Another legend, lost...

Today, another icon of Children's Television died. Bob Keesan, aka Captain Kangaroo, passed away at the age of 76.

"Unlike many other children's programs, Captain Kangaroo was not filmed before a studio audience and did not include children in its cast," says the Museum of Broadcasting on its Web site. "Keeshan wanted nothing that would come between him and the children in his television audience and so spoke directly to the camera. He also personally supervised which commercials could air on the program, and promoted products, such as Play-Dough and Etch-a-Sketch, which he saw as facilitating creative play, while avoiding those he felt purely exploitative."...

He was critical of today's TV programs for children, saying they were too full of violence. And he spoke wherever he went about the importance of good parenting.

"Parents are the ultimate role models for children," he said. "Every word, movement and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent." - CBSNews.com

I fondly remember watching Captain Kangaroo as a child. It's a shame that there aren't people, like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers, who are involved in providing good quality television for children. Have you watched children's tv lately? Oh my gosh! If I had kids, they would not be watching Nickelodeon or PBS (or much of any other station for that matter!) - one channel is notorious for "Adult" cartoons that are targeted at kids and the other simply provides leftist, liberal propoganda veiled in "educational programming". It's ridiculous. Long gone are the days of "Captain Kangaroo", "Mr. Rogers" and "The Electric Company". I miss those days! :-(