When choosing screen content for my kids I would much more select for show content than quality of animation.
I miss Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner, etc. Why can’t shows have good content AND animation?
Back to Arthur censorship. 
Quote from the programming director at Alabama Public Broadcasting:
“The vast majority of parents will not have heard about the content, whether they agree with it or not,” McKenzie said in a statement to NBC News and AL.com. “Because of this, we felt it would be a violation of trust to broadcast the episode.”
@Nrdsb4 and @abasket
This particular episode is trash TV because of the political preachiness. What’s next? Mr. Ratburn transitioning to Mrs. Ratburn? ?
I don’t consider the whole series trash, but I’m not super familiar with it. We’ve never watched much TV.
Why would they make it a gay wedding? Isn’t this a child’s cartoon? Would a parent expect a child’s cartoon to have such controversial content? Doesn’t this interfere with some parents’ religious beliefs (whether others agree with those beliefs or not) and the parents’ right to raise their child in accordance with those belief (whether others agree or not)?
It’s easy to make fun of Alabama.
Remember when we all freaked out about Shrek marrying Princess Fiona because children would have to be confronted with human sexual behavior? So controversial.
There are gay families in this country. Lots of them. It’s not political to portray them on TV.
If you are okay with this episode, would you also be okay with an episode called “Arthur Visits the Gun Range”, where Arthur goes to the shooting range with his Dad and learns that a gun is like any other tool and when you learn to use it properly it is perfectly safe.
I’m not sure what marriage has to do with politics when getting married is legal.
I’m not making fun of Alabama - or more specifically, the Alabama Public Broadcasting system. I’m disappointed in them. Does being disappointing in someone/thing = making fun of them?
I would not be upset with a gun episode that portrayed guns as having some safe role in society at a level that a 4 year old could understand and deal with. There are child development professionals on the writing teams of these shows. I don’t know if I’d agree with it all, but I would be open to the concept.
Well, I’ve been to gun ranges growing up, so if you are talking to me, I guess I would be neither for nor against “Arthur Visits the Gun Range.”
I don’t get why showing two people getting married is political. People get married. They fall in love and want to spend their lives together and have weddings and everybody is happy and cries, and then there is cake… This is a thing that young children can understand.
First, I have always love the Arthur books. My kids had a lot of them and I’ve saved them for grandkids some day. I haven’t seen the cartoon, but maybe that came out after my kids were young. When my younger D was in 2nd grade, I volunteered to put on a musical with the primary grades at her school. With my D’s help, we turned Arthur’s Teacher Trouble into a musical (now that D writes and performs in musicals professionally, but I digress).
I find it appalling that this Arthur episode is being blocked in a state. A poster here called the episode “political preachiness!” What is political about gay marriage? It is legal whether you agree or not. Why shouldn’t children be exposed to the variety of people they will meet in their life and to embrace inclusion? Children are going to have classmates who have two mommies or two daddies. Should those children’s situations not be depicted? Who else should we exclude? Another member here called this depiction “controversial!” HELLO? Gay marriage is a reality and legal whether you like it or not. Children should be exposed to literature and TV shows that show all the kinds of people they will encounter in everyday life. What about all the children of married gay couples? Should their realities never be depicted in children’s books and TV shows?
At what point will it no longer be “controversial”? If it is, at some time, no longer controversial, won’t it be because people have just come to accept it as part of life? Would it still be controversial to show a mixed-race wedding? People need to get over themselves.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. It always surprises me when I see ignorance on CC. It shouldn’t, because I’ve been around here for a very long time, but it does.
Typically, those who are most against a show like this will not have even seen the episode, but they will still complain and immediately propose an unrelated scenario that they think makes their argument valid.
Times have, thankfully, changed. My Ds’ generation is my hope for the future, as well as that of my grandchildren. I see it regularly in the way they interact with others, in their friendships and their advocacy.
Although I’m a big gun control advocate I agree with @abasket in that I’d be open to a gun episode if done in a developmentally appropriate way. The issue I would have is how to present it without putting kids in danger. I remember being annoyed with “Arthur” after an episode in which Arthur get glasses and Francine teases him by chanting “Arthur’s a four eyes! Arthur’s a four eyes!” My four year old had never heard the expression but for a week he was running around chanting “Four eyes! Four eyes!” Obviously Francine’s behavior was not meant to be positive, but at that age my kid couldn’t resist imitating it. The idea of my kid thinking it was okay to touch a gun because Arthur did it gives me the the willies.
There are a lot of things shown in kid’s cartoons that don’t match my family’s values. For instance we’re atheists but I don’t have a problem with educational cartoons that show kids attending church. A same-sex wedding is benign, and if families disagree with the concept they are free to discuss it with their children. Same-sex marriage is a reality kids see around them. Why not use this as a springboard to discuss your family’s values?
@“Cardinal Fang” said:
Exactly!!
And, if there is one thing we know, Mr. Ratburn LOVES cake!
I would welcome an age-appropriate episode that teaches kids that guns are not to be pointed at others etc. and reminds their parents that they need to keep their guns locked up.
Gay marriage is part of life, here and in many other places in the world. Children aren’t so delicate that they need to “protected” from that reality. “Preachiness” my foot.
@abasket - I tend to agree that the issue of gay marriage is less of a political issue than in the past, but it is still a social and moral issue. There are many Muslims and Christians in America that believe two people committing to a lifetime of sin together is not something to be celebrated and taught to young children.
Imagine trying to make all cartoons not interfere with some people’s religious beliefs. I guess that means cartoons can no longer show birthday parties, Christmas, Hannukah, Halloween, dancing, drinking coffee, showing bare shoulders…where in the world would you stop?
@momtogkc - that is why multicultural societies are such a challenge, it is very easy to offend when there are a wide variety of beliefs across a society.