My beef with Teletoon – UPDATE (sort of)

Lately Eirinn has been interested in television programming that is more mature than what is offered on Treehouse.  Dora and Diego only hold her attention occassionally, she no longer is into The Wiggles, she could take or leave Max and Ruby. 

She enjoys CBC Kids in the mornings – Animal Mechanicals, Super Why, Turbo Dogs.  The shows concentrate on teaching kids to problem solve using specific skills, to love reading, and…whatever it is Turbo Dogs teaches.  That dogs can drive cars?  Whatever.  It’s rated G and that’s all I’m concerned with.

SPEAKING OF…In the evenings, when CBC has switched it’s programming to the news and Coronation Street, Eirinn has taken to some of what is shown on Teletoon.  AH and I love the fact that she likes Looney Toons; finally a cartoon the two of us can enjoy with her!  There’s nothing like a bunny and a duck trying to convince a hunter to shoot the other guy instead.  Or the one where Bugs cross-dresses to lure the two hillbillies into a square dance hall then changes into the callers gear and gets them to beat each other up as part of the square dance?  That one was hilarious.

She also loves Scooby Doo.  We’ve been watching all the variations of the cartoon (Scooby Doo, Where Are You, The Scooby Doo Show, What’s New Scooby Doo, etc, etc) as well as the live action movies that Teletoon has been airing.

Then there’s this other show.  Johnny Test.  It’s about an 11 year old boy and his twin sisters who do experiments on him, hilarity-ensuing.  I’ve watched many episodes with Eirinn; all of them were very light PG in nature, nothing for me to be concerned with.

Until Saturday’s episode.  Johnny Test was on the tv, Eirinn was in and out, playing with Avery, only half watching the screen when she was in the room.  For some reason, at one point, AH and I both looked at the screen.  For some reason, the point at which we both looked up was the same point at which Mr. Test himself called his dog, and I quote (sorry Mom) a “dumb ass.”

AH and I whipped our heads around to each other so fast we probably pulled something.  Wide-eyed we asked each other “Did he just say what I think he just said?”  Obviously he had.

Strike #1, Teletoon.

Later that night, right before bed, they were showing Addams Family Values.  The movie is rated PG-13 for macabre humour.  “The lord’s name is taken in vain and the word damn is used.”  Ok.  I thought, Eirinn can handle this.  She’s heard worse and knows not to repeat it.  Jokes about death?  Whatevs.  I’ll just lie if she asks me what they mean.  I’m not against lying to my three year old.

But dude.  Du-u-ude.  Right there, half way through, there was a sex scene.  Granted, there was no nudity, but they were in a bed, in lingerie, talking about it, kissing, et cetera.  And the scene went on for longer than the minute and a half I allowed it to stay on our screen.  I shut it off and announced it was bedtime.

Strike #2, Teletoon.  For a company who claims to be geared towards “Canadian kids aged 2 to 11″, I don’t know where you do your research.  I know I certainly don’t want my 2 to 11 year old using the word “ass” when addressing our dog.  And a sex scene in a movie that aired at 7:00 pm?  Come on.  Maybe after 9.  Or cut the scene!  I’m sure you cut other scenes to fit the movie into two hours plus commercials.

And I’m not getting all “holier than thou” here.  I’ll admit to using my share of foul language within ear shot of the kids.  Our favourite brand of humour is That Which Occurs in the Toilet.  I affectionately call the girls My Little Jerks.  But, come on.

Let kids be kids.  They can grown up when the time comes, and that is not within the timeframe of 2 to 11.  They can enjoy a bit of violent humour (thank you, Bugs) and they love to be scared (thank you, Scoobs), but there is always a line that you shouldn’t cross.  I think adult situations are always, every time, no exception, well beyond that line.

Come on, Teletoon.  You can do better than that.

***

I have been in contact with Teletoon.  A wrote them a strongly worded email (because I’m Canadian), basically stating exactly what I said in this post (minus the sarcasm and tried to make the extremely long story and little less epic).  A very nice lady from the Communications division quickly replied.  Apparently my post had already been brought to their attention by their social media spies monitoring system and she was already in the process of composing a response. 

She told me that they are in the process of reviewing the episode of Johnny Test in question and will relay her (and Teletoon’s) thoughts upon completion.  I told her I would write a follow-up post when I receive Teletoon’s official stance on the matter.

So, yeah.  Stay tuned. 

Also: Teletoon reads my blog!  That makes me sort of a big deal!  In a Let’s Keep An Eye On That Woman Who Complains About Stuff Loudly kind of way.