This is what passes for entertainment nowadays?

As I neared the end of the list of Emmy nominations, I saw the category for children's shows and three shows were nominated: Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and iCarly. Are you sure you don't want to add other impeccable shows like Tru Jackson VP to that list? If you didn't recognize that was sarcasm, this blog is not for you. Run along now.

What are those three shows to me? The subjects of a fun little, "Guess the cliche plot of the episode," game I like to play when there's nothing else on television to watch while I eat my quick lunch. For example, it took me all of 10 seconds to guess how one episode of Wizards of Waverly Place would play out, in essence. Brother invents magical pants called Smarty Pants, sister ignores his mentioning of dire side effects. And what else could this be setting up other than her using them for her own ill gains, ignorant to the side effects and, as a result, she suffers those side effects before the episode comes to an end. I should make a living as a psychic.

Hannah Montana's big decision between the movie star and the (bad boy) rock star, played up in commercials, could be seen coming from a mile away by anyone that'd even seen the show in passing, especially given the unrealistic ideas childrens networks like Nickelodeon and Disney seem to peddle (in this case, it was a subtle way of urging girls to avoid the bad boys in favor of the kind ones; such a choice of the nice guy is far beyond reality, as any honest to goodness nice guy will tell you).

Even worse, the shows are borderline offensive at times. iCarly seems to, at times, send a message that violence against your elders is perfectly fine and farking dandy. Two devilish little girls terrorized Spencer in his attempt to win a little girl a bike. They overturned his table, ruined his merchandise, sent him rolling out on his skateboard into traffic, etc. At first I didn't believe that iCarly was really portraying such acts as okay, or at least that it was so obvious, but that episode changed my mind on that subject.

I am one of those people that hates people going on about the, "Good old days," and how things were in their day, but I will engage in a little of it myself now.

Often, certain shows from our childhood are painted up to be something they are not by a mixture of nostalgia and the fact that we were younger at the time and thus the shows seemed to be of a higher caliber than they were. Yet I have revisited shows of my childhood and time and time again found myself deriving no less enjoyment from them. Sure, to be honest, there were a couple duds I watched regularly, but there were more hits than misses by a large degree. Even recent shows that were obvious remakes of those hits (Drake & Josh being the white version of Kenan & Kel, to put it bluntly and honestly) stand atop the crap heap that childrens' television has become. Give me my Hey Arnold, Kenan & Kel, Gargoyles, etc. and keep your Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and iCarly.

Seriously, give me Hey Arnold and Kenan & Kel. Release them on DVD in America already.