[VMPhil]

Whether or not the children's shows you watched growing up are the best is subjective, usually you think they are unless you watch a lot of kids TV later in life.

However I would say that I think I lived through a couple of "golden ages" with regards to kids TV. The first would be that when I was growing up, CBBC, CITV, Nickelodeon and even the Disney Channel all had live, studio-based in-vision continuity between the programmes. It's really hard to describe the special quality that this adds. It adds to the feel that this is a special corner of TV, just for you, and in the case of Nick and Disney made the channel feel more alive rather than just a playlist of shows one after the other. It's one of the first things that was cut when junk food ads were banned, which I still feel is such a shame.

The second would be that I was a CITV viewer when it was arguably at its peak. It had great presentation, studio, presenters, and original programmes. I was a huge fan of the science shows The Big Bang and How 2. CITV even had its own successful sitcom My Parents Are Aliens. And having rewatched several old episodes recently, I still believe SM:TV Live is the greatest Saturday morning show ever (a genre sadly now virtually dead). It lasted a very short period of time of course, but it really was great during that time.

With regards to modern day kids TV, having seen a fair bit of it in recent times, most of the programmes being produced by CBBC/CBeebies, and also Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are well produced and do appeal to children. The only thing I would say is do not let your 4 year old have unfettered access to YouTube, even YouTube Kids. The amount of bizarre stuff on there is shocking. e.g. weird, homemade violent versions of Paw Patrol. Restrict to iPlayer, Disney+, Paramount+ etc.