The reply I got:

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> Hi, Thank you for replying to my email, your thoughts and views have been very helpful. My objective was to simply give both sides of the arguement rather than pointing the finger. Being a journalist my own views and opinions do not come into things but I do agree that they deal with issues in the best way they can for young people.
>
> Once again thank you for your time in reading and replying to my email.

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So this was nice to see. I wondered if (and hoped that) the way the initial email came off was the wrong way to read it.

Anyway, drbug, you're right about Bambi, and I don't know why I forgot about that. Darleen mentioned it, too, after reading this post.

Charlotte's Web was Hanna-Barbera, not Disney, but it's still a good example of children's entertainment dealing with difficult life issues. Another is Sesame Street, which had an episode about the death of Mr. Hooper, when the actor that played him died. Does children's entertainment particularly do this anymore? I don't know if it deals with difficult life issues as periodically as it used to, but it sure seems like the average episode of a children's show is either *completely* lacking in a truthful center, or it's overzealous in pandering to it in the form of a sappy fable.

I guess I'm old enough for it to be my turn to goggle at what's wrong with the upcoming generation. Over Thanksgiving, I was at my wife's parents' house, with all her siblings and nephews and nieces. One of her nieces, probably 6 or 7, had stuck some toy to her nose, and she looked like Gonzo. So I teased her and called her that, but she didn't know who Gonzo was. Her mother, standing by, said I was dating myself, and her kids were raised on Nickelodeon, not the Muppets. I've caught enough Nickelodeon in passing to know what I'm not missing. The occasional show isn't bad, but most of it plays down to kids instead of up to them. You get to choose between potty humor and nuclear moralizing. Even the better shows, like Spongebob Squarepants, are still basically assembly line entertainment.

Here's what I don't get. I was raised on the Muppets, but I was also raised on Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse, which brought up the generation before, and some of the generation before that. Not everything survives, of course. I wouldn't expect a kid today to know the comparatively recent Darkwing Duck, for example, but where is the endurance of the children's entertainment that's *supposed* to endure?