Upon perusing some of my, and my daughters' favourite t.v. programmes, I came upon a rather nasty review of The Big Comfy Couch, right here on IMDB. Unfortunately, the writer doesn't "get" the idea behind the show.
First of all, it is a show for TODDLERS! It seems inane to anyone over six, but then, it's not meant for older children, or adults. Do we criticize a Japanese movie for unintelligible dialogue (assuming, of course, that you don't speak Japanese)? Of course not, the film is intended for people who DO speak Japanese and can understand what is going on.
My two year-old daughter loves Big Comfy Couch. It entertains her, and that is what is important. The show's main characters are female, which was unheard of back in my day (in the 50's and 60's the only female characters were the girlfriends of the heroes and played mostly damsel-in-distress roles, like Olive Oyl, or very secondary roles, like Minnie Mouse). So Big Comfy Couch is not especially educational--does everything have to be? Can a two year-old only watch t.v. programmes that educate? Teletubbies (my daughter's favourite show) also is not really big on educating, but my daughter enjoys it anyway. Heck, how much education is in the programmes we watch? Unless you watch nothing but PBS all day, and even they run movies and concerts of questionable educational value.
So, don't worry so much about what your children are learning from a show--sometimes they just need entertainment. And, just for the record, there is plenty of educational value from Big Comfy Couch--when you are two or three years old, just socializing, cleaning up after yourself, sharing, etc. are things you need to learn. If the programme is cute, or fun, children will tune in again tomorrow, and the next day. If the show is not, then what's the point of making it if no one watches after seeing it once?
