For the sake of everyone who, like me, is tired of hearing about “unprecedented times” and “the new normal,” we won’t go into any of that. Instead, let’s take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of our favorite childhood TV shows for a bit of nostalgia and perhaps some conviction from the lessons they teach (although if you still need Blue from “Blue’s Clues” to teach you colors, that might be an issue).
To prepare for this discussion, I watched one episode of each of the following shows because, you know, I definitely didn’t have other homework to do or anything. Some of the uploads were more difficult to find online than others, and some probably involved copyright infringement. Accordingly, I have provided below a rating of several particular childhood favorites for your enjoyment and edification, ranked in order of how much I still enjoy them as an adult.
Please note that these are early childhood favorites, not the Nickelodeon shows you started watching in fourth or fifth grade that warrant a separate list due to their more mature themes and inability to masquerade as educational programming. There are also a few 90s-00s classics notably absent from this list simply because I did not watch them as a child, including but not limited to “Barney,” “The Wiggles,” “Teletubbies” and “Zoboomafoo,” so if you are a Tinky-Winky stan, I’m sorry.
“Jay Jay the Jet Plane” (1998-2005)
Episode: “Super Sonic Jay Jay” S1 E16b (1998)
If you grew up going to Sunday School or VBS or with parents who were strict on what shows you were allowed to watch, chances are you’ve seen at least one episode of this show featuring 6-year-old blue anthropomorphic plane Jay Jay of meme fame. Other characters included Herky the yellow helicopter, Tracy the pink jet plane, and Savannah the extremely Southern silver supersonic airliner (in searching for what kind of plane she was, I inadvertently came across a Jay Jay fandom wiki—something I did not expect to encounter).
The greatest difference between watching this show as a child and as an adult is that I now realize just how creepy these planes are. Their too-human-like faces protrude weirdly from their vehicular bodies, kind of like Thomas the Tank Engine but scarier. We could get into the uncanny valley theory with the CGI on these planes (Jay Jay and friends seem pretty solidly in the valley), but this show also has solid lessons even for adult me. In this particular episode, Jay Jay steals special fuel from Savannah in an effort to get into a record book. He then literally spirals out of control and discovers that disobedience always has consequences. Something we all have to come to terms with, right? Also, the characters don’t address the viewers, which provided a nice change of pace for adult me watching all these episodes involving that. 6/10 for the solid lessons and creepy planes.
“Blue’s Clues” (1996-2006)
Episode: “The Baby’s Here!” S4 E08 (2001)
Of all these shows, I probably had the most merch from “Blue’s Clues,” including a toy Mailbox that I filled with all the incredibly important papers a three-year-old owned and a Blue bath toy with propeller ears (so it could “swim”) that I thought was the coolest thing ever (and, I mean, was I wrong?). However, it took me over a decade to realize that Blue is a girl, not a boy, and apparently, I’m not alone in this confusion.
In this episode, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper go to the “baby hospital” to have Baby Cinnamon, and Steve, Blue and you learn about babies at the house. This show has longer episodes compared to some of the others on here, and as an adult, the greater amount of viewer “interaction” makes it seem to move a little slower. However, “Blue’s Clues” addresses a lot more than I remembered about real-life concerns and situations kids experience. This particular episode talks about all kinds of baby-related things that are relevant to kids about to become older siblings.
I have to say, though, I can’t decide if playing the only human regular on the show (Steve, from this era) would be my dream job or my worst nightmare. It’d take a lot out of me to interact only with animated characters in an entirely animated environment, but it could be fun to bellow “MAAAAAILLLL” and make hilariously obvious comments while staring dramatically at the camera. 7/10 for education and the fact that I want to play Steve/Joe.
“Dora the Explorer” (2000-2019)
Episode: “Meet Diego!” S3 E02 (2003)
We’re all probably at least somewhat familiar with Dora, so I’ll just get into this episode, which was my absolute favorite as a child. It convinced me that waterskiing was effortless and could be practiced behind dolphins, neither of which are true, but it also taught me how to count to six in Spanish (and now I’m completing a minor in the language—look how far we’ve come!).
Full disclosure: I was unable to find the complete episode in a single video online, but a series of YouTube clips and the Dora fandom wiki came to my rescue. (What would we do without those?) This episode features Andean condors, my favorite birds, although unlike their depiction here, they are not in fact large enough to hitch a ride to the top of a waterfall on to save an adorable baby jaguar. Nevertheless, a three-year-old can dream. This show is a classic responsible for a generation of kids believing they were experts in Spanish and wondering how on earth Dora did her hair, and I refuse to acknowledge its reboot as anywhere near as iconic. 8/10 for the condors and the Spanish lessons.
“Kipper” (1997-2000)
Episode: “Snowy Day” S1 E9 (1997)
When I mentioned that I was going to watch an episode of this classic show, both of my roommates who were present said, “Kipper!” excitedly. For anyone who did not watch “Kipper” as a child, the show follows the titular British pup through many adventures with friends like Tiger and Pig.
My fondest memories of this show are of watching it on VHS at my grandparents’ house with my cousins when we were little and singing along to the theme song. This particular episode also brought back a lot of nostalgia in another way since it’s all about a beautiful snowfall, which made me wish for Christmas and snow back home in Delaware. Also, Kipper builds a “snowdog!” It doesn’t get cuter than that, even though it melts at the end. While “Kipper” episodes are only about eight minutes long, they’re full of gentle humor, calming animation and, of course, British accents. (Side note: the way British people say “two” is for some reason particularly fascinating to me.) 8/10 for nostalgia and sweet characters, albeit very short episodes.
“The Berenstain Bears” (2003-2004)
Episode: “Too Much Junk Food” S1 E13a (2003)
Ah, the good old days when my sister and I would argue over which of “The Berenstain Bears” tapes to watch from what we’d checked out from the library. I also voraciously read the accompanying short chapter books, the only two I remember being one where Sister Bear was a swimming prodigy and beat all the rude boys in a race (#queen) and one where the Bear family gets a dog (why do bears want to own a dog, though?).
This show scores extra points for its catchy, country-sounding theme song featuring a fiddle. I also always loved that it focused on a family whose members sometimes have their disagreements but always reconcile with each other and make the best of things. This particular episode, which was about the Bears learning the importance of healthy eating and exercise, was a little too relatable for this college student, so I will be asking my roommates to hide the snacks from me like Brother and Sister hid them from Papa Bear. 9/10 for the family focus and conviction.
“Sesame Street” (1969-)
Episode: #4072 S35 E16 (2004)
Unlike many of the shows on this list, “Sesame Street” is still around today in a relatively similar format to what I watched as a child. I used to have some Little Golden Books about the characters and a collection of “Sesame Street” cassette tapes (getting into the primordial era here, I know). This is also the oldest show on the list and scores extra points for being so iconic and widely recognizable. Of course, I didn’t care about its history as a kid; I just liked Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird a lot and was scared of Oscar. I was upset when the marketers replaced the featured role of Zoe, my fave, with Abby Cadabby, whom I still to this day refuse to acknowledge as a true resident of the Street because of her role in relegating my girl to the sidelines. I just wanted more Zoe merch. Shameful.
Specific episodes were tougher to find for this show because of its age and the sheer number of episodes, so I watched part of Episode 4072, which features the letter P and an Elmo’s World segment about fish. This format of the show from the era I watched crams as much content as possible into hour-long blocks, including segments of song; the letter, number and Spanish word of the day; puppets chatting with the human hosts and lots of references to cookies and rubber duckies. It’s just as sweet and educational but not boring as I recall, and the peak 2000s fashion demonstrated by the human hosts from this era really makes the whole thing pop. 9/10 for ditching Zoe, though.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog” (2000-2003)
Episode: “The Itchy Patch” S1 E7b (2000)
I’d like to start off this one by saying that for a long time, I was convinced that Clifford’s creator, Norman Bridwell, and famed illustrator Norman Rockwell were the same person. They are, in fact, not. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who genuinely dislikes the Big Red Dog (and if you do, you may wish to keep that opinion to yourself because I will defend that Good Boy at all costs).
For some reason, this episode about Clifford having an itch and being scared of going to the vet is the one I most vividly remember. He learns that unknown situations aren’t always as scary as they seem, which is probably a good lesson for all of us. But it’s the adorable hand-drawn animation style paired with the tasteful color palette that really sets this show apart, something I definitely never analyzed as a kid. 10/10 for cute dogs, cute animation and spawning one of my favorite childhood movies, “Clifford’s Really Big Movie,” which I will be making my roommates watch on our next movie night.
“Bear in the Big Blue House” (1997-2006)
Episode: “Dancin’ the Day Away” S1 E10 (1997)
Literally everything about this show gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, from the sweet, gentle, fourth-wall-breaking Bear to the jazzy theme song with all the animals and Luna the moon welcoming us to the Big Blue House. My family owned a few episodes of this on VHS (the good old days). I do recall being unreasonably frightened by the character Shadow, who is literally just a girl’s shadow, despite loving the rest of the show.
I chose this particular episode because of the iconic scene where otters Pip and Pop teach Tutter, the self-deprecating blue mouse, how to dance. The episode hits that educational programming benchmark by teaching kids that “‘Señorita’ means ‘young lady’ in Spanish!” Bear also teaches us about different kinds of dances, like jigs, waltzes and the “cha-cha-cha.”
Because adult Naomi loves animals and the warm, friendly ambience of the Big Blue House just as much as tiny Naomi, “Bear in the Big Blue House” is still a huge favorite. If you need me, I’ll be playing the “Dancing the Day Away” song, “Otter’s Rap” and “The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha” on repeat and wrestling with the eternal question—what kind of animal is Treelo supposed to be, anyway? 11/10 for the wholesome content and catchy tunes.
