Children's programming on TV

My discovery last week of clips from "The Friendly Giant" on You Tube made me nostalgic for the TV shows I grew up with, and sad that today's children, such as my own 8-year-old grandnephew Patrick, will never see these shows. The TV networks no longer seem to care about programming for children the way they did 40 years ago. How well I remember getting up every morning to watch "Captain Kangaroo," and waiting to see what animals Mr. Green Jeans would have on! Or "Romper Room," and hoping Miss Whoever would see me in her magic mirror and say my name (she never did, but I always hoped!) And our local PBS station (or perhaps it's PBS in general, I don't know for sure) has stopped airing reruns of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which had aired for a couple of years following the passing of Fred Rogers. And there are no longer cartoons on Saturday mornings on the major three networks like there used to be. Of course there is cable TV, with kids programming, but somehow it's not the same as knowing that one morning a week, Saturday, had cartoons on from 6:00 through noon, and some great classic cartoons like "Scooby Doo" got their start on Saturday mornings back in the 60's and 70's.

Speaking of "Romper Room," I'm reminded of an incident a few years ago when I was eating lunch with some co-workers. Most of us were in our 40's, and one gentleman was in his 30's. We were complaining about the management of the company where we worked, and one woman said, "They treat us like we're in Romper Room." The 30ish man said, "Romper Room? What's that?" There was a startled moment while all of us in our 40s looked at each other, and then the woman who had been doing the complaining said, "That was a kid's show on TV."

That made us feel old! This man was too young to have seen "Romper Room!" But then, on the other hand, how can you NOT have at least a passing, surface familiarity with "Romper Room" even if you were not born when it was on? I never saw "Howdy Doody" but I know it was a kid's show in the 50's.

Then there's my erstwhile friend, Lisa in Gardena, who was not familiar with the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Say WHAT? You never watched Bugs Bunny growing up? That's just - that's just - that's UNAMERICAN! (LOL!) Not to mention just plain weird!