Thoughts about stuff

I thought I’d take a slight deviation from strictly doing reviews to put down some of my thoughts about television and kids.

Kids on television
I guess I have no business complaining about the way kid actors are treated since I’m buying into the system as much as anyone else by consuming the product. Then again, maybe that does give me the right to put my two cents out there. I find it increasingly disturbing the ways kids on television are being molded, packaged and presented.
We saw this some in the 1970s with the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family … television kids who were also expected to make music, sell lunchboxes and market clothing.

But man, it’s getting to be kind of ridiculous. Kids on Nick and Disney especially aren’t just appearing in a television show. They’re appearing in made for television movies and movies in the theaters. They’re making (and selling) CD albums. Their faces are plastered on t-shirts in Walmart. They’ve got their own lines of clothing and makeup. They’re appearing on each other’s shows. They’re appearing in television specials. They behave and act as though they are adults on the red carpet, and in many ways, they are. But is that a realistic way to live? A healthy way to live? I wonder.

I’ve stated in this blog once before, and I hope this is something that the networks would consider implementing if they’re not already doing it – Nick and Disney really should offer lifetime assistance to all of their actors, by way of:


- Education – encouraging them to go on to higher education and helping kid actors save and invest part of their salaries in order to do that
- Job Counseling – as in either helping these kids continue to find work as actors or giving them assistance in transitioning to other fields
- Drug and alcohol rehab should they need such services in the future
- Therapy to cope with the transition to “regular” life should their acting careers come to an end

After all, these kids are making the networks boatloads of money, and it’s always a scandal when one of them grows up to become a junkie or a criminal. I would think that Nick and Disney would want to avoid that kind of publicity.

My kid’s TV watching

If this blog makes it seem as though my kid does nothing but watch television all day (and yes, I only have one kid) I wanted to reassure anyone and everyone who might actually give a damn that no, she does not just watch TV all day. Well … not every day, at least. Some days, yes, she watches way too much TV. This is especially difficult during the summer, especially since our part of the country has been affected by the recent heat wave and drought. In fact, the last three summers here have been particularly hellacious, with temperatures near or over 100 degrees for weeks at a time. The number of indoor activities we can go do (that we haven’t already done a million times) is kind of limited, so that makes it hard to avoid the boob tube. However, my spouse and I do institute some mandatory non-television time and I try to arrange as many play dates for her as I can. (Even swimming in the middle of the day is tough for us since we are very light skinned people who burn easily.) Also, we have a nice Arts Center in our community so the little munchkin gets to take several arts and theater classes throughout the summer.

What she does watch I often watch with her, hence this blog.
Brave review with a spoiler

I never wrote a review of Brave, and it’s kind of late now … you’ve probably already seen the movie. I thought the bad review in People Magazine (I’m not a regular reader of People) was bizarre and off base, but I also didn’t love the movie as much as some people have. I thought it was hilarious in spots. The animation is breathtaking. Billy Connolly as the dad is brilliant. (But then Billy is nearly always brilliant.) But for a movie called “Brave,” I was expecting the lead character Merida to do something brave for her clan. Had the lead of this movie been a boy, he’d have saved his entire village. But “bravery” for a girl I guess means the ability to stand up for herself to avoid a prearranged marriage. Now, that is certainly brave. Just not quite what I was hoping for.