Eat Right, Watch TV!

Originally Posted on April 8, 2005 Last Updated on December 12, 2006

No honestly, I love Sesame Street. As a kid I didn’t so much, and it’s not like I watch it now, but anything Jim Henson is typically pretty cool. That’s not to say I wasn’t a bit bummed to find that Kermit got the axe several years ago…

But anyway, and as noted somewhat on Julie’s Blog, Sesame Street is pushing this new “Healthy Habits for Life” thing where they are trying to get kids to “count your vegetables” and “eat your colors” and “exercize with Elmo” which is all well and super dandy. Go Sesame Street, I say.

But though it isn’t apparent on their website, they have several funding sources for this season, including McDonalds.

McDonalds? Please, even if you’re all for the fast food transfat-matastic dark lord of cutting down rainforest and processing the hell out of your food, you have to admit that fast food is in no way healthy and so there is a bit of a conflict of interest here…
Sesame Workshop – Healthy Habits For Life

Up Next: Enter Man: Always Fiddling

Discussion

ClickNathan 8 Apr 2005

Hmmm…who knew?

Exersize isn’t spelled with a z at all.

WOW that word is totally blowing my mind just looking at it:

EXERCISE

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julie 8 Apr 2005

“noted somewhat”?

i hope you meant awesome, insightful, in-depth analysis

you need to read between the lines more nathan. it was all there, seriously.

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st0nes 8 Apr 2005

Yeah come on man give credit where credit is due.

Sorry Julie for his ignorance, it’s like I dress him up, I take him out and look what he does.

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Duncan Headstealer 8 Apr 2005

hahaha, ‘noted somewhat’ !!

oh you’re gonna hear about it now nathan.

well, i’m probably the last of it, actually, and you’re probably in the midst of writing an apology post/comment, or at least you are now.

give pbs a break though. advertising is extrememly hard to get, especially with poor viewers like me.

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ClickNathan 9 Apr 2005

Damn I’d really hate to have to spell it out like it is for you two.

Julie knows whatsup.

The meaning of “noted somewhat” but perhaps I should use bold and italics and double colons to illustrate to the less right brained:

noted verbage, baby To indicate as to have been written about or spoken of in the past (or possibly future depending upon if you consider Star Wars to actually be Episode III or the original)

somewhat are you serious? to indicate that while Julie did bring up the Cookie Monster and his change of pace, she did not touch on the entire spectrum of Sesame Street devoting an entire series to healthy living, nor did she indicate the hilarity of McDonalds being a part of the funding. Which was neither better nor worse, as the aim of each individual’s goal was skewed in various degrees depending upon how much you base a circle’s degrees importance into your world view.

Example Sentence:

Nathan works on a Street quite literally named Sesame, and he is laughing incredibly at his own hands.

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st0nes 9 Apr 2005

Now your just talking like I am listening… Seriously!

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quiddity 9 Apr 2005

I hate the way TV pushes its own agenda on to children (and those grown-ups who happen to watch too). What if I don’t want to be educated about the way the government scientists think I should eat? What if I want to use my imagination or, god forbid, my brain?

Why does kids’ TV have so few positive portrayals of those with physical and learning disabilities. Why are so few of the protagonists female? Why do the commercials follow strictly to traditional gender stereotyping?
Why am I beginning to rant?

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ClickNathan 9 Apr 2005

Well Quidopolis, I will agree with you that for the most part, television, and not just kid’s programming, is a giant horrid tool to keep what’s seen as normal in the public eye and to put as little new ideas out there as possible. Very little about TV really enthralls me these days (of course there are exceptions like The Simpsons, Futurama, The Office or Arrested Development, shows that just take wacky unrealism to another level) but that’s why TV is a dying dinosaur and the Internet is becoming the haven for all so many wonderful new avenues.

However I have no problem with television promoting healthy lifestyles, or even television promoting unhealthy lifestyles, for that matter… any show should be free to do what it likes, but that doesn’t mean it’s a-okay 100% kosher in my book, just that they can put it out there.

And unfortunately, the majority of the world likes to see other people’s misery but only in an artificial setting. No one wants to see a handicapped kid with AIDS dying in a third world country, but we LOVE to watch a hot blonde eat buffalo testicles and have rubber bands snapped tight across her nipples. It’s all quite twisted actually. (Titty twisted?! Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

However, Sesame Street, in its defense, definitely has kids in wheel chairs or blind kids and a plethera of races, cultures, and both genders adequately portrayed on its show. Hell, even the monster puppets are equal.

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quiddity 10 Apr 2005

OK, I’ll concede to your judgement on sesame street. I don’t think it’s shown on terrestrial TV in the UK anymore. It seems to be culturally very different to UK children’s TV shows. Naturally, I approve of the shows where they have an alphabetical or phonemic theme.

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chad was marco 10 Apr 2005

and i’ll concede to your definition of ‘noted somewhat.’

but the way that julie put it made it sound pretty funny. we know you meant no disrespect.

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