One morning in 2005, Mike and Robbie were watching a cartoon on PBS. I thought I heard something strange, so I went in to check it out. What I heard was “Coming soon to a theater near you” and for the rest, let’s just go to the email I sent the President of PBS on November 4th of that year:
My kids just finished watching Dragon Tales and I had to rewind the Tivo to make sure I saw what I thought I saw — you seriously put a commercial for the movie CAPOTE on after it?
My kids are 2 and 3 and they just watched people crying and being led off to the electric chair. Are you sure this was a GOOD CHOICE?
I’m OK (sort of) with the fact that the only commercials my kids ever see are on PBS when they watch Dragon Tales. But Smith Barney is one thing, an R-RATED MOVIE is another.
What in the WORLD were you guys thinking??
OK, so in my haste I said “electric chair” instead of “gallows,” but don’t you think I should have at least gotten a response? Don’t you think it is a little harsh for my kids to be asking me “Mommy, why are those men crying?” at 7:30 in the morning?
This is why my kids will never watch PBS. Non-commercial programming my ass.
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I’m really surprised you didn’t get a response. Maybe they got so many e-mails they’ll change their policy? One can hope.
Yeah, I wrote them again on the 8th and still nothing. I figure after almost 15 months I’m probably not going to hear back!
the only show my son watches on pbs is sesame street. I turn it on right when it starts and turn it off right when the mcdonalds commercial comes on right after it is over. I haven’t seen any capote commercials or any other movie type commercials in the year I’ve allowed pnut to watch SS. I’m glad he doesn’t watch any other shows though. Elmo and elmo alone is all he will watch.
I’d be just as angry had I seen that commercial though. I’m already semi-angry over the fact that my son is obsessed with “cheese fries” now, that is toddler speak for I want a cheeseburger and some french fries from McDonalds!!!! Commercials are just bad. I swear I think they have subliminal messages in them.
Yeah, all the sanctimonious bullshit about PBS being so highbrow and such great television. Fine. But they need to admit that they sully themselves with commercials. I repeat: commercial-free my ass.
Amen, sistah!
I am totally opposed to PBS having commercials but I also understand that funding to PBS has been severely cut in recent years (thanks George and Co.) so they are dependent on donations and if they don’t get enough, the money has to come from somewhere.
What really sucks, though, is that someday, when our country is not in complete and total debt (Thanks again George and Co.) PBS might once again receive adequate government funding but they will never stop running ads. That genie will never go back in the bottle.
As for the Capote ad, that’s just ludicrous and wrong and I can’t imagine what the hell they were thinking when they ran that. I hope it was a mistake.
As for the McDonald’s ads, I find them unconscionable. Everyone knows how bad that crap is for you and they want to advertise to the littlest of children? Fuck them and PBS, too.
I can’t believe you didn’t get a response! Even a form letter along the lines of “sorry we screwed up, thanks for contacting us” would be better than nothing!
That’s insane! And at the very least you should receive a form e-mail response. It seems so wrong that it almost makes me think it was a sick “joke.” I hope.
Kind of makes me feel less guilty about letting my kids watch way too much Nick Jr.
Maybe it’s just me, but I won’t let Dragon Tales show at our house at all. It’s that damn “LOOOOOOOOOVE IT!” dragon. Gives me the heebie jeebies.
Won’t let her watch Wow Wow Wubzie because the one time I bothered to watch it, the kid modeled the wrong behavior. She doesn’t really need any more bad influences. Grrr.
Other than that, Noggin and PBS are usually pretty safe… I can’t believe they did that Capote trailer though.
(Yes, my kid is a Scooby fanatic. Boomerang forever!)
The worst of all of the PBS kids shows is the Teletubies because their horns or what ever you call them on their heads are signs of the DEVIL. Believe it or not they are. And why the hell does Tinkiwinky have a purple purse if he’s a BOY! Don’t you think that’s enough for children. That’s Fucked up badly.
Whoa, Brian. Religious paranoia AND homophobia all in one comment? Pace yourself.
I agree that PBS should be commercial-free – but they are still better for your children than akl the ADM high-fructose-corn syrup ads they see and hear on Disney and even the pseudo-”Christian” programs, like the ultra-violent and demeaning Veggie Tales and the anti-intellectual Larry Boy.
Besides, it’s folks like you, who voted for George Bush twice!!, who are destroying both PBS and America.
Hey there fiskhus_jim, how did you get all that out of this post? Quick: what’s my blood type? Ha ha, not so smart now, are you…
Wow….just, wow! That’s awesome. Teletubbies-tool of the devil!
“snicker”
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