A Different Beast

Oscar has just started to get interested in watching children's TV, and we switch the Idiot's Lantern on for 20 minutes or so first thing in the morning while he has his beaker of milk (which means N and I get a bit of time to remember which planet we live on before the day kicks in).
Whichever wonderful person at the BBC dreamt up CeeBeebies should be awarded the Nobel Prize - in my current position its usefulness ranks right up there with the wheel and the light bulb. I'm not suggesting kids should be left in front of the box all day long, but the odd fix of Teletubbies or Tweenies is pretty harmless as far as I'm concerned. It all seems so safe and cuddly, with its wholesome presenters and carefully planned out educational messages, and no chance of some unscrupulous advertiser slipping in a product placement for Turkey Twizzlers. Oscar sits on my knee at the crack of dawn each morning and bounces along to the theme tune of Balamory, and I must admit I've started to look forward to finding out 'what's the story' each day. I think N has developed quite a crush on Josie Jump. We really must get out more.
Watching new children's TV has made me realise just how far things have moved on since I was a nipper. When were insects replaced with 'mini beasts'? Did they go through some kind of Saatchi-style rebranding exercise when I wasn't looking? 'Take Hart' appears to have metamorphosed (excuse the pun) into a show that tells you how to take photos on your mobile phone, download them onto your laptop using Bluetooth and edit them in Photoshop. Poor Tony only had a gallery, and even that was really just his wall. The best bit of Kid's TV progress as far as I'm concerned has got to be that no child has ever got to sit through Metal Mickey ever again.