Here she is (…again) Bystander General Manager, LAURA FOX—
I was going to begin this by saying I feel uniquely qualified to answer this question but then I stopped myself because—let’s be real—I feel uniquely qualified to answer the question every week. One man’s Dunning-Kruger Effect is another’s fake-it-’til-you-make-it.
My specific credentials for this week’s topic are as follows: nearly a quarter century of motherhood, begun at too tender an age. Over those 24 years, I’ve watched a ton of children’s television, guys, and lived to tell the tale.
Kids are the most unforgiving audience, the hardest to charm and the most challenging to make laugh. But here’s the good news: once you’re in, you’re in—and it’s great. Take it from a mom who fucken killed at Dr. Suess’s Read Across America Week Classroom Story Time for, like, a decade straight—it’s the best feeling in the world. Also, my live readings of Mo Willems’ early work are considered “not to be missed” by those in the know (and who are also eight years old and under).
I’ll start with my own childhood. As I’ve established in previous Great Debates, I’m a child of the eighties. What I’ve neglected to mention is that we didn’t have cable until I was ten or eleven, and that I only had full control over the television on Saturday mornings and for a couple of scant hours after school. I remember Pee-wee's Playhouse, which certainly deserves High Honorable Mention Status on this list.
