"Dora The Explorer" is a horrific scourge

http://contexts.org/socimages/files/2009/03/dorathe-explorerposters.jpg

It's a cloying, insipid dollop of shlocky, poorly animated, shrill crap.

Defend it. I defy you.

my cousins wee girl loves it

I guess it's better than Bratz? That's my only defense.

My now 8-year old daughter loved it years ago. Now -- thankfully -- she can't stand to watch a minute of it.

Her current cartoon faves -- SpongeBob and Mighty B -- are sooo much better.

She is responsible for all the dutch I know that didn't come from bassie and adrian and spongebob squarepants.

She's getting a "tween" makeover, you know:

http://www.gifts4kids.timorinvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tween-dora-the-explorer.jpg

there is a monkey on it

OHMIGOD Alex doesn't like a programme aimed at pre-school kids.

Dora's hair is cool and she taught my daughter some Spanish. That's plenty good enough.

Raise your standards.

god bless you alex

never say die my mans

Why is she always yelling?

Haha. Also, so bossy ("Say it with me. Say it with me!"). STFU, Dora.

The awkward pauses where she asks our Jonah to choose between, I dunno, a gate, a bridge and a mountain or whatever, and he just stares her out, are kind of classic.

But yes, it's fucking shite.

But, as Noodle said, it's not really crafted for you and I, is it?

It seems sort of absurd to go on ILE and find ""Dora The Explorer" is a horrific scourge" at the top of the list.

Defend it. I defy you.

It is meant for kids. Kids like it. It also teaches them things. Small kids enjoy rudimentary entertainment with simple content. For example, the board game Candyland or toy trucks they can push around while making engine noises.

You (Alex) are irrelevant to this situation. Suck it up and live with it. Must it always be about you? Eh?

i don't really mind if our 4-yr-old sees it now and again, as long as i don't have to be in the room. it is very aggravating to actually listen to.

of the things he has liked at one point or another over the last few years, my favorite was jack's big music show, which he sort of lost interest in. (although he still listens to his laurie berkner cds ALL THE TIME, eesh.) pingu is ok. boohbah weirded me out. wow wow wubbzy is pretty annoying, but the theme song's kinda catchy. and after initially being put off by blue's clues i developed some fondness for it (at least the older ones, with steve -- joe, not so much). i know some parents who swear by yo gabba gabba, but that hasn't entered our orbit. meanwhile, the kid also shows only intermittent interest in sesame street -- and when he does it's mostly elmo, bleah.

also, i once let him watch some dora snippets on youtube, and before i knew it he'd clicked through the related links and wound up with something like this:

ever seen saturday tv funhouse's maraka and mittens?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1610/saturday-night-live-tv-funhouse

i once watched a whole episode of this, the three kings day special. it was really kind of worrying, she WAS very bossy and would just stare at me, waiting for me to speak to her in spanish.

yo gabba gabba is fun but it's eductational content is basically nil and it's target audience is present and future stoners; my son likes it and we let him watch it occasionally but I feel bad when he does, I'd rather he watch Dora or anything else, honestly. At best it's introducing him to cool design, I guess. Anyway he's big into WonderPets and Backyardigans these days which is fine.

like how I misspelled educational? I do

also seeing "dora the explorer is a horrific scourge" at the top of ile new answers is not really absurd, it seems pretty much exactly what i'd expect.

the only off-limits show in my house is Barney, dora can grate a bit but my kids like it and i can tune it out. they are into spongebob and powerpuff girls a lot more tho, and those shows are pretty good. arthur is also a great show.

It is meant for kids. Kids like it. It also teaches them things. Small kids enjoy rudimentary entertainment with simple content. For example, the board game Candyland or toy trucks they can push around while making engine noises.

You (Alex) are irrelevant to this situation. Suck it up and live with it. Must it always be about you? Eh?

As the parent, I am not irrelevant, thanks very much. There is plenty of programming for kids that is worthwhile and not mired in the pointlessly abject lameness that consumes Dora.

"Oswald," "LIttle Bear,"Thomas the Tank Engine,"... hell, even "Wonderpets" are lightyears better than "Dora."

although he still listens to his laurie berkner cds ALL THE TIME, eesh

My condolences. I wouldn't wish that on Al Qaida.

my kneejerk attitude is to say "things were better in my day" but then i realized i can barely remember any of the preschool-aimed nickelodeon shows from my day. there was that one about the koalas, and then, uh...

i remember being really irritated by all the educational stuff on sesame street!

sesame street's educational content has gone down in recent years too but, even with all the irritating screechy new muppets and changes, it's still awfully good. when I was a kid that was all we had except for mr. rogers (reruns of which I still adore, and my son likes it too, thank god). otherwise I watched some really inappropriate crap; looney tunes (yeah, they're great and all, but I cringe at the violence in these now if my son sees them, he can wait on that until he's much older, thanks).

I love that Oswald cartoon, I was annoyed today that my wife changed the channel because I wanted to make sure the octopus got his ice cream!

as alex's kid grows up i look forward to "spongebob squarepants is kiddie stoner garbage" and "Someone needs to take the Bratz people out back"

I love that Oswald cartoon, I was annoyed today that my wife changed the channel because I wanted to make sure the octopus got his ice cream!

Amen

oswald is beautiful.

the good thing about dora, once your kids are four or five they turn on her with a vengeance.

i like most of the kids shows though. having said that, we haven't had cable since we moved, and i haven't missed it a bit. the kids just watch movies now when they want to watch something.

i did get a little sad when Rufus outgrew the Backyardigans. i'll never outgrow that show. i love the music too much. (former lounge lizard evan lurie should win some sort of genius award for those songs he writes.)

xp HOOS really, though, Bratz is kind of fucked up

in that "kool 2 b self-absorbed n slutty" kind of way

oswalds repeated lesson seems to be 'if youre too nice youll get screwed over'.

"yo gabba gabba is fun but it's eductational content is basically nil "
i dont agree with this at all. yo gabba gabba started my kid loving to brush her teeth, counting on her fingers, singing along with songs and naming a lot more animals than she knew before.

i mostly hate anything british (sorry), bob the builder, thomas and especially the fucking backyardigans

oh lets discuss CALLIOU and his perpetual disappointment in life

calliou is a drip. even by canadian standards.

i mostly hate anything british (sorry)

Surprised that no-one's mentioned the Teletubbies yet. Appeals to toddlers, lazy students, stoners, but is repetitive repetitive repetitive and drives parents nuts...

Backyardigans isn't british is it?

Dora is all the things Alex in NYC says about it, as is Diego, but my daughter loves it.

Peppa Pig and Humf are good.

kids need less repetitive drivel & spastic bullshit and more good old-fashioned shows like Mr Rogers that teach u how to love

still my fave kidz shows by far:

chowder -vs- flapjack - vs- the mighty b! poll

(i notice that i failed to vote in my own poll. oops.)

chowder & flapjack are pretty good, love the chowder theme song

of the british ones, me and my kid liked kipper, and he liked thomas (i dislike)

xp HOOS really, though, Bratz is kind of fucked up

I won't let my 8-year old daughter watch the Bratz TV show of have Bratz dolls.

I'd like to see Amy Poehler play Dora in a live action skit, with Dora as an angry, anti-immigrant wingnut, sort of like the way Eddie Murphy played Gumby as a bitter has-been.

we started netflixing the electric company now that it's out on dvd, mostly just for nostalgic shits n giggles, but after watching a couple episodes with the kids it really is a fantastic show. funny for kids, adults, and stoners. bill cosby, rita morenoan and a young morgan freeman (!)... I'm the plumber, I've come to fix the sink

I won't let my 8-year old daughter watch the Bratz TV show of have Bratz dolls.

Good for you. If anyone ever buys Megan a Bratz it is going straight to Goodwill.

The baby Bratz are even creepier.

I bought the DVD of 70s sesame st a while back and it is still as watchable as ever. Why they don't run the show like that these days I have no idea. it was educational, it didn't talk down to the kids, it was surreal and fun and hey - it had Stevie Wonder singing!

i forgot about backyardigans, our kid likes them pretty well, but i think i like them better. there have been times i've caught myself humming backyardigans songs. wonderpets i'm ok with, but the duck pushes the limits of my tolerance for twee. the other thing that's popular around here are dvds of happy feet (eh), monsters inc. (which i like pretty well) and mickey mouse cartoons from the '30s (solid gold classic).

the other thing that's popular around here are dvds of . . . mickey mouse cartoons from the '30s (solid gold classic).

Can't say I'm familiar with these (I'm sure I've seen some), but I cannot stand most Disney cartoons, shows and movies. Something about them just grates on me badly. The best use of Mickey Mouse I've seen in years is as the gag mob-boss in a South Park skit:

Definitely not safe for kids.

the classic mickey and donald cartoons are a lot better than most of what people think of as "disney cartoons."

for example:

Oh, yeah yeah. That stuff is kind of trippy.

And it's a far cry from the treacly Disney Princess-type films.

Oh, yeah yeah. That stuff is kind of trippy.

And it's a far cry from the treacly Disney Princess-type films.

Oh, yeah yeah. That stuff is kind of trippy.

And it's a far cry from the treacly Disney Princess-type films.

there's also this kind of amazing one (not on my son's dvd):

yeah, the old disney cartoons are pretty different from our idea of all those characters. i don't find most of them as funny as the warner bros. stuff, but they were popular for a reason. does anyone remember that old '40s version of "chicken little" where it ends with the fox eating all the animals?

and the narrator's like "wait wait, that's not the way it happens in the book!" and the fox looks at the camera and sneers "don't believe everything ya read, brother!"

I watched an old LoonyTunes on youtube recently called "Dough for the Do-Do"

It was a bizarre homage to Dali, among other things.

the great warner cartoons are sort of untouchable. but they're also pitched at what i consider a slightly older age bracket. i'm comfortable with my 4-yr-old watching mickey and donald, i don't know that i want him turned loose yet on bugs and daffy. especially daffy.

but i also skip over this one on the mickey dvd, because i don't know what the 4-yr-old brain would make of it:

does your kid read the old Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks? Those were some of my favorites.

my dad's a big barks fan, and i grew up reading all those. there's actually a family treasury of barks reprints that currently resides with my 10-yr-old nephew, on the understanding that when our kids are older they'll get their turn at them. 3 generations of barks enthusiasts.

I bought the DVD of 70s sesame st a while back and it is still as watchable as ever. Why they don't run the show like that these days I have no idea.

it changed in the barney era when the producers realized the only kids still watching were 1-2 year olds who tuned in for elmo and weren't interested in the more sophisticated material.

also by that time the key figures of the o.g. sesame street were no longer involved with the show (some passed away, some retired or moved on to other things).

This is funny (and also I wish it was real)
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6789072/dora-the-explorer-movie-trailer-with-ariel-winter