line of DVDs — were falsely advertising educational benefits without evidence.”
Researchers have identified a risk factor in U.S. teenagers that is associated with poorer diet and exercise habits and lower grades in school. Among black teens, 82 percent have it, compared to 66 percent of Hispanics, 60 percent of whites and 39 percent of Asian Americans. Higher income children are much less likely to have it than lower income kids.
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