Children's shows you actually enjoyed

[ClemmonsDevil]

First off, just so everyone knows,Christine L'Heureux the creator of Caillou still walks around free. There have been no repercussions for the abomination that she created. It's the least enjoyable show with the most annoying kid of all time.

My children came of age in the heyday of Barney. And I wanted to avoid that crapulence, so I purchased DVDs of old Scooby-Doo episode and showed those to my children all the time. And I would over-laugh at all of the antics and jokes. They were too young to get the humor, but I persisted in this and sold the jokes. Eventually they started to laugh and this became our daily ritual.

And make no mistake, I employed television to raise my children. There are people who choose to interact with their children and actually do things with them. That wasn't me. I used television to parent them. After they get out of prison and/or counseling, I'll query them on their thoughts about my strategy and pass it on. But they were influenced by their friends and sometimes their mother would show them regular shows on television. This is my list of the ones that I actually enjoyed watching with them growing up. If you liked Caillou, then go to hell. It sucked and it's indefensible. Otherwise share the shows that you liked.

1. Arthur- I found this show to be absolutely delightful. There were other shows on PBS that I could stomach, but I legitimately liked watching Arthur. Especially the episodes where his baby sister and the dog were talking.
2. Word girl- I sneaky like this show. I thought it was pretty funny and entertaining.
3. Avatar the Last Airbenber- This was really well made and entertaining. My son is really into anime now, and this show was his gateway. My favorite on the list.
4. Gravity Falls- Just a really funny and well made show with a great storyline.
5. iCarly- by far the best of the tween shows we watched. It was legitimately funny television.

[BlueTeuf]

Underdog

Only got to see the first 20 minutes. It came on Sunday mornings - when we were leaving for mass.

[aimo]

I grew up on Sesame Street and Electric Company. I also loved Captain Kangaroo, Mister Rogers, and Big Blue Marble.

As for cartoons, I bought the DVDs for Looney Tunes (uncut!), Scooby (pre-Scrappy, he sucked), Speed Buggy, Josie and the P-wordcats (seriously?!?), Hong Kong Phooey, Groovy Ghoulies, and Clue Club. I have a ton of cartoons on my DVR: Wacky Races, Yogi, Top Cat, and Magilla Gorilla.

I also have as many of the Our Gang shorts as I could find on DVD.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Underdog

Only got to see the first 20 minutes. It came on Sunday mornings - when we were leaving for mass.

Just to make sure, these are shows that you like as an adult while raising your children.

[SouthernDukie]

First off, just so everyone knows,Christine L'Heureux the creator of Caillou still walks around free. There have been no repercussions for the abomination that she created. It's the least enjoyable show with the most annoying kid of all time.

My children came of age in the heyday of Barney. And I wanted to avoid that crapulence, so I purchased DVDs of old Scooby-Doo episode and showed those to my children all the time. And I would over-laugh at all of the antics and jokes. They were too young to get the humor, but I persisted in this and sold the jokes. Eventually they started to laugh and this became our daily ritual.

And make no mistake, I employed television to raise my children. There are people who choose to interact with their children and actually do things with them. That wasn't me. I used television to parent them. After they get out of prison and/or counseling, I'll query them on their thoughts about my strategy and pass it on. But they were influenced by their friends and sometimes their mother would show them regular shows on television. This is my list of the ones that I actually enjoyed watching with them growing up. If you liked Caillou, then go to hell. It sucked and it's indefensible. Otherwise share the shows that you liked.

1. Arthur- I found this show to be absolutely delightful. There were other shows on PBS that I could stomach, but I legitimately liked watching Arthur. Especially the episodes where his baby sister and the dog were talking.
2. Word girl- I sneaky like this show. I thought it was pretty funny and entertaining.
3. Avatar the Last Airbenber- This was really well made and entertaining. My son is really into anime now, and this show was his gateway. My favorite on the list.
4. Gravity Falls- Just a really funny and well made show with a great storyline.
5. iCarly- by far the best of the tween shows we watched. It was legitimately funny television.

Showed my kids almost every 50's/60's TV series that came out on DVD as they were growing up. Things like "Underdog", "Land of the Lost", "The Flintstones", "Brady Bunch" and such. They loved every one of them. Introducing kids to older fare when they are really young keeps them from growing up to automatically dislike anything that's not 'now', or God forbid, in b&w. To this day we can sit down and enjoy an Abbott & Costello film from the 40's or 50's, a Charlie Chan mystery from the 30's, and the greatest TV show ever made - The Fugitive from the 1960's.

The few current shows they watched back in the day, that I checked in on occasionally and found okay, included:

Arthur
Curious George
Madeline
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Oh, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... jk.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Showed my kids almost every 50's/60's TV series that came out on DVD as they were growing up. Things like "Underdog", "Land of the Lost", "The Flintstones", "Brady Bunch" and such. They loved every one of them. Introducing kids to older fare when they are really young keeps them from growing up to automatically dislike anything that's not 'now', or God forbid, in b&w. To this day we can sit down and enjoy an Abbott & Costello film from the 40's or 50's, a Charlie Chan mystery from the 30's, and the greatest TV show ever made - The Fugitive from the 1960's.

The few current shows they watched back in the day, that I checked in on occasionally and found okay, included:

Arthur
Curious George
Madeline
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Oh, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... jk.

I know we have our differences on here, but you are a good dad.

[Phredd3]

Gotta agree on Word Girl. Sneaky funny.
George Shrinks was surprisingly good.
And the Magic Schoolbus was decent, too.

But of course the all-time number one is Phineas and Ferb. We still find excuses to watch it, and my kids are college-age and beyond.

My family was big in to trains of all kinds, both real and modeled, and I always wanted to like Thomas the Tank Engine, but just...no. Not quite Caillou, but uncomfortably close.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Gotta agree on Word Girl. Sneaky funny.
George Shrinks was surprisingly good.
And the Magic Schoolbus was decent, too.

But of course the all-time number one is Phineas and Ferb. We still find excuses to watch it, and my kids are college-age and beyond.

My family was big in to trains of all kinds, both real and modeled, and I always wanted to like Thomas the Tank Engine, but just...no. Not quite Caillou, but uncomfortably close.

I loved Phineas and Ferb. Also I look like the one with the gigantic nose.

[BlueTeuf]

Just to make sure, these are shows that you like as an adult while raising your children.

Ahh... missed your premise. No, as a parent didn't use/promote TV shows for child enrichment/education. Maybe a little for child-sitting. OK, more than a little - when I consider the TV set in our conversion van.

Fun Fact - grew up in a household without TV.

First time I ever watched The Grinch was as a frosh in the Gilbert-Addoms commons room. Embarrassing.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

First time I ever watched The Grinch was as a frosh in the Gilbert-Addoms commons room. Embarrassing.

Stink.

Stank.

Stunk.

[SouthernDukie]

Stink.

Stank.

Stunk.

You're a mean one.

[Phredd3]

I loved Phineas and Ferb. Also I look like the one with the gigantic nose.

See, that just invites me to call you Doofenshnoz.

[ClemmonsDevil]

See, that just invites me to call you Doofenshnoz.

I'm now crafting a de-Phreddinator.

[dudog84]

Any male on this board (or anywhere else, for that matter) who claims they didn't want to be Jonny Quest is a liar.

[cato]

Bluey is excellent.

We really enjoyed Peep and the Big Wide World, but that has a relatively narrow window where the kids liked it.

I second Avatar. My youngest is almost old enough to enjoy it, so I’m looking forward to a rewatch.

The original Magic Schoolbus is another good one.

[Rich]

I admit to liking Blue's Clues, especially with the original Steve. Paprika was awesome!

My son (after he was a bit older) and I spent quality time watching Adventure Time and Regular Show, both of which I truly enjoyed. I also loved to find videos of the Little Rascals, which was my favorite show growing up, and watch with my kids.

On the opposite end, Barney was insufferable.

[camion]

I enjoyed the Electric Company back in the day, with young Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno. I was only in my early 30s back then.

Linky

[brevity]

Bluey is excellent.

The show is excellent. The merchandise, however, is expensive.

I stumbled onto it with "Faceytalk", a pretty hilarious episode about screentime and sharing. You can see part of it on YouTube below, but someone remade the whole episode with the official action figures.



It's written with kids and adults in mind; contrast this with a Pixar movie, which ignores kids entirely and is primarily designed to make adults cry. Bluey's parents are regular adults who drip sarcasm toward each other and occasionally have their own weird qualities.

Back when it was on, Ben and Holly's Magical Kingdom was also funny. They built a whole episode ("Big Bad Barry") around a Mutiny on the Bounty joke.

It's not lost on me that one show is Australian and the other show is British. Maybe they prioritize humor.

[CameronDuke]

Wishbone

Reading Rainbow

Arthur

Babar

Doug

Bill Nye The Science Guy

[wilson]

I don't have child yet, but I have never stopped watching a lot of "children's" television. DuckTales is one of my three favorite shows of all time, for example, and if you've ever read anything I've written here for more than like 5 minutes, you know I'm a big fan of all things Muppet, including the OG Muppet Show (which wasn't actually kids' tv), Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.
Other things already mentioned here that I really like are Gravity Falls, Bluey, and Reading Rainbow.

By no means whatsoever is this a comprehensive list. On more than one occasion, I've had friends ask me things like "What do you watch that isn't a kids show?"