this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Television
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On the other hand, a lot of the weird shit from the 80s and 90s was... pretty weird. Ever watch the Brave Little Toaster as an adult? It's a bad acid trip. And I remember hating Disney's Pinnochio (though that was from the 40s, very much a product of its time).
I agree that there's value in simple fun without the burden of instruction--I'm guessing that's part of what made SpongeBob so successful in an age where that type of humor was becoming increasingly rare.
That being said, my kids don't seem to feel that weight as much. Daniel Tiger is a favorite for them, and it's been super helpful for teaching emotional intelligence (something my generation wasn't taught at all). I'm curious to see how their tastes change once they get into school and start seeing learning as work.
What generation didn't get shows that demonstrate emotional intelligence? Millennials got Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, and Crocodile Hunter. Before that I guess there was Captain Kangaroo, and, if you were lucky, JP Patches.
It's not that there wasn't anything on those shows, it's that emotional intelligence didn't seem to be explicitly taught. There are things we picked up along the way, and it was demonstrated, but different from shows like Daniel Tiger that teach these things more actively.
I mainly say this based on observing my own childrens' emotional intelligence compared to what I experienced in my own generation at that age. They have language and tools that my generation didn't have, or at least didn't utilize the same way. They still have their issues, this is just one area where the kids seem alright.
I think we agree there. I would feel better if our efforts had immediately produced a flowering of wisdom and compassion across the globe, but clearly the work is more Sisyphean in nature.
And shows like Leave it to Beaver, the Brady Bunch, Lassie, Little House on the Prarie and a plethora of shows pushing some form of morality. Television was much more limited back then since there were only 3 channels so there wasn't much targeting kids specifically but instead pushing 'traditional values' on the whole family.
I didn't mention them deliberately because they weren't usually about emotional skills. But you're right that it was far more sparse in that era, these days we're spoiled for choice.