Readers, I want you to flash back in time with me. Just for a little while. Remember the days when Mr. Rogers opened his closet to pick out a sweater and tie his shoes? Remember the thrill of seeing LeVar Burton in the city exploring and making reading fun? Remember when being on Zoom was the only thing you ever wanted to do when you grew up? I remember those like it was yesterday. I wanna tell you what I learned, as a college student, from the "Golden Age of Kids Television". You'd be shocked to learn that the things Arthur taught me about friendship are still applicable, or you remember classic books because of LeVar Burton making a whole episode about it.
Thank you "Reading Rainbow". First, thank you for having one of the best theme songs on television. The lyrics still stick with me to this day. "Butterfly in the sky/I can go twice as high/Take a look/It's in a book/A reading rainbow". If you didn't just sing that, you might not be human. But, in all seriousness, thank you for teaching me that, even as someone about to graduate college, that reading is actually enjoyable. LeVar Burton, thank you for feeling genuine human emotions when hosting the show. Thank you for being happy when discussing happy life issues, for being somber when discussing issues like injustice, and for not being a robot. I'm glad to know that it's okay to be a human.
"Mr. Rogers Neighborhood", I will forever be in debt to you. You taught me that the best thing to be is a good neighbor. Thank you for being there on TV when I was going through a rough time. Even if it was as mundane was being scared at a doctor's office, to something as huge as your 9/11 episode, you taught me that being a good person is always the best thing to do. Fred Rogers, wherever you are, thank you for being my lifelong neighbor. You're the real MVP.
When I think of a quality kids show, I can't help but smile and think of everyone's favorite anthropomorphized aardvark: Arthur Reed. "Arthur" was a staple in my household. I remember episodes of that show to this day. I had a healthy fear of libraries because of when Arthur and Francine got stuck in the library. I remember that "having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card". I kept wanting a friendship like Arthur had with Buster Baxter, but the thing I will always remember is that Arthur taught me mistakes are okay. Every time he got into a spot of trouble, Arthur taught me that we're only human (or animal or...whatever the hell Binky Barnes was) and that feelings are acceptable.
Lastly, let's talk about the street: Sesame Street, that is. I'mma get all nostalgic up in here when talking about Sesame Street. For the longest time, sassy Sesame Street t-shirts were a wardrobe staple for me. But, I think the coolest thing that Sesame Street taught me is that, no matter what age you are, you can still learn basic stuff you need to know. While I'm a little bent out of shape that it moved to HBO (but that's a different story), I'm gonna remember how Sesame Street covered human topics like change and loss. When Big Bird had to cope with the loss of Mr. Hooper, I had to also. Who would've thought that the best acting on TV would come from a bird puppet? So thank you, Sesame Street, for all you taught a rosy-cheeked, wide-eyed blonde child with a hankering to learn and a need to constantly smile.
As a college student, I'm still learning about how to live life, but it helps knowing that in the deep recesses of YouTube, I can still listen to LeVar tell me about a book, or the kids from "Zoom" teaching me a made-up language, or better yet, seeing Mr. Rogers tell me that I'm a socially acceptable human, despite wearing sweatpants and drinking eight cups of coffee cause of an intense sociology final. I'm grateful for those characters and I just hope that one day, we can bring back kids television that has this much of an impact on the next generation. Until then, keep being everyone's neighbor, believe in yourself cause that's the place to start, listen to the wisdom of puppets and take a look, inside a book, for your own "Reading Rainbow". But don't take my word for it...
