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:
I took my 9-year-old daughter and her giggly friends to see Katy Perry: Part of Me last night, and I have to say … Not bad. I was influenced enough to purchase a couple additional Katy Perry songs for my iPhone.
The movie is equal parts concert footage, backstage footage and Katy Perry biography. Though there’s not a great message for girls to take away from this film, I do like that it doesn’t sugar-coat what it means to be a celebrity. The fact of the matter is that almost no one who’s famous just appears out of nowhere. Famous people work for years and years before they become famous, and they work hard, putting in grueling hours. This film makes no bones about that, even going so far as to point out that it’s what killed Perry’s marriage to Russell Brand.
I personally admire the fact that Perry isn’t one of those corporate musicians with someone pulling the strings behind the scene. She writes her own music, she plays guitar and she has a personal hand in everything she does. She’s also chosen to surround herself with friends: everyone from her makeup person, her stylist, and her personal assistant are people she likes to be around. Her sister goes on the road with her as an assistant as well.
Mostly the movie is just fun to watch, with lots of bright colors and kicky clothing set to Katy Perry’s soundtrack, which is no slouch. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say the film “inspiring” for legions of young girls and (mostly) gay boys, but I’m sure that they think Perry is inspiring, as evidenced by the fan feedback in the film. Like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry puts out a message that it’s “okay to be you” no matter how weird you might be.
There’s pretty minimal “bad” language in the film, all of which was bleeped out. Obviously there will be people who will object to the general sexual overtones that permeate most of our culture these days, but again, if you’re a mainstream sort of person, this movie is really pretty typical of what’s being presented to ‘tween aged girls. I mean, it is Katy Perry, after all.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have more time on my hands now so I thought I'd take up this blog again. Not to mention the fact that I think that there's something that just needs to be said, so I figure I'm the one who'll say it: Summer 2012 tween television stinks to high heaven right now.
And I do mean stinks. Like a big ol' pile of money-making manure. iCarly is winding down, and thank goodness they've taken away Robbie's obnoxious puppet Rex on Victorious, which makes that show somewhat tolerable. But the new summer crop of Disney and Nickelodeon schlock is so bad that there's a huge group of rich adults somewhere in Hollywoodland who should be seriously ashamed of themselves.
I'm not even going to bother to review these individually. Shake it Up, Austin and Ally (shudder), Jessie (agh!), A.N.T. Farm and Pair of Kings on Disney, and How to Rock and Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures on Nickelodeon are all so bad they just don't deserve reviews. They deserve to be cancelled immediately and never rerun again. And I know it's not nice to say that some kids are bad actors, but some kids are bad actors. Some kids should just be regular kids, in school, playing video games or hanging out at the mall or the skate park. Not destined to be future has-beens with drug habits. There must be hundreds of kids who try out for each one of these roles, so how exactly some of them get picked to be in a television show is beyond me. (I'm not so cruel as to call out these "actors" individually, so I'll just keep quiet on that.)
So we caught the brand-spankin'-new Scooby-Doo cartoon last night, Scooby-Doo, Mystery Incorporated! on the Cartoon Network last night. It was okay. Not great, but okay, and certainly not as good as the original series. The animation for this new series is a little different, making the characters look not quite like their old selves but definitely recognizable.
Probably the weirdest things about the new show are that 1) I don't think Casey Casem is voicing Shaggy in this series, but I could be wrong. I've tried doing a little research on the matter and my results are inconclusive. 2) Apparently VELMA has the hots for SHAGGY. ?!?!?!?
And that's basically what I want to get into here: A rant about Scooby-Doo.
Hey there out in the Interwebs! I guess I’ve decided to keep this blog going, but I’m going to go about things a little differently. Those official reviews are nice, but they’re a little bit of work, so I’ve decided to take things a little more fast and loose.
If you haven’t taken your kids to see Despicable Me, do so IMMEDIATELY before it’s out of theaters. And do yourself a favor and pay the extra money to see the 3-D version. (3-D costs us extra here.) Believe me, it’s TOTALLY worth it. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is still ultra funny and touching for both kids and adults if you choose to see it in 2-D, but the filmmakers used the 3-D to great effect and the extra visuals are fun, fun, fun.
I thought I’d take a slight deviation from strictly doing reviews to put down some of my thoughts about television and kids.
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.
