Once upon a time, children's entertainment consisted of Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers' reruns. Then, somewhere around the time of school shootings, flagging test scores, and the media-created and media-fueled general moral decline of the '90s, someone decided the children needed to be protected from reality. And true to form, America overcompensated by swinging the pendulum far into the land of easy-to-swallow, cuddly, love-tainment for preschoolers. While not a bad thing in and of itself, in the process, the parents were knocked out of the picture by the insipidness of the product being peddled. The reactionary demands to this were almost immediate and certainly overwhelming, seeming to say "Give us something we can watch with our kids that won't drive us crazy!" And, sure enough, by the time these parents' second and third kids were coming around, the options were not only watchable, they were entertaining across the board.

The Barney Factor 

   This revolution in children's entertainment can be traced back to a gentle, purple dinosaur. Barney & Friends debuted on PBS stations across the U.S. in 1992 and was immediately hailed by teachers and feel-good talking heads for its sensitivity and inclusivity. In the years since its inception, the show has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy five times and taken home the award once. But the show has also been reviled by adults -- parents and the kid-less, alike -- for its insipid theme song and endless optimism. While firmly and unashamedly (and appropriately) aimed at the preschool set, the decade to follow Barney's rise resulted in a creative outburst of children's programming that is intelligent, entertaining, and both culturally knowing and culturally relevant.

Bible Stories and Taunting French Peas

 

   Almost immediately after Barney showed up, an alternative appeared. Just a year after the purple dinosaur arrived (and the same year it was rescued from cancellation because of funding), a group of morally grounded vegetables made their debut. The first completely computer animated show, Big Idea's VeggieTales is the way to present meaningful entertainment to children and still keep the grown-ups amused. Initially drawing primarily from bible stories, the show also wears its Monty Python influences on its sleeve and bakes cultural references into every episode. 
   Big Idea's mission statement includes a declaration of the company's core purpose "to markedly enhance the moral and spiritual fabric of our society through creative media" and concludes with: "The world is full of media companies that are out to make a buck. The world desperately needs a media company that is out to make a difference." Lofty goals indeed, but not necessarily different from those of HIT's Barney & Friends. What sets VeggieTales apart is the execution. The show repeatedly rises to their ambition using cultural parodies to maintain an edge that, until it arrived, was nowhere to be found in children's entertainment. 
   While the stars of VeggieTales are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, the two most obvious nods to Monty Python can be found in the French Peas and Archibald Asparagus. The taunting French guards of Monty Python and the Holy Grail serve as direct inspiration for the irascible French Peas of the VeggieTales kitchen. In fact, the 1996 "Dave and the Giant Pickle" episode (a retelling of the David and Goliath bible story) lifts the entire scene from Holy Grail and produces (pun intended) the following exchange between the Peas (Jean Claude and Phillipe) and the Gourds (Jimmy and Jerry) that is perfectly silly for a four year old and knowingly amusing for parents: 

         Phillipe: Hello Israelites! You are pigs! 
         Jean Claude: And soon we will put apples in your mouths and stick you in our toaster ovens! 
         Phillipe: O-ho! After we defeat you, you will be our slaves and will have to fetch us our slippers! 
         Jean Claude: And iron our trousers! 
         Phillipe: And wipe our little noses! 
         Jean Claude: And scratch that spot on our backs we cannot reach no matter how hard we try! Don't you have anything to say? 
         Jimmy Gourd: Um... Do you guys have any fried chicken? I've got a real hankering for fried chicken.
         Jerry Gourd: Yeah! Me too! 
         Phillipe: This is going to be easier than we thought. 
   
   Also flying over the heads of the kiddos is the British vegetable, Archibald Asparagus. Modeled after Graham Chapman's "The Colonel", Archibald's stuffed-shirt attempts to elevate the absurdity of the show result in further foolishness. Like Sam the Eagle on The Muppet Show, as host of the VeggieTales' "Silly Songs with Larry" interludes, Archibald unsuccessfully attempts to rein in the loose cannon cuke episode after episode. During "Song of the Cebú" (1997), Archibald tries to set up the proceedings with as much dignity as possible with "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Larry the Cucumber presents, in a sequential image, stereophonic, multimedia event, the 'Song of the Cebú!'" But even when things devolve over the course of the song, Archibald is willing to hear Larry out: 

         Archibald: Hold it! You call this a multimedia event? This is a slide projector and a bed sheet! And what on Earth is a cebú, anyway? 
         Larry: It's kind of like a cow. See? 
         Archibald: Yes. Well, very good. This could be interesting. Carry on! 

   And this kind of interplay works both in the context of the video and stand-alone as an audio-only track on a CD. That is the genius of what set the Big Idea product apart when it first debuted and continues to entertain. Since the year 2000, VeggieTales has produced send-ups of Indiana Jones (Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Sampson's Hairbrush) and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (Lord of the Beans), making the most of the both the crew's talent and American society's love of all things pop culture.

Doin' the Neutron Dance 


   
   While parents of today's kids remember Nickelodeon for the quirky Canadian shows it originally aired (You Can't Do That on Television anyone?), the cable channel has firmly ensconced itself in the entertainment conscious of North America. Beginning with the Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies film, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and offering more subtle moral lessons beneath the sheen of pure entertainment, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius television show is a logical stepping stone from the foundation VeggieTales provides. 
   Each episode operates under the same basic conceit: Ten year-old Jimmy comes up with an invention to make life easier that ultimately puts him/his friends/his town (Retroville, Texas) in peril. Once all other attempts to fix the situation have failed, Jimmy has a "Brain Blast" ("A sudden burst of intuitive insight. Something that will save our butts!" as explained by Jimmy's rival and friend, Cindy Vortex) that saves the day. 
   From the very beginning you realize that The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is aiming as firmly at the parents as it is the kids. Including the line "This is the theme song for Jimmy Neutron" makes for a clever nod to the theme song of the original It's Garry Shandling's Show that aired on Showtime in the mid- to late '80s. From there, the references continue to pile up -- some subtle, some not so subtle. One of Neutron's two best friends takes his name from the Estevez brothers. Sheen Estevez is an obvious reference to Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. And Jimmy's father is Hugh Beaumont Neutron, a clear nod to actor Hugh Beaumont who played Ward Clever on Leave it to Beaver. 
   Episode titles range from "The Egg-pire Strikes Back" to "Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen" to "Grumpy Young Men". Episodes like 2004's "Men at Work" (apart from being another Sheen/Estevez reference) finds Jimmy's other best friend, Carl Weezer, standing out in front of the McSpanky's burger joint that the three of them have transformed into the hippest fast food place in Retroville. Carl mans the velvet rope in a way that would have made Steve Rubell proud, turning away a man because he doesn't like his vibe, but letting his monkey in. In 2002's "Jimmy on Ice", Jimmy needs Carl to sweat in order to help reverse another invention gone wrong. After Jimmy's pep talk, Michael Sembello's "Maniac" blasts while Carl runs in place. 
   Minor recurring characters are often direct lifts of well-known personalities. The space bandits include Tee, a Mr. T knockoff, and Barbarino, a John Travolta knockoff. The character of Jet Fusion (voiced by Christian Slater) is a rather loving send-up of James Bond. The show also boasts SCTV's Andrea Martin as the voice of Neutron's teacher, Ms. Fowl. And Martin's brother-in-law and fellow SCTV alum, Martin Short, lent his voice talents to the bad egg, Ooblar, in the 2001 original movie. These are the kinds of things that keep both the kids and the parents coming back for more. 
   
The Pretenders
 
   While movies like Shrek and its sequel might initially appear to be filling the big screen entertainment spot of programs like these, they are actually a bit deceptive. The movies serve as a logical next step for the kids and parents who started out with VeggieTales back in the '90s and are now older grade-schoolers, but because of their overall look, they are often mistaken for being aimed at the same under-six set as shows like Jimmy Neutron. 
   The television shows are all rated TV-Y, meaning they are deemed appropriate for all children, even as young as two. Both Shrek movies, on the other hand, come in with a well-earned PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The innuendo flies over the heads of most pre-kindergarteners -- and Jimmy Neutron does have its share of romantic tension -- but, as a parent, it's irresponsible to not at least consider it when viewing the films. More troublesome for their potential immediate impact are the clever, if juvenile, plays on words in the Shrek films. Mike Myers' Shrek tells Princess Fiona that he "has to save his ass" when referring to Eddie Murphy's Donkey, and calls Donkey a "stubborn jackass" when they are arguing over their swamp home.

Wading through the Crap

   While there is a lot of garbage out there for kids to consume, some of it not even suitable for the audience it's aimed at, it is good to know there are some worthwhile offerings that can entertain both the kids and the parents equally. And VeggieTales and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, along with shows like Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents, Disney's The Wiggles, and Kim Possible are valuable options on the television airwaves to get you through the toddler years and into pre-school and beyond, without driving yourself stir-crazy. Hell, you might even find yourself singing and laughing along with your kids.

Adam Besenyodi (abpopmatters@hotmail.com) is an associate music editor and music writer at PopMatters.com.