Mining the Mission | The Different Reasons to Love PBS

As a father of two, I catch my fair share of children’s television, which in my house comes from three sources: Nick Jr., the Disney Channel, and PBS. The younger one doesn’t get to watch just yet, but the older one has had a few years of viewing under her belt. My wife and I try to ensure that she’s not watching complete junk, and thankfully there are times when the shows she’s watching not only step over that admittedly low bar but transcend it completely. Most of the times are when she’s watching PBS.

Sure, she did the Sesame Street thing for a long time, and that was its usual stalwart self, but I’ve been most impressed with PBS’s newer shows, the programs that weren’t around when I was a kid. Two in particular are standouts: Fetch! and WordGirl. The former is a live-action reality show whose emphasis is science; animated segments with the host, a hapless if charming dog named Ruff Ruffman, are dropped in to explain things and keep the action moving. The latter is an animated vocabulary builder about a schoolgirl superhero. Both shows are witty and clever and fun, for parents as well as kids, and they slip in their lessons unobtrusively but effectively. My daughter is learning something when she watches them, yet she’s also enthralled and amused. Me, well, I’m learning some things, too. And, I admit, there are times when I’m quite amused. Just don’t tell my daughter that. | 501(c)