PBS Children’s Show Rating Scale - weigh in!

I was going to add Wishbone! Also Square One. My kids are too old for most of these shows.

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Too old to have watched them when they were young???

Some of the list wasn’t on the air when they were young.

Our kids enjoyed Mr. Rogers, Sesame St., Reading Rainbow and Wishbone. They read a couple of the Arthur and Curious George books but never saw the shows. I recall being surprised by seeing Ringo Starr and George Carlin on Thomas the Tank Engine.

I think many of these shows might have been popular when our kids had outgrown them. Pretty sure S would get a kick out of seeing old episodes of Wishbone and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? again.

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Arthur is the tippity top. If my D knew something I would have thought a bit advanced for her, it always turned out to be something she learned from Arthur. After that, she learned a lot from Wild Kratts and Fetch. And she loved Caillou as a 3-5 yr old. I think Caillou taught her how she wouldn’t want to be, because he was so annoying. His Grandma was the best, though.
Clifford, Word girl and Sagna were all nice to watch. But Arthur is King.

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I’d put Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood in the top tier. None are God Tier to me. Reading Rainbow maybe next tier down. Don’t really care about the others.

ETA: Just saw Liberty’s Kids at the bottom?? I would put that in my Reading Rainbow tier. We watched them all!

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Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street should be elevated to HOF status. The rest look about right.

Although my daughter liked Teletubbies, I would put it in the lowest tier at best. Her favorite show was Angelina Ballerina, which I don’t see on this list. I think it was only broadcast on PBS for a short time, so she mostly watched the videos and read all the books. My son loved Thomas the Tank Engine, but he also watched those mostly on video. Both kids loved Arthur as well. I’ve never heard of several shows on the list.

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So, I realize it’s dating myself to say that I was an original Sesame Street kid (first season aired in ‘69, I was born at the end of ‘68) but I think the strongest sense of deva vu I’ve ever experienced in my life was tuning in with toddler D17 and seeing crackly versions of The Alligator King and We All Live in a Capital I and being able to sing along to every word from memory. Instant time travel - freaked me right the heck out. :smile:

D17 was obsessed with Thomas, Cyberchase, Arthur, and Sagwa (we had the book by Amy Tan which was one of her favorites) and anything Kratt Bros. got high marks here. D23 barely watched TV, she’s always been much more of a YouTuber.

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My kids loved Mr Rogers and Barney when they were little. Couldn’t get into Sesame Street.

My D (now 30) recently remarked that Wishbone introduced her to so many classics; several she’s never read. But she knows their plots because she remembers the Wishbone episodes!

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Sagwa and Between the Lions should move up, Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine down. Jakers definitely should be much higher.

My kids loved The Wiggles. We even went to two Wiggles concerts and my husband took my daughter up to side of the stage to see them up close and she tried to run on stage! Captain Feathersword did a hilarious skit for the parents - I think it was the pirate version of classic pop and rock songs.

I really admired Fred Rogers for his passion for teaching children, but I didn’t care for his show. The puppets were definitely creepy.

My whole family loved Seven Little Monsters, but it only lasted for a short while. My husband still mentions it every time we talk about kid shows.

I abhorred Ruby and Max!

Finally, our family Christmas pajamas this year have a Sesame Street theme. I bought Sesame Street T shirts, a different one for everyone, and matching pajama pants. Beaker is my fave!

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This is my favorite design!

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My kids went to daycare so they didn’t watch a lot of these shows since they were daytime shows. One daughter didn’t really like TV (she was learning English as a toddler) but she did like the Barney specials, which were mostly songs. Her sister LOVED tv, but really preferred live action rather than cartoons (memorized the Wizard of Oz, liked Mary Martin’s Peter Pan) except loved everything Disney. For Christmas when she was almost 4, she wanted The NIghtmare Before Christmas - and a matching bathing suit. I told her I didn’t think they’d have such a bathing suit in a size 3T.

My cousins were in the original Sesame Street group, and I remember 'The song of Ten" with “TEN chocolate layer cakes!” (crash) “And that’s the song of Ten.”

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I’m not familiar with many of these shows. We liked sesame street, electric company, reading rainbow.

We didn’t like lamb chop, Barney. We also never really got in to Mr Rogers, tho I now appreciate what he was trying to do. We just never really liked the show and the different voices he did.

We also really enjoyed and were fascinated by MythBysters, whatever station had that show.

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Also not PBS, but Nickelodeon had “Little Bear” which was adapted from Sendak’s books and I thought this was the sweetest most innocent cartoon ever. Everyone loved it at our house!

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@LeastComplicated I’d love to know where you found the SS tshirts…

I noticed yesterday afternoon that “Barney” was trending on Twitter - turns out it was all related to this list and outrage that it was listed in the bottom tier!!! Haha.

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TeePublic. I haven’t seen them in person yet, but the prices were very reasonable!

I really can’t believe anyone liked Barney! I remember speaking to someone and we both loved Bear in a Big Blue House in French. The big bear’s voice was so comforting. Then we heard it in English and it ruined the show for us.
I just want to acknowledge the writers who make some of these shows smart and fun enough for adults who are unavoidably watching along! Maisy Mouse books and show are very good for the under 5s …

I’m laughing so hard over all the “Barney” talk - I took this photo in Westfield NY, several years ago, I name all my photos, and this one is titled “Every Parent’s Dream”

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