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American Morning
Look at State of Children's Programming
Aired August 31, 2001 - 09:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Growing up with cable television has led to a lot more programming for children. Joining us now to talk about what's out there, and what's good and what's not so good is Phil Kloer. He's television critic for "The Atlanta Journal Constitution." He's here in our studios.
Good to see you again, Phil.
PHIL KLOER, "ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: And Peggy Charren, the founder of the advocacy group Action for Children's Television. She is in Boston.
Peggy, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've very familiar with your work throughout the years.
You champion the work of putting shows like that one on the television. What you make now of the landscape that Mister Rogers leaves behind?
PEGGY CHARREN, ACTION FOR CHILDREN'S TELEVISION: Well, I think the good news is that Mister Rogers is still going to be around for those 2 to 5-year-olds who haven't hit the deck yet. And I think they'll have a chance to see him for years and years, and that's because public broadcasting, and uniquely I think of all delivery systems, still thinks that's important, an important way to stalk to children. And over the years, they have gotten to do many more programs than they did, say in the '70s, particularly for preschoolers.
I think preschoolers are the best served by television of all kinds. Nickelodeon has nice preschool programs. But the 7 to 12- year-olds are not served very well by television still, and it's really very sad. Some of the best programs for that age group were the after-school-specials from the '70s, and they have disappeared.
HARRIS: those are the ones I used to watch.
CHARREN: They were nifty. They were terrific preteen books with the best actors in the country, and the commercial broadcast have really given up on kids.
HARRIS: Let's go to Phil. On that point, I'd like to go over to Phil, because, Phil, you've been watching these new cartoons that have been coming out, particularly Nickelodeon, which has got more I think than almost anyone right now. What do you make of the way that they're reaching kids, because it's not the quiet, relaxed Mister Rogers' neighborhood at all.
PHIL KLOER, TELEVISION CRITIC: But no, Mister Rogers has always been completely unique. As you put it, his quiet relaxation was just him. It's not like he was part of some big trend that is now over. He's like Captain Kangaroo, he was one of a kind. And children's TV has always been kind of big, and loud and grabbing for the young eyeballs. I mean even "Sesame Street," which many consider the most influential children's program ever, like I said, it's , and loud and grabbing for eyeballs, so that's what it's like out there.
HARRIS: But you know what I've noticed, is at least they're not trying to sell so much any more? As I remember a while ago, every cartoon was pretty much designed to sell kids something. We've kind of changed from that, haven't we?
KLOER: Yes, absolutely.
CHARREN: I think we're going back.
HARRIS: You do?
CHARREN: I'm afraid we're going back to that, that this -- because the marketplace isn't working so well for commercial broadcasters with children. They are using every gimmick they can to try and get more profit for that bottom line, and I think we're going to see an extraordinary commercialization of anything connected to kids. We do it in schools, with channel 1, with commercials inside news, instead of "CNN NEWSROOM" actually, which is commercial free. The idea that you can pitch to kids wherever they are is something that's new and it's going to get worse.
HARRIS: Phil, final word.
KLOER: Yes, Pokemon is an example of that. I mean, that is one of the most popular shows out there right now for kids. And again, that's designed around a game and figures, and you know, buy this, buy this, but it's still not as bad as it was in the late '80s and early '90, when you had Transformers, and Voltron, and everything was just about these big flashy shows that were designed to sell toys to kids.
HARRIS: Yes, and the themes aren't quite as violent as they used to be, and they do speak to themes about getting along better.
We're going to have to leave it there folks, because we're out of time. We sure do appreciate it. Thank you, Charren, and ,Phil Kloer, thank you very much for you time this morning. Hope to see you later on. Take care.
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