You Never Forget Your First

It doesn’t take much to trigger the memories. For me, even a brief mention of a golden fleece and Quiggly Mansion takes me back to my favorite childhood TV show, The Gene London Show. When he sang, “Come right on in to the general store. We have licorice, gumdrops, sourballs…” I sang along too. (jump to minute 2:20 in the link for the song) When he told stories, I gazed at the TV mesmerized. When I was six, maybe seven, I somehow convinced my mother I should be one of the kids on the show, and one day she actually took me to the local TV station studios at WCAU to be in the audience. It was magic.

But it wasn’t magic just for me.

Now I understand that it was magic for lots of kids. My students confirm this for me at the start of every semester when I teach a course in “Media & Children”. During the first class I ask students to talk about their earliest media memories, and for most, there’s a special TV show. They tell me about Boy Meets World and Power Rangers, Blues Clues, Sesame Street, That’s So Raven, and Recess.

Even though they’re old enough to have early memories of video games too, it’s the TV shows that seem to hold the most nostalgic memories. It’s the TV shows that get them to launch into a song. It’s a TV show that makes them tear up.

Why is that?

Why do the TV shows we loved as kids leave a lasting impression?

1. We’re impressionable

We cannot overlook the fact that these shows left a lasting impression because at age 3 or 4 or 5, we’re pretty impressionable. At that age, we haven’t started formal school yet (first grade) so our brains aren’t focused on making sense of 2+2 or how to read. We’re focused on survival. Eating. Finding someone to play with. Making sure we poop. A catchy song connected to a playful character or two can find a welcome home in our wide open memory bank.

2. The shows tap into our hopes and dreams

There’s almost universal recognition that during a childs pre-school years what they need most is support and love, so TV shows for young kids are filled with those messages. They were in the 60's and they still are today.

3. The shows open up the world to us

On the Gene London Show I learned about faraway places where people dressed differently, spoke a different language, and ate different food. I also learned about the “world” beyond my neighborhood, just around the corner or the next state over. And I learned that in all these places, kids had many of the same worries and the same joys. That’s a consistent theme from people when talking about their favorite shows. “It was the first time I…” (fill in the blank) Those first memories are powerful, they connect us to our childhood, our earliest friends, our family, our community. They show us a world of possibility, a world beyond our homes and schoolyards.

4. The characters gave us ideas of what we could be

It was Gene London who first made me believe I could be on TV. It was Marlo Thomas (on That Girl) that first made me realize I could move to New York and become an actress. It was Penelope Pitstop that made me realize I could get my own car and race around the world! So what if my racing career is limited to speeding down I-95, these characters made a lasting impression on me and what I wanted to do with my life.

And those great characters continue today. Doc McStuffins. Elmo. Phineas. Ferb. Spongebob. Too many to list-- so don’t be sad if I forgot your favorite. You know it’s there.

My wedding was proof of the power of these early kids TV shows. No, Scooby Doo was not in attendance. But Pixanne was. She had a local TV show in Philadelphia in the 1960’s and years later she married a man who ran the company where my soon-to-be husband worked. Small world. And so, Pixanne attended my wedding. My friends…my adult friends… flipped out. All night she was asked for autographs and to pose for photos.

I guess I really wanted to write this because we (parents, scholars, educators) spend a lot of time worried about what kids watch on TV and the role models they see. And while I share that concern, I also know that most characters on most shows have qualities I would want my child to emulate. Not all. But most. Kids pull from the characters the elements that speak to them; that tap into their dreams of who they might grow up to be. They did for me.

OK, I fessed up to my secret childhood show. Your turn.