How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street
I'd rather a million Elmo-centric Sesame Street episodes than even one episode of Barney or Caillou.<p>That said, every kid needs some old-school, Elmo-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. (No, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.)<p>Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet that was still loads better than network TV's attempt at a mathematical-cop show for adults (Numb3rs).<p>It literally couldn't get any better for a kid than PBS in the 70s or 80s.