Friday, May 20, 2011

Sorry, Sid. I hate you.

Before we got here, before we fully appreciated the magnitude of our crazy undertaking (yeah, yeah, I know..."you did it before you appreciated the magnitude...?!?" yada yada yada) I had this notion that we weren't going to have a television at all.  We sold our old one back in California before we moved and that was going to be it.

p.s. Our old one was nine years old. 
Pretty sweet, right?  Yeah, it was FREE.

But then we got here and everything was so different and insane and topsy-turvy (not the thing that grows tomatoes upside down.  No, the thing that makes you pray you're living some B version of The Truman Show).  So when I called to have our internet hooked up (I was like a junkie...all shaky, single minded.  Must. Log on. To Facebook) and they offered us a FREE flat screen t.v. if we signed up for satellite television with them, I caved.  I just wanted a little bit of familiar, a little bit of normalcy.  A little bit if freaking peace and quiet.

That's the long introduction to me saying: I hate Sid the Science Kid.



If I were not so nice, I might even say I loathe it.

Despise it.

The show.  The person.  The voices.  The creators.  Take your pick.  If I were not so nice, I would tell you that I hate them all!

Stupid television.  That show is the opposite of peace and quiet.  It is war and loud.  War and loud, I tell you!

Look, if the people behind Blue's Clues (which I love and adore and want to marry when I turn into a...thing...that can, um, marry shows) can get real children to do the voices of the characters who are supposed to be children then one would think, ONE WOULD THINK!!! that the doofusses responsible for the tragedy that is Sid the Science Kid could at least observe some real, live, human children in an attempt to recreate them in a manner that is somewhat congruent to reality.  In other words: no kids actually talk or act like that.  Thank God.

Please...mostly bald boy, kindly stop with the air guitar.  Quiet female, try blowing your nose.  It does wonders for that stuffed-sinus sound you seem so fond of.  Teacher lady: STOP SINGING.  For the love of all that is holy and good, stop with the dance-around act.  "If you human preschool teachers were any good, you'd dance and sing and be honey-bunny sweety sweet sweet all the tiddly toodly time!" she says.  Or seems to say, with that smug cartoony face of hers.  And then there's Sid, who is always running! and leaping! and telling jokes into his toy microphone! and cheering for chores!  Happy to eat breakfast!  Happy to clean up my mess!  Asking questions that a boy of his age would never ask in a manner they would never ask it in!  Hey, dude who does that character...shut it.  You're not foolin' anyone.  You've never met a kid in your life, and you know it.

Seriously.

Now The Backyardigans....that there is a show I can get behind!


Hop on over to My 3 Little Birds and join in the fun as we vent a little about the shows that make us crazy!

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44 comments :

  1. At this stage, my children only watch the Wizard of Oz and The Backyardigans. We big fat puffy heart The Backyardigans.

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  2. I have to agree that Sid the Science Kid is quite nerve grating, especially the intro.
    Shows that make me want to take a screw driver to the temple? Wonder Pets, The Fresh Beat Band, and Yo Gabba Gabba.
    Ummm Wonder Pets, why are you teaching my children to lisp?
    Fresh Beat Band, nothing about this day is great when you're involved.
    Don't even get me started on Yo Gabba Gabba. I wouldn't ever shut up.

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  3. Hahaha you're hilarious. I love Blues Clues too!!

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  4. Gee, I feel like I'm missing out on these shows.

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  5. And now I can't stop singing "I love my mom...my mom is cool...and now it's time...for having fun at school!!!!!""
    Thanks.

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  6. Ha! Great post! It's so nice to hear I'm not the only one who hates that show! And, I think you summed up every reason perfectly too! There are some great shows out there - but Sid The Science Kid certainly isn't one of them! Currently, boy 2-year-old loved Chuggington on Disney... and I'm starting to be quite the fan too!

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  7. haha.

    yyyyyyikes. and I thought Baby Einstein for 12 months and up was b-a-d...all the treats looming in the future!!

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  8. Ugh, PBS programming. Sid, Word World, and Elliott Moose can all die in a fire... started by me.

    I'm with you. Backyardigans is entertaining. My kids also like Little Einsteins, and I approve of that show (being a classical musician). Educational shows can be entertaining too, as long as they're not super-cheezed...

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  9. I obviously do not know Sid the Science Kid, but I can appreciate your hatred for him and his counterparts just from this lovely post. I hope to never meet this travesty. I hope I hope I hope.

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  10. I once made my Facebook status "I really don't believe in hunting, but if I was in the same room as Moose A. Moose and I happened to be holding a rifle, I can't be held accountable for my actions." Got a lot of agreement on that one.

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  11. I'm not familiar with this TV show, probably because I don't have satellite or small kids. We get our limited reception for free via a roof antenna.

    But I am familiar with the free TV concept. My hubby got ours for free at a church rummage sale. It's outdated and old and huge, but works better than the even older model that we had.

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  12. I thought the plural form of doofus was "doofi". Huh.

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  13. My Kids haven't seen Sid the Science Kid yet. Maybe I should make it a point to avoid adding that one to the DVR! :) They do really enjoy the Backyardigans though!

    Have a great weekend!
    Rosann

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  14. hi, first time visitor here! my son is 13 months and not yet really watching television, but thanks for the heads up!!

    nice meeting you.

    cheers,
    rachel
    http://www.upperbottom.com

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  15. terrible shows: SpongeBob, Yo Gabba Gabba, Fresh Beat Band.

    Watch the Penguins of Madagascar! Great show!

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  16. My son is 16 now so those shows are long gone for us, but I giggled remembering feeling like children's show where invasive to my world. I always would choose what to let play on the TV & not too much. Yes, they have some really bad shows. I remember sitting & thinking how cute the original Blues Clues guy was, then thinking how insane was that thought!

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  17. Teletubbies and Caillou irked the everloving poopies out of me. Wanted to reach into the television and whack Tinky Winky with his purse and give Caillou a 30 year time-out.

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  18. I am with you and an absolute not-fan of Sid. Thankfully, my kid is upstairs watching The Empire Strikes Back as I write this comment. Happy Land.

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  19. Not having kids I don't really know your pain. BUT, when I visit my 3 year old niece we always have to watch the backyardigans and if I see the damn episode with the volcano in hawaii again I'm going to murder somebody. Pick a different episode, you have 60+ of them DVR'd kid.

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  20. I'm so glad I discovered your blog. And I am so glad someone else hates Sid the Friggin Science Kid as much as I do. Did you ever notice how completely, achingly contrived the inclusivity is? Down to the Prius the mom drives? And how hard it is to get a three year old to stop singing "I"m looking for my friends"? I finally pulled the plug on PBS.

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  21. I seriously have the best readers in the whole wide world!!!! I am cracking up at all this commentary. Awesome :D

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  22. Ya, Sid is annoying. He taught my son that bananas could get brown and mushy. Before that he would totally just eat the yucky spots. Now I find myself cutting out tiny specks and then cutting out the spot left by cutting out the speck. What ever happened to 321 Contact?

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  23. Freaking Sid is the only exception to my rule of "We are a PBS household." ALL HAIL THE DINOSAUR TRAIN.

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  24. I love Sid! I mean, I don't enjoy it, but compared to most of the others it's awesome. The one I TRULY DESPISE WITH ALL MY BEING is Calliou. What the what???!! He's 4 & bald & talks like a infant. Also, what's with the weird faded edges???! And why are they sometimes faded & sometimes not & sometimes 3/4 faded?! DRIVES ME CRAZY! And the mother! Why does she have to wear mom jeans? Are they saying we look like that? HATE THAT SHOW.
    P.S. We have that exact tv! And NO satellite (but we do have a Roku so we have Netflix on the tv so I shouldn't complain).

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  25. It's good to have definitive opinions.

    My son watched Blues Clues when he was way too old for it. I thought it was cute. Thank goodness the dreaded purple dino showed up when he was too old for it, and he didn't ever count it as a guilty pleasure. Same for those Tubby guys.

    Saw Sid once while baby-sitting, I agree with your assessment.

    But can I tell ya? When I first started reading this post all I could think of was Sid Vicious.

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  26. But what about the "my mom is cool" song he sings???!! I kinda dig it. Can we still be friends????

    PS: Sid has clearly been on the pipe!!!

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  27. I agree with the Sid assessment. It is the one show they are not allowed to watch because I can't stand it.

    "Checking out charts, cuz charts rule..."

    Hejjo tries to walk like him, which basically means he doesn't bend his knees. Great.

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  28. Yes! Even the way he walks is annoying....AND NOT LIKE AN ACTUAL CHILD. It's freakish. The whole thing.

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  29. Darn! I was so out of the loop today. I'd like to punch Sid in the face but even worse than Sid is Ruby and her bossy, condescension. I haven't had a chance to read all the comments and I've gotta run, so maybe someone has already covered the subject of Ruby. But where the hell are their parents? Fresh Beat Band = Rage. And who is the annoying kid on Sid? The one with the oddly gravel-filled voice that is so unnatural for a child(ish) creature of their age? You've touched a nerve. Can you tell?

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  30. Man, thanks for giving me the heads up. We will NEVER be watching that show. I like Word World and HATE Imagination Movers. I love TV but we only watch it on DVR--no commercials for other shows, no way to get sucked in to a new show when another starts. War and loud = hilarious.

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  31. UGH - I loathe Sid the Science Kid. I have turned the channel before when Sid's grandmother is on. Her constant giggle drives me nuts. lol
    Fun post!

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  32. Haha! I know exactly what you mean. I think that some producers of children's shows have a vendetta against adults. : )

    xo,

    Sarah

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  33. I've never watched this show, but the picture you have seems familiar. We don't have a TV and haven't in years, but whenever I see children's shows on some random TV in stores, it drives me insane. Just as you said, no child actually talks like that, no grown up behaves the way they are portrayed. It's horrible, all of it!

    The whining, the loundness, the silly way of talking, adults that get pranked by kids and think it's funny, what is this?

    Glad you "hate" it too!

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  34. oh and this is ssssssssssooooooooo true. Not sure if you've seen it, but good old SNL to show it like it is!!

    http://www.hulu.com/watch/221674/saturday-night-live-disney-channel-acting-school

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  35. i have one word for you.

    Caillou.

    Enough said.

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  36. Don't ask me why I am a year behind on your blog and just reading this post now (because I will never admit to you that I am reading some of your archives because I am fascinated by your guts to move across the country to a house you never saw...ohh wait I admitted it). But I just could not pass up commenting here.

    Ohhhh MY GOOOOOOOOOOOODDNESSSSSSSSS!!!!! Never have despised something animated as much as I despise Sid. Every little pixel of his dredlocked Marge SImpson blue hair drives me BANANAS! THe voices the stereotypical "kids" and home life. ACKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only kid show related THIN that might be worse is Nina on Sprouts Good Night show!!! Ohh my gosh. You just know when the camera is off she is yelling at some intern, "I SAID SOY LATTER B*&CH!!" My daughter spent a 17 grueling days in a children's hospital where Sprout was on every day from 6am till 8pm. And now even the theme music gives me heeby geeby chills!!

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  37. Gerald and the Grandma are clearly the worst, and what is up with all the over-PCness of it all? While I have no objections to interracial relationships, I think its too over-saturated in kids shows nowadays with all the ethnic diversity and the unrealistic skin tones. I'm not a huge fan of Sid, but i'd rather watch Sid than Barney, Caillou, WordWorld and Super Why. Nevertheless Sid the Science Kid can be pretty excruciating sometimes. I just wish they would quit having adults acting like kids for this show thru CGI and Motion Capture. Some (if not most) of the dialog dosen't even sound like something kids would say and the way they move about is totally unrealistic. Is still better than Barney though.

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  38. The show makes it seem like Sid and especially Gerald are very slow and the educational value is not very high. I definitely change this when it comes on and my son watches Dinosaur Train instead.

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  39. As the mother to one toddler girl child, I am just discovering shows geared for youngins'. I absolutely cannot stand Sid the Science kid. It's surpasses the awfulness of even Barney...it's horrid. How? Why? What is the reason of its creation? Why is this show still airing? BARF!

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  40. Hate the Sid! Couldn't they just WATER BOARD us instead.

    Pro's
    Your not actually being water boarded.

    Con's
    It feels like your being water boarded.
    Voices, animation, content, characters- not cute, not clever, disturbing, just plain weird.

    I wouldn't mind if I just hated this show by my 3 children (3, 6, & 8) have never seen a more annoying show.
    Poor Jim Henson, he's not resting in peace anymore.

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  41. My husband refers to Caillou as "the secular humanist." And now I have "I love my mom - my mom is cool ... " in my head. I have always thought Sid was a way-too-pc show!

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  42. Glad I'm not the only one. I tussle with Grandma to not show this sad excuse of a TV production to her grandkids at all costs. The classic arguement comes out "well, the kids kinda like it, and I watched annoying shows that you liked when you were young..." Response? "Yeah, but there is MORE than enough mutually-enjoyable shows for kids and adults than there was 25 years ago...". If I don't like a show/movie, my kids don't watch it. Period. There's more than enough selection out there nowadays of movies that I can tolerate/enjoy watching along with my kids than having to settle for 4th-rate productions like Sid... blech...

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  43. I actually think this show is pretty cool and upbeat. Some kids are really interested in many things. I also like that this school is similar to a Montessori type learning environment that lets kids decide what they are ready and willing to learn. Instead of teaching them how to take tests. I agree the voices are a little odd and the animation itself is, Uh, different... but my kids love it and I am glad they learn from it.

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  44. Currently watching this horrible show. I'm not sure how we got off the Magic School Bus today...hate hate hate everything about this. The animation and voices and did I mention animation? Can I block the show on Netflix? Please someone tell me...

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