When I was little I watched tv shows constantly. I would say that I watched it more than I didn't (with breaks for sleeping). This went until I was about six, and then I started kindergarten, and I started learning important stuff like reading and writing and math. Like any little kid, I had these particular shows that I watched.
Because I homeschool, and also because I have to babysit Trelawney--my littlest sister--sometimes, I watch these shows again. Most of them I remember, and I'm not afraid to tell you that I like watching them. It's a weird sort of nostalgia.
The first show that I watched was Little Bear. Recently I learned that Suzanne Collins (author of the Hunger Games) actually produced/wrote this show. I was very interested to learn that Suzanne has entertained me my whole life.
Anyway, Little Bear is about this bear who lives in the woods and plays with his friends: Duck, Chicken, Cat, Owl, and seasonally a human named Emily, and a monkey named Mimzy. It's very old-fashioned and pioneer-y, and so though there is electricity, Little Bear and his family carry around oil lamps, pump water, and garden by hand.
I think I liked this show because it was always different, and also, I could just watch it, instead of being expected to interact with it like other shows, like Dora.
I also frequently watched Oswald. Oswald is about this octopus and his dog, and they go around being polite to everybody. I remember there was this one episode where Oswald grows a banana tree in his house, and overnight it grows the biggest banana in the history of bananas, so he goes around town giving away all of his banana because he can't eat it all. At the end of the day, Oswald doesn't have a single bit of his fruit left, and as he's dejectedly walking across the park with his dog all the people he gave to that day have all set up booths, giving Oswald all of the stuff they made out of his banana.
Little Bill comes next. I can't really say what Little Bill is about, except for the fact that he's in kindergarten, has a bunch of friends, owns a pet hamster named Elephant, and is a total fanboy when it comes to this superhero named Captain Brainstorm. I guess it is about the adventures a little kid can have, while obeying his parents and staying safe, following traffic rules, learning how to read, etc.
There are a lot of underlying themes in this show (as with any little kid series) about being a good child. In fact, I can't remember any times in all the episodes I watched where Little Bill told a lie, or did anything that would provoke getting punished. He got quite a bit overexcited at times, and got scolded, but most of the time the show goes smooth sailing.
Next comes Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. MatB is about this little girl who has two friends: a beast, respectively named Beast, and a pig named Hamilton, who lives in a cardboard box. The box he lives in was always a wonder to me as a child; it's a lot like Marry Poppins's bag, because you never know what inside it, and it holds more things than its shape lets on.
Anyway, they live in Nowhere Land, and everyday Maggie comes over and they go on an adventure. The adventure varies from each episode-- Nowhere land has a lot of mass, and so there is a beach, and also a pumpkin patch, and a place for lost toys, and there is even a place where a big giant lives.
Now that I'm older I heavily suspect that the whole show takes place in Maggie's imagination. I think this is because she always comes over when it's daylight out, the place has no end and has no other humans in it, both Hamilton and The Beast look up to her as a role model and are complete oafs without her, and one time she even brought her triplet cousins over (who coincidentally wandered into the giant's land and ate some of his strawberries).
That said, I still really liked this show, and I will probably watch another episode of it sometime soon--don't judge.
Finally--though I could go on forever--I end with Blue's Clues. Blues Clues is about this teenager named Steve who owns a blue, animated dog named Blue. Blue and Steve live in a hideously furnished home filled with objects that aren't inanimate. Because Blue can't speak to Steve, she has devised a way to tell him exactly what she's trying to say, by putting "paw prints" on three items that she thinks will most likely lead to one specific idea.
I know I watched this show more often than I should have, because my older sister Hope went completely bonkers about it. When I was four days old (really) I went trick-or-treating as Blue, my sister as Blue's best friend and neighbor, Magenta. Unfortunately, that night it rained and so I went home with my mom basically as soon as things got started, and Hope wore my costume when hers got wet and magically transformed into Blue.
The aforementioned animate objects sometimes played a big role in the show. Most important of which were Mr. Mailbox, who delivered mail, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, who had two children later on who weren't salt/pepper mixes but completely different spices, and a clock named Clock (original).
Later on Steve goes to "college", and his brother Joe takes over the ropes. Joe likes squares, and has a big stuffed duck named Morris. By the time Joe stepped in I was really dead-set on liking Steve, and decided not to trust Joe. Plus, around that time I was six or seven, and thought that those types of shows were for babies.
Now I really wish I could go back to when I was littler. It was simpler back then.
