So I watched a sampling of conveniently timed educational tv today.
Doodlebops Rockin’ Road Show
Episode:
Rooney’s Robot
They need extra speakers for the concert so they try Rooney’s robot to load them on the bus, but the robot doesn’t work so well.
The guest kid shows up and they ask him how he got so good at riding a bike.
Stay positive and keep at it.
So Rooney decides not to give up on the robot and fixes it. The concert is a success!
E/I: If you don’t stay positive you’ll never try, and if you don’t try you’ll never do it.
You know, I almost used the same moral as part of a post a while back, but I closed the window instead because the thread was too negative. Now I just feel like I disappointed the Doodlebops. :sad:
Turbo Dogs
Episode:
The little car the clunked
During a race the car of one of the dogs falls apart. It’s going to be in the shop and he’ll miss his next race, so the mechanic gives him a loner.
The loner is a piece of junk. It doesn’t even have automatic seat belts. To me the automatic seat belts just look like lazy animation anyhow.
But the car has some sort of robotic hand and helps the dog fix itself up.
It’s still too slow though, so he takes it back to the mechanic who remembers it has it’s speed limiter switch on. Now it’s the best car ever and they win the race.
E/I: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
There are so many plot holes a kid could only get dumber watching it.
If cars can help fix themselves, why do they need mechanics? If it knows so much about fixing itself, why didn’t it do something about the limiter switch? If it’s such a fantastic car, why would he ever want his old one back?
Emperors New School
Episode:
Squeakend at Bucky’s
Bucky helps Kuzco learn squirrel talk. Kuzco just uses it to get close to Malina until he gets stuck in a stump and squirrel talk is the only way to save Bucky from getting run over by a mango cart.
E/I: Learning a new language isn’t completely useless.
Duh!
Episode:
Kuzco Fever
Kuzco learns if he is sick he gets access to his money, so he fakes it.
Yzma uses a potion to make him sick for real so he’ll miss enough school and not become emperor.
He doesn’t want that so he has to eat a ton of potato beetle stew.
E/I: I guess he got his comeuppance for being a faker.
Pearlie
Episode:
Fairy-tastic fall
The Fall Fairy is delayed, and everyone is mad that it’s still summer, but he thinks everyone hates him.
Pearlie gives him a pep-talk.
Every season is beautiful and important in it’s own way.
E/I: Our differences make us special.
Episode:
Secret of the Whispers
Frogs are humming, making the bad girl angry for waking her up.
Opal has exams, but to get even the bad girl is making too much noise.
She passes with perfect marks, so Pearlie wants to throw her a surprise party.
The bad girl convinces Opal it’s her going away party and almost leaves, but has to say good bye to her friends first., then finds out the real reason for the party.
E/I: Pearlie shouldn’t keep secrets from her friends.
What a sucky moral. Don’t keep a surprise party a secret? What about thinking the worst and taking the word of people that are out to screw you at every turn?
But they have a “Pearls of wisdom” segment to tell you the moral incase you missed it.
Sabrina’s Secret Life
Episode:
And baby makes 3
Her aunts are going out.
Bad girls want her to have a party, so suddenly she is.
Even though her aunts didn’t tell her about it, a babysitter show up. They try to make her young so she’ll want to party, but end up turning her into a baby.
Taking care of the baby cost her all her money and she can’t enjoy the party.
The bad girl turns baby back to normal. Babysitter tells the aunts about the parties. Sabrina is grounded.
E/I: None of the characters came out and said what the moral was, so I don’t know.
If she hadn’t given into peer pressure she wouldn’t have caused trouble. But if her plan worked better she wouldn’t have gotten caught.
But then again, if this was Pearlie the moral would have been not to keep being a witch a secret from her friends.
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Not really rocket science here.
If wasn’t for E/I programming I guess it would be lord of the flies out there, with grade schoolers solving problems with guns and a complex vocabulary.
Here’s how the above shows are explained to the FCC to deserve the E/I rating.
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